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Apple watch series 5 dies at random times. Always says 100% battery

K

KTK1990

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 26, 2008
348
42
I am wondering if anyone has any fixes or ways to stop this issue.

Sometime in February my series 5 watch was having an issue where it would randomly shut down at about 50% battery or less, charge up to 99% quickly and take forever to get the final 1% charge. Apple was able to replicate the issue at the apple store and we replaced my watch. Diagnostics on the first watch showed that everything was running fine.

I setup the new watch as new and the same issue occurred. I contacted AppleCare and am working with a tier 2 advisor and have sent logs out but not heard back yet. For the past two weeks however my watch has never shown anything other than 100% battery. I charged it for the same time as I always do and it lasted about 30 hours of normal use (showing 100% the entire time). However yesterday I charged it for an hour extra right before I went grocery shopping for the next 2 weeks and within 45 minutes it was "dead".

Each time it dies it will just randomly not respond to any touches or button presses. Holding the side button will show the apple logo after a bit and the connect to watch charger snake like icon, or show the apple logo then go back to black and non-responsive. The only way to get it to be in a usable state is toss it on the charger for a bit and it will instantly show 100% battery.

I have tried setting up as new via the watch, unpairing and repairing, I am running the latest watchOS and iOS version, signing out of iCloud on iPhone/macbook with rebooting then signing in and rebooting, force restarting, power cycling, extremely heavy use trying to get to 0% battery then letting it charge overnight to try to recalibrate the battery percentage, complaining online, and sent all logs to Apple and am waiting responses.
 
Same happened to me

I fixed the issue not long ago when I deleted some Apple Watch apps but now having same issues again...
 
This is a known issue. Take the watch off after wearing it a few hours, turn it off for 15-30 min then turn it back on. Cooler the place the better. After a few mins it will calibrate to the correct percentage. this will last a few charges until it starts sticking at 100% for several hours. I do this about once a week. there is a huge thread on the apple discussions group. Replacing, repairing, setting up as new etc does not fix this. As long as you are getting 25-30 hours the battery is fine. Its some weird calibration issue Apple doesn't seem to fix.
 
richard371 said:
As long as you are getting 25-30 hours the battery is fine. Its some weird calibration issue Apple doesn't seem to fix.
Click to expand...

I tried turning the watch off for 45 minutes and it still showed at 100%.

I actually am getting varied amounts. Sunday I had it on the charger for about an hour and it died 45 minutes later (No apps used, tilted to view time once, no music playing or maps in the background). I've had it last various times, I once left it on the charger about 2 weeks ago for 8 hours and the watch was "dead" 6 hours later.
 
How long was it off the charger before you turned it off? If its only a couple of hours it will stay at 100. I recommend leaving it off at least 5-6 hours then shut it down. But regardless if its at 100 when you take it off the charger it should last 24-30 hours. Could be another issue.
 
richard371 said:
How long was it off the charger before you turned it off? If its only a couple of hours it will stay at 100. I recommend leaving it off at least 5-6 hours then shut it down. But regardless if its at 100 when you take it off the charger it should last 24-30 hours. Could be another issue.
Click to expand...

I believe the last two times I tried that were for about 35 minutes and it was off the charger maybe 6 hours and 7 hours? Gave it 4 hours of charging, it claimed to be at 100% the entire time even after a reboot, then died at 4 am according to a sleep tracking app.
 
I deleted two Apple Watch apps and it’s fixed my issue...basically like i did before. You can always install them back on again
 
I'm having the same issue - Apple support says all my diagnostics are showing as normal, yet the problem continues going on weeks now. Any specific Apple Watch apps you deleted that fixed the issue?
 
I started getting this issue a few days ago, hopefully it is something they can fix with a software update.
 
My issue has gone away now so maybe just delete some Apple Watch apps and reinstall them on the watch.
 
My issue ended up going away as strangely as it appeared. I did not delete any apps and after multiple reboots, re-installs and setup as new, logging profiles installed, diagnostics sent, etc it just randomly started working one day and has been working since.

Ironically it was the same day that my adviser called me (Strangely the phone never rang and it went straight to voicemail) and said the engineers were notified and is aware of the issue and there is nothing we can do but wait for them to fix it in a future update, was the same day it started working like normal again.
 
Just following up, my watch has not had the issue in the last 3 days. Hopefully it won’t appear again. It would be interesting to find out what caused it.
 
KTK1990 said:
I am wondering if anyone has any fixes or ways to stop this issue.

Sometime in February my series 5 watch was having an issue where it would randomly shut down at about 50% battery or less, charge up to 99% quickly and take forever to get the final 1% charge. Apple was able to replicate the issue at the apple store and we replaced my watch. Diagnostics on the first watch showed that everything was running fine.

I setup the new watch as new and the same issue occurred. I contacted AppleCare and am working with a tier 2 advisor and have sent logs out but not heard back yet. For the past two weeks however my watch has never shown anything other than 100% battery. I charged it for the same time as I always do and it lasted about 30 hours of normal use (showing 100% the entire time). However yesterday I charged it for an hour extra right before I went grocery shopping for the next 2 weeks and within 45 minutes it was "dead".

Each time it dies it will just randomly not respond to any touches or button presses. Holding the side button will show the apple logo after a bit and the connect to watch charger snake like icon, or show the apple logo then go back to black and non-responsive. The only way to get it to be in a usable state is toss it on the charger for a bit and it will instantly show 100% battery.

