Apple Watch Battery Draining suddenly after Software Update

I got my watch to update to 10.4 and that seems to have solved the problem. sounds like most people are having an issue with a 10.4 update on the watch...if you don’t match the update on the watch to the update on the phone the delta between those two causes the rapid loss of battery on the watch.

looby wrote:

I really hope someone from Apple is reading all these comments.

They are not. Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your concerns here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Issue is 10.4 won't install on most of our watches. The update downloads but gets stuck at "preparing" for hours without installing.

Same here. Updated iPhone 11 this am since it don’t update on its own overnight and watch (Series 8 -1 year old)was 100% when started update. Three hours later down to 34% now another hour later I’m at 10%! Apple fix this now!!!

Same thing! Right after this update. I did all troubleshooting. Fully charged after pair and unpaired. Woke up this morning completely dead.

Mine is doing the same. The last two night I went to bed with it charged and woke up and it’s dead. How do I go back to a previous update? I go on vacation soon and can’t have this dying all the time.

Same here. New watch bought at the beginning of March. I was getting nearly 48 hours on a charge. The on 4/10 I installed iOS 17.4.1. The next day I charged my watch fully before going to work and it was dead by noon. Today I put a full charge on the watch at 7AM and at 9:33AM it’s at 60%. It might make it to lunch today but only because I’ve turned off practically every feature and notification. Apple you need to fix this!

What is required is a forced restart of your Apple Watch. A forced restart is more than just turning your Watch off and on. Observe the battery usage for the next 24 to 72 hours. If there is no improvement you’ll need to unpair the Watch from your iPhone, force restart the Watch and the iPhone and lastly pair the two devices. Battery usage will return to normal in 24 to 72 hours.

Force restart Apple Watch - Apple Support

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support

I don’t know whether it’s related to the recent 17.4.1 update, but saw the same thing last night: my watch was in low-power mode, at a point when it’s usually about 50% full. It apparently ran dry in the middle of the afternoon.

I decided to try upgrading to watchOS 10.4, and got the dreaded hang in “Preparing”. I tried several times to delete the downloaded file, restart the phone and watch, even erased my watch and restored it. But it was still hanging in the same place.

Finally I saw a tip from a few years ago and gave it a try, I turned off “wrist detection”. This seemed to make the difference. It made it through “Preparing….” and “Installing…”, and now seems to be happily running watchOS 10.4.

I have no idea yet whether this will have any bearing on the battery draining issue.

Thanks.

Disabling Auto update and deleting the 10.4 install file seemed to do the trick without worrying about Bluetooth or rebooting. Clearly Apple broke something with the installer. I think it was only draining when I was inside and in WiFi too.

My problem was finally solved by starting the 10.4 update from the watch instead of the iPhone. For some reason when I started it from the iPhone it got stuck at preparing and wouldn’t progress. Now 10 hours after installing the update and getting a 100% charge my phone is still at 90% battery.

Me too!! Ever since I upgraded to a new iPhone 15 Pro the other day my Series 7 watch has been dying in a couple of hours. It normally lasts an entire day. Both phone and watch have most recent software updates. The battery even depletes when it’s charging. It was fine when paired to my 13 pro, also on the current iOS, but ever since getting the 15 my watch is basically useless.

Apple needs to fix this asap. There’s no reason a 2 year old $800 watch should die that fast.

Hi, my reply was intended for DaanJeuken as noted in my reply.

Im sorry to hear your issue is not resolved. I suggest getting back in touch with Apple Support and request a follow up. If you don’t have it yet, request the Apple Case Number so you can track your service request easier.

If it’s an iCloud issue I doubt a software update will resolve the issue. But that’s a question for support.

I had exactly the same problem:

Watch stuck on Preparing, trying to update to 10.4, extreme battery drain iPhone on 17.4.1.

I've tried erasing the update file and downloading it again, unpairing and factory resetting the watch - nothing has helped.

I suspect that proceeding with update might be time relevant.

The issue solved by itself when I've tried to update the watch (so I've placed it on the charger with about 80% battery) at around 1am of my local (CEST) time. Then after few minutes of reading this forum I've noticed the watch updated successfully. I suspect that this update might actually worked because it entered a kind of "update over night" mode.

The battery drain seems to be back to normal after update. If it's not I'll post an update tomorrow :).

Alternatively I think these answers are most valuable among all:

Apple Watch Battery Draining suddenly aft… - Apple Community

Apple Watch Battery Draining suddenly aft… - Apple Community

Apple Watch has been out for about 10 years. So, if it is 1000 over 10 years, that 100 a year divided by 365 days or about 1 watch every 4 days. Not a large number in overall scheme of things. The store is also near (about ½ mile from airport) an International destination that attracts visitors from around the world. Our numbers would be much higher than average. This is not to mention that in a larger urban area an Apple Store services watch sold on internet, and multiple Walmart, Target and Best Buy purchases.

Again, you’re assuming facts that aren’t in evidence. Why would Apple issue a statement, when leading causes are variables in how owners use and charge Watch and 3rd party software quality and how customers use the software. You do understand Apple can’t control any of that, correct?

Read the owners guide to your model Apple Watch and associated links to additional Apple Support articles.

Apple Watch User Guide - Apple Support

Since engineering is involved, potential issues with your Watch may have been identified or need additional diagnosis. That is not the vast majority of users in my opinion. Just to clearly state my opinion, the vast majority are experiencing issues caused by the user and or 3rd party software quality.

It’s normal for Apple devices to consume extra battery capacity for a day or two after a Watch OS update or upgrade. Watches and iPhones have routine maintenance activity to perform. The activity is generally restricted as much as possible to allow users to continue using the Watch after an update. But variables in how owners use and charge their devices can interfere with completion of background tasks. Third party software only complicates the issue.