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You are here: Home / Apple Watch / Quick tips to reduce the battery drain on your Apple Watch Series 5
Quick tips to reduce the battery drain on your Apple Watch Series 5

Quick tips to reduce the battery drain on your Apple Watch Series 5

By Dan Helyer 2 comments Last updated October 17, 2019

The newest Apple Watch is here, complete with an Always-On display, a built-in compass, and all-new design materials. For the most part, the Apple Watch Series 5 is a solid upgrade, but you might experience some battery drain problems out of the gate. 


Contents

    • 0.1 Related:
  • 1 Battery drain problems in watchOS 6
    • 1.1 Step 1. Unpair and repair your Apple Watch
    • 1.2 Step 2. Restart your Apple Watch
    • 1.3 Step 3. Restart your iPhone
  • 2 Get even better battery life on the Apple Watch Series 5
    • 2.1 Turn on Theater Mode while you sleep
    • 2.2 Related Posts:

Related:

  • Top 3 features you’ll miss if you don’t upgrade to the Apple Watch Series 5
  • Here are the 4 major Health and Fitness improvements in watchOS 6
  • Can’t find the compass on your Apple Watch? How to fix
  • How to reset or restart and Apple Watch

Battery drain problems in watchOS 6

Apple Watch low battery screen
When your battery runs out, the Apple Watch displays a low power screen. Image from Apple.

With a new watch comes a new update to watchOS, in this 6th iteration we get new watch faces, new apps, and a dedicated Watch App Store. But we also get a bug that causes series battery drain on all Apple Watch models.

Users with watchOS 6 on their wrist have seen up to 30% of their battery drain every hour. That’s only a three-hour battery life, which is substantially shorter than the 18 hours Apple boasts for their watch.

Fortunately, this battery drain issue is down to a software bug, making it easy to fix with three simple steps.

If you haven’t updated to the latest watchOS, this would be the time to update it since the new software addresses some of the battery woes.



Step 1. Unpair and repair your Apple Watch

  1. On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app.
  2. Go to the ‘My Watch’ tab and select the i next to your Apple Watch.
  3. Tap ‘Unpair Apple Watch’ and confirm you want to unpair.
  4. If prompted, enter your Apple ID password.
  5. When unpairing is complete, follow the prompts to set up your Apple Watch again and restore its backup from your iPhone.
Apple Watch and iPhone ready to pair
Pair your iPhone and Apple Watch the same way you did when they were new. Image from Apple.

Step 2. Restart your Apple Watch

  1. Press and hold the Side button.
  2. Slide to power off your Apple Watch.
  3. Wait 30 seconds before pressing the Side button to restart your watch.
Side button on Apple Watch to power off
Use the Side button and follow the onscreen prompt to power off your Apple Watch. Image from Apple.

Step 3. Restart your iPhone

  1. Press and hold the Side button with either Volume button.
  2. When prompted, slide to power off your iPhone.
  3. Wait 30 seconds before pressing the Side button to restart your iPhone.
Slide to power off on iPhone or iPad.
When prompted, slide to power off your device.

Most users saw a drastic improvement in their battery life after completing these steps. Some Redditors said they saw battery drain drop from 30% to 5% an hour. That’s much better!

If it didn’t work for you, repeat the steps but do a Force Restart for your Apple Watch and your iPhone instead.

Get even better battery life on the Apple Watch Series 5

Theater Mode Control Center icon
Use Theater Mode to keep your screen off at night.

If you wear your Apple Watch Series 5 to bed, the Always-On display might seem more of an inconvenience than an improvement. Not only does the light brighten your room and shine in your face, but it could use as much as 20% extra battery power through the night.

There’s an easy solution to this, and it was introduced to the Apple Watch back with watchOS 3.

Turn on Theater Mode while you sleep

  1. Swipe open Control Center on your Apple Watch.
  2. Scroll down and tap the Theater Mode icon to turn it on.
  3. Now your watch face turns off unless you tap it or raise your wrist.

With Theater Mode switched on through the night you should be able to sleep in greater darkness and wake with extra battery power.

Apple Watch Theater Mode sequence
Swipe open Control Center and turn on Theater Mode to save power on your Apple Watch. Image from 9to5 Mac.

How are you getting on with the Apple Watch Series 5 and watchOS 6? We’d love to hear your stories in the comments. Do you like the Always-On display? Do you sleep with your watch on? Or do you miss the impressive battery life of the Apple Watch Series 2?

Dan Helyer( Senior Writer )

Dan writes tutorials and troubleshooting guides to help people make the most of their technology. Before becoming a writer, he earned a BSc in Sound Technology, supervised repairs at an Apple Store, and even taught English in China.

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Reader Interactions

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Show 2 Comments

  1. Teta Victoria Petty says

    November 23, 2020 at 9:25 AM

    I agree with you 100%. This is the same reason Apple was sued regarding the IPhone 6.

    Reply
  2. Sue Projceski says

    October 5, 2020 at 2:51 AM

    I have an Apple Watch Series 5. I always got great battery life from my watch even when using GPS and activities. Since updating to the newest software I have to charge it 3 times a day and do not use activities as much. Also the GPS has stopped working. This is so bloody annoying. I’ll try your method. I have also tried to get info about how to reinstate the gps. I have contacted Apple regarding the poor battery life. They are such a big company and really need to do something to fix this battery problem. Garmin have a great battery life, so why can’t apple do that. Regards Sue

    Reply

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