Apple Watch Ultra Battery Draining

OK ... my Ultra is now draining at about 8% every hour since upgrading my iOS to 10.0.1. Tried the reset with no luck. I have NO apps running in the background. Apple has done an online diagnostic and has found no issues. I WAS getting around 2+ days of battery life ... but now it's gotta be the worst I've ever seen on an Apple Watch! What gives??!!

Hello Katie7317,

First, try to force restart you Apple Watch Ultra by pressing simultaneously on the Digital Crown and the side button until the Apple logo appears.

Then, try to close the apps that may consume power due to requiring to refresh over the internet, for instance "Maps" and "Find My".

Dominick Issi wrote:

So I found that when I installed the newest OS, it had turned ON the “Walkie Talkie” complication (not my doing). I turned it OFF. Now I can get an actual day on a 100% charge. Such a DEAL!

I remember turning off “Walkie Talkie” in the Control Center. I didn't do it specifically for a battery issue. I just didn't want this functionality activated in the Control Center.

Do a forced restart of your Apple Watch. If you’re unfamiliar with how to do a forced restart please review the Apple Support article I linked below. After the forced restart the battery usage should return to former levels in 24 to 72 hours. After an update the Watch performs indexing of data in the background and this can consume a lot of battery power.

If high battery usage persists after 72 hours please unpair your Apple Watch and iPhone, restart both devices and then pair them again.

If your Apple Watch is stuck on the Apple logo - Apple Support

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support

I'm not seeing it on mine. I don't recall seeing it when I first installed watchOS 10.0.1 and I'm definitively not seeing it a week later. For instance, battery charged this morning and I'm at 90% 9 hours later.

I would advise to unpair the Apple Watch and pair again.

There have been reports of some complications drawing too much power. You could experiment by disabling some of the complications to see if that affects your battery life.

So I found that when I installed the newest OS, it had turned ON the “Walkie Talkie” complication (not my doing). I turned it OFF. Now I can get an actual day on a 100% charge. Such a DEAL!

6x6 wrote:

I remember turning off “Walkie Talkie” in the Control Center. I didn't do it specifically for a battery issue. I just didn't want this functionality activated in the Control Center.

Let me add that I have no battery issues and it may be because i turned off “Walkie Talkie” from the start.

So ... I spent a day with an Apple tech on the phone troubleshooting the issue. Did a Data Analytics and found no problems but got a Genius Bar appointment. They found no issues but suggested I re-install myself as a new user. Didn't help much ... but they said I could send the watch in and I'd get it back in 3-5 days! THAT was a non-starter so I continued with charging 2X a day. Got fed up this AM as I was losing 15% and hour! Called Apple again and got on the phone with India (Apple tech's name). We spent another hour troubleshooting with no luck ... but she did do another Data Analytics. She said it came back GOOD ... except that the iOS showed it needed an update that JUST came online. She read through the analysis of what it was for and ... Voila ... one of the updated parts was to FIX THE BATTERY DRAIN on certain watches. After install, I've lost 4% over 4 hours of use! So THERE you go with the fix Apple just got around to updating for our problem! HAVE FUN!!

I just wanted everyone to know this all happened to me. However there was no watch software update. I had sent my ultra in and just got it back because of this issue. But was told it’s completely fine. Frustrating however what ever they did fixed the problem for a week. This morning it’s was draining on the charger again! Saw some of the comments on this blog and closed all the apps running in the background and bam. It’s now it’s actually charging. Sounds like Apple needs to fix this issue because that’s stupid you have to manually close apps. I had never had this issue until upgrading to the Ultra.

**Ultra, Ultra frustrating 😂 **

i Have been having the same issue for a few weeks. Only get an hour of GPS usage before the battery takes a dump. I used to get all day with 30% life before bed. I only have had mine for 15 months. It’s out of warranty now. $99 for a replacement battery.

So …had the same issue many iOS versions ago. They updated the iOS over the past few months a few times. As I remember, I had to reset my watch from initial iOS and then update. Believe that SHOULD work for you!

I agree 100%. Never seen a watch die so quickly.

My Apple Watch Ultra is also draining from 100% to 10% charge over about 8 hours.

I will give it a shot. One hour of GPS and it just about done.