A good number of Apple Watch users are reporting severe battery drain and overheating issues since updating their wearables to watchOS 10.1. While the issue appears to be widespread, not all Apple Watch users are affected.
A wide range of Apple Watch models have been affected, including the Apple Watch Series 4 (the oldest model compatible with watchOS 10.1) as well as Apple’s latest Watch models, the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Users are reporting that they’re seeing their Apple Watch drain at highly accelerated rates. One user on Twitter says that their Apple Watch Series 9 went from 100% to dead in just three hours. Another Twitter user reported that their Apple Watch Series 7 battery drained by 25% in just half an hour.
Many of the same users are also saying that they are having issues when charging their Apple Watch, due to overheating problems. Users are seeing this message Settings app: “Charging was on hold due to Apple Watch temperature.” Some users report seeing their Apple Watch’s battery actually drain while on the charger.
As reported by 9to5Mac, a quick search on Twitter shows a steady stream of complaints since watchOS 10.1 was released earlier this week. Some users say they saw the problem while running the watchOS 10.1 beta, and Apple didn’t address it.
Several complaints have also appeared on Reddit, as well as Apple’s Support Forums:
Apple has yet to acknowledge these reports. Apple released the first developer beta of watchOS 10.2 on Thursday, but we haven’t seen any reports of the update resolving the battery life issues.