Horrible battery life with Apple watch (series 10) under WatchOS 26

Forums › Apple iOS and devices › Horrible battery life with Apple watch (series 10) under WatchOS 26

Aucklandjafa

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#324513 20-Apr-2026 09:33

Prior to updating to OS 26, I could take my watch off charge first thing in the AM and it'd last me through to the early evening the following day - now I'm lucky to get just over 24 hours on a charge.

Just seeing if anyone else has had the same issue. Will no doubt contact Apple, but haven't seeing much else online so could be a outlier of an issue.

RunningMan

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#3482400 20-Apr-2026 10:34

Anecdotally noting the same thing.

corksta

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#3482545 20-Apr-2026 14:40

It’s not confined to the watch. My experience is that every device I use has poorer battery life compared to iOS 18. How, what and how often I use them has not changed. Battery life has.

jonherries

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#3482655 21-Apr-2026 03:26

Did it turn off/on optimise battery charging?

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Aucklandjafa

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#3482660 21-Apr-2026 07:38

jonherries:

Did it turn off/on optimise battery charging?

Optimise charging is still on, regardless, it’s still charging to 100% so can’t see that being the issue for a quicker discharge

Linux

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#3482662 21-Apr-2026 07:41

After the update does the watch have more features? More features higher battery usage

jonherries

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#3482672 21-Apr-2026 07:53

I have seen some long set preferences change with v26 on my watch, things like how long to leave apps running, screen wake time, there are now some more complicated settings in exercise mode which use more/less battery. I would check those.

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pureinception

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#3482682 21-Apr-2026 08:49

Noticed the same thing on mine. Have not yet checked the settings yet but only updated this weekend.

RunningMan

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#3482824 21-Apr-2026 16:46

This prompted me to take action. First step was to reboot the watch, and consumption seems to have dropped back to where it used to be. Give that a go and see if it helps you too.

Hold both buttons for a few seconds until it restarts.

Aucklandjafa

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#3482825 21-Apr-2026 16:50

RunningMan:

This prompted me to take action. First step was to reboot the watch, and consumption seems to have dropped back to where it used to be. Give that a go and see if it helps you too.

Hold both buttons for a few seconds until it restarts.

Will check that out. Cheers!

halper86

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#3482927 22-Apr-2026 08:46

S11 here - non cellular. No issues here lately.

Mind you it does go flat all the time so I guess you can call that a reboot! Always on enabled.