A fair number of Apple Watch users have been experiencing battery life issues lately, where the Apple Watch battery would drain much faster than expected or desired. In some instances, users would experience the Apple Watch battery draining from 100% to 50% or less in less than an hour, even with a perfectly healthy battery.
For the impacted Apple Watch owners, the devices poor battery performance began after updating to watchOS 10.1, and now Apple has released watchOS 10.1.1 update to fix that battery draining problem, which users should update to right away when they get the chance.
How to Update to WatchOS 10.1.1 to Fix Battery Draining Issues on Apple Watch
The Apple Watch defaults to automatically updating, but if you turned that feature off, then you can update your Apple Watch to watchOS 10.1.1 by doing the following:
- Connect the Apple Watch to a charger
- Open the Apple Watch app on the paired iPhone to go to My Watch to access settings
- Go to “General” and then to “Software Update”
- Choose to install watchOS 10.1.1 update
Remember, if your Apple Watch is set to auto-update, which it is by default, this update should install itself automatically overnight or whenever it’s left plugged in and charging for an extended duration while unused.
It’s not clear what caused the unusual battery draining situation on Apple Watch, but presumably an identified bug was resolved with watchOS 10.1.1. Impacted Apple Watch users would sometimes experience battery draining unusually fast, sometimes even a percentage a minute, or they may notice their device would enter into power reserve mode seemingly out of nowhere as the battery ran out.
WatchOS 10.1.1 Release Notes
Release notes accompanying watchOS 10.1.1 specifically mention a battery drain resolution.
This update provides important bug fixes and addresses an issue that could cause the battery to drain more quickly for some users.
While you’re busy updating your Apple Watch, you probably also want to update to iOS 17.1.1 on iPhone, ipadOS 17.1.1 on iPad, and macOS Sonoma 14.1.1 on Mac.
