Several Apple Watch Series 7 owners are facing issues while charging their wearable post the watchOS 8.3 update. Users report that their smartwatch charges by only a couple of percent even after being on charge for an hour or so. The problem primarily seems to be with third-party chargers, though some users are also facing issues with the bundled Apple charging puck.

The issue causes the Apple Watch to stop charging a few minutes after being placed on the charger. Removing the wearable on the charger and placing it again after some time works, but it only seems to be a temporary workaround. Another solution is to restart the smartwatch, but again, it is not a permanent solution.

From Reddit:

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.

There are similar complaints from users on Apple Support Communities. Since most complaints are primarily from third-party Apple Watch chargers, it is possible Apple broke something related to them with the recent watchOS 8.3 release.

This is not the first time that Apple Watch Series 7 owners are facing slow charging speeds. There were similar complaints back in November, which Apple addressed with watchOS 8.1.1. One of the highlights of the Apple Watch Series 7 is its faster charging speeds. Apple claims the wearable can be charged to 80 percent in just 45 minutes. However, as many users are experiencing, the feature seems to be a bit buggy and does not work as reliably.

It’s likely that just like the watchOS 8.1.1 update, Apple will release another point update of watchOS 8 specifically for the Apple Watch Series 7 to fix the issue.