Apple Watch battery drains after updating to watchOS 10.1

fire1962 wrote:

I don’t really have any third party installed. It’s frustrating but I’ll just have to wait I guess

"Don't really" is not the same as you don't have any third party apps installed. Do you have any? If so, delete them and add them back a couple at a time, observing battery drain after you add them back.

I had one that has been on my watch for two years without incident. I deleted it after apple reinstalled os - Still have same issues after update

When watchOS 10 first came out my watch updated automatically. I’m one of the unlucky few whose watch started using too much power. Using extra power after a major update is common for a couple days. After two weeks, my watch still had to be recharged several times per day (not acceptable). This was not an issue with watchOS 9.6.3 (there is no way to go back).

I have some draconian steps and a configuration that gets my watch through a day on one 90 minute charge, but NOT back to pre-watchOS10. My settings remove or disable much of what makes an Apple Watch special…but it’s better than a frequently dead watch.

As a side note, Apple Technical Support has been consulted twice: online and in-person at an Apple Store Genius Bar. Diagnostics pass, my watch has never been wet, and my S4 is not covered by a warranty. 

Apple Tech Support is aware of the problems and tried to solve my issue but ultimately provided two options: 

1) trade in my watch for a new S9 (net cost $400) or 

2) replace the battery even though it has 84% capacity ($299 cost for battery capacity over 80%, $99 replacement battery capacity less than 80%).

Neither option seems all that great…yet.

Here are some tricks and tips that might increase an Apple Watch’s daily battery use with the current watchOS 10:

• Adjust display settings. The display is one of the biggest battery drains, on S4 through S6. Reduce display impact by adjusting the brightness, reducing the amount of time the display stays on, and disabling the always-on display for S7 and newer.
• Reduce the number of notifications. Every notification that appears on the screen  requires the watch to wake up and use battery power. Try disabling notifications for apps that you don't use often and/or try setting notifications to silent delivery.
• Turn off haptics. Every time the watch has to send a haptic, a small vibrator has to use battery power.
• Remove apps from the Smart Stack. While this is a new feature, on my S4 it seems to consume significant power. 
• Delete 3rd party apps. Some 3rd party apps are not behaving well with watchOS 10. Delete the 3rd party apps on the watch AND on the iPhone. 
• Disable location services, especially for the Apple weather app. Apparently the weather app frequently checks location and retrieves weather for the location, even if your location is not significantly changing. Remove all but one weather app location. Completely removing the weather app may help too. 
• Turn off background app refresh. Complications will still update in the active watch face. Other apps will refresh when you open them or a watch face with corresponding complication.
• Turn off as many features as possible. Many Apple Watch features use battery power, even when not actively using them. For example, the heart rate sensor, GPS, and Wi-Fi can use battery power. Try turning off these features to save battery life.
• Use Power Saving Mode. This mode disables certain features to extend battery life. 

Here are some additional tips that may help improve battery life on watchOS 10:

• Unpair and re-pair Apple Watch. This can sometimes resolve battery life issues.
• Restore Apple Watch from a backup. This can also help to resolve battery life issues.
• Reset Apple Watch and do not restore from a backup. This can also help to resolve battery life issues.

If these fail to help with the short battery life:

• Contact Apple Support. If you're still having trouble with battery life, contact Apple Support for assistance. Do not expect good technical support from these Apple Community Forums, there are a few trolls who generally  make condescending and smug remarks.

If you are not happy with watchOS 10, share your concerns directly with Apple at Feedback - Watch - Apple  

Hope this helps your situation!

Absolutely sick of Apple. The stuff costs a fortune, needs updated virtually every second week, and as it turns out, the updates are often worse than any Windows viruses I’ve ever got.

This week alone, my two year old £300 watch lasts 6 hours, my £300 4 year old iPad needed to have apps deleted because the software update and operating system takes 16gb of the 32gb storage, my £1000 phone lags because it’s still “indexing”, while my £200 earphones mics no longer work.

The only difference I’ve even used is adding the Snoopy watch face to my watch. All the rest is superfluous.

All this while iCloud has jumped £24 a year in price!!

However, my THIRTEEN year old Dell laptop is running just fine after a cheap SSD and RAM upgrade.

I’m moving back to Android and away from this Apple Eco System pyramid scheme.

When watchOS 10 first came out my watch updated automatically. I’m one of the unlucky few whose watch started using too much power. Using extra power after a major update is common for a couple days. After two weeks, my watch still had to be recharged several times per day (not acceptable). This was not an issue with watchOS 9.6.3 (there is no way to go back).

I have some draconian steps and a configuration that gets my watch through a day on one 90 minute charge, but NOT back to pre-watchOS10. My settings remove or disable much of what makes an Apple Watch special…but it’s better than a frequently dead watch.

As a side note, Apple Technical Support has been consulted twice: online and in-person at an Apple Store Genius Bar. Diagnostics pass, my watch has never been wet, and my S4 is not covered by a warranty. 

