Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The watchOS 10 battery life thread [MERGED]
- Thread starter szilske
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
My experience:
I've been postponing updating my phone and watches for months because of this. I was on 17.0.3 on my phone and my watches (AW8 and Ultra2) were on 10.0.something. The other day my phone updated to 17.4 without my permission. I probably accidentally told it to update or something. I was concerned but I had no issues with with battery life on my watches. So yesterday I updated to 17.5 on my phone and the battery on both of my watches went crazy. Both of them started dropping like they were falling off of a cliff. I updated both watches to 10.5, restarted both of them and they've both been fine ever since. I wore the AW8 yesterday and it took over an hour to lose 1%. I ended the day at 66%, which is about normal. This morning, I took the UW2 off of the charger at 6:00. It's 7:40 right now and it is still at 100% (raise to wake, not AOD).
I don't know if I would have had the problems with battery if I'd updated sooner, but 17.5 with non-updated watches was definitely an issue. All is good now though, and I couldn't be happier with it.
I don't know if this helps anyone on the fence about updating. For me, 17.5 and 10.5 seems good for both the phone and the watches.
I've been postponing updating my phone and watches for months because of this. I was on 17.0.3 on my phone and my watches (AW8 and Ultra2) were on 10.0.something. The other day my phone updated to 17.4 without my permission. I probably accidentally told it to update or something. I was concerned but I had no issues with with battery life on my watches. So yesterday I updated to 17.5 on my phone and the battery on both of my watches went crazy. Both of them started dropping like they were falling off of a cliff. I updated both watches to 10.5, restarted both of them and they've both been fine ever since. I wore the AW8 yesterday and it took over an hour to lose 1%. I ended the day at 66%, which is about normal. This morning, I took the UW2 off of the charger at 6:00. It's 7:40 right now and it is still at 100% (raise to wake, not AOD).
I don't know if I would have had the problems with battery if I'd updated sooner, but 17.5 with non-updated watches was definitely an issue. All is good now though, and I couldn't be happier with it.
I don't know if this helps anyone on the fence about updating. For me, 17.5 and 10.5 seems good for both the phone and the watches.
10.4 on my U2 and my S7 were great for battery life, originally my U2 was 40-45% when I put it on the charger and 10.4 moved that up to 45-50%, this is after ~38hrs of continuously wearing it.
I upgraded to 10.5 yesterday so I'm going to give it a couple weeks and see
I upgraded to 10.5 yesterday so I'm going to give it a couple weeks and see
Yes, but if something is not working properly, a restart is always the first easy thing to do
Agreed. During update there is a restart, but then there are some on-device tasks that run once the new OS boots up. So a restart a day later (or whenever) is a good opportunity to clean up any of those processes that got orphaned or abandoned.
It’s been over a week now since the 10.5 release. Theoretically any potential excess battery draining caused by indexing or background processes after install have minimized for those who installed the first day or so. Has anybody’s battery life improved from previous 10.x versions? Can anybody compare battery on 10.5 to 9.6.x versions?
I have only had one watchOS update that cause a real excess battery drain since I got it - from memory, I think it was the first update I received. (A watch 8 bought new in early 2023.) And even that wasn't so terrible - a surprise rather than a problem.
I have to do something because this is getting ridiculous. I'm losing 6%-8% per hour and the watch is either dead or almost dead by the end of the day. This has been ongoing since 10.4 for me...I used to be at 58% or so at the end of the day just a few months ago.
Update---So I unpaired, wiped everything and it's even worse. I put it on the charger at 86%, it's still on the charger and at 74%----UGH!
Edit---rebooted and now is charging "up" again.
Last edited:
This is pretty bad. I have the latest update. I took my watch off of charge at around 7:30am. It was 100%. By 9am it was at 77%, with minimal interaction other than unlocking it. I restarted the watch and when it came back on it was at 74%. The previous two days, by 5:30pm, I'm getting the 15% power notification.
This is ridiculous. This didn't start until the latest update.
This is ridiculous. This didn't start until the latest update.
the issue is probably not only related to the watch.
I am pretty sure it comes from the iPhone which tries to sync something without success.
Reboot both devices, it helps in a lot of cases
I am pretty sure it comes from the iPhone which tries to sync something without success.
Reboot both devices, it helps in a lot of cases
Apple Watch 7 on 10.5 and iPhone 15 plus with 17.5.1 —-I reset watch “as new” and it’s been 5 days and it’s back to how it’s supposed to be. I’m at 50% or so by the end of the day. Before this I was lucky to get a full day.
I am really p——d off with Apple and their damn updates that nag and nag you to update…
I finally gave in and updated both my iphone and watch to the latest and since then the watch battery has been discharging by 10% an hour
Before these updates the battery would last a full 24hrs with around 25% still remaining, now it’s dead by 6pm.
Tried a lot of fixes, nothing worked. Ended up doing a full reset and repairing as new - now to see if this basic ‘new’ watch battery will hold it’s charge.
Thanks Apple for totally screwing up my perfectly working watch and phone and not giving any way back…
I finally gave in and updated both my iphone and watch to the latest and since then the watch battery has been discharging by 10% an hour
Before these updates the battery would last a full 24hrs with around 25% still remaining, now it’s dead by 6pm.
Tried a lot of fixes, nothing worked. Ended up doing a full reset and repairing as new - now to see if this basic ‘new’ watch battery will hold it’s charge.
Thanks Apple for totally screwing up my perfectly working watch and phone and not giving any way back…
Just as a data point. Happened to notice my Watch 8 (on 10.5), at almost exactly 12 hours since charging this morning, is showing 83%. And I expect it to be mid-70s in the morning - another 12 hours.