When to replace Apple Watch because of battery health?

[swandy]

My Watch series 8 has the Maximum Capacity down to 85% and it seems like it is getting low battery levels quicker than it used to. Especially as I like to exercise with it even though the music is downloaded to the watch not streaming.
I am probably replacing it this year with a Series 10 but I read about lots of users keeping their AW for several years. I am considering trying every other year to replace it. Any thoughts?

 

[Jackbequickly]

Replace it when it is no longer serving the function you need and you have the money to replace it. You series 8 has served you well.

 

[the future]

Also, Apple will not replace the battery unless it is below 80%.

 

[goldmac2006]

Hey everyone! I’m co-leading the watchOS 11 beta thread after the original poster had to step away for a moment.

Since watchOS 11.2 RC, our beta testers, mostly Ultra users who barely had their AWU2s for less than a year, have noticed battery health issues. Even some regular series users like me have noticed it.

There were claims that it was an inaccuracy issue, especially since all of us had our watches for less than a year. There was a break in one of the betas where the battery health bug went away, and the values were restored to normal. But when we updated to watchOS 11.2 RC, the values were miscalculated again.

One of our Apple Watch users on the thread said that it’s not the same as how the battery health was calculated when we updated to 11.2. He said that our usage factors from the beta clearly indicate that the beta took a toll on it, and it’s not a bug.

My AW went from 97% on beta 1 (rebounded to normal on beta 2/3), back down to that level, and then lower to 95% on beta 11.3 and 11.4 onwards, averaging 92-91%. It’s 91% as we speak.

I feel like it’s completely different from how my other watch lasted in the first 10-11 months when I owned my Series 6.

If the battery health issues continue to worsen and the watch starts burning battery faster than it should, especially since it’s going to be a year old in May, I might need to take it to the Apple Genius Bar this summer to see what they think about it. SOT for my watch since the last full test I did on beta 11.3/RC, where I got 17-18 hours on a single charge.