UPDATE 11/7: Apple has rolled out a fix for these battery issues with watchOS 10.1.1. It's available for Apple Watch Series 4 and above.
Original Story 11/6:
After Apple released watchOS 10.1, users started reporting that their Watches took a significant hit to battery life. It's more than just the latest Apple Watch models; older models suffer from the same problem. The good news is that Apple has acknowledged the issue and will send out a fix.
As 9to5Mac notes, you can find reports of shorter battery life all over Reddit and Apple's support forums. Some users are reporting losing 25% battery life in as little as a half hour, while others say their watch died entirely after three hours. That's significantly shorter than the quoted 18-hour battery life for the Apple Watch Series 9.
In our review, we noted that the Apple Watch did live up to those battery promises despite a much brighter screen than previous models. But that was before the release of watchOS 10.1. The latest update introduced a highly anticipated feature, double tap, but it's unclear if that's the source of the problem. Apple claims that only Series 9 and Ultra 2 models can handle double tap without a loss in battery life, thanks to the newest processors. So, in theory, that shouldn't be the problem, especially since older models also took a battery hit.
Unfortunately, while Apple reportedly has acknowledged the problem, it has only done so in an internal memo sent to Apple Authorized Service Providers. That memo doesn't provide any details of the problem or a timeline for when Apple will release the fix. For now, all we have to go on is a "coming soon" promise.
It's also unclear how many Watch owners are affected by the buggy update. If you count yourself among them, for now, you don't need to take your Watch to an Apple Store. Just wait for the upcoming patch
