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Watch stops charging at 93-94%
- Thread starter largefarrva
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So, mine did that and continued to do that after I sent it in to Apple and had it back. After I got the return I restored my profile and 5 days later the issue returned.
Apple support them asked me to reinitialize and NOT do a restore. It's now been two weeks and 2 days since then and so far (touch wood) it's been OK.
Previously I got no more than 3 days between occurrences.
I also have an email from Apple confirming that, if the issue should reoccure that their next step would be an outright replacement.
Apple support them asked me to reinitialize and NOT do a restore. It's now been two weeks and 2 days since then and so far (touch wood) it's been OK.
Previously I got no more than 3 days between occurrences.
I also have an email from Apple confirming that, if the issue should reoccure that their next step would be an outright replacement.
And after a 2 day break after a reset it’s back... mine has never felt warm off the charger though.
So I struck out. I had an appointment tonight with a genius. He looked at it and said they could send it back and see if they could reproduce the bug and if not then they’d send it back. That was it. Best they could do. He did say if I had bought AC that they would replace it for a fee. Man this is crazy disappointing. Been a long time user (you all know the rant)...... I have to truly say that up till this year, my experience with or without AC has been great. Maybe it has been a fluke, but I think for now I am done buying AC. Best I can do. I can’t/won’t stop buying Apple. The alternative is worse.
So last night I put my Series 3 SS 38mm on the charger. Didn't take it off until a little while ago. It has been charging properly for quite a few weeks now and no sign of the dreaded stuck 93% since the last software update. That is until a little while ago when I went to take it off the charger and it said 96% !!! What's worse, is that it was hot! So I waited a bit and put it back on the charger. NO LUCK. Still at 96%. I reboot and put it back on the charger and then it finally went to 100% at least for now. We'll see how long this lasts. What scared me the most was the watch was hot when I first took it off the charger. No reason for it to be hot. I'm beginning to think this might be a hardware issue after all and not a software issue. Good thing I bought Apple Care. Hope I won't need it.
Mine is the same. 42mm series 3. Started to happen about 3 weeks ago. Stops charging about 95%. A watch reboot fixes it for a few days then it happens again. Watch OS 4.3
A couple of observations I've noticed while looking into the issue.
1. The charger will consumes .1 watt without the Apple Watch on it.
2. The Apple Watch charges at 1.7 watt. The watch will be warm.
3. The 1.7 watt charge ONLY occurs while the screen is off. Tapping the counter to turn on the screen (nightstand mode) drops this power to .6 watt and wont go back to 1.7 watt until the screen falls asleep again.
4. At ~95% charge state the power drops to .6 watt regardless of screen on or off. At that point charging dramatically slows.
5. .6 watt remains even hours (2+) after the watch has reached 100%. The watch will remain warm.
6. After observation 5 the charger finally drops to .1 watt, percentage will be at 100% and the watch will cool off (colder than skin temp). Remember this .1 watt is what the charger uses so at this point the watch is not charging at all. However the battery widget in iOS does still show the watch charging so it knows it’s on the charger.
The above was observed over a couple nights of it charging properly to 100%. I’ll need it to only charge to 95% again to see what is changing.
If I were to guess I wouldn’t be surprised if it got to 100%, stopped charging and didn’t start again until 95%. At that point it would charge at .6 watt (slowly) and get warm. I could be wrong but in recent memory I feel I notice this more often after the watch has been on charge longer than normal like if I take it off at 6pm the night before.
Without a way to log charging this will tough to know exactly though.
1. The charger will consumes .1 watt without the Apple Watch on it.
2. The Apple Watch charges at 1.7 watt. The watch will be warm.
3. The 1.7 watt charge ONLY occurs while the screen is off. Tapping the counter to turn on the screen (nightstand mode) drops this power to .6 watt and wont go back to 1.7 watt until the screen falls asleep again.
4. At ~95% charge state the power drops to .6 watt regardless of screen on or off. At that point charging dramatically slows.
5. .6 watt remains even hours (2+) after the watch has reached 100%. The watch will remain warm.
6. After observation 5 the charger finally drops to .1 watt, percentage will be at 100% and the watch will cool off (colder than skin temp). Remember this .1 watt is what the charger uses so at this point the watch is not charging at all. However the battery widget in iOS does still show the watch charging so it knows it’s on the charger.
The above was observed over a couple nights of it charging properly to 100%. I’ll need it to only charge to 95% again to see what is changing.
If I were to guess I wouldn’t be surprised if it got to 100%, stopped charging and didn’t start again until 95%. At that point it would charge at .6 watt (slowly) and get warm. I could be wrong but in recent memory I feel I notice this more often after the watch has been on charge longer than normal like if I take it off at 6pm the night before.
Without a way to log charging this will tough to know exactly though.
Possible software change. Could be a change in the way the battery is charged. The way it’s reported. Or a bug causing high drain bringing it down to faster.
This many reports of the problem would indicate something to do with the software vs us all having the exact same hardware fault at the exact same time.
