Apple released watchOS 8.5 in mid-March, bringing significant new changes, such as new emoji and other features to the Apple Watch. Unfortunately, watchOS 8.5 apparently brought an unwelcome new “feature,” as Apple Watch Series 7 users are reporting that the update breaks fast charging on their wearables.
There are conflicting reports, as some users say that it’s only affecting third-party chargers, while other users are experiencing the same issue even with Apple’s official charger.
The Apple Watch Series 7 introduced faster charger speeds. Apple says the new Watch model cab charge to go from 0% to 80% in around 45 minutes. Series 7 users have posted on online forums to complain about the issue:
Hi,
After updating the Apple Watch 7 to WhatchOS 8.5 it stopped fast charging with Belkin BoostCharge PRO. It used to charge very fast and now is very very very slow (about 5% in one hour). Any idea of how to solve this issue?
Thanks!I can also confirm, the boost pro stopped charging my Series 7 altogether after updating to watchOS 8.5. It’ll charge normally on Apple chargers, but the Belkin fast charger recently released no longer works. Considering the absolute desolate landscape that third party fast charging for Series 7 is currently, how quickly Apple releases a fix for this is critical for Belkin and others to keep customer trust.
Apple is likely aware of the problem, so it is safe to assume that an update to patch the bug will be released in the near future. A minor update (perhaps watchOS 8.5.1) will hopefully be available in the near future.
(Via XDA-Developers)
