The launch of Apple’s watchOS 11 a few weeks ago brought many exciting new features to the Apple Watch, including a translation app, sleep apnea detection, and even new watch faces.
Unfortunately, it also introduced a bug that chews through the watch’s battery like a bear in an apple orchard. Good news: Apple is releasing a fix for this annoying glitch in watchOS 11.0.1.
So, how bad was the battery drain? On Reddit, u/Brilliant_Command206 reported that their watch was at 100% battery when watchOS 11 finished installing just before lunch. When they went to bed that night, they found the watch had lost 72% of its battery in just over 10 hours. Another user reported that their phone lost all of its charge in just six hours. Some fans were still dealing with the battery drain at seemingly random times.
It’s not wholly unexpected, though. Last year, watchOS 10 was causing similar problems.
Thankfully, Apple took notice and released an update. In addition to the battery drain problem, this update also fixes another bug that caused the Music app to crash and one that caused the Apple Watch to reboot randomly. You can find the full patch notes on Apple’s developer blog, and they’re worth reading.
The update should be available now, so check the Settings app to ensure you haven’t missed it. This update isn’t going to dramatically change the way your Apple Watch works; in fact, there are hardly any new features to speak of. What it does do is patch multiple bugs that have been driving Apple Watch users more than a little mad.
If your Apple Watch isn’t lasting as long as you think it should, there are steps you can take to extend its battery life.
