AW Ultra 1 drastic battery change

[C7 POWER]

Anyone with the original Ultra start to notice a drastic battery life change?

I used to get 3 days. Now, it was fully charged as if 11:13 last night, and as if 10:06 pm, it’s at 44%.

On current AW TIME OS 11.1.

i can’t figure out how barely 2 days now. Battery health is 98%.

 

[doogm]

Well, sure, but max capacity on mine is at 90%. I haven't had battery life as it was when first released for quite a while now. Then again, I do use the 80% charge limit now to see if that will reduce max capacity loss, and all I really need t o be able to do is to get through 24 hours from 80%, as I always charge when I am showering / washing up for the day. Compared to my other Apple Watches (S5 and S2), the Ultra after twi years has been fantastic - both of those watches required recharging at some point during the day at just before two years, and for the entire third year.

 

[jz0309]

Anyone with the original Ultra start to notice a drastic battery life change?

I used to get 3 days. Now, it was fully charged as if 11:13 last night, and as if 10:06 pm, it’s at 44%.

On current AW TIME OS 11.1.

i can’t figure out how barely 2 days now. Battery health is 98%.

I’ve notice in the past 4-5 days larger drain, wouldn’t call it drastic, yet.
I charge my U2 every other night and usually it would still show 100% before I start my workout, now it’s at 98% before I start and 93-94% when I’m done with it.
And at the end of the 2nd day I’d see 40-45% and now it 33-35%.
Again, this happened the last 4-5 days.

Feels like the mothership is calling…

 

[Basic75]

Do y'all occasionally drain the battery to the point of auto power off to calibrate the percentage?

 

[CR90]

Definitely a decline after the latest Apple Watches were released, used to get over two days and now I’m at a day and a half. Also went from 95% battery health to 90% with watchOS11

 

[qpid360]

Well, sure, but max capacity on mine is at 90%. I haven't had battery life as it was when first released for quite a while now. Then again, I do use the 80% charge limit now to see if that will reduce max capacity loss, and all I really need t o be able to do is to get through 24 hours from 80%, as I always charge when I am showering / washing up for the day. Compared to my other Apple Watches (S5 and S2), the Ultra after twi years has been fantastic - both of those watches required recharging at some point during the day at just before two years, and for the entire third year.

You’re able to set an 80% max charge limit on an AWU1? Or did you mean Optimized Charging?

 

[doogm]

You’re able to set an 80% max charge limit on an AWU1? Or did you mean Optimized Charging?

Right, optimized charging, which is essentially a max charge limit for me - I think it's charged past that maybe twice a month, and I haven't seen a full charge in months.

 

[jz0309]

I’ve notice in the past 4-5 days larger drain, wouldn’t call it drastic, yet.
I charge my U2 every other night and usually it would still show 100% before I start my workout, now it’s at 98% before I start and 93-94% when I’m done with it.
And at the end of the 2nd day I’d see 40-45% and now it 33-35%.
Again, this happened the last 4-5 days.

Feels like the mothership is calling…

I should have added that I rebooted the watch twice in the pat few days, usually, after an OS update, that balances things out again, in this case it made no difference.

 

[tommy060289]

Another one here. I’ve got an AW1

Battery health is 85%

Thursday charged to 100% at 4 pm. 24 hours later and one hour GPS workout it’s at 20%. I used to be able to get 36 hours and TWO workouts.

It’s the background drag I thing causing most drain. I charge up before bed and would wake up 7 hours later normally 94-96% battery. Now it’s rarely above 90%. Even with 85% battery doubling is silly!

 

[Beligerent]

I can’t bring myself to buy a $700 watch that runs on a non user replaceable battery

 

[jz0309]

I can’t bring myself to buy a $700 watch that runs on a non user replaceable battery

and what does that have to do with this thread?

 

[jz0309]

I have not seen any improvement despite rebooting another few times and draining it to shutdown.
Hopefully 11.2, which is expected to be released next week will improve this

 

[Howard2k]

I can’t bring myself to buy a $700 watch that runs on a non user replaceable battery

It’s mandatory. You must do it.

 

[xxFoxtail]

My battery health capacity is at 88% now. Though, I’ve owned it for nearly two years. I certainly don’t get the battery life I used to. I make sure to charge it up to 100% before putting it back on and going to sleep. It drops anywhere from 5-10% overnight. and anywhere from 50-80% during the day. Still better battery life than my old Series 7 though.

 

[doogm]

Well, sure, but max capacity on mine is at 90%.

Mine is now at 88% as of December 1 (I check it the first of every month), so that was a big drop in two weeks. At this point I'm fairly certain that I'll be upgrading to next year's Ultra model - I had been hoping to wait for 2026, to make it four years between purchases, but not with this level of capacity loss.

 

[Markakett]

Mine is at 91% at 22 months. I noticed a couple of things since OS11. Optimized charging isn’t working the same. It still pauses before charging to 100% but it used to stop at 80% now it always goes to 100%. Battery health was at 96 at that time. It was odd but it dropped quickly to 94, then 92 over a 3 week span. It has held at 91 for a while now. I’m not overly concerned, 91% at almost 2 years seems OK. I wear it every day and charge it every night.

 

[GLS]

95% battery capacity at 24 months for mine, but I don't wear it every day. Maybe 2-3 days a week.

And it does drain noticeably faster than it did last summer, so...something about WatchOS 11 and the OG Ultra.

 

[Agile55]

95% battery capacity at 24 months for mine, but I don't wear it every day. Maybe 2-3 days a week.

And it does drain noticeably faster than it did last summer, so...something about WatchOS 11 and the OG Ultra.

94% here, also 24 months but worn daily & in agreement w/ your last sentence.

 

[oMc]

I have a similar experience. Day one Ultra 1 from October 2022, so nearly 2.5 years of ownership now. During the first year, under watchOS 9, I could get easily 60-72 hours of battery life with normal use (AOD on, etc., but no cellular data plan)

The battery took quite a hit after the release of watchOS 10, and again with watchOS 11. Now, it's 36-48 hours depending on the amount of workouts. I can stretch it more with low power mode but I do that only when I really need to. I bought a 900-1000€ smartwatch to use all its features.

Of course, the battery also degrades with time, mine is at 88% right now. So, add that to the fact that watchOS is more and more demanding (or less and less optimized for older watches) and there you go, you lost 20-30% of your original battery life in total.

But keep in mind that Apple always advertised the Ultra to last 36 hours on normal usage and 60-72 hours on low power mode, and that's totally what I am able to get even nowadays, so technically the watch still works as advertised... (one could say that Apple was very conservative to begin with).

I am still very happy with the watch, it's a tank and as long as it conformably last the full day, I'm good. I am even considering keeping it and replacing the battery if it ever drops under 80%, but we'll see that the next Ultra models bring to the table.