I have tried setting up as new via the watch, unpairing and repairing, I am running the latest watchOS and iOS version, signing out of iCloud on iPhone/macbook with rebooting then signing in and rebooting, force restarting, power cycling, extremely heavy use trying to get to 0% battery then letting it charge overnight to try to recalibrate the battery percentage, complaining online, and sent all logs to Apple and am waiting responses.
Click to expand...

Mine is doing the exact same thing! and due to the this lovely little virus, getting help is next to impossible. I had one chat session with a tech genius. Very nice and helped as much as he could but ultimately, said I would need to have it looked at to check for damage. I don't think there is any damage. I think it is a software issue somewhere or, as one of the other posters noted, a calibration issue. It would shut down as though the battery was dead even though it was at 99-100%. Driving me nuts because I keep missing texts or calls because my phone is silenced, anticipating notification on my wrist. Hope they fix this soon. In the mean time, I guess I will start deleting anything I don't use on the watch. first time I am ever experiencing this level of frustration with an Apple product.
 
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D1G1TALR0B0T said:
Just following up, my watch has not had the issue in the last 3 days. Hopefully it won’t appear again. It would be interesting to find out what caused it.
Click to expand...

I just deleted a whole bunch of apps from my watch.
I have shut it off and restarted it several times (and will continue to do so throughout the day).
I'll try to remember to get on this DB and post my findings.
thanks everyone for sharing what worked for you, and what didn't.
Hoping this somehow makes its way to Apple so they can send a fix for it. Annoying as all heck.
 
JHill205 said:
I just deleted a whole bunch of apps from my watch.
I have shut it off and restarted it several times (and will continue to do so throughout the day).
I'll try to remember to get on this DB and post my findings.
thanks everyone for sharing what worked for you, and what didn't.
Hoping this somehow makes its way to Apple so they can send a fix for it. Annoying as all heck.
Click to expand...

Update, same day - Watch just shut off on me again, giving the indication that the battery was dead. Put it on the charger and, no, it says it is 100%. So, deleting apps didn't do it. Maybe a hammer will?
 
I just take mine off and shut it down for about 30 mins or so and then its fine for a few days then it sticks at 100% for several hours. I still get almost 30 hours though.
 
It sounds sorta like a battery calibration bug. My Samsung S3 watch did this a couple weeks ago--would come off charge at 100% and no more than one hour later it's telling me it's at 15% and wants to enable ultra saving mode. I ignore it and it is still sitting at 15% 8 hours later.

No such issue yet with my Apple watches but in the Gear's case, it was a simple reboot of watch and phone (my Galaxy S5 was trying to push an update to the watch possibly causing this bug, the update was failing since I blocked updates from the phone)

Also I tend to charge from 50% to 100% completely and don't take it off when it's at say, 78-99% since it seems to mess with the battery meter's accuracy.
 
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Ok, Sunday's update: Yesterday was nothing short of frustrating. Called Apple using my existing case number. Only option they really suggested was to send the watch in for examination (determine if I somehow damaged) and possible repair/replacement. Oh, I could do the "rapid replacement" for $69 and a hold would be put on my card until they received this watch...
So, I spent yesterday trying to reset my watch. Every time I tried to restore it from backup, I had the same problem. Actually, it would freeze up or shut down in the middle of trying to pair the watch! So, I said to heck with it and paired it as though it was a new watch. That seems to have kept it from shutting down (I say that since it was still powered on when I awoke this morning) however my battery level is still at 100%. I truly think there is a calibration issue with the software somewhere. I am very cognizant (can be read - uptight or some other less polite terminology) of when I charge my watch, where it is in the charge process when I remove it, etc. Meaning, I try to run it down below 20% (if not 10%) before I charge it. Then, I charge it fully. Frustrates me when I try to do things using best practice and it Still creates problems. At least it is staying on now...
Side Note: I had turned the "always on" feature off (prior to all this) shortly after I got this Series 5 as it seemed I was getting poor battery life. Actually, I typically had my watch in "theater mode" most times to get the most life as possible from the battery. Now, since doing all this jazz yesterday, I have left it in Always On mode and - much to my surprise - it says I still have 100% battery...dare I believe it? I think not...

richard371 said:
I just take mine off and shut it down for about 30 mins or so and then its fine for a few days then it sticks at 100% for several hours. I still get almost 30 hours though.
Click to expand...

I reset mine yesterday and I thought all was good. Just checked my battery status though and it says 100%. After wearing it all night...so, I shut it off, let it set for a minute or two and turned it back on. I truly think one of the other posters had it right - it seems like a battery calibration issue.
 
Last edited:
Just posted my experiences to Apple's blog.
Hoping it gets viewed there by someone who might be able to look into it.
Fingers = crossed
Breath = not being held...
 
Spoke too soon.
Watch just shut off.
Powered up when I put it on the charger and the green ring indicated that it was still, supposedly at 100%
Beyond frustrated right now. Approaching angry.
 
What watchOS are you running/have you updated recently? This could be a bug in an updated OS regarding the battery status/health.

I kept mine on 6.1.1 and don't believe in updates (I'm 'if it ain't broke' dont fix it and been angered by unnecessary changes in UI design in the past so I err on the side of caution and don't update if everything works) so I'm unaffected by any update related bugs.
 
I have the same issue on 6.2.5
Battery was charged 100% and within 3-4 hours it would drop to 29%. It hasn't happened before previous version.
 
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I was having the exact same issue with my S5, shutting down as soon as it reached 41% with no warning at all. I worked on the issue for a couple of weeks with Apple techs, and ultimately sent it in for repair on May 9. Still waiting to get it back. :-(
 
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