Other i'm leaving the iPhone

[Unami]

iOS 16 is that bad? A 2nd-gen iPhone SE can’t get 2 hours of SOT and one hour of music with battery left?

I don’t even think iOS 16 is the culprit, there has to be something else going on. Yes, 4.7-inch iPhones don’t have amazing battery life, but it should be enough for that without breaking a sweat.

Apple chose the 4.7-inch design as its canvas for the 2nd and 3rd-gen iPhone SE, and battery life is one drawback, yes, but it shouldn’t be that poor.

Yes, it's that bad. Same on my SE2. The usual apple stuff - degrading battery meets more demanding OS that's not optimized for older devices.

 

[Eso]

You are probably affected by a battery drain bug that has plagued iOS or years.

Try measuring the passive battery drain using the timer, starting at any battery % below 100. Let it sit all day and calculate the %/hour loss at the end of the day. It will be probably 3% or more per hour.

Then fully reset the phone, do not restore from backup, and don't sign into iCloud. Boom, battery problems will be gone. You'll see something close to half a percent per hour.

Good luck not getting the bug to come back if you try to load everything back on your phone.

 

[joehohoho]

I've often wondered since the race to make the smallest phone is now part of distant history, why they don't just add 0.5-1mm depth to the models to account for a higher capacity battery. It's not like it would make much difference in size overall considering the average larger size of phones these days.

I hope Apple's switch to 3nm chips means they decide to prioritise power efficiency over performance in newer handsets.

 

[Choco Taco]

You are probably affected by a battery drain bug that has plagued iOS or years.

Try measuring the passive battery drain using the timer, starting at any battery % below 100. Let it sit all day and calculate the %/hour loss at the end of the day. It will be probably 3% or more per hour.

Then fully reset the phone, do not restore from backup, and don't sign into iCloud. Boom, battery problems will be gone. You'll see something close to half a percent per hour.

Good luck not getting the bug to come back if you try to load everything back on your phone.

I don't think they're experiencing the battery drain bug as they said it lasts until dinner time, which is actually pretty good for the SE, so I'm not sure why they're complaining in the first place.

 

[martint235]

I thought it was just me. I had an SE1 for about 2 years and the battery started to go. Thankfully it was a work phone so they replaced it with an SE2, now a year later the battery is shot.

 

[sorgo †]

Honestly I’m glad the second-gen SE has burned people back to the Android side. It’s a horrible product because of its unacceptable battery life and Apple deserve whatever backlash and financial loss as a result. You don’t get away with that crap just because the phone is a “budget” model.

I feel there should have been an extended service program to owners of SE2s for this reason, but you know what Apple did in its shameless culpability? It just released a third SE model with vastly-improved battery life instead. Again, in the world of Apple, one is expected to shell out extra for the most basically-serviceable experience, even among the budget models.

I hope you continue enjoying your midrange Android devices—you’ll be better off for it.

 

[TVreporter]

OP what apps are you regularly using? Makes a huge difference.

An app like Twitter or Facebook will quickly drain the battery with constant use. A semi heavy graphic game will too.

Try swapping out for a new battery and do fresh reinstall of iOS.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

In my country they still sell iPhone 11 (new, not refurbished) for 499€. That one has a great battery life for reasonable price.

This. I have had mine for about two years now and I get 2 days out of a full charge (100->20ish %).

OP what apps are you regularly using? Makes a huge difference.

An app like Twitter or Facebook will quickly drain the battery with constant use. A semi heavy graphic game will too.

Try swapping out for a new battery and do fresh reinstall of iOS.

I noticed it with Twitter in particular.
Browsers make a huge difference, too. Edge seems to drain the battery a lot faster than Safari.

 

[FeliApple]

Yes, it's that bad. Same on my SE2. The usual apple stuff - degrading battery meets more demanding OS that's not optimized for older devices.

Yeah, iOS updates are abhorrent, but 2 hours with non-heavy usage sounded way too terrible. Sad.

 

[J05HH3YM4N]

Basic rule of thumb and my advice to anyone - if it says SE on it, don’t buy it.

Spend the extra and get the standard/flagship model. You’ll thank me later

 

[jagolden]

Yes, it's that bad. Same on my SE2. The usual apple stuff - degrading battery meets more demanding OS that's not optimized for older devices.

BS! iOS 16 battery life is fine. Lots of screen on time time, 8-10 hours of music nightly, Bluetooth, wi-fi on. I charge charge every third afternoon. Yes, it’s a 14PM, but that’s a lot of usage for the time between charges.
The SE - smaller chassis means smaller battery. What do people expect!?
I think he’s greatly understating his usage. My iPod Mini gives me more than he’s getting on his SE?

