Apple Watch battery drain after watchOS 11 Update

I tried the smart stacks.

It worked for one day and my battery seemed to be normal but now today after charging it overnight, I just put on my watch and it’s down to 75% after just being off the charger for 10 minutes..

Guess I’ll go back to Low Power Mode and wait for the update

This might be helpful,

I was experiencing the same battery drain. Until I turned off music recognition.

Go to settings -> privacy -> microphone -> turn off ‘music detection’.

P.S. I just tried this and I’ll keep you alle updated Incase the battery drain returns.

My Watch8 and wife’s Watch9 battery have been getting OBLITERATED since the warchOS11 update. Doesn’t make it through 18 hours without dying. Used to get to 48+ hours before. Hopefully Apple addresses this ASAP.

Ultra 2 owner here. I’ve tried everything to restore the battery life I had before the 11.0 update. Watch would last 2-3 days before, I’m barely getting a full day now, 18 hours maybe. Its horrible, Apple this needs attention.

I updated my AW9 to 11.0.1 and turned off Live Activities but my watch is still draining power like never before. To add insult to injury it’s repeatedly asking for permission to use Location for Weather and Maps.

This is a recurring issue with the update 11.0.1. Upon its release, it was supposed to fix the , i.e., draining battery, and the watch restarting on a frequent basis. After four days, you think that the problem is solved, but it is not. To make matters worse the support from Apple is Zero. So, I guess, we’re gonna have to wait for a patch from Apple, and turn the AW off in the meantime. It is really ridiculous to say the least.

I gave my son a new Cellular Apple Watch 9 in June 2024 to be used as a standalone watch (without paring it with an iPhone). The feature was called Apple Watch for a Family Member, and now it's called Apple Watch for a Child, but it's the same thing. It worked beautifully until a few days ago. It easily lasted the entire day (until late night) on Cellular with him texting to his friends multiple times per day and even making occasional calls. As of a few days ago, he started complaining about his Apple Watch battery draining too quickly and not lasting through the day. I believe the watch updated itself to watchOS 11.0 (or 11.0.1). I will need to check the version.

Yesterday, I got myself an Apple Watch Ultra 1 (it was on great sale on Amazon) and set it up as a new watch for myself. I realized a few hours after I activated it (without even having cellular activated yet) that it drained 40% in like 4 hours. I was floored. It's almost 4:00 PM, and it's now at 31%. It took it off the charger at 6:00 AM this morning. I was forced to update the software to 11.0.1, as it wouldn't activate on the older software. The update itself failed multiple times, but it's a different story.

Now I've come across this thread. This is a legit issue. I bought the Apple Watch Ultra to get a 2-day battery life (or at least over 24 hours). My original idea was to activate my Ultra as a standalone watch (Apple Watch for a Family Member), which I actually did do this morning. But then I realized that there were a lot of features missing. I couldn't add any credit cards to the wallet on it except for the Apple Card. I couldn't add my work O365 account to it even though there is an option to add an Outlook.com account, but it only supports individual (non-corporate accounts). As I started digging deeper, I realized that setting the Apple Watch for a Family Member would not provide me the features that I needed to have, so I reset the Apple Watch again and activated it "for myself" to be paired with the iPhone. So, granted, the watch was activated twice while on this battery charge, but still, I can see the battery percentage melting away in front of my eyes even after I finished all the activation. I activated the cellular on it (T-Mobile) and made a couple calls while having powered my iPhone down. Maybe I spent about 2-3 minutes on two phone calls combined. There is no justification for the battery discharging.

I've read in this thread about deactivating "Live Activities" under "Smart Stack" and then restarting the watch, which I just did. I also disabled a bunch of notifications on the Watch from iPhone apps and uninstalled a bunch of Watch companion apps that I didn't need. Still, the battery seems to be draining like there is no tomorrow.

Which additional apps did you use during the workout, did you use the Apple Workout app to record your run?

Keep on sending a detailed feedback about this issue, this is the only way to reach Apple directly.

Feedback - Watch - Apple

I think I have a solution for this:

I have a Series 8. Battery health reports 80% capacity (after about 2 years).

Following my upgrade to watchOS 11.01, I was running out of power around 12-13 hours into the day. This was even worse if I had a workout (I sometimes train for 3 hours in a single day.) On any regular day, my battery was down to 50% by lunch.

I did the following this week,

which has improved things a lot:

1. Update to watchOS 11.1
2. (And I think this was critical) - I un-paired and re-paired my watch (loading the last backup) with my phone right after the update.

I have done this in the past and it seems to clear up a lot of issues, particularly with power management.

Yesterday, with no workouts, I finished the day with about 25% left (at 14-15 hours). So far today, I am at 50% after 8 hours and one workout. I have another workout for two hours this evening, but I should make it to 16 hours without going to low power mode, if I’m not mistaken.

So - unpair and re-pair, loading from the backup!

You have updated not long ago that means that the update is still indexing in the background and this can cause a temporary worsening in battery life . See if the issue subsides in a few days

Hm, I can’t find it.

Do you mean the settings of the Apple Watch App or direct on the Apple Watch device?

so I got up at 6:45 with 80% charge, now it's 18:55 at 50%. Turning off Live Activities did the trick

I agree on this issue on my series 9. It has really poor battery life after updating to watch os 11

Done, thank you for the reminder!

Garbage. Apple Watch Ultra(1) and I can't even get a full day... I used to get 36+ hours... now I get MAYBE 12?? MAYBE?!