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Watch won’t charge past 80% on a certain charger anymore

J

Juiceboy

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 10, 2011
181
103
I’ve got a series 7 that I’ve used in the same 3rd party stand for the last 2-3 years. The past few months it only ever charges to 80%. I haven’t changed my bedtime routine. If I put it on any other charger my watch will charge to 100%
No change to setttings. I’ve restarted a few times. Does anyone have any ideas?

Surprisingly I easily get through the day with a 45-60 min workout on 80% but I just don’t know how I can fix this.
 
My series 8 after being on the charger overnight had stopped charging at 80%, this is the first time this has happened. So I am interested in the outcome of this topic.
 
rjw1678 said:
My series 8 after being on the charger overnight had stopped charging at 80%, this is the first time this has happened. So I am interested in the outcome of this topic.
Click to expand...
Isn’t this because of the introduction of changes to “optimised charging “ introduced in the last OS update ?
I noticed the same had started to happen on my series 7. Tapping the watch charging symbol gave me the option to “charge fully” again.
 
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Graham4723 said:
Isn’t this because of the introduction of changes to “optimised charging “ introduced in the last OS update ?
I noticed the same had started to happen on my series 7. Tapping the watch charging symbol gave me the option to “charge fully” again.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I put my watch back on the charger and followed what you said and it is now charging fully.
 
This also can be used on some of your Apple AirPods:

Learn about Optimized Battery Charging on AirPods Pro and AirPods (3rd generation)​

Optimized Battery Charging is designed to reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by reducing the time that your AirPods Pro and AirPods (3rd generation) spend fully charged. AirPods Pro, AirPods (3rd generation), and your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch learn from your daily charging routine and will wait to charge your AirPods Pro or AirPods (3rd generation) past 80% until just before you need to use them.
Optimized Battery Charging for AirPods Pro and AirPods (3rd generation) requires an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and is on by default when you set up your device, or after you update it to iOS or iPadOS 15 or later. To turn off the feature, open the AirPods case, then go to Settings > Bluetooth on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Tap the More Info button
ios13-info-icon.png
next to your AirPods Pro or AirPods (3rd generation) in the list of devices. Turn off Optimized Battery Charging.

Apple support article
 
I wish I could get my Ultra 2 to charge to only 80%.
Even with all optimized charge settings turned on, it still immediately charges to 100% when I put it on its charger. It's been rebooted and fully updated. 🤷‍♂️
 
xraydoc said:
I wish I could get my Ultra 2 to charge to only 80%.
Even with all optimized charge settings turned on, it still immediately charges to 100% when I put it on its charger. It's been rebooted and fully updated. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
Yup. Too bad we can't just select 80% like you can on the iPhone.
 
I'm having the same exact issues with my series 7. I haven't changed my routine, or my charger or anything. For the past month or so my watch no longer charges past 75%. I wake up around 6:30 each morning throw on the watch and start my day. Now when I wake up I have to try and remember to tap my watch, hit the charge fully button and then wait to put it on until its finished charging. It has to be some glitch in the latest software. I have been searching the internet for a solution thinking I was the only person with this issue. Its very frustrating.
 
@DR3MCLAREN have you tried turning OFF Optimised Charging ?
When I ‘fixed’ my series 7, I found that “charging to full” had turned off optimised charging.
 
Graham4723 said:
@DR3MCLAREN have you tried turning OFF Optimised Charging ?
When I ‘fixed’ my series 7, I found that “charging to full” had turned off optimised charging.
Click to expand...
I turned the feature off manually. Then did a reboot. Then I turned it back on. Did another reboot. Charged overnight and….75%. When I hit the charge to full option in the morning it does not seem to have any impact on the settings for optimized.

I’m convinced this is a bug in the current watch os.
 
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It’s. Nothing to do with optimised charging since it does that normally on other chargers. Also tapping “charge to full” is no longer an option for that specific charger since it sits at like 79.9%
 
When WatchOS 10 was realised my Series 8 Watch began to do the 80% max charge but once the following revision updates of the OS began to release and i installed then i havnt not seen the Watch stop at 80% any longer, always charges to full 100% each day.
Nothing changed with my routine or the amount of battery im consuming during the day and same time im putting it on the charger at night.

