How to Fix a Fast-Draining Apple Watch Battery: 14 Ways

Learn what might be draining your Apple Watch battery and how to extend battery life

Co-authored by Megaera Lorenz, PhD Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: July 30, 2024 Fact Checked

The Apple Watch is a great piece of technology, but one of its big drawbacks is the relatively short battery life. If you’re seeing a lot of battery drain after upgrading to watchOS 10, you’re not alone—but tech experts are hopeful that the 10.0.1 update that recently came out will fix the issue. There are many possible causes for fast battery depletion, so we’ve put together a list of ways to save your Apple Watch’s battery, from turning on Low Power Mode to making sure unwanted apps aren’t running in the background.

Things You Should Know

Keep your Apple Watch and iPhone system software up to date to prevent battery life issues.
Your watch might be draining faster due to features like Background App Refresh or Always On being enabled.
Enabling Low Power Mode during workouts or all the time can prolong your battery life.

1

Make sure watchOS is up to date.

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Outdated software can cause battery issues. If you haven’t updated watchOS in a while, check to see if a newer version is available.^{[1]
X
Research source} While a lot of users report that the upgrade to watchOS 10 led to faster battery drain, the recent release of 10.0.1 might improve battery life. Here’s how to update your Apple Watch:^{[2]
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- Make sure your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS.
- Charge your Apple Watch to at least 50% power.
- Connect your iPhone to wi-fi and keep it near your watch during the update process.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone and tap My Watch at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap General and select Software Update. Update your phone’s iOS if prompted to do so.
- Download the update and enter your iPhone and/or Apple Watch passcode if you’re prompted to do so.
- Put your Apple Watch on its charger and leave it by your iPhone while the update process completes. You’ll see a progress wheel on your watch. It could take up to an hour for the update to finish.
- If you’re running watchOS 6 or later, you can also update on the watch itself while it’s connected to wi-fi. To do so:
  - Press the Digital Crown and open the
    Settings app. Tap General > Software Update. If an update is available, tap it and follow the prompts to install it. Leave the watch on its charger while it updates.

2

Turn on Low Power Mode during workouts.

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This will turn off battery-eating features like the heart monitor. While turning on Low Power Mode might make your workout stats less accurate, it will help your Apple Watch stay charged a little longer. To do this, open the Watch app on your iPhone, then tap My Watch at the bottom of the screen. Scroll down and select Workout. Toggle on the switch next to Low Power Mode.^{[3]
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- If you’re doing a longer or more intense workout and want to track your heart rate, pair your watch with a Bluetooth chest strap. The strap can accurately monitor your heart and send the data to your watch.^{[4]
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  - To pair the Apple Watch with a chest strap or other external heart monitor, put the monitor in pairing mode and open Settings > Bluetooth on your watch. Choose your monitor from the list of accessories and enter its PIN or passcode if prompted.^{[5]
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3

Disable Always On.

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This feature can drain your battery quickly. While the Always On display is a convenient feature in the more recent models of Apple Watch, it’s not ideal if you’re trying to max out your battery life. This feature is on by default if you have an Apple Watch Series 5 or later. To turn it off:^{[6]
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- Press the Digital Crown and tap the
  Settings app.
- Select Display & Brightness.
- Scroll down and select Always On, then tap Always On to turn it off.

4

Turn off Wrist Raise.

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This feature can eat battery if you move your hands a lot. When the Wrist Raise setting is active, your watch will wake up any time you raise your arm to look at it. Turning it off can help maximize your battery life.^{[7]
X
Research source} To disable Wrist Raise:
- Press the Digital Crown and open the
  Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap Display & Brightness.
- Under the Wake header, tap the
  toggle next to Wake on Wrist Raise. You can still wake your watch by turning or pressing the Digital Crown or tapping the screen.

5

Keep Bluetooth enabled on your iPhone.

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This lets your watch and phone communicate more efficiently. While it might not seem obvious, turning off Bluetooth on your iPhone can actually drain your watch battery faster.^{[8]
X
Research source} If you’ve disabled Bluetooth, here’s how to turn it on again:
- Open
  Settings and tap Bluetooth.
- Toggle on the
  button next to Bluetooth.
- If your Apple Watch doesn’t automatically connect with your iPhone, you may need to re-pair it.

6

Activate Low Power Mode.

