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The watchOS 10 battery life thread [MERGED]
- Thread starter szilske
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My experience:
I've been postponing updating my phone and watches for months because of this. I was on 17.0.3 on my phone and my watches (AW8 and Ultra2) were on 10.0.something. The other day my phone updated to 17.4 without my permission. I probably accidentally told it to update or something. I was concerned but I had no issues with with battery life on my watches. So yesterday I updated to 17.5 on my phone and the battery on both of my watches went crazy. Both of them started dropping like they were falling off of a cliff. I updated both watches to 10.5, restarted both of them and they've both been fine ever since. I wore the AW8 yesterday and it took over an hour to lose 1%. I ended the day at 66%, which is about normal. This morning, I took the UW2 off of the charger at 6:00. It's 7:40 right now and it is still at 100% (raise to wake, not AOD).
I don't know if I would have had the problems with battery if I'd updated sooner, but 17.5 with non-updated watches was definitely an issue. All is good now though, and I couldn't be happier with it.
I don't know if this helps anyone on the fence about updating. For me, 17.5 and 10.5 seems good for both the phone and the watches.
I've been postponing updating my phone and watches for months because of this. I was on 17.0.3 on my phone and my watches (AW8 and Ultra2) were on 10.0.something. The other day my phone updated to 17.4 without my permission. I probably accidentally told it to update or something. I was concerned but I had no issues with with battery life on my watches. So yesterday I updated to 17.5 on my phone and the battery on both of my watches went crazy. Both of them started dropping like they were falling off of a cliff. I updated both watches to 10.5, restarted both of them and they've both been fine ever since. I wore the AW8 yesterday and it took over an hour to lose 1%. I ended the day at 66%, which is about normal. This morning, I took the UW2 off of the charger at 6:00. It's 7:40 right now and it is still at 100% (raise to wake, not AOD).
I don't know if I would have had the problems with battery if I'd updated sooner, but 17.5 with non-updated watches was definitely an issue. All is good now though, and I couldn't be happier with it.
I don't know if this helps anyone on the fence about updating. For me, 17.5 and 10.5 seems good for both the phone and the watches.
10.4 on my U2 and my S7 were great for battery life, originally my U2 was 40-45% when I put it on the charger and 10.4 moved that up to 45-50%, this is after ~38hrs of continuously wearing it.
I upgraded to 10.5 yesterday so I'm going to give it a couple weeks and see
I upgraded to 10.5 yesterday so I'm going to give it a couple weeks and see
Yes, but if something is not working properly, a restart is always the first easy thing to do
Agreed. During update there is a restart, but then there are some on-device tasks that run once the new OS boots up. So a restart a day later (or whenever) is a good opportunity to clean up any of those processes that got orphaned or abandoned.
It’s been over a week now since the 10.5 release. Theoretically any potential excess battery draining caused by indexing or background processes after install have minimized for those who installed the first day or so. Has anybody’s battery life improved from previous 10.x versions? Can anybody compare battery on 10.5 to 9.6.x versions?
I have only had one watchOS update that cause a real excess battery drain since I got it - from memory, I think it was the first update I received. (A watch 8 bought new in early 2023.) And even that wasn't so terrible - a surprise rather than a problem.
I have to do something because this is getting ridiculous. I'm losing 6%-8% per hour and the watch is either dead or almost dead by the end of the day. This has been ongoing since 10.4 for me...I used to be at 58% or so at the end of the day just a few months ago.
Update---So I unpaired, wiped everything and it's even worse. I put it on the charger at 86%, it's still on the charger and at 74%----UGH!
Edit---rebooted and now is charging "up" again.
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This is pretty bad. I have the latest update. I took my watch off of charge at around 7:30am. It was 100%. By 9am it was at 77%, with minimal interaction other than unlocking it. I restarted the watch and when it came back on it was at 74%. The previous two days, by 5:30pm, I'm getting the 15% power notification.
This is ridiculous. This didn't start until the latest update.
This is ridiculous. This didn't start until the latest update.
the issue is probably not only related to the watch.
I am pretty sure it comes from the iPhone which tries to sync something without success.
Reboot both devices, it helps in a lot of cases
I am pretty sure it comes from the iPhone which tries to sync something without success.
Reboot both devices, it helps in a lot of cases
Apple Watch 7 on 10.5 and iPhone 15 plus with 17.5.1 —-I reset watch “as new” and it’s been 5 days and it’s back to how it’s supposed to be. I’m at 50% or so by the end of the day. Before this I was lucky to get a full day.
I am really p——d off with Apple and their damn updates that nag and nag you to update…
I finally gave in and updated both my iphone and watch to the latest and since then the watch battery has been discharging by 10% an hour
Before these updates the battery would last a full 24hrs with around 25% still remaining, now it’s dead by 6pm.
Tried a lot of fixes, nothing worked. Ended up doing a full reset and repairing as new - now to see if this basic ‘new’ watch battery will hold it’s charge.
