AW Series 6 and watchOS 26.0.2 battery drain

[Mr Bungle]

Before updating to watchOS 26.0.2, the battery on my Series 6 Apple Watch almost never dropped below 20% by the end of the day. Now, it always falls below 10% well before the day is over. Am I the only one experiencing this?

 

[jz0309]

Before updating to watchOS 26.0.2, the battery on my Series 6 Apple Watch almost never dropped below 20% by the end of the day. Now, it always falls below 10% well before the day is over. Am I the only one experiencing this?

Have you rebooted watch and phone?
Battery optimization typically comes with .1 and/or .2 releases of new OS

 

[kitKAC]

Before updating to watchOS 26.0.2, the battery on my Series 6 Apple Watch almost never dropped below 20% by the end of the day. Now, it always falls below 10% well before the day is over. Am I the only one experiencing this?

Sorry, the battery life of my S6 on 26.0.2 is the same as it was. Some days, I even think it's better than it used to be.

 

[engbren]

I experienced significant battery drain on my cellular SS 44mm S6 Apple Watch with watchOS 26. I didn’t have any issue on the previous watchOS with the watch easily lasting the full day even with tracking workouts. On watchOS 26, I was lucky to get half a day with a workout being tracked, or would be hitting low power mode by early evening without any workouts tracked. I checked my battery health and it was showing up as service recommended at 76%. I’ve dropped it off at Apple for a battery replacement and will report back once I get it back.

 

[babalougots]

Have same issue with Series 7 Natural Ti. Hopefully will be fixed in 26.1 In the meantime, I either charge during the day for 20 minutes or I enable Low Power Mode when not near a charger.

 

[Mr Bungle]

Have you rebooted watch and phone?
Battery optimization typically comes with .1 and/or .2 releases of new OS

I did, but it didn't change. Thanks anyway!

 

[robotron2084]

I had exactly the same issue, and so did my wife. Tried reboots and waited a few days for things to sync/refresh/whatever to no avail. In the end I did a full reset and that seems to have fixed it.

What a rubbish update.

 

[Aaplipad]

Yes. Same issues with Series 9 watch. Very frustrating.

 

[babalougots]

Update: battery drain seems to have subsided. Guessing it's the indexing, etc. with the update. Battery health is 82%. Good to know I can just use Low Power Mode when needed.

 

[macos9rules]

I'm experiencing the same problem with my Apple Watch Series 9. The battery has been draining quickly since the latest update, and I haven’t noticed any new features that could explain it. I can’t even get through the day without recharging. I wish I could revert to the previous version. I just unpaired and repaired the watch to see if it helps.

 

[Aaplipad]

I'm experiencing the same problem with my Apple Watch Series 9. The battery has been draining quickly since the latest update, and I haven’t noticed any new features that could explain it. I can’t even get through the day without recharging. I wish I could revert to the previous version. I just unpaired and repaired the watch to see if it helps.

I did a reset and restore. No difference. iOS 26 & WatchOS 26 sucks.

 

[engbren]

I finally received my AW series 6 back from Apple after a battery replacement. The battery life certainly lasts a full day and with care I could probably stretch it to two days. It’s a little worse than on older watchOS versions but not drastically so.