I'm with ya! It still leaves me a little befuddled that they don't have a more streamlined process. When I call, I have to repeat all of my troubleshooting steps (the phrase I hear now is, "We have to verify you did it while on the phone with you. If you don't complete these troubleshooting steps, we cannot proceed.") before they collect logs and submit them. If we skipped all of that and went right to the logs, the call would be faster and they'd get the necessary information much quicker, which could help with the actual investigation by Engineering.
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Some Apple Watch Series 5 Owners Seeing Issues With Inconsistent Battery Levels and Random Shutdowns
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My Apple Watch 5 has been charging to 99% relatively quickly, then holding there for what seems like half an hour or more. Usually it charges more than 1% a minute.
we’ve replaced an S5 Watch 3x so far because of battery issues. I’ve owned every series to date, easily the worst one based on reliability alone and Apple’s “send it in and you’ll eventually get one back” service isn’t acceptable for the first year of owning anything as vital to one’s health monitoring as this Watch. It’s definitely been an “I wish I had a better option than Apple” moment for someone who’s been loyal for two decades and never felt that way before.
This started happening to my series 5 in December. Also during runs with GPS, Bluetooth, and Cellular going. It was random and a reset would not fix it. However starting in June it would happen at least once a week. I could not even get a 2 mile run (Less than 16 minutes) in on a fresh recharge before it would total die without warning. Put it back on the charger and 5 minutes later I am back to 90%. Called Apple for service the diagnostic said there is nothing wrong and I pushed to have it sent in. That was July 6. I still have not heard a word or gotten it back. I have lost faith in the Apple Watch. I had a series 3 that I took off the charger one morning with a red triangle and it could not be fixed.
Here's how I fix it:
Let the Apple Watch "die" and then don't touch it for another 24 hours…let the Apple Watch battery completely get to zero. Apparently doing that helps the device recalculate the battery, and then you'll be able to charge back from true 0% to 100%.
Let the Apple Watch "die" and then don't touch it for another 24 hours…let the Apple Watch battery completely get to zero. Apparently doing that helps the device recalculate the battery, and then you'll be able to charge back from true 0% to 100%.
Usually I read these and it is like “well not me....” but this started for me about 5 days ago. Also .... getting much faster battery drain as well.
Yep, it's been happening for months, and with more than just the Series 5. It's insane it's been going on this long.
discussions.apple.com
Battery Indicator Incorrect on Series 5 A… - Apple Community
There definitely needs to be some tweaking with AOD. With the battery life rating at 18 hours, [which we all know you can accrue more than that with appropriate settings], I think needs to be more refinement moving forward. For me with the Series 6 Apple Watch on the horizon, it’s more about watchOS 7 than it is just the hardware. The hardware always takes care of itself, but battery management is crucial when you have so many features with such a small battery that shouldn’t really Be required On a charge on a daily basis.
In about 2 years, Apple will finally acknowledge that there had been an issue with the AW5 batteries when 90% of folks will have moved on to the “next generation.” To great fanfare, Apple will announce that they will fix or replace AW5 batteries for “free” and the internet will go crazy and will wax lyrical about Apples amazing customer service.
if only their batteries were so predictable
if only their batteries were so predictable
Same here, super happy with my S4, and glad to be avoiding these S5 battery issues. However, I imagine the S6 will be a substantial upgrade after the extremely modest S5 not even getting a CPU bump; that almost never happens. For the S6 I’d definitely expect a faster and more efficient CPU, likely battery life improvements, and maybe some design refinements, at minimum. Maybe even other new changes/features as well.
I started experiencing this, then about a week later the case popped open because the battery had swollen up - I figured the battery swelling was the initial cause.
And what’s with not replacing in store? My replacement finally arrived yesterday
And what’s with not replacing in store? My replacement finally arrived yesterday
This happens with series 4 as well. Happens to me EVERY update. I have to do a factory reset and then it is back to normal. I have not bothered restoring from a backup because i think it might just put the wonky battery indication back on (Hooray for making new faces and rearranging apps after every update!). I told the apple store, they saw it happen and agreed it is probably a software issue, and then kindly replaced it. So far, so good!
Try this, it solved the problem for me:
forums.macrumors.com
Battery issue AW5
So, basically, we can 'recalibrate' the battery by charging it up to 100%, then turn off the AW for 30min and it 'll do?
forums.macrumors.com
That works for iPhone's too. Drain the battery so it won't turn on. Then plug in and charge to 100% and then a couple of hours extra.Try this, it solved the problem for me:
Battery issue AW5
So, basically, we can 'recalibrate' the battery by charging it up to 100%, then turn off the AW for 30min and it 'll do?
