Apple Watch battery drains quickly
An Apple Watch is pleasant to use, but there is one major disadvantage compared to traditional watches: the battery often only lasts a day and a half. So you will have to charge every evening. If it turns out that the Apple Watch battery suddenly runs out much faster than usual, then it is time to take action.
- Battery wear
- Replace battery
- watchOS update
- Standby consumption
- Restarting
- Relink
- Extend battery life
The battery of an Apple Watch can drain faster for all kinds of reasons. We list the most common causes:
- You have an older Apple Watch, the battery of which is worn out.
- You have been exercising for a very long time with the heart rate and GPS functions on.
- You use the mobile data connection a lot.
- There is a bug in the latest watchOS update that drains the battery faster.
- You have installed an app that remains active in the background.
#1 Wear and tear on your Apple Watch battery
If you have an older Apple Watch, the battery can wear out over time. The battery functions excellently for the first two years, but after that, more and more wear occurs. This is a natural process that cannot be prevented and that also occurs with smartwatches from other brands. The battery is empty more and more quickly, so that at the end of the day you are no longer at 50%, but at 30%, for example.
You can then choose from these options:
- Have the Apple Watch battery replaced (see below)
- Buy a new Apple Watch
- Waiting for the next new model (around September every year)
- Continue wearing, but adjust your settings and usage.
#2 Apple Watch battery replacement
If the battery has become so bad that it needs to be replaced, it is time to contact Apple Support. Replacing the battery costs around a hundred euros and can be a solution if you want to continue using your current Apple Watch for a few more years. An Apple Watch Series 4 or 5 is still easy to use and offers almost everything you need. Upgrading to a newer model or to an Apple Watch SE is usually more expensive. This is what it costs to replace the battery:
- Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2: €109 (was €129)
- Apple Watch Series 3 to Series 9: €109 (was €99)
- Apple Watch SE: €109
Doing it yourself is probably hardly cheaper and entails all kinds of risks. If your current Apple Watch still works, it can be a good investment. It is of course a shame that Apple has not made it easy to replace the battery: if it cost around thirty euros, it would be attractive to have a new battery installed every two years.
#3 Make your Apple Watch more energy efficient
If you want to continue wearing your current Apple Watch, you can make some adjustments to ensure that the battery lasts a little longer. For example, place an Apple Watch dock at your workplace so that you can top up during the day.
What also helps is enabling the energy saving mode for the Apple Watch, which has been available since watchOS 9. This ensures that you can continue to use your Apple Watch, but that apps and processes in the background are less active and require less power.
You can also manually disable automatic app updating:
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Go to the My Watch tab.
- Go to General > Background Refresh.
- Turn off the Background Refresh switch.
Do you want to slow down further wear and tear on the battery? Then check whether optimized charging is enabled on your Apple Watch. The Apple Watch ensures that the battery is charged to 80%, after which the remaining 20% ​​is charged when you need it.
It is also wise to set a dark dial that is as quiet as possible. Black pixels require less energy, so avoid photos and animations as much as possible. Try to use your iPhone as much as possible for apps, turn off unnecessary notifications and delete apps that you don’t use. There are other little things you can do, like turning off the always-on screen on the Apple Watch or preventing the screen from waking when you lift your wrist. You could also use the Apple Watch in airplane mode for much of the day, if you mainly use your watch to check the time.
We have a separate article with tips to extend the Apple Watch battery life, with many more ideas to ensure that the battery lasts longer.
#4 Shorter battery life due to watchOS update
It may also be that the battery life is shorter because a watchOS update has just been released. At such a moment you would like to discover all the new functions and you will enthusiastically get started with all the new apps and activities. It is therefore better to check a day or two after the update whether the battery still drains quickly. Maybe it was just due to more active use and not the update itself.
Some watchOS updates contain bugs that drain your battery faster. If that is the case, we will usually report this quickly on iCulture. It may happen that your battery life has become drastically shorter, while others have not. This is because not everyone has the same apps and settings. A small difference in apps and usage can mean that your battery life is completely different from that of your neighbor.
#5 View battery usage and battery health
If you are faced with a suddenly shorter operating time, it makes sense to keep a close eye on this. Place your Apple Watch on your desk for an hour or two and note the battery status at the beginning and end. Please note that you do not place the Apple Watch on a dock or charger, because then you will not get an impression of the consumption. Does the Apple Watch also run flat if you do nothing at all and don’t use any apps? Then you’ll have to dig into it a little deeper.
You can view a nice battery graph on the Apple Watch. You can see per hour how quickly the battery is decreasing and when it is charged. It can provide some more insight into how quickly your battery is draining. You can also view the battery condition here. This percentage indicates how much power the battery still has compared to its new condition. Is the percentage below 80%? Then Apple recommends replacing the battery.
#6 Restart the Apple Watch
As soon as you notice that the battery continues to drain quickly, restarting the Apple Watch can be a simple solution. You can restart the Apple Watch in two ways.
- Press and hold the side button on the Apple Watch.
- Drag the Turn off button to the right.
- Then turn the Apple Watch back on by pressing and holding the side button.
Another way is to do a hard reset by forcing it. To do this, press and hold the Digital Crown and the side button of the Apple Watch at the same time until the Apple logo is visible. The Apple Watch will then restart automatically. If this does not have the desired effect, there is another option to restore your battery life.
#7 Re-pair Apple Watch with iPhone
What may help is disconnecting your Apple Watch from the iPhone and reconnecting it. Then restore the backup so that you have all apps and settings back. For best results, you can also choose not to restore a backup. You will have to reset everything (apps, settings, etc.).
This is how you can disconnect the Apple Watch via the iPhone:
- Go to the Watch app and tap All Apple Watches at the top.
- Tap the i icon behind the Apple Watch that you want to disconnect.
- Tap Disconnect Apple Watch and follow the steps.
You can also disconnect via the Apple Watch:
- On the Apple Watch, go to the Settings app.
- Scroll down to General.
- Select Reset at the bottom.
- Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
In both cases, you will then need to re-pair the Apple Watch with the iPhone and restore the backup. In many cases this will resolve battery life issues.
If your Apple Watch no longer turns on and you first want to investigate the cause, you will find more tips in our other articles. There may be something else going on with your smartwatch and a repair is needed.
