The good news is that excessive battery drain is a problem that many Watch owners have had.

The bad news is that it can be hard to diagnose and fix.

What Is Excessive Battery Drain?

Checking grammar and spelling in the iPhone’s Notes app using the Grammarly keyboard.

Its your Watch dropping from 80% to 20% after youve barely used it at all.

This is a problem youll notice suddenly, rather than something that creeps up over time.

Check Your Watch Is Charging Properly

Your Apple Watch charger can be a flimsy bit of kit.

Person wearing the Apple Watch Series 10

confirm that your Watch is charging up to 100% before you use it.

Youll find this under configs > Battery on your Watch, displayed as a graph.

This graph can help you identify the issue and potentially link it to an activity.

An Apple Watch Series 8 on a person’s wrist.

Tim Brookes / How-To Geek

This is what you want to see.

If you suddenly see a steep decline, this indicates that your Watch battery drained very quickly.

If you see a steep decline, youll know that the problem still exists.

Apple Watch battery usage graph.

Youll also find your battery health status under controls > Battery on your Watch.

Press and hold the Side button to turn it back on again.

you could turn it back on by pressing and holding the Side button again.

Apple Watch battery health report.

Restarting both devices is important since either gadget could be to blame.

Bugs in either operating system could cause an issue like this, but particularly watchOS.

This problem is especially prevalent when upgrading to a new major version (like watchOS 11.0 or 11.0.1).

Option to restart an iPhone with Siri.

This will erase your Watch and any data you have on it.

Youll find your activity rings and logged workouts under the Fitness app on your iPhone.

You may even be able to find a solution, albeit a temporary one.

Downloading and installing a watchOS update via the Watch app for iPhone.

A long-term fix eventually arrived in the form of a software update.

Wait for a watchOS Update

Sometimes, all you’re free to do is wait.

Unfortunately, you cant downgrade from a watchOS beta version once youve installed it.

Unpairing an Apple Watch using the Watch app on iPhone.

Youll just have to unenroll your unit and wait for a new stable update to arrive.

Change the setting to Off and you will no longer receive new beta updates.

Babysit Your Battery for Now

Its not a permanent fix, but it cant hurt.

Disabling beta watchOS updates in the Watch app for iPhone.

Apple Watch Series 8 being worn during a resistance training exercise

Tim Brookes / How-To Geek