Why is my Watch not fully charging?

[jhc1187]

Well, turns out that it’s not good. Today it was charged to 100% when I put it on about 12 hours ago. It is now at 57%. Wish I knew what the heck is going on with it.

Mine does this, most days batt life is great and I end around 77% at end of day.... lately one a week or so with same usage it’ll get down to 45-50% with same useage type day. Can not pinpoint why the such drastic change in batt life.

Have not run into not charging full yet tho fingers crossed I don’t.

 

[CritKlepka]

Hi guys,
I just wanted to chime in. Same problem here - Apple Watch Series 3 + LTE will not charge above 95-98% even overnight. I bought it on day one. Every few days, it stops charging fully, stopping at the mentioned percentage.

The short term fix was just to hard-restart it (by holding both hardware buttons until it shut off and then starting it again). Then it will fully charge again and for a few days.

I contacted Apple Support and the first time they wanted me to factory reset. I eventually got around to contacting them again this morning (obviously the reset didn't fix it, started happening a few days later). They are sending me a box that they said should arrive within a few days and they are going to repair it. Unfortunately, they made me factory reset it before they started the repair process, so I'm out of my watch until the box arrives and its repaired. Was hoping to get a few more days out of it

They said just to send the watch face, and hold onto the band and all accessories; I'll update when I get it back to let you guys know if it was repaired or if they send me a new one.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Well, turns out that it’s not good. Today it was charged to 100% when I put it on about 12 hours ago. It is now at 57%. Wish I knew what the heck is going on with it.

Original AW here and that's been the norm with mine since day one. But I also get 100's of notifications every day and have mine set to bring the screen on when I raise my wrist, and vibrate and ding on every notification.

On the days when yo still have 50+ % battery at the end of the day, was that a light use day?

Also, what apps are installed on your watch that may be using power?

 

[edswife1970]

Original AW here and that's been the norm with mine since day one. But I also get 100's of notifications every day and have mine set to bring the screen on when I raise my wrist, and vibrate and ding on every notification.

On the days when yo still have 50+ % battery at the end of the day, was that a light use day?

Also, what apps are installed on your watch that may be using power?

About the only thing going on with my watch is a few notifications and some text messages. Nothing that would be using power to an extreme. I have cellular on it too, but I never use it for phone calls. I’ve had my watch on today for about five hours and it’s down to 75% already.

 

[Lee_Bo]

About the only thing going on with my watch is a few notifications and some text messages. Nothing that would be using power to an extreme. I have cellular on it too, but I never use it for phone calls. I’ve had my watch on today for about five hours and it’s down to 75% already.

I took my watch off the charger at 7am and it's currently 12:30pm, so that's 5 1/2 hours and I'm at 72%. To me that's pretty good. So if you lose 25% in 5 hours, by that that logic your watch will die in 20 hours. I don't see an issue with that.

 

[EagleFox007]

I’m 100% at 6AM. I come home at 5:30 PM and still have 74% battery left. I also don’t have too many notification turned on.

 

[edswife1970]

I’m 100% at 6AM. I come home at 5:30 PM and still have 74% battery left. I also don’t have too many notification turned on.

My watch started out at 100% this morning at 6:30 and it is now almost 6:30 PM and my watch is at 41%. In my experience with my original watch and the new one up to this point, that is not good battery life! This is a relatively new issue because my watch usually has around 75% left after 12 to 14 hours. As soon as I get the opportunity, I am going to stop in at the Apple store and ask them about it. I paid way too much for this watch to have crappy battery life.

 

[Tucsondesertgirl]

I’ve been having an issue where my Apple Watch S3 doesn’t fully charge. It goes up to 97% and then drops as low as 94% before going back to 95% and stopping. I can get it to 100% by rebooting it but it reoccurs several days later. Also, I have run the battery down to 0% seeing if that helps and it doesn’t.

Anyone else?

Mine just started doing the same thing. It goes to 93% and then will not charge any further.

 

[mfm77]

Mine has the exact same charging issues.

 

[Eclipse2K]

Mine just started doing the same thing. It goes to 93% and then will not charge any further.

It appears this is a widespread issue. It’s just odd that a quick reboot will allow you to charge back up to 100% though. I’d say I have to reboot it once a week or slightly earlier.

 

[vimagreg]

Mine continues to not charging fully sometimes. And sometimes it charges till 100% normally. Weird.

 

[eyecrispy]

What watchOS version are you all on? I haven’t had this issue at all.

 

[edswife1970]

What watchOS version are you all on? I haven’t had this issue at all.

I’m on watchOS 4 .2.2. I’m still not sure if it’s a software problem or something else. My watch rarely charges to 100%.

 

[Eclipse2K]

What watchOS version are you all on? I haven’t had this issue at all.

I was in 4.2.2 but I updated to 4.2.3 the other night. I’ll see if it continues to happen but I’m sure it will. Sad that I have to think this way.

Edit: Even on 4.2.3 it’s not fully charging every time.

 

[edswife1970]

I’ve noticed something else when charging my watch. When I take it off the charger in the morning, if it is cool to the touch, it is charged to 100%. If it feels warm, it’s usually around 95% or even less. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen! It’s not really a big deal but it is annoying

 

[anon(41073)]

Mine sometimes charges to 100% and sometimes only 95%. After 12 hour days, I have never dropped below 70%. Whatever is going on it's not worth me getting it exchanged.

 

[Eclipse2K]

Mine sometimes charges to 100% and sometimes only 95%. After 12 hour days, I have never dropped below 70%. Whatever is going on it's not worth me getting it exchanged.

I wouldn’t exchange it either. It’s obviously a software issue of some sort considering it does actually charge to 100% after a reboot. Even so, it’s not a large issue but more of an OCD issue.

 

[RECON1]

Started happening again yesterday

 

[eyecrispy]

I was in 4.2.2 but I updated to 4.2.3 the other night. I’ll see if it continues to happen but I’m sure it will. Sad that I have to think this way.

Edit: Even on 4.2.3 it’s not fully charging every time.

That stinks. The various Apple OSs have been riddled with bugs and this seems to be one of them. I’ve had a WiFi issue with my iPad Pro that has yet to be resolved. Super annoying.

 

[jkeitz]

Re: Why is my Watch not fully charging?

A similar situation came up with people complaining that their iPads were charging to just short of 100% but never 100% that they could see.

Apple said that the iPads charge and discharge and charge so as not to overcharge the battery. I've only seen the one reference, where ever that was.

I wonder if the same thing is being done for the Watch. It's battery is much smaller and overcharging and heat would be less Watch friendly.

I think this must be what is going on. I put mine on the charger at night, and I see it get to a full ring charged, but by morning it will be between 92% and 98%. It is annoying, but I try not to worry about it, since it is still between 70% and 75% 16 hours later when I put it back on the charger. I'm trying to remind myself that the number that matters is the charge at the end of the day, not the beginning.