Apple Watch users say battery is mysteriously draining far too quickly

Company reportedly working on a fix in an upcoming update

(Getty Images)

Apple is working to fix for a mysterious and significant battery problem in the latest version of the operating system for its Watch, a report has claimed.

Across a variety of forums including Apple’s own support pages, users have reported that their Watches are rapidly losing their charge.

Some users report that even the Apple Watch Ultra – which is intended to run for up to 36 hours thanks to its larger case and battery – can fully use all its charge in three hours.

The issue appears specific to be the latest update, numbered WatchOS 10.1. That arrived in late October and brought changes including the addition of the new Apple Watch’s headline feature.

Now the company is reportedly working on an update that should fix those problems, according to an internal memo seen by Macrumors. Apple has not publicly confirmed that it is working on the update or when it might arrive.

Apple has seemingly looked to fix at least some of the problems already. In the recently released iOS 17.1 update for the iPhone, it said that it had addressed “increased power consumption” when the two devices are paired, but that appears not to have fully fixed the issue.

Apple is currently testing WatchOS 10.2, which might not be released for months. But the company sometimes pushes out smaller and less substantial updates to address bugs and other problems such as the the phantom battery drain.

The issue might also be related to specific apps. Some users reported that uninstalling the app “MobyFace” – which allows people to customise their watch faces – helped stop the battery draining.

Specific apps have caused problems for Apple devices in the past, presumably as a result of a conflict between the software and the devices operating system. Amid widespread reports that new iPhone 15s were getting hotter than expect last month, for instance, Apple suggested that at least part of the problem was with Instagram, though it was also able to fix some of those issues with a software update.