I have a NEW Galaxy watch 8 classic, about 5 weeks now. At first the battery was draining quickly. Like 5-10% per hour. I was about to return it for a refund (within the 15 day Samsung window) but after a few resets (which included removing and downloading the WEAR app a few times) the battery life was good. (eg: a 100% charge would last around 36-40 hours). So I kept the new watch 8. The last 2-3 weeks the battery was great.
Then yesterday it's started draining fast again. Like 10-15% per hour. Even the charging is taking over 4 hours to gain 50%. The only change I made was in that 2-3 week period, was yesterday I changed the DISPLAY setting to RAISE WRIST TO WAKE. Next thin the battery drains way too fast. I turned that back off, hoping to return to good battery life again, but the battery is still draining way too fast.
I did notice that the watch tried to do a backup last night at 4am, and it failed with a message saying "Can't backup watch data". But, that failed backup was AFTER the battery started draining really fast yesterday around 3pm.
I have tried to turn off battery draining features (Battery power saver=on, WiFi=off, NFC=off, Mobile Network=AUTO, Brightness around 30%, Adaptive brightness=off, Always On=off, Raise to Wake=off, touch screen to wake=off, turn bezel to wake=off, touch sensitivity=low. )
WHAT ELSE CAN I TURN DOWN, OR OFF?
The only thing I haveset on is Hard fall detection=on, and Location=on (which is a primary reason for this watch - hard fall detection/calling 911). status indications=on, auto update=on, do not disturb=on, new notification=on, limit health features=on, screen timeout=15 seconds (10 with battery saver=on)
It seems that 2 weeks ago, what got the battery life to a good length was resetting the watch, by which I mean removing and re-downloading the WEAR app, and doing a RESET function (not just a restart/reboot) on the Watch8, and restoring my backed up data.
Does anyone have any other suggestions? When I spoke to Samsung support 3 weeks ago, they had me try a few things - reboot, turn WiFi off, turn always on display=off, and finally reset the watch (as I mentioned above). So, I don't have much hope they can help me anymore.
Maybe SOMEONE HERE CAN HELP?
Oh, one thing I was wondering about was Google Play SERVICES showed as using about 27% of battery life. Why? Can I turn it off?
Yes, mine too. That estimate for battery life left is wrong - when the battery drains so fast. (It's also wrong for estimated time to charge to 100%, btw).
I just did a RESET of my watch. (And I don't mean a reboot). I selected reset (either on the WEAR app, or on my watch - sorry I can't recall now after watching the long RESET process.
I am hoping the issue was the watch & phone stopped connecting through Bluetooth, and maybe it was draining the watch battery by continually scanning to find the phone WEARABLE app.
I have a Motorola phone, with the WEAR app installed, and I wonder if this is the cause?
I selected a RESET (either on my watch or phone, sorry I don't remember) ... then I had to uninstall the WEAR app, then turn off the watch, then reboot my phone and reinstall the Wear app.
Then the WEAR app looks/scans for the Watch 8, and sends a pairing code that shows up on both devices - which the pairing seems to have had trouble doing.
The pairing eventually 'took", showing a 6 digit number on both the phone and watch, then I tapped the blue check on the watch, and tapped on PAIR in the WEAR app - and then it went through a LOT of steps to re-establish the watch permission, ask about what apps I wanted, sign into my Google account, restore my watch backup, asks if I wanted to change my LTE provider thru scanning a QR code - which I declined since the LTE provider stays activated even after a reset - for some reason), etc. Eventually the watch/phone re-paired to each other.
(4-22-26): I am now monitoring my battery percentage, and hoping this might be the answer ... (The Watch8 battery percentage has only dropped 1%, in the last 20 minutes - which is a hopeful indicator ... I may have solved this )
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UPDATE (4-23-26): The watch only used 9% battery overnight (from 11:30 pm Wednesday thru 1:00 pm Thursday AFTER THE HARD RESET. (I did have battery saver=on and sleep mode=on overnight). This morning I turned sleep mode=off, leaving battery saver=on, and the battery has only gone down about 1% in the last hour and half - far better than the 10%-15% battery decline per hour before this HARD RESET. I do think the battery drain has to do with the phone and watch trying to communicate - but I don't know how to verify. Are there any LOGS that the Watch8 or WEAR app keep? Any other clues I can look for.
The watch only used 9% battery overnight, from 11:30 pm Wednesday thru 1:00 pm Thursday - AFTER THE HARD RESET. (I did have battery saver=on and sleep mode=on overnight).
This morning I turned sleep mode=off, leaving battery saver=on, and the battery has only gone down about 1% in the last hour and half - far better than the 10%-15% battery decline per hour before this HARD RESET.
I do think the battery drain has to do with the phone and watch trying to communicate with each other (and that the failed watches data backup, shortly after the battery drain started happening MAY be related? (Maybe the backup failed due to connection issues also)? But I don't know how to verify any of this - are there any LOGS that the Watch8 or WEAR app keep? Any other clues I can look for?
I used the RESET function, which did solve the battery drain issue. I assume when you say RESTORE, that is the same thing as the RESET feature?
BTW, did you get ant indication that the watch was having connectivity issues before the fast battery drain started happening? (Maybe notice a backup failed?) Or the bluetooth connection was lost?
Also, did you check battery usage feature, and maybe find an app was using like 37% of the battery? In my case the app was called "Google Play SERVICES" - not sure what that even does, but maybe it was attempting an update and their was a connectivity issue between the Galaxy Watch8 and the phone.?
Google Play Services is a huge culprit for me! Also, all of a sudden if I go to settings>battery>usage on my watch, it's completely blank..why could they be. I really don't want to reset this watch Again.
Hey mnalep! Thanks for visiting the Community. We have a thread similar to this with an accepted solution. Please give it a look as it may help in this situation.
This is unsuable. I got the watch to track my son. I am going to have to take it back and buy something else. This performance is entirely unacceptable. rebooting is a pain. Not happy with this product at all
