Apple Watch Series 10 Cellular battery drains fast at school

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Level 1

4 points

Apple Watch Series 10 Cellular battery drains fast at school

I just purchased a new Apple Watch Series 10 Cellular for my son. At home, over the weekend, there were no issues. When he went to school, the watch died by lunch time on "School Time"; the Cellular service at the school is not great. I researched the forums and did the following:

turned off any unessassary background apps
made sure the watch was up to date
connected the watch to the school wifi

The next day, the watch died by 10am. It was worse than the previous day.

Today I sent him to school on Low Power Mode with the instruction to turn it off when school is done. I don't think this is an ideal solution, chances are, he will forget to turn it off, and it negates some of the functions of the watch.

Any ideas? Having to turn on and off Low Power Mode seems ridiculous for a brand new watch with a new battery.

Apple Watch Series 10

Posted on Apr 29, 2026 8:29 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 29, 2026 8:45 AM in response to J0n3sy

Where did you purchase the Apple Watch?
Are you sure it was not refurbished from a third party?

The series 10 Watch was discontinued by Apple 7 months ago and first released nearly 2 years ago, so it is unclear the actual history of the device or if the battery was replaced by an unauthorized provider using an inferior battery.

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Answer 2

Apr 29, 2026 10:04 AM in response to J0n3sy

In my opinion I would return the device if you are in the Telus Mobility return period (usually 14 days when purchased from Apple). That is not normal behavior for an Apple Watch to be dead by 10am after a full charge under any circumstances.

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Answer 3

Apr 30, 2026 8:08 PM in response to J0n3sy

Don’t place the watch in the low power mode with it’s at 100% charge. This is not what it intended for… This will degrade the battery life.

Take the watch and you wear it for the day and see if the battery runs down fast. Don’t make any phone calls on it.

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Answer 4

J0n3sy Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 29, 2026 9:26 AM in response to Mac Jim ID

I am in Canada, but the watch came new in an Apple sealed box from my Cellular Provider (Telus Mobility); likely leftover stock. The watch battery indicate 100% battery life. I am able to add AppleCare to the watch so as far as I can tell, it is new. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

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Answer 5

J0n3sy Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 29, 2026 10:38 AM in response to David M Brewer

No, I have it locked down pretty good with the School Time features and even if he exits school time, the allowable apps are very limited. They are pretty strict with "Cellphone" use in the schools. If anything, he is looking at how many steps he's taken or how he is doing on his activity rings. Again, I feel like it is related to the poor cellular coverage (1 or 2 bars). I thought connecting it to the Wifi at the school would help...but no.

David M Brewer wrote:

The phone on the watch will drain the watch battery very fast. Maybe your son is doing something at school he doesn’t do when he at home.

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Answer 6

J0n3sy Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 30, 2026 4:42 PM in response to J0n3sy

Just a quick update. We did try one day of leaving it on low power mode. That definitely prevented the watch from dying and by the time he was done school it was still at 75% but I still feel like putting it on Low Power Mode defeats the purpose of the watch. We tried turning off “walkie talkie” today to see if there would be any difference; we did not put the watch on low power mode. See image attached… died in a couple hours. My next step is to disable school time and see if that has any effect. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

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Answer 7

Apr 29, 2026 10:11 AM in response to J0n3sy

The phone on the watch will drain the watch battery very fast. Maybe your son is doing something at school he doesn’t do when he at home.

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