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.
I stupidly allowed Apple to update my iWatch to watchOS 10 last week. Since then my watch runs out of battery by 4pm. Unusable.
given that the battery drain issue has been obvious for at least 3 months, it is outrageous that Apple is still updating Watches and rendering them useless.
Question. Is it even possible to install an older functional version of WatchOS?
Watch model: A2726
OS Ver: 10.2
Watch barely lasts 16hrs. Barely used during those 16hrs, mostly Apple Pay & message notifications - ~3 apps. The watch now takes hours to charge. Not a good look to a recent platform switcher.
You are lucky,
Ive got the watch se 2023 since two months. in the beiggining i was able to have35 hours in plane mode now im just at 5 hours. Spend hours with the apple supervisor. now i ve to wait for an update to "fix the problem" . wtf is that? its a new product and cant use it for a month and have to spend hours on the phone and nothing is still done.
Since the really annoying update, Apple Watch is slower to charge and drains really quickly when tracking workouts. I used to have at least 30% left after 18 holes of golf. Now it will barely complete 9 holes, so doesn’t track half my calories nor steps. Not at all happy about this. Activity rings keeps asking me stupid questions. It used to be SOOOO simple and efficient. Now it’s just a pain. Apple. Fix this. Now.
I had a “Tamagotchi” back in the days. Now I have a suddenly very hungry Ultra. Almost the same care needed ;).
I should not be thinking of charging the whole day. This is my first but surely my very last Apple watch as well.
DoomSavas wrote:
I had a “Tamagotchi” back in the days. Now I have a suddenly very hungry Ultra. Almost the same care needed ;).
I should not be thinking of charging the whole day. This is my first but surely my very last Apple watch as well.
With a good charger it should only take 40-60 minutes to charge from 20%.
@Ahmedhertz apparently we’ve been talking to ourselves all of these months. It seems that Apple doesn’t find it necessary to consider customer/user experience or input. I’ve been in IT both on the product & software sides for decades, and every single company I’ve worked for has actively solicited such info thru their own forums, as well as monitoring independent forums and hiring third parties to assess customer satisfaction. I guess Apple thinks that because they are Apple, they don’t need to listen or care.
I’m having fun with the Ultra and the new update. The watch is running great and I’m happy. I just had to make a few adjustments with the iOS and everything is cool here. Sorry for some who are experiencing problems.
MSMinVA wrote:
@Ahmedhertz apparently we’ve been talking to ourselves all of these months. It seems that Apple doesn’t find it necessary to consider customer/user experience or input. I’ve been in IT both on the product & software sides for decades, and every single company I’ve worked for has actively solicited such info thru their own forums, as well as monitoring independent forums and hiring third parties to assess customer satisfaction. I guess Apple thinks that because they are Apple, they don’t need to listen or care.
Sorry but you are very misinformed.
marty194 wrote:
Come on people, Apple does not see these posts. It’s just an Apple forum.
Stop complaining about Apple here, just call them.
Ring… ring… ring… hey Tim the phone for ya… line 2. Couldn’t resist.
This is insane. My watch literally dies within hours. I have the series 4 and could go almost 2 days prior to the last update. I can't even go a full workday now. If this is Apple's plan to force me to upgrade, I'm not. Coming from just having nothing but issues with Face ID for weeks this is leaving a really bad taste in my mouth. Apple needs to do better. Software was always your strongest point!
That did not work for me. I even unpair the watch from the phone and logged it as a new watch. Still having the same problem. My battery drains even more. In a few minutes, it goes from 100% to 95%. I don't even wear the watch anymore because it is not working. This problem needs to be fixed as soon as possible as I need to use my watch. Apple please do something about this. This is the only watch that I have. It is no joke or fun having to pull my phone out of my purse just to get the time. Please do something. Thanks.
This answer is directed to Apple about the answer provided GPSRiders.
I’m confused about this fix… does this mean I can’t check the whether without looking up my location? I’m not sure I like that as a “solution”. I used to be able to use the whether app and it would detect my location so I know the whether where I’m currently located. I would assume pre update turning this feature off would have also prolonged the battery between charges.. I wouldn’t call this a solution for the battery issues people are experiencing after the update. I would describe this a “work around” at best.
Hmb100 wrote:
This answer is directed to Apple about the answer provided GPSRiders.
Apple is not here. Only your fellow users in the user-to-user technical support forum.
You would be best directing your question to GPSRiders and/or the community in general.
If you want Apple Support, then Click here: Support
I just switched from Fitbit to apple watch. I would charge Fitbit watch once a week..... Apple watch I have to charge everyday. Not happy with this battery life at all. Thinking to switch back to Fitbit idk.
Apple Watch Battery Drain Issues after Update
