Since upgrading to watchOS 26.1, my AppleWatch 8 battery drains while sleeping by over 30 percent (less than 8 hours). Is this due to the Health Sleep monitoring being too hyperactive?
Apple Watch Series 8, watchOS 26
Did you try to force restart by pressing and holding the Digital Crown and the Side button together for about 10sec, until the Apple logo comes back again?
If this does not help, unpairing and connecting it again to your iPhone without using the latest backup would be the next step:
Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support
Set up your Apple Watch - Apple Support
My Apple Watch Ultra 2 uses around 1% per hour or less during sleep monitoring in watchOS 26.1
Did you try to force restart by pressing and holding the Digital Crown and the Side button together for about 10sec, until the Apple logo comes back again?
If this does not help, unpairing and connecting it again to your iPhone without using the latest backup would be the next step:
Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support
Set up your Apple Watch - Apple Support
My Apple Watch Ultra 2 uses around 1% per hour or less during sleep monitoring in watchOS 26.1
Thank you for your suggestions. I did both of these after the 26.0.1 update. They helped a little.
This time around with the 26.1 update, in addition to force restarting (did two more today), I found some interesting information about a number of new background processes that I have since disabled....waiting to see how they play out:
I have never had this issue with previous updates. As pointed out in the above link, one of the key differences between watchOS 26 and previous releases is Smart Stack, which exacerbates battery drain due to its constant activity/communication with the tethered iPhone (details for turning off Smart Stack are in the above link). I'll know more after my watch finishes recharging (recharge needed after about 12 hours)...hoping it returns to normal.
Learn why ⇢ the battery in your Apple Watch drains too quickly for details.
Good luck! 👋🏼😉
Smiliñ 😎 Brian
apple watch battery drains while sleeping watchOS 26.1
