Apple Watch Battery Drain after updating to 10.5

Thanks for coming back.

No, I haven’t changed the battery, as I don’t think I’ve needed to, to be honest. I usually charge it to 100% which takes place before lunchtime every day and it lasts until the same time, the following day. I sleep with it on and use the in built sleep app, plus alarm. I always have same Infograph watch face, with various complications added, but I don’t tend to use anything else apart from occasional messages, making/taking a call, which is rare or an ECG. It maybe why it’s kept going quite well perhaps, I don’t know. By the evening, I’m usually down to about 50-60% and when I do charge later the following morning, I still have about 25% so it would go a bit longer than 24 hrs if I let it, This is why this latest update is so irritating, as with many of them lately.

Apple Support is not here, this is a public discussion forum for Apple users to connect and assist each other.

Your issue sounds like a software issue. Hardware doesn’t fix itself for 1 ½ weeks and then decide to start using more battery capacity. Either the usage pattern changed or software updated in the background.

Do you have auto install updates turned on for your Watch apps?

I've done all this and for the last week I had hope because it seemed to be better but now today, when I have actually done less, it is already down to 10% after less than 11 hours. This seems ridiculous that Apple is doing nothing to fix this issue when it is their update that caused the whole thing. I have had numerous apple watches and have never in years had an issue like this. How can we report this to Apple so they will fix it???

Jeff Donald wrote:

Apple Support is not here, this is a public discussion forum for Apple users to connect and assist each other.

Your issue sounds like a software issue. Hardware doesn’t fix itself for 1 ½ weeks and then decide to start using more battery capacity. Either the usage pattern changed or software updated in the background.

Do you have auto install updates turned on for your Watch apps?

Jeff, thanks in advanced I did already have auto updates turned off if that's what you're referring to. I didn't see any apps that have updates enabled. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place.

I just hard booted the watch, and I am un-pairing/re-paring to my phone and restoring from back up. Last time I did this it was "normal" for about 1.5 weeks as I mentioned previously. Also, the watch gets quite warm even while on the charging. For the past few days, the charge drops to 10% within 3 hours. Prior to updating to 10.5 it was at 50%-60% after a full day(6am-11:30 pm) I typically charge when I go to bed.

If there's anything else you can offer to assist, I greatly appreciate your advise

Sorry for the lengthy/wordy post.

Thanks again

I updated to 10.5 this past weekend and I charged my watch overnight like always. The next morning I put on the watch and it was dead by noon. Maybe 4 hours of life. My watch is now useless. Is there a way to revert to previous OS version. GREAT QA TESTING APPLE!!

It will take 24-48 hours for the new operating system to finish it house keeping, as well as resync things it wants from the iPhone. Power cycle the Apple Watch and your iPhone (at least once, but maybe once or twice a day until the Apple Watch battery consumption returns to normal. The MacObserver.com How To Fix WatchOS 10.3 Battery Drain Issue on Apple Watch https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/fix-apple-watch-battery-drain-issue-after-watchos-10-3-update/ Also see: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250007078 For some steps that are not in the MacObserver article. iPhone -> "Watch" app -> General -> Reset -> Reset Sync Data Again it may take a day or two for the rsync'ing of data to settle down. As a point of reference, my Apple Watch Series 4 with 90% battery health maximum capacity, was back to normal after 24 hours (watchOS 10.5). I did 1 mid-day recharge, and I power cycled my Apple Watch and iPhone twice.

Apple needs to fix this update process. I didn't want to update but now that my iphone is on iOS 17 it required the update for the watch to function with their app. It's been over 24 hours since the update and I've reset the phone, unpaired, forced the reboot etc. Prior to the update I would have 20% remaining after 16-17 hours normal usage. Now the battery is dead after 5 hours. If it is the indexing, Apple should at least be throttling that process so that the watches don't die after a few hours use. Apple needs a class action suit filed against them for this. So much for "it just works"!

I had Automatic Downloads disabled, I turned off Automatic Updates . See screen shot below for inquiring minds :-)

Hope this helps either way now I know where to find this !

Fingers crossed!

I’ve tried pairing , deleting the app, forced reset , complete reset . I’ve tried it all and still the battery drains extremely fast. Frustrating as I’d get two days out of my series 4 watch

How old is your Series 4? Series 4 was discontinued in September 2019, almost 5 years ago.

You will need to do a hard reset. We found this out after 10.4 update

I found turning off WIFI on the watch for my Series 5 returned the battery life to normal

It looks like there is some driver issue for WIFI in the new software causing it to drain the battery

WiFi is obviously an issue. I could fix it by restarting my FRITZ!box router instead of disabling WiFi on the watch. The problem only existed at home. At work everything was fine.

Hm. After some time this didn’t change anything. Sorry. Still high battery usage.

sudden fine again for about 1.5 weeks then suddenly draining again ! VERY FRUSTRATING! Apple please fix this ASAP!