It has not been smooth sailing for Apple with their new software. First it was the battery drain issue in iPhones, that they eventually fixed with the iOS 17.1, and it looks like the same problem has creeped into the Apple Watch as well. What’s good to know is that Apple has taken this on the chin and promised to fix the issue ASAP with a software update.
Unlike the iPhone battery drain issue, which plagued the newer models only, the battery drain on Apple Watch is affecting older models including Watch SE and Watch Series 5, up to brand new versions like Apple Watch Ultra 2. This was confirmed on a thread on Reddit which you can check out here. For those of you who are too lazy to switch sites, here is a quick summary of the issue that is being reported by users all over the world – The issue appears to be discharging the Apple Watch from a full charge (100%) to 50% in less than 60 minutes, which is completely unacceptable.
A slight twist in the tale is that when we actually went through the release notes of iOS 17.1, we spotted the following statement where it states that the update resolves a problem involving “increased power consumption” when a Watch running watchOS 10.1 is paired with an iPhone using iOS 17. Unfortunately though, this is not really a lasting solution.
According to the memo released by Apple, all efforts are being made to address and fix the Apple Watch battery drain issue with a software update that is ‘Coming Soon’. At the moment, there is no other detail available regarding the exact date of release or the nature of the fix.
Stay tuned for more on this in coming updates.
