Users report charging bug with Apple Watch after updating to watchOS 8.3
Apple Watch owners are reporting a charging bug after updating to watchOS 8.3, rendering their watches unable to charge properly on third-party chargers.
On December 13, Apple released watchOS 8.3 to the public. The update focused on improving overall performance and bug fixing, though it's now apparent that it likely introduced a new bug.
Users are now reporting that the Apple Watch no longer charges properly when connected to a third-party charger. Many users have noticed that the Apple Watch will charge 2% before ceasing to charge entirely. Others have reported experiencing battery drain while their Apple Watch is on the charger.
Initially, many users suspected that it was an issue isolated to the Apple Watch Series 7, but that no longer seems to be the case as older models appear to be affected as well.
"My Series 5 watch will no longer charge with my generic amazon.com seller charger stand, but will charge fine with the genuine apple charger cable. This happened overnight after the update to 8.3 was applied," AppleInsider reader fieroscotty reports.
More reports are rolling in as Reddit users have begun reporting the issue on r/AppleWatch.
User ashfleeburgooben notes that, after applying the update, their watch only gained 2% when placed on a third-party charger overnight. However, when placed on the official charger, their Apple Watch charged as expected. Others chimed in to report a similar issue.
MacRumors notes that many of the complaints are about affordable, third-party chargers that come from Amazon, with fewer reports about other brands.
Apple has not publically addressed this problem, and there are currently no known solutions. Apple Watch owners are encouraged to use their Apple-issued charger if possible.
Read on AppleInsider
On December 13, Apple released watchOS 8.3 to the public. The update focused on improving overall performance and bug fixing, though it's now apparent that it likely introduced a new bug.
Users are now reporting that the Apple Watch no longer charges properly when connected to a third-party charger. Many users have noticed that the Apple Watch will charge 2% before ceasing to charge entirely. Others have reported experiencing battery drain while their Apple Watch is on the charger.
Initially, many users suspected that it was an issue isolated to the Apple Watch Series 7, but that no longer seems to be the case as older models appear to be affected as well.
"My Series 5 watch will no longer charge with my generic amazon.com seller charger stand, but will charge fine with the genuine apple charger cable. This happened overnight after the update to 8.3 was applied," AppleInsider reader fieroscotty reports.
More reports are rolling in as Reddit users have begun reporting the issue on r/AppleWatch.
User ashfleeburgooben notes that, after applying the update, their watch only gained 2% when placed on a third-party charger overnight. However, when placed on the official charger, their Apple Watch charged as expected. Others chimed in to report a similar issue.
MacRumors notes that many of the complaints are about affordable, third-party chargers that come from Amazon, with fewer reports about other brands.
Apple has not publically addressed this problem, and there are currently no known solutions. Apple Watch owners are encouraged to use their Apple-issued charger if possible.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
I didn't think this problem was related to the watch model.
And actually my Aukey charger works fine, it's the Anker charger that isn't compatible any more.
Recently, I had to do some day charging. After an 90+ minutes, it had barely hit 40%—an absurdly low charge rate for the Series 7. After a hard restart, the charge rate greatly increased. Still, it returned to slow charging the next day.
I hope any fix for 3rd party adapters also helps this situation.
I have this issue too and with a Watch series 7 and latest watchOS. Hope Apple make a fix soon…
This seems to be a self-contradictory statement.
I see good deals on pre-owns series 5 and 6 out there. You could score one for less than $350.
If so, maybe a better solution is to spend a tenth of that on an Apple charger. Fewer points too!
I have 3-in-1 Belkin tree and a bunch of the Apple pucks that came with my other watches (though two pucks have died). No charging problems at all either. But I don't have any third-party chargers other then that Belkin which has Apple's Made for MagSafe blessing so I can't check that out.
I would like to think that this is just a bug that Apple will squash with an update, but the Cynical Me knows that Apple does have a long history of trying to limit third-party access to various products.