Several Apple Watch owners report watchOS 8.3 “killed” their third-party wireless chargers

Apple Watch

Apple Watch owners are experiencing wireless charging issue with third-party chargers after updating their smartwatches to the latest watchOS 8.3 update. Last week, Apple released watchOS 8.3 to the public which includes support for App Privacy Report, Apple Music Voice Plan, expands the Assistive Touch feature to older Apple Watch models, and brings the ECG feature to China.

watchOS 8.3

watchOS 8.3 wireless charging issue impact different Apple Watch and third-party wireless charger models

The affected Apple Watch owners shared the wireless charging issue on Reddit and Apple Support Communities. According to the reports, users Apple Watch on watchOS 8.3 was not charging beyond 2%-10% on third-party wireless chargers. Furthermore, the issue is widespread and does not impact any particular Apple Watch Series or third-party wireless charger brand.

Is anyone else experiencing erratic behavior on their Series 7 Watch after the 8.3 update with a 3rd party wireless charger (Belkin)? Right after the update my watch started flashing between screens (charging screen, unlock pin pad, watch face) and eventually drained the battery to 10%. Once I put it on the charger that came with the watch it charged fine, problems went away. I don’t want my charger to become obsolete because of an update. @KGrastorf

watchOS 8.3 charging issue

Another affectee shared on Reddit that reboot did not fix the problem. And the three-in-one wireless charging station is powering other devices but just not the watch.

Updated my watch last night to 8.3, set it on my 3rd party charger this morning, came back after an hour and it had gained maybe 2%? Tried the same thing with my spouse’s watch and her 3rd party charger with the same result. Put them on the official charger, zoom, done charging in no time. Argh!

Anyone else seeing the same thing? Is this something they might fix in future or are my 3rd party options now useless?

Edit: Reboot of watch and phone does not work and additional tests show that the watch stops charging entirely after a few minutes. A pretty big generalization here but “some” 3rd party chargers may be affected by this update based on my experiences and some of the other threads I’m seeing on here.

Also, I’ll mention the other charging options still work fine on the charger (Magnet for iPhone 12 and Lighting port for headphones) it is only the watch bit that croaked. sigh Maybe they’ll fix it on the next patch? u/ashfleeburgooben

Apple Watch models compatible with watchOS 8.3

The following Apple Watch models are compatible with watchOS 8.3.

If you have the charging issue after updating your Watch, let us know in the comments below.

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