iPad Pro Battery Drain - iPad 12.9 (2021)

[RazvanClaudiu1]

It kinda drives me crazy.

Based on my calculations, it drains about 0.25 per minute or around 6.6 hours of total usage. I haven't done this in a scientific manner but several tests showed similar results. This is far, far from the 10 hours Apple promises.

Now I do have a huge iCloud library (800 GB of videos), if that makes any difference. And I've reseted the iPad to factory settings and set it up as a new iPad, instead of restoring from a back-up.

Based on every single post I've read, it takes about a week for Spotlight and other background processes to complete and the iPad to achieve full battery life. But today is day 9 for me and I don't think I've seen any improvement.

In any case - I hope the new setup will help somehow. Any thoughts? Advice? I don't want to send it to Apple because I can swear they'll keep it for two weeks, say nothing is wrong with it and give it back to me. Plus, I can't return it as I've bought it through a reseller.

 

[sparksd]

Need a little more info. Under what operating conditions are you calculating your usage numbers? What are you doing, what is your screen brightness, etc.? Battery usage can be all over the place based on how the iPad is being used.

 

[ericwn]

Can you not return it to the reseller you bought it from if you’re still in the return period?

While I have no scientific data I’d also agree that iPads need a bit of time to perform whatever processes are required when you initially dump your personal data into the device.

 

[VaruLV]

First full charge after receiving mine(I set it up from months old iPP 10.5 backup) gave me around 9.5-10 hours, cant say for sure because on 3rd day of use Screen time got buggy and reported 11h XXm screen on time during that day, so I cant be "scientific" about it, however, battery life for simple tasks like browsing and YT videos seemed OK, could have been better tho because for the first 4h it depleted only by 25%, then again, Im sure the battery has not been calibrated yet.
6.6h seems low to me, whats the screen brightness on yours? Mine was around 30-35% most of the time, used indoors.

 

[RazvanClaudiu1]

Need a little more info. Under what operating conditions are you calculating your usage numbers? What are you doing, what is your screen brightness, etc.? Battery usage can be all over the place based on how the iPad is being used.

Hello.

Thank you for your reply. I’ve used it mostly in YouTube, Safari, Notability, Kindle. Strange thing is that I use Mem Optimizer and it shows 6.27 GB of RAM used. Mixed usage. Brightness at about 40%. Apple Pencil attached. No Apple keyboard.

My method of calculating drain:
‘Percentage used divided by time used.
100 divided by the first result.
sum divided By 60 for getting the number of hours.

for example:
20 / 120
0.166 (drain per minute)
100 / 0.166
625 minutes divided by 60
10.4 hours

it is bothering me a lot. I don’t know if it is a memory leak, background processes doing their job or bad hardware. I’ve paid $1500 for a tablet. This shouldn’t happen .

 

[quietkaos]

I have an iPad 8th gen that is having major battery drain while asleep. It appears to be related to the find my app running in the background AND the air tag I keep on my keys. My battery will drain by up to 50% while the iPad is asleep at home and I am at work. Last Tuesday I had21 m of background activity from the find my app and it really drained my battery. Do you have airtags by any chance?
Has anyone else noticed this behavior on their iPad? I have to turn it off before I go to work if I want to have a charge when I get home. My iPad was new last month BTW.

 

[RazvanClaudiu1]

I have an iPad 8th gen that is having major battery drain while asleep. It appears to be related to the find my app running in the background AND the air tag I keep on my keys. My battery will drain by up to 50% while the iPad is asleep at home and I am at work. Last Tuesday I had21 m of background activity from the find my app and it really drained my battery. Do you have airtags by any chance?
Has anyone else noticed this behavior on their iPad? I have to turn it off before I go to work if I want to have a charge when I get home. My iPad was new last month BTW.

I do have one airtag. I don’t get that problem. I’m stand by it drains about 2% per night. Maybe set it up as a new device?

 

[s4d1k]

Memory usage has no effect on battery drain.
Screen brightness and CPU/GPU usage is what will drain your battery.
Some webpages use a lot of power, so it’s hard to tell if you have a problem.

 

[RazvanClaudiu1]

I am happy to say that it is now functioning properly. I'm getting maybe 10 - 11 hours of mixed usage.

What changed:
- I've stopped using Notability which drains my battery like crazy. I guess they need to optimize it.
- I've done a factory reset and set it up as a new iPad, instead of using a backup.
- A few days passed, so I guess a lot of the background tasks completed.

 

[Frank Rizzo Jerky]

I have an iPad 8th gen that is having major battery drain while asleep. It appears to be related to the find my app running in the background AND the air tag I keep on my keys. My battery will drain by up to 50% while the iPad is asleep at home and I am at work. Last Tuesday I had21 m of background activity from the find my app and it really drained my battery. Do you have airtags by any chance?
Has anyone else noticed this behavior on their iPad? I have to turn it off before I go to work if I want to have a charge when I get home. My iPad was new last month BTW.

Same issue for me too. I have 3 airbags as well as my iCloud family members but Find My does not drain my iPhone. Have found any worthwhile solutions?

 

[ericwn]

Same issue for me too. I have 3 airbags as well as my iCloud family members but Find My does not drain my iPhone. Have found any worthwhile solutions?

You have “airbags” or a surprise visit from autocorrect!

 

[Frank Rizzo Jerky]

You have “airbags” or a surprise visit from autocorrect!

Ha! I have airbags, airtags, and surprise autocorrect! Triple threat! ?