iCloud causing massive battery drain.

[fenderbass146]

I am having some major issues with my devices battery life. My iPad and iPhone are both on the current update and in the last week my battery life has went to ****....and my usage and standby time are the same. I did all the normal fixes....hard reset, clean install, delete mail accounts blah blah blah....well I have finally narrowed it down.

When I sign completely out of iCloud on my devices it fixes the issues, but as soon as I sign back in the issue is back. I even tried disabling all the features in iCloud and with them all off I still have the battery issue. WTF is going on. My love of Apple is getting real thin. I can't seem to figure out a way to fix this.

 

[skaclown]

Have you tried deleting and adding back your icloud account?

 

[fenderbass146]

Like I said...I sign out it fixes it...when I sign back in the issue comes back.

 

[epelba01]

I had a similar issue about a year ago. What I found is that signing out of my Apple TV, would stop the drain on my battery on the ios devices. I reported it to Apple back then and there was an update issued for the Apple TV that resolved it.

 

[fenderbass146]

I had a similar issue about a year ago. What I found is that signing out of my Apple TV, would stop the drain on my battery on the ios devices. I reported it to Apple back then and there was an update issued for the Apple TV that resolved it.

Intersting...I have a 1080p Apple TV third gen I think.... I never use it but it is plugged in and online.

 

[moytb713]

Intersting...I have a 1080p Apple TV third gen I think.... I never use it but it is plugged in and online.

I found this, but my Apple TV was not logged into iCloud. I don't remember which generation I have, but it's the last one before I could download apps to it, if that makes sense. Something to try at least.

Anyway, has anyone come up with a solution to this? I have a request into Apple Support, but they're waiting on Engineering to get back to me with some requests.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Apparently have the News toggle turned on in iCloud settings can cause syncing issues that drain battery.

 

[fenderbass146]

I actually found the solution. Resetting my Apple Id password fixes it...but I think iCloud Control Panel on Windows is the problem. More specifically I think it's an issue with bookmark syncing on Windows based computers.

 

[moytb713]

@fenderbass146 - I tried disabling the iCloud for Windows on both of my Windows machines and that did not help. I did try out @Mlrollin91 thought about the News toggle and re-enabled my iCloud, since it was off due to my issues, hard reset my devices and so far so good. Battery life is back to expected. Left unplugged overnight on my nightstand and it drained 1%. Will continue to test, as the issue usually returns after a day or so, but if this works, I will finally have a functioning iPhone 7 Plus.

 

[fenderbass146]

@fenderbass146 - I tried disabling the iCloud for Windows on both of my Windows machines and that did not help. I did try out @Mlrollin91 thought about the News toggle and re-enabled my iCloud, since it was off due to my issues, hard reset my devices and so far so good. Battery life is back to expected. Left unplugged overnight on my nightstand and it drained 1%. Will continue to test, as the issue usually returns after a day or so, but if this works, I will finally have a functioning iPhone 7 Plus.

Glad that worked for you. Mine was defiantly related to iCloud Control panel.

 

[LionheartUK]

Removing the iCloud for Windows Application has fixed the battery drain issue for me too. This issue also caused my device to use massive amounts of mobile data through push notification and Documents&sync. Thanks a lot for posting the workaround, I can happily live without iCloud on my Windows PC!

 

[killbankers]

I registered an account just to say that uninstalling the Windows iCloud application from my Windows 10 PC fixed my iPhone 5s and 6s battery draining issues. Both phones used the same Apple ID and when iCloud was enabled the phones' batteries would drain and the Usage and Standby would be almost the same under Battery settings. If I turned off iCloud they would be fine, if I turned it back on they would begin draining again.

I think the reason that some people report that changing their iCloud password (I saw that on some other threads) stops their iPhone batteries from draining is that they have some random device (Windows PC or Apple TV, maybe?) that then gets disconnected from their iCloud account and then their phones don't discharge. My guess is it must be something to do with the phones trying to sync via iCloud to all the other devices logged into the same account.

Thanks to those who shared this solution!

 

[The_Smarti]

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem.
I've made hours and hours of tests with multiple iPads (my iPad is an iPad Air 2 with iOS 12.1.3)

iPad A, iPad B, iPad C

I have installed fresh iOS 12.1.3 with DFU mode on iTunes on them.

Test 1
iPad A connected with my iCloud account -> battery drain (10% / day in sleep mode)
iPad B not connected to iCloud-> battery OK (1-3 % / day in sleep mode)

Test 2
iPad A not connected to iCloud-> battery OK (1-3 % / day in sleep mode)
iPad B connected with my iCloud account -> battery drain (10% / day in sleep mode)

Test 3
iPad C connected to another iCloud account -> battery OK (1-3 % / day in sleep mode)

I've tested all these actions:
-reset password (no iCloud for Windows for me)
-disable iCloud photos (and delete all of them)
-deisable iMessage on iCloud (and delete all of them)
-delete all Notes on iCloud (I have even deleted old Notes that are hidden after iOS 9.0 -> for this connect to mobile.me on old device and delete "Notes" elements in Mail app)
-delete all Reminders on iCloud
-delete all Safari Favorites on iCloud
-disable iCloud keychain


What can I do ? Help ! I lose hope !

