How to Fix Apple Watch 4 Battery Life Problems

One of the most frustrating problems plaguing Apple Watch 4 owners is abnormal battery drain. These problems can be rather tricky to fix, but we’ll take you through potential solutions to try before contacting Apple for help.

We haven’t seen widespread complaints about Apple Watch 4 battery life in 2023, but some users are saying their watch’s battery is draining faster than normal, either out of the blue or after a software update.

Apple Watch battery life issues are pretty common, particularly on older models like the Apple Watch 4.

If you start noticing severe battery drain on your Apple Watch 4 you’ll obviously want to try and fix the issue right away. In this guide we’ll show you some fixes that could help your battery life problems right away.

11/14 Update: We’ve updated this guide to reflect the release of watchOS 10 and a software update that fixes battery life issues impacting the Apple Watch 4.

These are fixes that have worked for us (I’ve owned the Apple Watch 4 since 2018) and they might help you solve your battery issues in just a few short minutes.

Restart Your Apple Watch 4

Before you take any other step, the first thing you should do is a quick restart. Power down your Apple Watch 4, wait a minute, and then power it back on again.

If your Apple Watch 4’s battery is still draining faster than you think it should, move onto the next steps.

Update Your Apple Watch 4

Apple will periodically release new watchOS software updates for the Apple Watch 4. Point updates (x.x.x) are typically focused on fixing bugs while milestone upgrades (x.x) usually provide a mix of features and fixes.

The company might not call out battery life fixes in an watchOS 10 update’s change log, but new firmware always has the potential to help alleviate battery drain issues.

If your Watch is currently running software older than watchOS 10.1.1, you should upgrade immediately.

Apple says watchOS 10.1.1 provided important bug fixes and addresses an issue that could cause the battery to drain more quickly for some users.

Update Your Apps

Make sure your Apple Watch 4 is set to automatically download app updates. This will help ensure your device is running the latest version of an app which can help prevent battery drain. Here’s how to check if it’s turned on on your device:

On Apple Watch

• Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch 4
• Scroll down and tap App Store
• Make sure Automatic Updates is toggled on

On iPhone

• Open up the Watch app on your iPhone
• Scroll down and tap App Store
• Make sure Automatic Updates is toggled on

Manage the Display

Properly managing your Apple Watch 4’s display is key to conserving battery life and avoiding unnecessary drain. There are a few key things to keep in mind here.

First, if you constantly have your watch’s display at maximum brightness, it’ll drain the battery. Make sure you keep brightness at an appropriate level for your environment. There are two ways to adjust your Apple Watch 4’s screen brightness:

• On your Apple Watch, open the Settings app
• Tap Display & Brightness
• Use the slider at the top to adjust the brightness of the display

If you’d prefer to adjust the brightness from your iPhone, you can do that too. Follow these instructions to do so:

• Open up the Watch app on your iPhone
• Tap General
• Tap Display & Brightness
• Use the slider at the top to adjust the brightness of your Apple Watch 4’s display

If you don’t need your Apple Watch 4’s screen to turn on every time you adjust your hands/wrist, turn off the “Wake On Wrist Raise” function. You can do this from your iPhone or the Apple Watch itself.

On Apple Watch:

• Open the Settings app
• Tap Display & Brightness
• Toggle Wake on Wrist Raise off

On iPhone:

• Open up the Watch app on your iPhone
• Tap General
• Tap Display & Brightness
• Toggle Wake on Wrist Raise off

On the same screen you can also toggle Wake on Crown Rotation to off if you want to make sure the screen doesn’t turn on when you rotate the digital crown.

Turn Off Background App Refresh

Background Refresh is a feature that’s used to keep apps on your Apple Watch updated with the latest data. If left on, it can drain your device’s battery so we generally recommend turning it off unless you really, really need it. Here’s how to do it:

On Apple Watch

• Open up the Settings app
• Tap General
• Tap Background App Refresh
• Toggle Background App Refresh off

On iPhone

• Open up the Watch app on your iPhone
• Tap General
• Tap Background App Refresh
• Toggle Background App Refresh off

On the iPhone you can see a list of apps you’ve granted permission to use this function. If you want to keep Background App Refresh available for some apps but not others, you can go down the list of apps and pick and choose.

Use Low Power Mode

Your Apple Watch 4 comes with a Low Power Mode that’s useful for workouts. It saves battery life by limiting sensors and Wi-Fi on your watch. Here’s how to enable it:

On Apple Watch

• Open up the Settings app
• Scroll down and tap on Workout
• Toggle Low Power Mode on

On iPhone

• Open up the Watch app on your iPhone
• Scroll down and tap Workout
• Toggle Low Power Mode on

You can also turn Low Power Mode on from the Battery section in your Apple Watch 4’s Settings app.

Adjust Haptic Feedback

You may also want to adjust the haptic feedback on your Apple Watch 4. You can adjust the strength of the alerts on your Apple Watch or iPhone. You can also turn them off completely.

On Apple Watch

• Open the Settings app
• Scroll down and tap on Sounds & Haptics
• Scroll down again and find the Haptics section
• Toggle Haptic Alerts to off or change from Prominent to Default

On iPhone

• Open up the Watch app on your iPhone
• Scroll down and tap on Sounds & Haptics
• Toggle Haptic Alerts to off or change from Prominent to Default

Optimize Battery Charging

As your Apple Watch 4 gets older, the battery will start to degrade and it won’t be able to hold the same kind of charge it could out of the box. This is natural, but there’s a way to help preserve the battery so it doesn’t degrade as quickly.

• Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch
• Scroll down and tap on Battery
• Tap Battery Health
• Toggle Optimized Battery Charging on

This will help reduce battery aging by learning from your daily charging routines.

Unpair Your Apple Watch 4

If nothing above works, you can try unpairing your Apple Watch 4 from your iPhone. This process will take time to complete and it should only be used as a last resort.

If you want to go through with this, you’ll want to check out Apple’s detailed guide. It will hold your hand through the entire process.