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Apple Watch first gen battery lasts for 6 hours or less, and for Apple Support is OK

I

ik0adr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 12, 2015
13
2
Rome
Hi all.
My first gen steel AW a few months ago started to die after 5-6 hours, from normal 10-12h.
Bought it to Genius Bar, and after much testing they decided that this kind of battery performance is normal for such an old device, and does not deserve assistance.
I mean that they refused to open an assistance issue, since the battery passed the tests.
I think that to be forced to charge twice a day the device is not normal, regardless of the assistance testing results.
I would be happy to upgrade, but the only option they offered was to buy a new one at full price (!).
The trade-in evaluation for the old AW was 17€.. And no discount.
So little for an old-time customer..
I am very disappointed.

Federico, Rome (Italy)
 
I don’t have an Apple Watch myself but would be pretty disappointed if the battery didn’t last me through a full day.
 
So you have a four year old device, that you've been presumably using everyday. Discharging the battery and recharging it at least once a day, maybe twice. That's between 1500 and 3000 battery cycles.

It's now likely running an operating system that has many more features that it did four years ago, so it has a heavy battery draw. The battery itself is small, only 205-250 mAh.

Bottom line, like it or not, is that the device has reached the end of its life. It's time to upgrade to a newer one.

You bought a first generation device. First of its kind. It's been working for you for four years, apparently, and now you want Apple to give you a big discount just because you've been a long time customer? That doesn't make very much sense to me.
 
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If I were in your situation, I would just get the battery swapped by a good 3rd party shop.

Or perhaps buy a new AW and keep the S0 for use as a sleep tracker.
 
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I don't see the issue apart from Apple offering to do a battery replacement for a fee of course. Does Apple even replace batteries in Apple watches?
 
Have you powered off the watch and re-start it. Mine started doing the same thing a couple days ago, started looking for deals on new watch when I came across a comment to power cycle the watch. Bingo, back to normal.
 
Allyance said:
Have you powered off the watch and re-start it. Mine started doing the same thing a couple days ago, started looking for deals on new watch when I came across a comment to power cycle the watch. Bingo, back to normal.
Click to expand...

Was going to say the same thing... especially since it suddenly dropped in battery performance. It could also be that this started when one of the third party apps updated and started syncing more data with increased frequency. Disabling or uninstalling all but the most essential apps might help.

It's also possible that the battery hit a threshold at some point, and can no longer be charged more than 50% or so. I still have a Series 0 Apple Watch (38mm aluminum) that I wore every day until I got my S4. The S0 I have still lasts all day unless I run a workout. The workouts will run the battery down much faster than normal wear and usage. Still...I could do a one hour workout with that old watch and still have around 10% left at the end of the day. I was surprised that my watch was still doing well after more than 3 years, because I had seen reports of other S0 watches on this forum suffering far worse battery life after only 2 years. The batteries in my iPhones over the years all seem to start showing their age at around 2 years as well. I think my iPhone 6 battery was in really bad shape after 2.5 years.

If it's not software related, you might be able to pay to have the battery replaced... but honestly I wouldn't bother doing that with an original Apple Watch. Going from a Series 0 to a Series 4 is highly recommended. I expected an improvement, but the S4 surpassed my expectations. It's a whole new watch experience.
 
sean000 said:
Was going to say the same thing... especially since it suddenly dropped in battery performance. It could also be that this started when one of the third party apps updated and started syncing more data with increased frequency. Disabling or uninstalling all but the most essential apps might help.

It's also possible that the battery hit a threshold at some point, and can no longer be charged more than 50% or so. I still have a Series 0 Apple Watch (38mm aluminum) that I wore every day until I got my S4. The S0 I have still lasts all day unless I run a workout. The workouts will run the battery down much faster than normal wear and usage. Still...I could do a one hour workout with that old watch and still have around 10% left at the end of the day. I was surprised that my watch was still doing well after more than 3 years, because I had seen reports of other S0 watches on this forum suffering far worse battery life after only 2 years. The batteries in my iPhones over the years all seem to start showing their age at around 2 years as well. I think my iPhone 6 battery was in really bad shape after 2.5 years.

