Apple Watch keeps "waking up" every 2 minutes on charger

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My Series 4 running WatchOS 6.2.6 is doing this all of a sudden. You know how when you place your Apple Watch on the magnetic charger and it makes the "charging" sound and displays the charging icon? Well, for some reason mine is doing that about every 2 minutes like clockwork once it reaches 100% charge. It won't do it at under 100% charge. SO strange. And I did try turning it off and back on again, but it didn't make a difference. All of a sudden, the screen will wake up, then about 1-2 seconds later I hear the charge "ding" sound and see the full-screen animated green charging icon.

Any idea what could be causing this? I've read online where people were suggesting that it was not forming a solid connection with the charger, but if that were true in my case, why wouldn't it be doing this all the time - not just after it reaches 100%? And even if it were all the time, why would it be so regular and not sporadic?
 

IWT


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Jonathan,

I don't own an Apple Watch, but an instinct suggests to me the possibility that this could be a feature the reminds you that you have reached the 100% charge and that preserving battery life longterm would be enhanced by removing the device at this stage.

I'm probably wrong. I assume you've looked at all the battery-conserving features on the AW to see if there is a warning function that can be turned On/Off? Or even on the iPhone with which it is linked?

Ian
 
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Jonathan,

I don't own an Apple Watch, but an instinct suggests to me the possibility that this could be a feature the reminds you that you have reached the 100% charge and that preserving battery life longterm would be enhanced by removing the device at this stage.

I'm probably wrong. I assume you've looked at all the battery-conserving features on the AW to see if there is a warning function that can be turned On/Off? Or even on the iPhone with which it is linked?

Ian

I would assume that such a feature could be accomplished with circuitry that would simply stop the charging process without requiring it to be removed from the charger. I also don't see any settings like that. Additionally, the watch is designed to be used in "nightstand mode" on the charger where it displays an always-on clock, so obviously this would be a no-go if it kept making sounds every 2 minutes.
 

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Point very much taken. I was clutching at straws. Have to wait for more sensible suggestions.

PS I assume you've tried the usual Force Quitting the AW and restarting?

Ian
 
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Is the cable plugged directly in to a wall socket, or a power strip?
 
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Point very much taken. I was clutching at straws. Have to wait for more sensible suggestions.

PS I assume you've tried the usual Force Quitting the AW and restarting?

Ian

I turned it off and on, but nothing more drastic than that.

Is the cable plugged directly in to a wall socket, or a power strip?

It's plugged into an Anker 40W 5-port charger like pictured below, which in turn is plugged into a surge protector. But I'm also charging my iPhone with an Anker wireless charger plugged into the same 5-port charger with no issues like this.

610IRZzjSOL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
 
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Will the watch, also charge on the wireless charger? Just as a test, see if it still beeps after it's at 100%?

Edit: Also, is it a genuine Apple charger you're using with the watch or a third party brand?
 
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Will the watch, also charge on the wireless charger? Just as a test, see if it still beeps after it's at 100%?

Edit: Also, is it a genuine Apple charger you're using with the watch or a third party brand?

I don't think the watch is compatible with the wireless phone charger, but I can certainly give it a try. Of course, I can also test it plugged (1) directly into the wall outlet using the Apple USB/AC adapter, or (2) into the surge protector using the same adapter to see if the issue persists. Yes, I'm using a genuine Apple Watch charger. I'm not home now, so I'll have to test this later this afternoon/evening.
 
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I have owned five apple watches. I use my current series 5 for an alarm every morning. I have never had one display the issue you describe UNLESS the power to the charger goes off and back on. This sounds like the watch is detecting the charging power shutting down and then coming back on. Is it possible there is a power fluctuation in the charger?

I don't believe you will see the same behavior in the iPhone. The watch will indicate if it is charging or not by displaying the behavior you are describing. I tried recreating the problem by unplugging and plugging in my charger and got the same behavior. I would suggest using a different charging brick - preferably the apple charger - and see if the behavior disappears. If is does not it could be an internal charging issue with the watch.

Lisa
 
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I have owned five apple watches. I use my current series 5 for an alarm every morning. I have never had one display the issue you describe UNLESS the power to the charger goes off and back on. This sounds like the watch is detecting the charging power shutting down and then coming back on. Is it possible there is a power fluctuation in the charger?

I don't believe you will see the same behavior in the iPhone. The watch will indicate if it is charging or not by displaying the behavior you are describing. I tried recreating the problem by unplugging and plugging in my charger and got the same behavior. I would suggest using a different charging brick - preferably the apple charger - and see if the behavior disappears. If is does not it could be an internal charging issue with the watch.

