Watch 6 needs twice-daily charging

My Apple Watch 6 is about 5 months old, now. It’s on WatchOS 7.3.3. In recent weeks – perhaps due to an OS update – I’m finding I need to charge it twice a day. I wear the watch day and night, and I have found it going into energy reserve mode in mid-morning or late evening if I do not keep up with a morning and evening charging routine.

It’s cellular – but I do not use cellular much to send calls. I mainly listen to music on the iPhone. (I’m wondering now why I have a Watch :laughing: )

Anyone else noticing the Watch cannot keep charged for a full day?

You could try un-pairing and re-pairing. It’s a bit tedious but it sometimes kicks things back into place.

My S4 goes for most of a day, even with some workout use. It used to go longer, but it’s ageing now

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Thanks. I figured I would have to do something like that.

First step, to build up the intention to take that plunge, is whinging on MPU. :crazy_face:

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Yes, the all-important mental preparation. That’s the mark of the true champion

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Oddly enough in the last few days I’ve noticed my Series 5 dropping off really quickly. Put it on at 8:30 this morning and by 7:30 tonight it was done. I was at 7% as I finished my evening workout :thinking:

I’m having this problem with an Apple Watch S5.

I’ve read somewhere (can’t be sure where) that the next Watch OS release will fix this issue.

Not sure if it’s helpful, but another data point:
I put my S3 on 12.5 hours ago, worked out, and still have 63% left.
It updated a couple of days ago.

For me the crucial difference is whether I play Overcast from the Watch while running. If I do I need to recharge while showering afterwards. If not the watch doesn’t need charging other than overnight.

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What you’re experiencing can’t be right, I have never once had to charge my series 5 except for overnight.

It always lasts a full day, from 5:30am to around 11pm, with charge left, and has done since I bought it. I do regular exercise and use the fitness features at least once a day.

I think the difference is your watch is on the charger at night. Mine is on my wrist at night. I charge it in the morning – and recently also in the evening – otherwise I’m wearing it.

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I found I was having a real issue with the Home complication on the face. I have some smart devices that aren’t necessarily updated to their most current firmware, and when I put the Home complication on my active watch face (in late November, because I use smart stuff almost exclusively for Christmas lights), the battery life for my S4 watch plummeted. When I took the complication off, battery life immediately improved greatly.

To generalize this, is it possible that an app or complication is stuck or trying to communicate a lot with your phone?

Good luck!

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I’m using a S4, have had it on for 12 hours and showing 73% battery left. Used the timer for a bunch today. Beyond that just normal watch functions.

A similar thing happened to me last fall when I ran the 7 update on my Apple Watch 4. An update came out a few weeks later that resolved the issue. I also recommend the unpairing and repairing. I did that a month or so ago and it freed up all kinds of space.

Adding one more data point, this one from iOS “betaland:” I’ve been on the (seemingly eternal) iOS 14.5 / watchOS 7.4 beta train since February and my two watches (S4 and S5) have been exhibiting poor battery performance throughout. Fully charged at 7 AM and by 7 PM they’d be at 20% or below. The release candidate versions this week have not improved on this issue. I may have to jump on the iOS 14.6 / watchOS 7.5 beta to see if they’ve improved this.

That’s a good data point. I’m on the same train, and have been looking for the dining car for quite a while.