Some Apple Watch Series 5 Owners Seeing Issues With Inconsistent Battery Levels and Random Shutdowns

Some Apple Watch Series 5 owners have been experiencing battery issues with their devices that cause random shutdowns even when the Apple Watch is reporting high battery levels.

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An inconsistent reading of actual battery level appears to be at fault, as in most cases, the Apple Watch reports near 100 percent battery levels for most of the day before dropping down to close to 50 percent and then shutting off. Macrumors reader Todd describes the issue:

Prior to a recent update, my watch had been accurate in reporting its battery level. It's hard to say which recent update MAY have created the issue, or if it's a result of something different, but I'm currently running watchOS 6.2.8. For the past few weeks, my watch has been reporting at or near 100% battery levels for the duration of the day - 5-6 hours at least. It will then drop down to around 53% and then abruptly shut off. Once restarted, it reports a battery level of 53% but will then shut down again if not placed on a charger.

Other users have seen a problem where the Apple Watch shuts down at around 50 percent battery, charges up to 99 percent in a short period of time, and then has problems charging fully to 100 percent.

There are complaints about these battery life issues on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support Communities, plus iMore wrote about the issue earlier this year. From the Apple Support Communities:

I am having the following problem with my Series 5 Apple Watch, purchased four months ago:

1. After a full charge, the battery charge indicator remains stuck at 100% for approximately 4-9 hours.

2. The battery charge indicator then begins to decrease.

3. When the battery charge indicator reaches approximately 15-33%, the watch powers down suddenly, with no low battery warning (which should be given at 10%).

In summary, the battery charge indicator is essentially never correct.

Apple Watch Series 5 owners have been complaining about battery life issues since the device was first released in September 2019, and while it doesn't appear to be a widespread issue, there are a good number of people who are experiencing problems.

Complaints have persisted across multiple watchOS updates, and there have been a reports about battery errors after the latest watchOS 6.2.6 and watchOS 6.2.8 updates. Some affected users have been able to solve the problem by getting a replacement watch from Apple, but other techniques, such as resetting the watch, re-pairing, deleting watch faces, and more have not worked.

Given the mixed reports about the battery problems and the length of time that people have been experiencing issues, it's not clear what's going on but it appears that Apple hasn't yet been able to fix the issue.

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Top Rated Comments

480951 Avatar
64 months ago

here's whats probably going to happen:
- Apple finds out it's due to battery aging (nothing you can do about that)
- Apple fixes it with a software update by throttling the CPU
- People get outraged
- Lawsuit gets filed
- Apple ends up paying out and gets punished for fixing a physics problem.
I really doubt it’s that as the series 5 isn’t even a year old yet.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goonie4life9 Avatar
64 months ago
Folks, here's the word from Apple. The Senior Advisor I spoke to stated that he has never heard of battery issues with the Apple Watch. He said that if there was an issue, Apple would know about it before any user did, because Apple talks to over 1 million customers per hour, so the issue would show as a "Known Issue" before it ever affected any Apple Watch. Given this, he said the standard troubleshooting is to remove and re-seat the battery. Once you've done that, you'll need to plug the Watch into iTunes and do a DFU restore. Once you've done that, they'll send you an Apple Diagnostics file. You need to run Diagnostics, with Mail Logging enable to make-sure it isn't an issue with the Exchange server, zip the file, and submit it to Apple. This will then be sent to Engineering and they will get back to you within 48 hours with the official confirmation of a Duplicate Issue.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macfacts Avatar
64 months ago
Time to throttle the apple watches
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Donnation Avatar
64 months ago
That would suck. Thinking you are getting this amazing battery life and staying at 100% most of the day and then boom, it shuts down.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ColeSQ Avatar
64 months ago
we’ve replaced an S5 Watch 3x so far because of battery issues. I’ve owned every series to date, easily the worst one based on reliability alone and Apple’s “send it in and you’ll eventually get one back” service isn’t acceptable for the first year of owning anything as vital to one’s health monitoring as this Watch. It’s definitely been an “I wish I had a better option than Apple” moment for someone who’s been loyal for two decades and never felt that way before.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
64 months ago
here's whats probably going to happen:
- Apple finds out it's due to battery aging (nothing you can do about that)
- Apple fixes it with a software update by throttling the CPU
- People get outraged
- Lawsuit gets filed
- Apple ends up paying out and gets punished for fixing a physics problem
- No one wins in the end
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)