watchOS 9.4 could increase or decrease 44mm Apple Watch Series 6 battery life

The battery performance of your 44mm Apple Watch Series 6 may improve or degrade as a result of the recalibration process introduced in the watchOS 9.4 software update.

• What’s happening? Apple has confirmed that watchOS 9.4 will recalibrate the battery for the first time on the 44mm Apple Watch Series 6.
• Why care? Apple Watch battery life may (probably) increase or decrease (possible, but unlikely) due to the recalibration process.
• What to do? Install the update to see for yourself.

watchOS 9.4 recalibrates Apple Watch Series 6 battery

Recalibration starts automatically after the update is installed. Only the 44mm version of the Apple Watch Series 6 will see the battery recalibration in watchOS 9.4.

An updated support document on Apple’s website explains that recalibrating maximum capacity and peak performance allows the operating system to more accurately estimate battery levels in the future.

The process may take several weeks. So, if your 44mm Apple Watch Series 6 is having battery problems, the watchOS 9.4 update might fix it.

For older Apple Watch models, the watchOS 9.0 update previously provided a recalibration process for Series 4 and Series 5 models.

“Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 5 will recalibrate and then more accurately estimate maximum battery capacity after updating to watchOS 9.0,”says a support document found by MacRumors. “Apple Watch Series 6 (44mm) will perform this recalibration after updating to watchOS 9.4,”the post reads.

This isn’t the first time Apple software has recalibrated device batteries. For example, iOS 15.4 includes a battery recalibration feature for the iPhone 11 family.