Thanks Apple for totally screwing up my perfectly working watch and phone and not giving any way back…
I finally gave in and updated both my iphone and watch to the latest and since then the watch battery has been discharging by 10% an hour
Before these updates the battery would last a full 24hrs with around 25% still remaining, now it’s dead by 6pm.
Tried a lot of fixes, nothing worked. Ended up doing a full reset and repairing as new - now to see if this basic ‘new’ watch battery will hold it’s charge.
Thanks Apple for totally screwing up my perfectly working watch and phone and not giving any way back…
Just as a data point. Happened to notice my Watch 8 (on 10.5), at almost exactly 12 hours since charging this morning, is showing 83%. And I expect it to be mid-70s in the morning - another 12 hours.
Edit
It is currently at 73% and has been around there every morning.
Edit
It is currently at 73% and has been around there every morning.
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I think I had an improvement in battery performance in upgrading to watchOS 10.5 but mainly because I’m trying the new Pride watchface: no complication, black background. I’m assuming widgets in Smartstack are less battery-consuming than complications, maybe because they don’t work in background (?)
I tried another face with a complication to check both my phone battery and watch battery on watch but seems to decrease too much performance, don’t know if this new complication or weather complication is the main responsible.
Anyway with no complication (full SmartStack) black background I am around 24 hours including charge time.
Let’s say 1hr training, in power saving mode, no music. AOD on watch on (unless training).
AW6, 45mm, 91% battery.
I tried another face with a complication to check both my phone battery and watch battery on watch but seems to decrease too much performance, don’t know if this new complication or weather complication is the main responsible.
Anyway with no complication (full SmartStack) black background I am around 24 hours including charge time.
Let’s say 1hr training, in power saving mode, no music. AOD on watch on (unless training).
AW6, 45mm, 91% battery.
Your reply has reminded me of something I had almost forgotten. I tried the Snoopy face, and a few others, and they had a massive impact on battery life. Went back to Utility with three complications.
My watch used to last all day and evening until I put it on the charger at night. Now it barely makes it through the day and I have to charge it before going out for an evening walk.
New S9 in Nov 2023. On rec from genius and easier to just spend the money and move on, replaced S7 that was having battery problems.
Worked great for about 4 months but past 2 months have had battery problems. Most days it will no longer make it through a day and yesterday only about 7 hrs. Rebooting S9 & iPhone don't seem to help and sounds like re-pairing only works for a couple of weeks. I like it when it works but I'm thinking a Garmin might be a better option at this point rather than wasting much more time fixing apple problems.
Is there a good app that will provide better info that Apple provides? Like multi-day logs? What processes are doing what?
Thanks,
Worked great for about 4 months but past 2 months have had battery problems. Most days it will no longer make it through a day and yesterday only about 7 hrs. Rebooting S9 & iPhone don't seem to help and sounds like re-pairing only works for a couple of weeks. I like it when it works but I'm thinking a Garmin might be a better option at this point rather than wasting much more time fixing apple problems.
Is there a good app that will provide better info that Apple provides? Like multi-day logs? What processes are doing what?
Thanks,
I found this app
Battery Life
Monitora facilmente la batteria dell'iPhone o dell'Apple Watch con Battery Life - lo strumento definitivo per l'analisi della batteria usato da milioni di utenti sin dal 2014. Battery Life è un pioniere rispetto a tutti gli altri strumenti di analisi della batteria presenti su App Store...
apps.apple.com
That has a free and a cheap purchase version that provides some info. Didn’t completely try it.
I also tried Batteryphone, free phone and watch battery complication, but found out that its complications are quite battery-draining themselves.
I could improve to a 24hr (and maybe a bit more including charging time) 91% capacity AW6 44mm daily cycle with these cautions:
- a black background watchface with few slowly updating complications (California with date and moon from Lumy). Kept AOD anyway.
- disabling background processing on apps.
- training in low power mode. (Last day I could train for 2h30’ and go for a whole day too). Obviously had to give up AOD while training but kept wake up on wrist raise on.
-have many widgets on Smart Stack anyway but they don’t seem to use too much battery.
- reduced notifications while watch is out of sight to a common notification set while I havr my wrist directed towards my eyes.
Nothing exceptional but I like to use my watch quite much.
I used to try to have it 100% charged before training now I just try to estimate if it should finish the training in low power mode.
Widgets consume too much only if there is a sync issue with your iPhone
The iPhone could be the culprit
The iPhone could be the culprit
I bought a series 9 45mm watch and was worried about the short 18 hour battery life but I have been pleasantly surprised.
After 24 hours, the watch was still about 70% charged.
After a week, I am getting the same usage. I can go 2 1/2 to 3 days on a single charge.
i use the watch for health monitoring and I turned off haptics and the always on face, and only allow notifications from the apps I want.
After 24 hours, the watch was still about 70% charged.
After a week, I am getting the same usage. I can go 2 1/2 to 3 days on a single charge.
i use the watch for health monitoring and I turned off haptics and the always on face, and only allow notifications from the apps I want.