 

[The_Smarti]

Hi,

Some fresh news....

I've created a new iCloud account.... and the issue is still there !
The only common point seems to be HomeKit.

So I tried to disconnect Philips Hue bridge and... it seems that it's the problem.

With Wireshark, I can see that my devices makes IGMP requests every 30 seconds when bridge is connected and every 10 minutes when it's not.

For the moment I don't have any solution except... unplug it !

I have contated Philips. They said that they are investigating and seems to have understand the issue....

To be continued.....

 

[wdj91]

Hi,

Some fresh news....

I've created a new iCloud account.... and the issue is still there !
The only common point seems to be HomeKit.

So I tried to disconnect Philips Hue bridge and... it seems that it's the problem.

With Wireshark, I can see that my devices makes IGMP requests every 30 seconds when bridge is connected and every 10 minutes when it's not.

For the moment I don't have any solution except... unplug it !

I have contated Philips. They said that they are investigating and seems to have understand the issue....

To be continued.....

Thanks for this post. I have the same problem - battery on my iPad Pro 10.5" drains about 1%/hour. I used XCode's Instruments to see whether iPad is sleeping, and it wakes up every 30 seconds or so. I unplugged my Hue Bridge (2nd Gen - the square version), and iPad started sleeping for more than 2 minutes at a time. Please let us know if you hear anything from Philips.

 

[The_Smarti]

Thanks for this post. I have the same problem - battery on my iPad Pro 10.5" drains about 1%/hour. I used XCode's Instruments to see whether iPad is sleeping, and it wakes up every 30 seconds or so. I unplugged my Hue Bridge (2nd Gen - the square version), and iPad started sleeping for more than 2 minutes at a time. Please let us know if you hear anything from Philips.

Changelog
https://www2.meethue.com/fr-fr/support/notes-de-mise-a-jour/bridge

Philips has apparently fixed this (I have just seen it!). I do not see IGMP traffic every minute like before but I have to monitor the traffic for a long period to be sure. The strange thing is that I have lost 6% between yesterday 11 PM and today 8 PM. It's less than before but it seems to be still too much.... I don't jave a Mac at home so I can't use Instruments. Let me know with the last update....

 

[The_Smarti]

I have not noticed big changes after this update. So for the moment, I turn on AirPlane mode when I don't use my iPad.....

Annoying not to find a solution...

The test I should do is to delete all my HomeKit config..... and let's see...

 

[The_Smarti]

Hey,

I've tried to disable Homekit for few weeks.... Battery still draining on my iPad but it is so so so strange.
Last week, its only losts 10% within 3 days so it is acceptable ! And last night, it losts 3%...

I don't understand anything....

 

[Francesco Gioeli]

any updates on this:?
I have the same issue but no HomeKit. just an iPhone and a mac connected.

 

[The_Smarti]

No, still the same issue but it seem to be exclusively on iPad.....

 

[The_Smarti]

I've just restored my backup on a fresh installed iPad Air 3 (note mine) and it seems that it's not concerned by the issue.... Why ?! Perhaps someting on the iPad Air 2 and my usage (Homekit ?) makes it unstable ? I'm waiting for iPad Air 4 in order to change it !

 

[The_Smarti]

I've just restored my backup on a fresh installed iPad Pro 11 and..... I have a battery drain ! Definitively don't understand this issue !

 

[The_Smarti]

Hi, I have sold my old iPad Air 2 and bought an iPad Air 4
I did not restore any backup to have a freshly installed OS.

I don't know if I'm facing to a battery drain so I am interested to have your opinion / battery usage.

My iPad Air 4 is connected to iCloud, Wifi on, bluetoooth on, Siri off, Mail in Automatic.
Yesterday at 11 PM it was at 86%.
This morning at 7 AM it was at 84%.
And now, at 1 PM it was at 82%.

So it seems to lose 7/8 % per day. It's better than before but not very good, what do you think ?

 

[Francesco Gioeli]

Hi, I have sold my old iPad Air 2 and bought an iPad Air 4
I did not restore any backup to have a freshly installed OS.

I don't know if I'm facing to a battery drain so I am interested to have your opinion / battery usage.

My iPad Air 4 is connected to iCloud, Wifi on, bluetoooth on, Siri off, Mail in Automatic.
Yesterday at 11 PM it was at 86%.
This morning at 7 AM it was at 84%.
And now, at 1 PM it was at 82%.

So it seems to lose 7/8 % per day. It's better than before but not very good, what do you think ?

Honestly that’s pretty great. I wouldn’t worry. I’d be more concerned with screen on time / usage stats

 

[The_Smarti]

My wife's iPad only lose 3/4% per day (iPad 6th gen).