Since updating to WatchOS 10.0.1, the watch battery charges only to 80% overnight and the battery drains more quickly than before the update. I also updated my iPhone 14 pro to iOS 17 around the same time. Would this impact the watch battery?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
As many here I was affected by the constant battery drain of approx. 5% per hour and I think I found what was causing this for me.
When I checked the Watch App on my phone ==> General ==> About it showed that it synced 15 photos even though I have not selected any photos or albums to sync.
Opening the photos app on the watch confirmed that and showed that there are no photos on the watch.
I then selected an album with one picture to sync and the photo count went up to 16. Next I created a photo watch face and set it to dynamic and suddenly the watch showed random pictures that I never selected to sync. I searched for these photos on my iPhone and deleted them from there until the watch only showed 1 picture being synced, which was the one from the album. I then changed the watch face back from dynamic to album and left the face on the watch.
I did this on Tuesday. Yesterday, on Wednesday my watch was at 37% after wearing it without additional charging for almost 17 hours. Usually it would have been dead after 14 hours max. Today I took the watch off the charger at 7:30, at 8:41 it jumped to 99% where it would have been at 94% or even less before and now at 12:30 it is still at 87% which is 2.6%/hour.
I think the constant photo sync would be a good explanation for this issue as the watch would constantly download new pictured from the phone and would index them. In addition to that it would also explain why not everyone is affected by this since this would not apply to people having their photo sync configured to sync specific albums rather than the watch syncing random photos when nothing is selected for the photo sync. And it would also explain why resetting the watch doesn't help to fix this issue since the watch would start randomly syncing photos again after the reset.
Might be worth to check/try for others.
Latest OS update 10.1.1 “addresses an issue that could cause the battery to drain more quickly…”
This solved my problem after a 50% loss of battery in one hour after the update to 10.0.1. I simply un-paired my watch (series 4) and re-paired it. Problem solved.
A hard 80% charge limit is a very clear hint your Apple Watch is using Optimized Charging with an 80% limit.
Check your battery and charge your Apple Watch - Apple Support
About Optimized Battery Charging on your Apple Watch - Apple Support
Apple Watch Battery and Performance - Apple Support
LUKE, THIS IS THE FIX YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!
I had the same battery life issue (my battery was dead in about half the time of what was normal right before installing the update) and also noticed that my weather complications were staying blank. I found this Apple recommended solution for the complications issue and it solved both problems. See this page:
If the Apple Watch Weather complication isn't working - Apple Support
The first recommended fix on this page did not help me, but the second one definitely did. I am three days into the fix and all is back to normal and watch is running great. I am getting 18+ hours battery life with light use on my Series 5.
BTW, here's what I did before finding and using the above fix. None of these things helped:
80% charge limit is a very clear hint your Apple Watch is using Optimized Charging with an 80% limit.
Check your battery and charge your Apple Watch - Apple Support
About Optimized Battery Charging on your Apple Watch - Apple Support
turning it off and on again did fix both issues for me. Was able to get a full charge and battery usage is back to normal.
I updated my iPhone to iOS 17.0.2, which seems to have rectified the issue.
This highlights that the issue is not the watchOS 10.0.1 but the iOS 17.0.1 which must have had a specific continuous profile relay open to the Apple watch, causing it to drain rapidly.
Just a thought...
I was having the same problem with 5 series watch, battery lasting less than 12 hours. Turned off location services on the watch and the battery is back to where it was before update 10.0.01. Not an ideal scenario but it’s a workaround until Apple resolve the issue.
So I was one of the early posters in this thread. With the release of IOS 17.0.3 my watch seems to be back to normal. My Apple Watch 6 is lasting an entire day on a single charge. First time in weeks. Hopefully this holds true for others.
This is exactly what my Watch was doing: from 100% to 0 within 3 hours, without working, music, no extra activities.
Yesterday I unpaired and repaired the Watch with my phone. Deleted and reinstalled latest iOS 17 version, then powered BOTH off and charged them each to full.
Happy to report that this morning I tracked a workout for over 90 mins and several hours later my Watch is now at 80%!
I hope this helps some of you! 🤞🏼 👊🏼
The most useful advice I have seen so far is to turn off the Noise app in the Watch settings. It hasn't taken me back to where I was before watchOS 10, but having done this, I am now getting around 20 hours of battery life in my Series 5. Enough to get through a typical day, at least. Hope this helps someone else, at least until Apple acknowledges this issue and fixes it.
Sounds like you have Optimised Battery Charging enabled. This means the watch will only charge to 80% until it learns your usage pattern. Supposed to save the battery wear. When you put it on charge touch the circle on the screen. If it says “charge to full now” then do so and it will override it.
Ok so after a trip to the Apple Store yesterday, here’s what I’ve done this morning at 6:30 with my watch at 100% and is now at 97% 4.5 hours later. Reset the watch and setup as new. Keep in mind I’m on 17.1 beta on my phone and 10.1 (no beta) on the watch. I turned off the noise app and went into Cellular to turn off cellular data for most apps that I don’t use with my watch. Any apps that I don’t have to have I’ve uninstalled from the watch. They also told me yesterday that my watch face was also pulling the most battery because it had been pulling data constantly to keep the watch face updated. Hope this helps.
I called apple again. Fifth time today. I talked to a Senior technician. He told me that 10.1 is not beta. He said it was possible that something happened to the downloading and the update got corrupted. He offered to exchange for the same kind of watch, a refurbished series 6 or I could send it in for them to reinstall de os.
Pardon me for being a skeptic, but I'm not convinced that Apple's diagnostics are showing nothing wrong. Too many users are having the same problem for Apple to be seeing absolutely no issues in their diagnostics. It's just easier for them to deny it, perhaps while they try to figure out what's going on. After they know how to fix it maybe they will admit that there was an issue.
And the reason that the problem is not specific to a particular Apple watch model is that the issue is a software issue, not a hardware (watch) issue. This is clear given that before the "upgrade" to 10.0.1 no one encountered the issue. The variation in the severity of the battery drain can be explained by what apps people are running on their watches, how much they use their watches, whether they've got apps running in the background or only when in use, and things like that.
I can't explain why some people see improvement when they try suggested fixes; this could be related to the variables that I just described. They seem to be temporary improvements, and not permanent fixes.
Don't buy a new or refurbished watch. You'll just have a different watch with the same OS if they're shipping watches with the current OS, and you'll have the same issue because it's not the hardware, it's the OS. Unless, of course, you get a watch with a version of the OS prior to 10.0.1, and then ensure that you do not have it set to do automatic OS updates!
The bottom line is that there is a problem with the software, and Apple undoubtedly knows about it, and they are responsible for fixing it. But will they, and how soon?
Apple Watch Battery Drain Issues after Update
