Some Apple Watch Users Experiencing Charging Issues After Updating to watchOS 8.3

[MacRumors]

A number of Apple Watch Series 7 owners have been experiencing issues with charging after updating to the latest watchOS 8.3 software, according to reports on the MacRumors forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Communities.

Many of the complaints are related to third-party Apple Watch chargers, with users finding that these devices no longer work to charge their Apple Watches. From Reddit:

Updated my watch last night to 8.3, set it on my 3rd party charger this morning, came back after an hour and it had gained maybe 2%?

Tried the same thing with my spouse's watch and her 3rd party charger with the same result.

Put them on the official charger, zoom, done charging in no time. Argh!

There are reports about multiple third-party chargers, and it seems to be a widespread problem affecting several different models rather than an issue with a few select chargers. Many of the complaints are about the affordable third-party chargers that come from Amazon, and there are fewer reports about brands like Belkin being non-functional.

In many cases, the Apple Watch will charge for a few minutes, and then charging will suddenly stop. Restarting the Apple Watch can help jump start charging, but it does not appear to be a permanent solution for most people, with the charging issues recurring.

A smaller number of users are also having issues charging with Apple-supplied Apple Watch charging pucks, and still others are seeing very slow charging speeds or the Apple Watch battery draining while on the charger. From the MacRumors forums:

Charging problems are more often with watchOS 8.3. It has become ridiculous, it charges around 2% in 10 minutes. What is this? The new ultra slow charging exclusively for Watch Series 7 or what.

This is everything but not the advertised fast charging.

There have been complaints about Apple Watch Series 7 charging issues since early November, and Apple initially addressed a problem that was causing slow charging speeds in the watchOS 8.1.1 update.

Some users continued to see issues even after that November watchOS 8.1.1 update, and the watchOS 8.3 update appears to have introduced issues for even more Apple Watch owners. It is not clear if Apple has a fix in the works for the issues that users are experiencing after the watchOS 8.3 update, but it is likely that the problem will be addressed in a future update.

Most of the affected models are Apple Watch Series 7 devices, but there have also been a handful of charging complaints from Apple Watch Series 6 owners.

Article Link: Some Apple Watch Users Experiencing Charging Issues After Updating to watchOS 8.3

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I did! I had my Apple Watch Series 7 plugged in last night and I woke up in the morning it wasn’t charged.

Yes, I used official Apple charger.

 

[CopyChief]

Thanks MacRumors for bringing this to the forefront. My Series 6 won't charge with anything but with the official Apple cord – but charged just fine before 8.3.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Glad I stick with official chargers.

 

[Shirasaki]

Meanwhile my Apple Watch series 4 charges just like it was before, no fast charging, no issue.

Have to wonder if this issue exist in Apple Watch models that is advertised as fast charging capable.

 

[RONS67]

Where is that charger that does the job in "no time"?

 

[citysnaps]

No issues here.

 

[cmaier]

I did! I had my Apple Watch Series 7 plugged in last night and I woke up in the morning it wasn’t charged.

That’s because i was using it all night

 

[mar12]

Glad macrumors is posting about this. Been having very slow charging issues using the original Apple 20W charger and included cable for a while now. Even returned the Watch and bought another but made no difference.

8.3 seems to be even worse and my battery is even draining pretty quick since 8.3. Hoping this gets resolved soon!

 

[kanki1985]

Well thats Apple being Apple.. With sufficient backlash they will eventually issue a ‘hotfix’ and claim it was unintended.

 

[nattK]

Glad I stick with official chargers.

I'm having charging issues with Apple's own charger and power adapter. Damn watch wouldn't charge whether its on the new fast charge-capable charger or the older charger. Part of me thinks it might be related to bug with fast charging since it predominantly affects Series 7 models and some Series 6 models (which supports slightly faster charging speeds vs older models).

 

[Bazooka-joe]

Can’t say that I’ve had an issue with charging my series 7 but then I’m using the Magsafe Duo Charger rather than the charger that came with the watch

 

[alexandr]

any other noteworthy changes?

 

[Marshall73]

Sounds like an issue with 3rd party chargers. Mine has been fine, using my old Apple Watch 4th gen charger with mt watch 7

 

[willdude]

Not sure why this is being reported as a Series 7 issue when there are threads all over about it affecting every model with 8.3. (Including my Series 5.)

 

[Aribenda]

My Series 6 has issues charging with anything but with the official Apple charger but charged just fine before 8.3.

 

[DocMultimedia]

I just use my original charger. No problems. Luckily. I've certainly had updates that cause issues.

 

[jz0309]

No issues here, charging every night as expected. I’m using the S0 (might be the one from my S3, can’t remember) charger, so original 5W

 

[eyalben]

I’ve got the same problem!
I’m using an official charger and a cable connected to a 3rd party magnetic charger and it’s been doing so many problems lately.

I thought it got broken

 

[haruhiko]

No problem whatsoever here

 

[Will Tisdale 🎗]

To be fair, I’ve noticed this with the official chargers with both my current series 7 (on watchOS 8) and my previous series 6 (on both watchOS 7 and watchOS 8).

Sometimes charging would just seem to stop at some random percentage which is different each time, but disconnecting and reconnecting gets it going again.

The series 6 was far worse and charging would stall on a regular basis. The series 7 has been ok since I got it apart from one occasion last week when I noticed it was stuck at 90% for ages and after disconnecting and reconnecting it fully charged shortly afterwards.

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

Series 5 Watch here running watchOS 8.3. It has no problem charging except that it seems to take a bit longer to charge than it did before the 8.0 update. ?

 

[RossH51]

Well I had the same issue with my S3 watch yeserday with no charging occurring on the charger overnight. Fixed by hard reboot of the watch. However, checking now as it looks like it has not charged up overnight. Never had a problem since getting it until now with this update!

 

[subi257]

I did! I had my Apple Watch Series 7 plugged in last night and I woke up in the morning it wasn’t charged.

Yes, I used official Apple charger.

That's scary...sucks!

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

That’s because i was using it all night

Wonder what you were using it for? 😂