Anybody notice better battery life on 6.1?

Apple Watch 4 on WatchOS 6.1 showing battery drained at 10% after 40 minutes of workout tracking


This happened two days in a row. After updating to WatchOS 6.1, my fully charged Apple Watch 4 would show battery level below 10% after a 40 minutes work out which is the exact same routine I've had prior to updating to the latest OS since I purchased it in Oct 2018. Before the update, it usually takes 30% of the battery for an hour of workout tracking.

Yesterday when it first happened, the battery seemed to be completely drained in 40 minutes of workout. Today the same thing happened and the watch shut down itself again. It could't be turned back on unless it's connected to a charger. When I placed it on a charging dock, it powered on itself and showed 68% battery left. I'm unsure if it's a software issue or the battery needs to be replaced. Seems odd that the battery would suddenly fail after an update.

Anyone experiencing the same issue?
 

Ah you mine using data watch only? Ok fair enough. I have the gps only model as I don’t use cellular on my watch and it drains too much for my liking
 
The Game 161 said:
Ah you mine using data watch only? Ok fair enough. I have the gps only model as I don’t use cellular on my watch and it drains too much for my liking
Click to expand...

ya I guess the cell version was a mistake for battery length for my active lifestyle
 
I went to the gym with 100%. Went down to 60% after 2 hours of music and workout on Cell. That’s a lot
 
DoctorApple said:
Apple Watch 4 on WatchOS 6.1 showing battery drained at 10% after 40 minutes of workout tracking


This happened two days in a row. After updating to WatchOS 6.1, my fully charged Apple Watch 4 would show battery level below 10% after a 40 minutes work out which is the exact same routine I've had prior to updating to the latest OS since I purchased it in Oct 2018. Before the update, it usually takes 30% of the battery for an hour of workout tracking.

Yesterday when it first happened, the battery seemed to be completely drained in 40 minutes of workout. Today the same thing happened and the watch shut down itself again. It could't be turned back on unless it's connected to a charger. When I placed it on a charging dock, it powered on itself and showed 68% battery left. I'm unsure if it's a software issue or the battery needs to be replaced. Seems odd that the battery would suddenly fail after an update.

Anyone experiencing the same issue?
Click to expand...

I did as soon as I updated. I backed my iPhone up to iCloud, unpaired and re-paired my watch and it returned back to the battery life I had.
 
8 hours into my day and I’m at 75%. I do have the screen brightness on the lowest setting but even in sunny conditions it’s bright enough to see the screen. Pretty happy after going from series 3 42mm to series 5 40mm with all that talk about bigger screen bigger battery. This seems to be the same , if not even better than series 3
 
Just tested to have AOD off during the night and then took off cellular during day as well. After 23 hours with 3.5h of active use I still have 50% left! Conclusion is that during the night with AOD off I manager to drain less than 2%/h I lost 14% during the night (9 hours). But keeping AOD off really feels wrong, might as well have kept my AW2.
Next I will try to see what complications impact battery life. Siri off, no Noise and no RTW in all scenarios.
 
nph said:
Just tested to have AOD off during the night and then took off cellular during day as well. After 23 hours with 3.5h of active use I still have 50% left! Conclusion is that during the night with AOD off I manager to drain less than 2%/h I lost 14% during the night (9 hours). But keeping AOD off really feels wrong, might as well have kept my AW2.
Next I will try to see what complications impact battery life. Siri off, no Noise and no RTW in all scenarios.
Click to expand...

that’s what theater mode is for. You don’t need to take off AOD with Theater mode.
 
AW4 here and no change with 6.1.

All days im down to 52%ish by bedtime with 1 1hr workout in the day.

All background refresh on
Raise to wake on
Noise detection off
Fall detection on
Everything else it can do is on

Totally happy.
 
DoctorApple said:
Apple Watch 4 on WatchOS 6.1 showing battery drained at 10% after 40 minutes of workout tracking


Anyone experiencing the same issue?
Click to expand...

This happens with my Apple Watch 4 SS in connection with my powerbeats pro when the watch switches off after about 40 minutes of training and is restarted with only 10% battery power. The watch is 1 year old and apple destroys everything with a damn update !!

absolutely nothing for a workout!
 
My Series 2 watch battery definitely improved. If I go back to back days without working out, I am able to take my watch off the charger when I wake up morning of Day 1 and have no issue making it to bedtime on Day 2. That was beginning to become a struggle, but now it's no problem at all.
 
40 hours with 5.5 active hours and 15 percent left on AW5.
AOD off
3 complications
RTW off
Lise off
Siri off
App refresh on for select apps
 
14.5 hours standby, 2 hr 50 min usage. 1 hour workout at gym with heartrate on strength training mode, streaming apple radio on cellular with phone on airplane mode in locker. at 45%. Really pleased with how battery usage has settled down and now very consistent. aod on, rtw off, listen to music during day and otherwise normal usage, quite a few texts, couple of phone calls etc.
 
A week after unpairing and repairing my S4, it is back to its old ways of battery drain being over 12% an hour.

What I have been noticing is that when checking my usage, it has been equaling the amount of standby time. I doubt this is a coincidence with the battery issues. Basically it appears the watch isn't going into standby mode at all.

I'll be unpairing the watch again, but I have a very strong feeling that after a week, the same thing will happen. It has to be software related since I didn't have any of these issues prior to updating to OS 6/6.1.

Can anyone who is having battery issues check their usage statistics and confirm their total usage equals their standby?
 
Last edited:
StaceyMJ86 said:
I did as soon as I updated. I backed my iPhone up to iCloud, unpaired and re-paired my watch and it returned back to the battery life I had.
Click to expand...
The next iOS update fixed it for me. That one is honestly the worst update I’ve had. I don’t criticize Apple a lot but omg, the update is horrendous. It broke so many things.
 
Ack_ said:
Can anyone who is having battery issues check their usage statistics and confirm their total usage equals their standby?
Click to expand...

Yes, me too. I use Apple Watch series 4 and an iPhone 7, and so does my wife. We had no issues until a few weeks ago and now both experience watch usage time equalling standby time, rapid battery drain on the watch (5-7% per hour), and also rapid battery drain on our iPhones. Initially it seemed to be fixed a week ago by signing out of iCloud and back in again, but my problem returned after a few days. My wife’s watch is still behaving normally for now....
 
Just received my new S5. Upgraded from an S4.
Same config, with AOD on. Nearly Same Battery life (2,5% per hour). Very good so far.
 
6.1.1 battery life seems better. I was averaging a 2.8% usage per hour on 6.1 with AOD switched on and light use. Now I am consuming 2.4% an hour. It may not seem like much but over 20 hours that's 8% less.
 
Bazooka-joe said:
6.1.1 battery life seems better. I was averaging a 2.8% usage per hour on 6.1 with AOD switched on and light use. Now I am consuming 2.4% an hour. It may not seem like much but over 20 hours that's 8% less.
Click to expand...

With the last update, my watch would die within 5 hours. I’m waiting a few days before updating to 6.1.1.
 
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