Lisa

Thanks, Lisa. However, I'm not sure why you think this wouldn't happen with an iPhone. My previous iPhone 6 did indeed do this, but it turned out the lightning port had a bunch of dust/lint in it that was preventing the lightning cable from keeping a consistent connection. Whether the issue is the charger or the power source, it seems like the behavior of either the phone or watch would be the same in reaction to a power disconnect/connect pattern. I could also switch the ports the iPhone and watch are plugged into on the Anker brick to see if that makes a difference. Could be one port that's the issue.
 
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I guess I have never had my iPhone flash like you described. Mine just greeted me with a dead battery when I failed to plug the cord in correctly - which I have done. So maybe mine just like to "surprise" me instead of flashing a charge symbol on and off???

Lisa
 
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I had exactly the same problem a couple of weeks ago. I rebooted the watch, then checked all the electrical connections (wall, cables, etc) and the problem went away. But it was really annoying for the night it kept doing this. I ended up puling it off the charger for the night just to silence it. I don't know what caused it, it was right after an update, so maybe it was something in that and the restart "fixed" it.
 
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I guess I have never had my iPhone flash like you described. Mine just greeted me with a dead battery when I failed to plug the cord in correctly - which I have done. So maybe mine just like to "surprise" me instead of flashing a charge symbol on and off???

Lisa

That's a different scenario. In this case, it's plugged in correctly, just losing power intermittently for whatever reason. Thanks for the support, and I'll experiment with this later today when I return home!
 
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I had exactly the same problem a couple of weeks ago. I rebooted the watch, then checked all the electrical connections (wall, cables, etc) and the problem went away. But it was really annoying for the night it kept doing this. I ended up puling it off the charger for the night just to silence it. I don't know what caused it, it was right after an update, so maybe it was something in that and the restart "fixed" it.

Hmm, and how did you have it connected to power when you were experiencing this issue? Was it connected directly into the wall through Apple's 5W AC adapter? As mentioned, I did restart mine, but that didn't do the trick for me. Anyway, will report back tonight with my "test" results. This watch has already been replaced once under warranty due to a charging issue (see this thread), so I hope this one isn't going to go bad on me too :Angry:
 
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I have the wall unit plugged into a zap strip, the power cord goes to the larger charger for the  Watch. Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Dock - Apple

The night of the issues, the watch started pinging every few seconds on the charger. I got fed up with it, pulled it off the charger and put it just on the nightstand and dealt with it in the morning. As I said, I shut it down, then rebooted it and the problem didn't happen again. I also checked that the wall unit was snug in the strip, the cable was snug in the wall unit and the wire was good at the charger unit. The next night it didn't repeat, but I can't take any credit for a "fix" because I don't know what I did that made it go away.
 
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I have the wall unit plugged into a zap strip, the power cord goes to the larger charger for the  Watch. Apple Watch Magnetic Charging Dock - Apple

The night of the issues, the watch started pinging every few seconds on the charger. I got fed up with it, pulled it off the charger and put it just on the nightstand and dealt with it in the morning. As I said, I shut it down, then rebooted it and the problem didn't happen again. I also checked that the wall unit was snug in the strip, the cable was snug in the wall unit and the wire was good at the charger unit. The next night it didn't repeat, but I can't take any credit for a "fix" because I don't know what I did the made it go away.

I'm assuming "zap strip" must be a slang term for surge protector? Also interesting to note that yours was pinging "every few seconds" - mine is not that often. As mentioned, about every 2 minutes. I timed it 3 times and every time was in the 2 min. to 2 min. 15 sec. range between pings.
 
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Jonathan, it was the middle of the night. Woke me up when it happened. I wasn't timing it, so it could have been minutes, not seconds. On the third ping I took it off the charger and just laid it on the nightstand to deal with in the morning. And yes, zap strip is a surge protector. Saves six keystrokes, and I'm lazy.
 
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Jonathan, it was the middle of the night. Woke me up when it happened. I wasn't timing it, so it could have been minutes, not seconds. On the third ping I took it off the charger and just laid it on the nightstand to deal with in the morning. And yes, zap strip is a surge protector. Saves six keystrokes, and I'm lazy.

Oh, I figured you didn't time it, but seconds vs minutes is quite a large difference that could be discerned without a timer, so I was just assuming what you said was fairly accurate in your case. Glad yours was easily resolved! And thanks for the clarification on "zap strip" - never heard that one before and Google wasn't my friend in this instance - just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something ;)
 
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Again, I was dead asleep when the first ping came. I opened one eye, noted that the watch face was lit up. Went back to sleep. The second ping got two eyes, but I didn't note the time. The third ping got a hand, no eyes, to pull it off the charger. Back to sleep. I wasn't really awake at any point in the process.
 
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Again, I was dead asleep when the first ping came. I opened one eye, noted that the watch face was lit up. Went back to sleep. The second ping got two eyes, but I didn't note the time. The third ping got a hand, no eyes, to pull it off the charger. Back to sleep. I wasn't really awake at any point in the process.

It's no big deal, Jake. Thanks for sharing your experience.
 

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