Apple Watch Charging Bug Fixed in watchOS 8.4 Release Candidate

The watchOS 8.4 release candidate that was seeded to developers and beta testers this morning addresses an ongoing bug that could cause some Apple Watch chargers not to work properly with the Apple Watch.

apple watch series 7 aluminum colors yellowbg
Back in December, we reported on a growing number of charging issues that Apple Watch Series 7 owners were facing. Since watchOS 8.3, there have been a number of complaints about third-party chargers not functioning as expected.

For many users, third-party chargers would refuse to charge an Apple Watch Series 7 at all, and some others saw problems where the charger would appear to work normally, and then quit working after a few minutes.

Many of the reports focused on more affordable third-party chargers from Amazon, but there were also complaints about higher-end chargers from brands like Belkin. Some people even had charging issues with Apple's own Apple Watch charging pucks.

According to Apple's release notes for the watchOS 8.4 update, the software specifically fixes a bug that could cause some Apple Watch chargers not to work, suggesting the charging issues will come to an end when watchOS 8.4 sees a release.

Apple seeded the release candidate version today, and the release candidate represents the finished version of the software that will be provided to the public. We could see a watchOS 8.4 release as soon as next week.

Related Roundup: watchOS 11
Related Forum: Apple Watch

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2 Redux

Top 5 Apple Products to Look Forward to in 2025

Friday December 20, 2024 2:22 pm PST by
It's looking like 2025 is going to be an important year for Apple, with the company planning to revamp the iPhone, push further into smart home products, and improve Apple Intelligence. There are tons of new products rumored for 2025, including new iPhones, M4 Macs, a smart home command center, and much more. We've highlighted the top five Apple products that will have the biggest impact in...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...

Top Rated Comments

cdrider Avatar
38 months ago
Apple have really dropped the ball on this. Anything that prohibits charging should be treated at the highest priority and an out of band patch issues ASAP. To make users wait and potentially be without their devices is unconscionable.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
38 months ago
I've experience this bug myself personally. It was annoying. Glad to see it is finally being fixed. Better late than never.

I reported this last year on December 22nd, 2021. ??

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/some-apple-watch-users-experiencing-charging-issues-after-updating-to-watchos-8-3.2328667/post-30721953
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
38 months ago

I haven’t updated to 8.3 because of this mess. Hope Apple sorts it out!
This was reported way before 8.3
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-watch-series-7-charging-issues.2322191/
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
38 months ago
I hope so, but given the reports here in the forums it also affected folks with original Apple chargers/cables so this statement might be premature until those who were impacted can confirm it is indeed fixed.
I for one never had an issue
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AgentOSX Avatar
38 months ago
As someone who has had a Red Series 7 that has been unusable since two days after I got it... I'll believe it when I charge it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
38 months ago
So this was only an issue with 3rd party chargers? Wonder what would cause this kind of issue? Glad to hear that it is fixed.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)