Apple Tech Support is aware of the problems and tried to solve my issue but ultimately provided two options: 

1) trade in my watch for a new S9 (net cost $400) or 

2) replace the battery even though it has 84% capacity ($299 cost for battery capacity over 80%, $99 replacement battery capacity less than 80%).

Neither option seems all that great…yet.

Here are some tricks and tips that might increase an Apple Watch’s daily battery use with the current watchOS 10:

• Adjust display settings. The display is one of the biggest battery drains, on S4 through S6. Reduce display impact by adjusting the brightness, reducing the amount of time the display stays on, and disabling the always-on display for S7 and newer.
• Reduce the number of notifications. Every notification that appears on the screen  requires the watch to wake up and use battery power. Try disabling notifications for apps that you don't use often and/or try setting notifications to silent delivery.
• Turn off haptics. Every time the watch has to send a haptic, a small vibrator has to use battery power.
• Remove apps from the Smart Stack. While this is a new feature, on my S4 it seems to consume significant power. 
• Delete 3rd party apps. Some 3rd party apps are not behaving well with watchOS 10. Delete the 3rd party apps on the watch AND on the iPhone. 
• Disable location services, especially for the Apple weather app. Apparently the weather app frequently checks location and retrieves weather for the location, even if your location is not significantly changing. Remove all but one weather app location. Completely removing the weather app may help too. 
• Turn off background app refresh. Complications will still update in the active watch face. Other apps will refresh when you open them or a watch face with corresponding complication.
• Turn off as many features as possible. Many Apple Watch features use battery power, even when not actively using them. For example, the heart rate sensor, GPS, and Wi-Fi can use battery power. Try turning off these features to save battery life.
• Use Power Saving Mode. This mode disables certain features to extend battery life. 

Here are some additional tips that may help improve battery life on watchOS 10:

• Unpair and re-pair Apple Watch. This can sometimes resolve battery life issues.
• Restore Apple Watch from a backup. This can also help to resolve battery life issues.
• Reset Apple Watch and do not restore from a backup. This can also help to resolve battery life issues.

If these fail to help with the short battery life:

• Contact Apple Support. If you're still having trouble with battery life, contact Apple Support for assistance. Do not expect good technical support from these Apple Community Forums, there are a few trolls who generally  make condescending and smug remarks.

If you are not happy with watchOS 10, share your concerns directly with Apple at Feedback - Watch - Apple  

Hope this helps your situation!

Frustrated, again this morning after charging all night, I left the house at 100%. After a couple hours I was nearly 59%. Deleted anything that wasn’t part of apple. Clean OS 10.1 and tried again - nothing worked. I decided to try Apples Beta program as I found that OS 10.2 was out. Installed and now after 3 1/2 hours I’m at 90%. So it seems Apple knows and is trying to correct “their” flub on the last update. We’ll see…

Apple watch was a major game changer between smartwatches and sportwatches/ activity trackers. Hiking could last around 10 hour with apple watch with no problem. Phone battery was a bit drained but at least the activity was recorded. But since the latest update to 10.1 is apple watch becoming just another smartwatch. I certainly hope, that the next update for WatchOS will solve this problem - I hope they solved it before people start switching to other sportwatches. Yep I can say apple watch was an amazing sportwatch without being sorry.

Hi … I have done minor changes on my Apple Watch … first step was turn off the always on display. The second thing was changing the watch face with something less informative … so the main and the biggest change was of course battery life time - I can use my Apple Watch gen 5 with one charging for 2 days… I can conclude that the watch was pretty much nonstop updating me with weather temperature and other widgets which eventually drain battery of my watch…

I’ve noticed more Apple Watches for sale on eBay. I’ve been in contact with a dozen or so and all are on WOS10 and moving on to something else. Sad. They might regret it…or not. I’ve been able to strip-down my watch’s software and functionality to get 24 hours of use, about half what it was on WOS9, but at least it’s a watch and expensive Fitbit for now.

Moby Fox app: if you have it delete it. That was the only change I made and I am back to the 2 day battery life again, with no other issues. Working like new again.

Anyone else go from the battery drainage problems to being stuck in a boot loop? My series 5 watch was having battery issues after updating to 10.1 and after about a week and a half just suddenly stopped having those issues. Everything was fine for a few days and yesterday it suddenly got stuck in a boot loop. Hard reset hasn’t worked. Find my sound hasn’t worked. Unpairing hasn’t worked. So when the new update comes to fix it I won’t even be able to update! Apple broke my watch!

Overheating has frequently been reported. Maybe overheating damaged your watch and battery. Contact an actual Apple Support channel to see what the next step is. There are too many trolls making snide and condescending remarks on these community forums to help with your new problem.

I've got an Apple Watch Series 8. Before the updates my watch would be at maybe 50% at the end of the day. Now my watch lasts maybe 5-6 hours. This is very frustrating. I am on watch OS 10.1.1

If I can't use my watch as I have been for the past year, I might as well get the Tag Heuer watches I've had my eye on. 😡

Money talks. You’ll enjoy the Tag more because the user interface is stable and mature. I just bought a Garmin watch because of the unwelcome changes Apple forced on my watch.