I can only think the software update did something to it??
Anyone else with the same issue?
 
chriswhv6 said:
When WatchOS 10 was realised my Series 8 Watch began to do the 80% max charge but once the following revision updates of the OS began to release and i installed then i havnt not seen the Watch stop at 80% any longer, always charges to full 100% each day.
Nothing changed with my routine or the amount of battery im consuming during the day and same time im putting it on the charger at night.

I can only think the software update did something to it??
Anyone else with the same issue?
Click to expand...
I firmly believe it was a software bug... but for me the issue stopped after an update to my phone, not the watch. weird stuff.
 
DR3MCLAREN said:
I firmly believe it was a software bug... but for me the issue stopped after an update to my phone, not the watch. weird stuff.
Click to expand...
Hmm good point as i do update normally both my devices at the same time, phone & watch...true could be from the iPhones software!
 
chriswhv6 said:
Hmm good point as i do update normally both my devices at the same time, phone & watch...true could be from the iPhones software!
Click to expand...
Apple released an update for phone last week but not for watch ... thats when it fixed it for me. I see they have a phone and watch update out today so we will see if the problem returns after i update both.
 
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DR3MCLAREN said:
Apple released an update for phone last week but not for watch ... thats when it fixed it for me. I see they have a phone and watch update out today so we will see if the problem returns after i update both.
Click to expand...
I always do the updates soon as they release for me i noticed it wasn't the first revision of newer software that broke it for me i thin it was the following one after that when i noticed the 80% mac charge not happening anymore.
Hope the todays updates do not mess yours up again !!
 
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My watch still goes all the way to 100% every. single. night. The feature doesn't work for me, and i'm on WatchOS 10.2 now. And phone iOS 17.2. So, all up to date since Monday. Sigh...
 
A little over a week of no issues and today the problem returned. Woke up to only 80% charge.... Why can't Apple just make this work. What they should do is rather than the machine trying to learn our habits they should let us program when we want it ready for. If we could just go into settings and say always be ready by X time then it would be so much easier.
 
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DR3MCLAREN said:
A little over a week of no issues and today the problem returned. Woke up to only 80% charge.... Why can't Apple just make this work. What they should do is rather than the machine trying to learn our habits they should let us program when we want it ready for. If we could just go into settings and say always be ready by X time then it would be so much easier.
Click to expand...
You are misunderstanding the new version of this feature as of 10.0. It’s supposed to STOP at 80 now and you wake up with it at 80 on the days it predicts that you will go to bed that night with still some charge left. It is not supposed to wake up at 100 anymore except as needed. This is new as of 10.0.

But for many of us, it always goes straight (immediately after crawling into bed) to 100. Which isn’t as good for the battery.
 
Schtibbie said:
My watch still goes all the way to 100% every. single. night. The feature doesn't work for me, and i'm on WatchOS 10.2 now. And phone iOS 17.2. So, all up to date since Monday. Sigh...
Click to expand...
Yep mine still hasn't fixed either with the latest update, still went straight to 100% last night.
 
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There is literally no rhyme or reason to this "feature" in watch os 10. As a parent I'm a creature of habit as my kid requires routine to manage his ADHD. So we basically do the same things each day at the same times as it helps him cope. Same wake up time, same work out times, same dog walk times, same meal times, same bed times etc. So my watch use and my sons watch use is very consistent. Some days we wake up with 75% battery and some days with 100%. Our watches almost never match on charge percentage at the start of the day either. I get that Apple claims to be looking at past use to determine future use... but when your use is essentially the same every day and has been for a long time it makes no sense. Plus it worked fine on Watch os 9.

Apple can make all the excuses they want and I just don't buy it. I believe this "feature" just plain doesn't work. If Apple really wanted to make batteries last longer they would add a feature where we could specifiy the specific time we want the device fully charged by. It makes now sense to have the machine try and predict when it would be simpler and more effeicent for the user to just state a time and have the software finish the charging until that time.

What i wouldn't give to get my watch back on watch os 9. Apple really blew it on watch os 10.
 
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