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Enabling this mode all the time will maximize battery life. While you can choose to enable Low Power Mode only during a workout, you can also turn it on all the time to reduce overall battery drain on your watch. You’ll need to have watchOS 9 or later installed to do this.^{[9]
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- Press the Digital Crown and open
  Settings.
- Scroll down and select Battery.
- Toggle on the
  switch next to Low Power Mode. You’ll see a yellow circle at the top of your watch display while this mode is activated.
- You can also click the side button (or swipe up from the bottom of your watch screen in earlier versions of watchOS) and tap the battery percentage button in the Control Center to find and activate this setting.
- Note that while you’re in Low Power Mode, certain features of your watch will be disabled (such as Always On, Time in Daylight, and heart rate measurements).^{[10]
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7

Turn off background app refresh.

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App refresh makes updates more efficient, but it also depletes your battery. The background app refresh feature automatically searches for app updates and lets you receive app notifications on your Apple Watch. If you’d rather not have these background processes eating up your battery life, here’s how to turn it off:
- Press the Digital Crown and open
  Settings.
- Tap General, scroll down, and select Background App Refresh.
- Toggle off the
  switch next to Background App Refresh, or go down through your list of apps and toggle off any individual apps you don’t want to refresh in the background.

8

Ensure you don’t have a workout running.

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It’s easy to accidentally leave a workout on. And when you do, it can drain your battery quickly. To check, press the Digital Crown and select the Workout app (it looks like a running person on a bright yellow-green background). If you see an active workout, swipe right, then tap End.
- You can also set alerts to remind you if you have an active workout. To do this, open
  Settings, scroll down and tap Workout, and make sure End Workout Reminder is toggled on.

9

Make sure Walkie-Talkie is turned off.

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Some users report this app turning on after an update. Luckily, it’s quick and easy to check and turn off this feature in your Control Center. To do it, press the side button (or swipe up from the bottom of your screen, depending on your version of watchOS) and look for the icon that looks like a walkie-talkie. If it’s yellow, the feature is active. Tap it to turn it off.^{[11]
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- You can also press the Digital Crown to open your apps, then tap the Walkie-Talkie app. Make sure the switch next to Walkie-Talkie is set to
  off.

10

Disable the VPN on your iPhone if you have one.

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If you use a VPN on your iPhone, it could be making the apps on your watch work harder to access the internet. Consider turning off the VPN or any other security apps that might have an impact on how efficiently your watch and phone communicate.

11

Charge Apple Watch on a plugged-in computer.

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Otherwise, your watch won’t charge efficiently, and may even lose power while it’s plugged into the computer. Make sure your computer is powered on and plugged in.^{[12]
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12

Force restart your watch and iPhone.

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A hard reset can fix battery-draining glitches. If other fixes aren’t working, you might need to force restart your devices. For good measure, restart both your Apple Watch and your paired iPhone. Here’s how to do it:
- To restart your Apple Watch hold the side button and Digital Crown down at the same time until the Apple logo appears. This may take about 10 seconds.
- The right way to hard reset an iPhone depends on the model. For most newer iPhones (iPhone 8 and later), press and release the volume up button, then press and release the volume down button, then press and hold the side button. Release it when the Apple logo appears.

13

Unpair and re-pair your watch and iPhone.

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This may help with more serious software problems. Unpairing your watch will erase it and reset it to factory settings, so try this as a last resort. When you’re done, pair it with your phone again and see if the issue is resolved.^{[13]
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- Place your Apple Watch and iPhone close to each other and open the Watch app on your phone.
- Tap My Watch at the bottom of the screen and select All Watches.
- Tap the
  Info button next to the watch you want to unpair and then tap Unpair Apple Watch at the bottom of the menu.
- Tap Unpair [your watch’s name] to confirm.
  - If you have a GPS + Cellular watch, you will be prompted to choose whether or not to keep your current plan. Choose to keep it so you can easily re-pair the watch with your phone.
- Enter your Apple ID password, then tap Unpair.
- Your iPhone should automatically create a backup of your watch. When you’re done, you’ll see the Start Pairing message on your iPhone, and you can begin the process of pairing your watch again.

14

Contact Apple Repair if nothing else works.

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Your watch might have a hardware issue. It could be that your watch is damaged or that the battery needs to be replaced. If you can’t fix your fast battery drain with any of these troubleshooting steps, take your watch to an Apple repair tech.
- You can get information about repairing your Apple Watch here: https://support.apple.com/watch/repair.