If it happens again, I would suspect the battery is the problem.
It's hard to know if existing owners had the issue previously and are now blaming the update, or it actually is the update causing this.
i've been experiencing this issue with very little help from apple until they finally agreed to let me send it it. the time between receiving the email that a tech had received it and already packed it up to send back to me was under 30 minutes with an explanation that nothing was wrong and they were unable to duplicate the issues i had mentioned. when i received my watch it had been rolled back to 6.2.6 and seems to be working better but it will still stay on 100% for over an hour at times. i've had issues with this watch since i got it in late february but because of covid and the shutdowns i don't think i noticed the issues and wasn't able to take it into the physical store to have them troubleshoot it for me until recently. series 5 has definitely been the most frustrating apple product i can remember purchasing, i really just wanted to get it working so that i could sell it and be done with it with a good conscience.
The problem is you can't do this - it shuts down prematurely (mine, at 66%), so you cannot drain it down to 0.
mine was doing this exact thing. i would look and the battery would still say 70% and then next thing i know it's completely dead and needs to be placed on a charger to turn on, then it would immediately report 70 something percent battery charge when it turned back on. unpairing the watch from my phone, which i did at least 4 times did nothing. wish i would have seen the suggestion to charge to 100% and then turn off for 30 minutes before i sent it in to apple.
Theoretically, if it's not calibrated properly, the battery indictator would show 66% when in reality the battery is basically at 0%. So you would follow the process from the point where the watch shuts down.
I don't believe this issue is related to a specific series of Apple Watch, rather it seems to be more of a firmware or WatchOS issue. I have a Series 3 watch and am experiencing this problem. Since the watch is still under warranty I've contacted Apple Support twice (once in May and again in July) and each time (after explaining the issue) I was told to send it in for repair. Both times Apple Repair reported that the battery meets Apple's specs. The letters I received with the returned watch included a statement that the "symptoms I mentioned might have been resolved when our technicians performed their routine diagnostics...". When returned the watch and battery perform as expected with battery charge gradually going lower throughout the day. I've let the battery go as low as 15% charge before putting it on the charger. I expect the problem to return in six to eight weeks and I'll again contact Apple Support to report it and send it in.
It had been about 2 months since it last occurred, but 2 days ago I went on a jog and used the Workoutdoors app to track my pace and distance while using the radio app to listen to music. I had about 65% battery left and my watch suddenly "died" and restarted on its own. When it reboot, it showed my battery at 10%. When I tried to shut it off completely, it would not stay off, it would then boot back up on it's own. Had to do this about 10 times before it stayed off.
This is not the first time my watch has done this, and it's not isolated to the Workoutdoors app. It has happened while using the native workout app. It's frustrating and it's an anomaly that has plagued my S4 for about a year now. Apple doesn't see anything wrong with the watch using their remote diagnostics tool.
This is not the first time my watch has done this, and it's not isolated to the Workoutdoors app. It has happened while using the native workout app. It's frustrating and it's an anomaly that has plagued my S4 for about a year now. Apple doesn't see anything wrong with the watch using their remote diagnostics tool.
It’s definitely not an issue with just Series 5. My series 4 has had this issue since October 2019.
Some Apple Watch Series 5 owners have been experiencing battery issues with their devices that cause random shutdowns even when the Apple Watch is reporting high battery levels.
An inconsistent reading of actual battery level appears to be at fault, as in most cases, the Apple Watch reports near 100 percent battery levels for most of the day before dropping down to close to 50 percent and then shutting off. Macrumors reader Todd describes the issue:Other users have seen a problem where the Apple Watch shuts down at around 50 percent battery, charges up to 99 percent in a short period of time, and then has problems charging fully to 100 percent.
There are complaints about these battery life issues on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support Communities, plus iMore wrote about the issue earlier this year. From the Apple Support Communities:Apple Watch Series 5 owners have been complaining about battery life issues since the device was first released in September 2019, and while it doesn't appear to be a widespread issue, there are a good number of people who are experiencing problems.
Complaints have persisted across multiple watchOS updates, and there have been a reports about battery errors after the latest watchOS 6.2.6 and watchOS 6.2.8 updates. Some affected users have been able to solve the problem by getting a replacement watch from Apple, but other techniques, such as resetting the watch, re-pairing, deleting watch faces, and more have not worked.
Given the mixed reports about the battery problems and the length of time that people have been experiencing issues, it's not clear what's going on but it appears that Apple hasn't yet been able to fix the issue.
Article Link: Some Apple Watch Series 5 Owners Seeing Issues With Inconsistent Battery Levels and Random Shutdowns
