Apple Watch battery draining fast after watchOS 11 Update

Hi guys,

Same here. My Watch 7 CE is draining super fast after upgrading to iOS 18 (even 18.1). Wrist detection is also completely off and keeps locking every time so I had to disable it.

Of course month after warranty.... Sweet.

Restarts / reattaching did not solve the issue. Disabling Live activities or picture sync neither.

What now?

Same here even with 11.1. Update battery is still draining faster. Apple Watch Series 8… last night was at 19%. Typically on a regular day I end the night with about 40% battery. My battery is draining at least 20-25% more than it normally used to after the updates. I just finished a workout and not only am I charging it now, but it is charging slower than ever even with battery optimization off.

This is disaster, my Ultra 1 only have half day battery, Apple’s software nowadays is a lot worse than before. I don’t understand why their software has so poor quality! No fix plan yet, very disappointed. I won’t update any new Apple OS until it was found stable again.

I have an Apple Watch series 8 that is only a year and a half old. Ever since I performed the update to 11.1, the battery is draining so fast that I wind up having to plug it in halfway through the day. This is UNACCEPTABLE!! I wear my watch to bed - I don't listen to music on it. Nor do I use the apps. Only messaging and the walking app. It is not a cellular model. Battery drain at 1-1/2 years old should not be an issue. I contacted support..."maybe you're using too many apps or maybe you're not charging it correctly. BS!!! Do better Apple. We should not be required to buy a new watch at $900+ every year or two. I'll go back to a Fitbit before I do that. Ridiculous.

I had the same problem UNTIL my apple watch started to crash and a bit later, didn’t turn on anymore. The weirdest thing is that when I charge it, the paired iPhone still shows the battery level, but the Apple Watch is unresponsive, even when I try to force a hard reset (pushing crown+side button). Any advice?

Same and more terrible after 6 hours of sleep I lost more than 45% of battery and also the screen goes black for more than 1-2 hours a day even if I have more than 60% battery making my Apple Watch unusable… thinking on buying ultra cause of this , because I thought i somehow broke it ( right now I have a series 9 ) any opinions on this ?

My first gen Apple Watch Ultra has been having these issues. From 100% to 73% I’m under 3 hours with no activities, background apps or anything running. Ever since the update it’s been charging multiple times a day now to keep it going. This is unfortunate and makes me want to look at different brands or no smart watch at all anymore. I may have to go back to no watch or digital (no smart watch). Hopefully there is a fix for this, i know every two years or so devices tend to get worse so that they get you to buy new ones but this business plan is exhausting as a consumer. Makes me want to check out of it.

Me too! I was able to play Music and Runkeeper, at least twice. Now, Watch dies after about 30 min. And wearing it at might to monitor sleep use to be at 92% when wake up, now 70%. Tried the usual fixes. Same high drain.

I purchased my Apple watch series 9 with cellular in June and was delighted with it as it worked really well. After updating to the latest IoS on iPhone 15 pro (18.1?) and watch 11.1 my watch is almost useless as the battery constantly drains. It can be at 100% when I go to bed and then it drains less than 4 hours later. I have tried all suggestions: switch off both devices; keep iPhone within inches of the watch at night - never necessary before the update - and unpairing etc but nothing has helped! I am left with a six month old watch that cost £499 (plus additional monthly charge by my mobile network) that is now useless.

Does anyone have any other suggestions that might resolve this situation?

I chatted with Apple Support who did a remote diagnostics of my AW7. Action:Take it to Genius Bar. They said battery operating at 78% capacity. Said this is the cause of the high drain. Less than 80% requires battery replacement. Nooo! It drained after update to 11.0. Recommendation- send to Apple for $99 replacement of watch or replace battery. Will wait to see if iOS18.2 does anything.

What I want to know is what is Apple doing about this? You’ve had enough problems with the 18.2 on iPhones, but draining the battery on your watch you rely on constantly? Apple got way out over its skis and trust me, I’m having to rethink using Apple products. So tell us Apple, what are you going to do?

After visiting Genius Bar, I decided to get a new battery for my AW7. It was consistently reporting 78% capacity, which is below the 80% Apple recommends a new battery. It was $99+sales tax. Sent it in on Sunday and Thursday a new AW7 with 100% capacity was delivered. I updated to 11.2 from 11.1 as delivered. I setup as a new watch. Indoor workout for 2.5 hrs listening to music and running AW Workout app. Watch was at 67%. After update to WatchOS11 I could only get through a 30 min workout. I am OK with battery performance now.

Clearly there is still a problem. My Series 6 is at iOS 11.2 (22S101), and battery "health" is at 93%--well above the point where Apple says it should be replaced. I periodically get a notice that optimized charging limits the charge to 80%, and sometimes after sitting on the charger overnight, it is at 80%. Other times it's at 100% or some level of charge between 80% and 100%. I'm guessing that at some point, charging is cut off by the watch, and at that point, the battery begins to discharge, since the watch is still turned on. Today, I slept later than usual, and when I put the watch on it was at 76%. After I spent some time looking up the iOS version and battery health, it was down to 67%. I have low power mode turned off.

I am convinced there is still something wonky with power management with the Apple watch operating system beginning with iOS version 11. My wife's Series 5 stopped updating with iOS version 10, and she has no problems with the battery charge, even though the health is down to 88%. I had planned to get her a new watch for Christmas (which she would pick out, of course), but the battery issue got in the way, and she selected a new camera instead. (Too bad. The camera cost 8-10 times as much as the watch would have!)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Was experiencing rapid battery loss on my watch after latest iOS update (11.2). Tried reset, repairing, etc. Turned off Smart Stack and all is fine again. Not sure what use Smart Stack has but the latest update caused it to use up battery more than twice as fast.

Like I said previously, I had these same issues. On my watch under settings I turned off Smart Stack and it is fine now. Something happened with last update that affected battery usage with smart stack