How to Reduce Battery Drain on watchOS 9.3

Getting annoyed with the battery drain issue on watchOS 9.3?

An Apple Watch’s battery should last around 18 hours under regular use and up to 36 hours in low power mode. 

If you have to stop mid-day to charge your device, then something isn’t right.

This is the case for some Apple Watch users who encountered battery drain after updating to watchOS 9.3. 

Today, we’re going to show you some tips on how to reduce battery drain on your Apple Watch. 

Let’s get into it!

1. Reduce Wake Time. 

When you raise your watch to view the time, it automatically turns on the display. This is also the case if you tap on your Apple Watch’s screen. 

Now, your watch stays awake for a few more seconds even when you’re done checking the time. This can lead to unnecessary battery usage. 

To save some battery, you’d want to reduce the screen wake time of your Apple Watch. 

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. 
2. Now, tap on My Watch in the bottom navigation bar. 

3. Go to Display & Brightness > Wake Duration. 
4. Make sure that Wake for 15 Seconds is selected. 

Once done, your Apple Watch’s screen should turn off faster after you check the time. 

2. Enable Low Power Mode. 

Another way to save battery on your Apple Watch is to enable low power mode. This is a built-in feature on your watch that reduces the amount of power it uses. 

Here’s how you can enable low power mode: 

1. Hold the bottom of your watch’s screen. 
2. Swipe up when the Control Center appears. 
3. Tap on the Battery Percentage button. 

4. Turn on Low Power Mode. 

Once enabled, your watch should consume less power. This should alleviate the battery drain issue with watchOS 9.3. 

3. Turn Off Wake on Wrist Raise. 

Your Apple Watch uses sensors to detect your motion and activities. 

If “Wake on Wrist Raise” is enabled, your watch will continuously monitor your movements so it knows when to turn on the screen. 

This causes more battery usage, which is the last thing you want given the battery drain issue with watchOS 9.3. 

You can disable the feature by doing the following: 

1. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. 
2. Now, tap on My Watch in the navigation bar. 

3. Access the Display & Brightness tab. 
4. Look for Wake on Wrist Raise and disable the feature. 

Try raising your wrist as if you’re checking the time to confirm that the feature is disabled. 

Related: How to Fix Apple Watch Screen Not Responding

4. Reduce Push Notifications. 

Push notifications are a convenient feature on your Apple Watch. This keeps you updated with whatever is going on with your iPhone without having to use it. 

However, sending notifications to your watch consumes more battery which aggravates the battery drain problem. 

To avoid this, temporarily reduce push notifications on your Apple Watch. 

Here’s what you need to do: 

1. Launch the Watch app on your iPhone. 
2. Go to the My Watch tab. 

3. Tap on Notifications. 
4. Now, look for “Mirror iPhone Alerts From”. 
5. Identify the apps you don’t really need notifications from and disable them. 

Observe if the battery drain problem was reduced after disabling push notifications for some applications. 

5. Disable Background App Refresh. 

Background app refresh allows applications to exchange data between your iPhone and Apple Watch. This can cause your Apple Watch to consume more battery. 

We recommend turning off the feature or disabling background refresh for apps you don’t need. 

See the steps below to configure your background refresh preferences: 

1. Go to the Watch app on your iPhone. 
2. Tap on My Watch in the navigation menu. 

3. From there, go to General. 
4. Open the Background App Refresh tab. 
5. Tap the toggle switch beside Background App Refresh to disable the feature. 

6. You can also disable the feature individually by tapping the toggle switch beside the app you want to turn off.

Use your Apple Watch as you normally would and observe if its battery life improved. 

6. Turn On Power Reserve. 

If you just need your Apple Watch to function as a normal watch, you can enable power reserve to save battery. 

This option disables all features on your watch except telling the time. Your iPhone will also not be able to communicate with your watch when power reserve is enabled. 

Here’s how you can turn on the feature: 

1. On your watch, swipe up to open the Control Center. 
2. Now, tap on the Battery Percentage. 

3. Look for Power Reserve and drag the slider to the right. 

4. Tap Proceed to confirm your action. 

7. Disable Always On Display. 

If your Apple Watch has “always on display”, we suggest turning it off if you encounter battery drain issues. 

With Always On Display, your watch will continue to display the time even when your wrist is down, which leads to unnecessary battery usage.

Here’s how you can disable the feature: 

1. Open Settings on your Apple Watch. 
2. Now, tap on Display & Brightness. 

3. Access the Always On tab. 
4. Tap the toggle switch to disable the feature. 

You can confirm that the feature is disabled when your watch’s screen turns off when your wrist is down. 

Related: How to Fix Always On Display Not Working on Apple Watch

8. Update Your Watch. 

As mentioned, the battery drain issue on your Apple Watch is caused by a problem with watchOS 9.3. Now, Apple may have already released a patch to address the issue. 

Follow the steps below to update your watch: 

1. Open the Apple Watch app on the phone where your watch is connected. 
2. Now, tap on My Watch in the bottom navigation bar. 

3. Go to General > Software Update. 
4. If there’s an available update download it and follow the prompts. 

Observe if the battery life of your watch improved after the software update. 

9. Reconnect Your Apple Watch. 

If none of the solutions above worked, we recommend unpairing your watch to your iPhone and going through the setup process again. 

This should ensure that your devices are properly paired and there are no conflicts with your configurations. 

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Start by holding your iPhone and Apple Watch close together. 
2. Now, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. 
3. Go to My Watch tab and tap on All Watches. 

4. Tap on the Info button beside the watch you want to unpair. 

5. Next, tap on Unpair Apple Watch. 

6. For GPS + Cellular models, you can select whether to keep or remove your cellular plan. 
7. Enter your Apple ID password to disable Activation Lock and tap Unpair. 
8. After 2 to 3 minutes, go through the setup process again to pair your Apple Watch. 

See if you’ll still encounter battery drain issues on your Apple Watch. 

That ends our guide on how to reduce battery drain on watchOS 9.3. If you have questions, please let us know in the comment section, and we’ll do our best to answer them. 

If this guide helped you, don’t forget to share it!