It’s definitely not high drain. If that was the case the watch would lose full charge in a few hours.
Now my wife's 38mm Series 3 (we she got for Christmas) is doing the same thing. I get that software can be a difficult bugger to get right, what I don't get though is Apple's Ostrich in the Sand approach to this issue. Despite me telling the various Apple Genii (sic) when I had the issue on my 42mm and that this was getting to be a well reported issue, none of them seemed to think that was a generic issue with the Series 3, rather an issue with that device only.
Mind boggling - we're at 4.3 now and still don't have an agreement from Apple that this is a big bug with the Series 3.
Mind boggling - we're at 4.3 now and still don't have an agreement from Apple that this is a big bug with the Series 3.
at my appointment the "Genius" (man I hate quotes like this usually, but it seems appropriate here) suggested to me that 95% was close enough and asked if my watch died before the end of the day? Technically he had me. It works as it is supposed to, and aesthetically there is an issue. Bring it back when it won't charge was the short version of his answer. He did offer to send it back, but no guarantees they would find the issue or replace the watch.
I have to wonder if apple getting into so many segments and with a much larger product offering, that service is inevitably going to suffer? I really think the days of walking into a store, being polite and asking nicely, will get you a swap to new hardware are gone. Personally I won't switch to android or PC, but their previously superb customer care made the increase in price, and walled garden approach worth it. Now I have to rationalize the tight integration and better industrial design makes the price increase worth it. It does, but the change in service hurts. I drank the cool aid, and with a work and personal phone, text message forwarding easily and reliably, was my gateway drug. I'm hooked but disappointed.
I have to wonder if apple getting into so many segments and with a much larger product offering, that service is inevitably going to suffer? I really think the days of walking into a store, being polite and asking nicely, will get you a swap to new hardware are gone. Personally I won't switch to android or PC, but their previously superb customer care made the increase in price, and walled garden approach worth it. Now I have to rationalize the tight integration and better industrial design makes the price increase worth it. It does, but the change in service hurts. I drank the cool aid, and with a work and personal phone, text message forwarding easily and reliably, was my gateway drug. I'm hooked but disappointed.
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So, after my wife's Watch had the same issue, I called Apple up and told the rep I spoke to I wasn't interested in having her, or the store attempt to 'fix' the problem (because they can't) rather I want her to notify Apple that they need to look into this as either a hardware or software issue that's getting pretty wide ranging. She told me she'd submit it to a different department that deals with such affairs.
Read into this as you will - however I'm going to start pushing Apple as much as I can to at least acknowledge the issue - because until they do that, we'll never get a fix.
[doublepost=1523804745][/doublepost]
Actually - funny you should mention that because that's exactly what happened to me the last time this happened. Usually I'll reboot the watch to kick it to 100%, however that very last time I didn't and by lunchtime it was at 10% - normally I'll be at only 65% by 10PM if i've taken it off the charger at 5AM - so that day it went from 95% to 10% in just 7 hours.
Hmmmm
Read into this as you will - however I'm going to start pushing Apple as much as I can to at least acknowledge the issue - because until they do that, we'll never get a fix.
[doublepost=1523804745][/doublepost]
Actually - funny you should mention that because that's exactly what happened to me the last time this happened. Usually I'll reboot the watch to kick it to 100%, however that very last time I didn't and by lunchtime it was at 10% - normally I'll be at only 65% by 10PM if i've taken it off the charger at 5AM - so that day it went from 95% to 10% in just 7 hours.
Hmmmm
what't bother me is, I had the same issue with my series 2 and a replacement fixed the issue permanently. The thing is, first go around they had me send it in and they sent the same one back still doing it. I had to essentially throw a fit with Apple Support (something I almost never do) and they then sent a refurbished and it has not done it since. I still have it along with the series 3. I think it could be a bug, but I am not ruling out a hardware/battery issue. I have done all the reset crap etc. I refuse to not install my used apps (not a bunch just a few), otherwise why have the watch if I can't install and use apps and it still does it?
I went three weeks with it charging to 100% and then it started again, so keep your fingers crossed and just wait.
GOOD LUCK!
Did your watch with replacement battery start doing it again?
Just found this thread as my S3 just started doing this and a reboot fixed it for 2 days before it happened again this morning.
Elevating this problem is a good idea. I had a sound issue with AppleTV that a whole bunch of people were experiencing. I managed to elevate the problem and point them at the macrumors thread. Got a customer experience executive who called me from HQ and pinged me every week, as well as an engineer who called me. They finally found the problem and released a fix in a SW update. Sometimes the message just doesn’t get to the right people.
Having this issue with my series three now. I am going to shut it down and restart it and see how it does. My original series three was from launch day but that one was broken... and this one is only a month or so old so I don't think it is the battery. They did a full replacement of my broken watch.
Also, my watch is up to date.... for whatever that is worth.
Also, my watch is up to date.... for whatever that is worth.
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