If it's not software related, you might be able to pay to have the battery replaced... but honestly I wouldn't bother doing that with an original Apple Watch. Going from a Series 0 to a Series 4 is highly recommended. I expected an improvement, but the S4 surpassed my expectations. It's a whole new watch experience.
Click to expand...


Many thanks all.
I switched off and on several times without improvements in battery life.
Maybe it's only age.
Will get a S4 ASAP.
Best regards!!
 
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Blaze4G said:
Thanks...wow the price though lol. Might as well get a new watch.
Click to expand...

why?

91,45 Euro for a battery swap ain't that bad
[doublepost=1556193653][/doublepost]
ik0adr said:
Many thanks all.
I switched off and on several times without improvements in battery life.
Maybe it's only age.
Will get a S4 ASAP.
Best regards!!
Click to expand...

the s4 is a huge improvement over the s0 indeed

if you need it now, go and get it

if you can wait, the s5 is around the corner (5 months or so)
 
ChrisChaval said:
why?

91,45 Euro for a battery swap ain't that bad
[doublepost=1556193653][/doublepost]

the s4 is a huge improvement over the s0 indeed

if you need it now, go and get it

if you can wait, the s5 is around the corner (5 months or so)
Click to expand...
Woops! I saw the out of warranty rate and thought that was the cost of the battery replacement. I didn't scroll all the way to the bottom. You're correct, that isn't so bad.
 
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Blaze4G said:
Thanks...wow the price though lol. Might as well get a new watch.
Click to expand...
They essentially give you a new watch. They can’t replace the battery, they swap the unit. And being they no longer manufacturer the S0, they would likely replace it with an S1 or even S2 at this point.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
They essentially give you a new watch. They can’t replace the battery, they swap the unit. And being they no longer manufacturer the S0, they would likely replace it with an S1 or even S2 at this point.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a good deal!
 
Mlrollin91 said:
They essentially give you a new watch. They can’t replace the battery, they swap the unit. And being they no longer manufacturer the S0, they would likely replace it with an S1 or even S2 at this point.
Click to expand...
There wasn't a stainless steel series 1 so they would likely replace it with a series 2 watch.
 
In the UK at least, Apple will replace a battery for £83 out of warranty.
BA67D808-688A-4062-AE26-FE411ED4F410.png
D8A99A8A-E7FF-4DA8-991E-1450E18066E0.png
 
ManicMarc said:
In the UK at least, Apple will replace a battery for £83 out of warranty.
View attachment 834117 View attachment 834116
Click to expand...

Not really so here in Italy (at last with my AW).
Maybe I did not explain well: having the watch switching off after 5-6h, I went to the Genius Bar hoping to have it fixed at maybe 95€: fixed or replaced was OK for me.
The problem is that after testing the Apple Assistance decided that it was NOT faulty, and refused to fix or replace it at 95, 270 or whatsoever. As already said, the only option I had offered was to purchase a new one at full price.
Maybe I have to wait until it swallows, or switch off after 30 seconds: in that case (maybe..) it would result broken also at Apple Support tests, and become eligible for reparation. :(

PS: if anyone at Apple is reading this, the case ID was 100800429996, and the repair ticket went wrong was R420607644. I am still hoping that something just went wrong in communication, and that this issue may be resolved.

PPS: I started with an Apple //e many (too many) years ago, and after many Macs, iPods, iPads, iPhones and this AW it's the first time I am really disappointed.
 
Last edited:
On starting from scratch, with no apps, the battery lasts for 5hrs.
It switches off after 5 hours also if kept still on a table, so the screen activation has no role.
 
Mine stared doing that so I moved to an s2. The amusing thing is that the battery on my s0 swelled up and popped the screen, so I was able to replace the s0 battery myself...go figure.
 
I'd personally consider the S0 beyond economical repair, time to invent in a S4 or wait till the S5. I upgraded from the S2 to S4 and the difference in performance is amazing.
 
For a 4 year old item with a small battery, I'm not surprised the battery is dying. It's also not unreasonable that Apple won't service it under warranty or special circumstances.

Time to bite the bullet and upgrade! There are good deals on Series 3 watches right now, if money is a concern. Otherwise, go for a Series 4, you won't be disappointed!
 
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