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watchOS 8.1.1 Fixes Apple Watch Series 7 Charging Issues

Apple’s developers are apparently hard at work pushing out small bug fixes before leaving town for the Thanksgiving holiday. Hot on the heels of iOS 15.1.1 (see “iOS 15.1.1 Prevents Dropped Calls on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13,” 17 November 2021), the company has released watchOS 8.1.1 to fix charging issues on the Apple Watch Series 7. Like iOS 15.1.1, watchOS 8.1.1 has no security fixes, although its entry on the Apple Security Updates page suggests that it applies only to the cellular model of the Apple Watch Series 7, a fact backed up by our commenters.

watchOS 8.1.1 fixes an issue where Apple Watch Series 7 may not charge as expected for some users.

If you have a cellular Apple Watch Series 7, you can install the 125 MB update in the Watch app in Settings > General > Software Update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must be on a charger and have at least a 50% charge. We recommend updating right away in case the charging problems crop up and make it difficult to update later on.

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Comments About watchOS 8.1.1 Fixes Apple Watch Series 7 Charging Issues

Notable Replies

  1. Only for Watch Series 7 (GPS + Cellular) and update has no published CVE entries.

  2. I don’t have 8.1.1 showing up on my phone. I thought it might be because I had not updated to 15.1.1, but I have done that and still don’t have the option.

  3. And your Watch Series 7 is a GPS + Cellular?

    Might try restarting the watch.

    Also see if the Settings->General->Software Update on your Watch shows it?

  4. I’ve seen lots of people complaining about charging issues on the series 7 on Reddit so I’m not surprised that this was released. Basically people were reporting that the watch either wouldn’t charge when put on the charging puck, or it would charge for a few seconds and stop. It wasn’t every s7 owner, but you’d see somebody mention this once every day or two.

  5. I didn’t realise it was cellular only. I wonder why that would make a difference. At least I can stop checking :grinning:

  6. I have the same issue on my series 6 watch + cellular yet I do not see the update as an option. Time to call apple I guess. Gotta learn to wait. Wish they would ship HW without new OS. I was forced to update watch OS because I got a new phone…

  7. No, you didn’t need to. watchOS 7 works fine with ios 15. It’s the opposite that’s true: if you buy a new watch with the latest watchOS, then you need to update the phone to the latest iOS in order to pair it.

  8. Interesting. Just assumed I had to since it prompted me to do immediately. Didn’t even think of resisting. Thanks, will remember next time…

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