Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Releases watchOS 10.1.1 With Fix for Apple Watch Battery Drain Bug

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,957
38,668


Apple today released watchOS 10.1.1, a bug fix update for the watchOS 10 operating system that first came out in September. watchOS 10.1.1 comes two weeks after the launch of watchOS 10.1, an update that brought Double Tap and NameDrop support.

watchOS-10-Launch-Feature.jpg

‌watchOS 10‌‌.1.1 can be downloaded for free through the Apple Watch app on an iPhone running iOS 17 or later by opening it up and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery and it needs to be placed on a charger.

Today's update addresses an issue that is causing some Apple Watch models to drain battery more quickly than expected. Complaints about Apple Watch battery started after the launch of watchOS 10.1, and Apple confirmed in a memo over the weekend that the battery problems would be fixed in a software release.
This update provides important bug fixes and addresses an issue that could cause the battery to drain more quickly for some users.
Click to expand...
Apple is already testing watchOS 10.2, an update that is expected to be released alongside iOS 17.2 in December.

Article Link: Apple Releases watchOS 10.1.1 With Fix for Apple Watch Battery Drain Bug
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/11/07/apple-releases-watchos-10-1-1/
Last edited:
Oddly, I have a Watch Series 9 cellular model and haven't noticed any problematic battery drain issues. I guess I'll install the update but it doesn't seem all that pressing to me.
 
Luckily I didnt feel like I had this issue. Now at 10PM I put my watch to charge and it has 20% still, last charged at 1AM.
S7 with 87% battery health
 
it appears the auto brightness / dimming issue was addressed... others seeing this as well?

update: may have spoken too soon... seems it started dimming again...
 
My Utra 2’s performance has been nothing short of stellar! No battery drain or complication problems whatsoever. An impressive piece of engineering feat! ✌️
 
  • Like
Reactions: tridley68
My wife experienced much shorter battery life on her cellular Series 8. Hopefully this will help. I didn't realize it may be an actual widespread issue, since there are always complaints about battery with OS updates, hard to determine what isn't a YMMV situation.
kenbewick said:
it appears the auto brightness / dimming issue was addressed... others seeing this as well?

update: may have spoken too soon... seems it started dimming again...
Click to expand...
If you're talking about the dimming to 1% during video playback, I hope this fixes it. Such a bizarre issue, does it affect models other than 15 Pro?
 
  • Like
Reactions: sydneysider88 and aloyouis
Eldaerenth Faexidor said:
My Utra 2’s performance has been nothing short of stellar! No battery drain or complication problems whatsoever. An impressive piece of engineering feat! ✌️
Click to expand...
The same engineering as the first. Just the software probably had more time spent on it ensuring the newest and best models are optimised like crazy.

I am astounded how well my Intel Mac runs Sonoma though... must be lucky :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: macdaddy43
Also fixed with this release is displaying the heart rate complication that was broken in 10.1.0. (I just installed the update, and it works again)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Glideslope
The update seemed to fixed the complication issue of having the EGC and blood oxygen complication not visible on some watch faces. I did not have any other issues on battery drain as the update mentioned in the article.
 
Last edited:
kenbewick said:
it appears the auto brightness / dimming issue was addressed... others seeing this as well?

update: may have spoken too soon... seems it started dimming again...
Click to expand...
Nighttime screen brightness of my Ultra 2 drives me really mad: what's use of 3000nits display when there's only 3 steps for brightness possible from Settings, and the brightest setting is hardly readable to me. Out of ideas currently how to get my Ultra 2 usable.

I really miss the previous possibility to tune brightness by just rolling the crown.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CriCorte, Mac2Crack and kenbewick
sjsharksfan12 said:
This is one reason I don't like these updates all the time. The Watch Update is way too slow and inconvenient.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Not only are the updates too slow to download and install, the process is too finicky at times. Mine is stalled on pause because it’s convinced it’s no longer on a Wi-Fi network. I adore my AWU, but at times like this, having spent half an hour trying to get it to update I’m ready to toss it at the wall, haha. I don’t leave it charging overnight, so just want it to update on my schedule.

Edit: rebooting the Watch got it to begin downloading again. Oh good, it’s only estimating 1 hour to download instead of 1 day like before.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Disagree
Reactions: Baywatchboy, johnnygee, DocMultimedia and 1 other person
DocMultimedia said:
Still making me rather peeved. All Apple seems to do lately is add complexity to things that used to be easy/intuitive. 🤬🤬🤬
Click to expand...

They could at the very least add options. Apple seems to be very grudging about adding them, sticking them in the accessibility menu if at all. I could see them quietly adding this to the motor section. I don’t know why they are so opposed to just giving people choices. Doesn’t seem like it would even make it that much more complex, this is already how it used to work.

I suppose any change is a slippery slope. This is the problem Windows always had. As soon as they change the way it’s done and give people the option to keep the old way, everything starts getting forked.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NoGood@Usernames
Since I don't have the battery drain issue I think I will skip this update...at least for a few days so I can see what new bug is introduced.
 
A bug that makes people think their watch is old and needs a new battery JUST HAPPENED to occur immediately following the release of the series 9

I literally keep falling back on the excuse that my battery is shot and now I see this lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: sydneysider88 and JPJones
xDKP said:
Kinda worrying they mention it like an issue starting with 10.1 when 10.0 has been smashing my battery from early betas all through to today. Massive step down from WatchOS 9
Click to expand...

Exactly. Noticed it with 10.0 RC and was hoping there would be a minor update before final. Nothing until today. We’ll see…
 
  • Like
Reactions: xDKP
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back