 

[Volkhard Juergens]

so i daily'd an iPhone SE second gen for the last 2 and half or so years, and i'm leaving the iPhone now.

the reason is battery life. it was ok when my SE was new, but now it's at the point where it's basically empty around dinner time, which is not fun. i'm not a heavy phone user either. i don't play games or watch movies on them, i use my computer for all of that. my phone is used for music while i'm cycling (an hour or so a day), texting and a bit of scrolling twitter when i'm outside smoking. totalling 2 hours ish of screen on time a day and an hour of screen off playing music a day.

the phone i'm switching to is an old one i bought from a friend of mine. it's a midrange phone from 3 years ago, an Oppo A72. the reason for the switch is this:

now, i haven't charged it since i got it from him. i did an OS update as it had been collecting dust for a year since he bought an iPhone 11, i installed all my apps, synced all my stuff and then used it like i normally do. all without charging it at all. and i got more than 2 days.

mind you, this phone is old. it's not brand new by any means.

this brings me onto my rant about the iPhone. why can't Apple put a decent battery in the lower end models? this Oppo was a midrange phone around the same time my SE 2 was new, and look at the difference. it doesn't take much browsing around either to find that most low end android phones that cost less than the cheapest iphone have WAY bigger batteries. why can't Apple do that?

i know if you buy a high end iPhone, you won't have problems. but why must apple be so mean to the lower end phone market? why not put a decent battery in those? i simply don't understand it.

Because Apple Products are nothing else than cheap China crap.

 

[HackMacDaddy]

The easy solution by Apple would have been the often rumoured SE PLUS model. It would have had very good battery life. Missed opportunity and money left on the table.

 

[BellSystem]

lol so you are complaining that your 1600mAh battery didn’t last as long as a 5000mAh battery? You think that a 4” phone should accommodate a battery from a 6.5” phone? This is not a fair comparison. Apple could do better in the battery department, but complaining your SE didn’t live up to your expectations of a bigger phone with a larger capacity battery is a pointless argument.

 

[Paddle1]

Just to put things in perspective, the second generation SE in specific is known for particularly poor battery life. Even the 12 mini is rated higher. You couldn't have made a worse choice in regards to battery.

 

[FeliApple]

BS! iOS 16 battery life is fine. Lots of screen on time time, 8-10 hours of music nightly, Bluetooth, wi-fi on. I charge charge every third afternoon. Yes, it’s a 14PM, but that’s a lot of usage for the time between charges.
The SE - smaller chassis means smaller battery. What do people expect!?
I think he’s greatly understating his usage. My iPod Mini gives me more than he’s getting on his SE?

Original iOS version, of course the iPhone 14 Pro Max is good...

 

[firelighter487]

iOS 16 is that bad? A 2nd-gen iPhone SE can’t get 2 hours of SOT and one hour of music with battery left?

I don’t even think iOS 16 is the culprit, there has to be something else going on. Yes, 4.7-inch iPhones don’t have amazing battery life, but it should be enough for that without breaking a sweat.

Apple chose the 4.7-inch design as its canvas for the 2nd and 3rd-gen iPhone SE, and battery life is one drawback, yes, but it shouldn’t be that poor.

the battery health is at 78% so...

also iOS 16 is f**king horrible. i have to press the power button multiple times sometimes before the phone responds at all, apps close a lot like say i have youtube open, i go out of it to the camera app to take a quick picture and then back to youtube, youtube reloads so i lose where i was.. it sucks!

I have the same iPhone and after less than 3 years it's down to 80% capacity, loses 15-20% battery overnight on airplane mode with Wifi on, and if I actually use it I'll need to charge it at least twice a day. Hence it's got 1k charge cycles on it.

I fully understand your frustration, but the priority with the SE is to give you a fast responsive iOS experience with most of the software features that an iPhone Pro has. That old hardware design and those lackluster specs for display and so on, and especially the battery, that's what makes the SE cheaper in the first place.

the issue is that i don't get a responsive iOS experience because iOS 16 is terrible. idk if it's just me or not but it's noticably worse than 15.

About that Android phone: Sorry but it's trash, and I say that using a Pixel as my main phone, actually I prefer Android over iOS. I do not trust a company like Oppo to release security updates on time and update Android regularly, I do not trust them to have implemented security features correctly such as secure boot that prevents third parties from gaining access without knowing your lock code, and secure enclave that stores data such as fingerprints or face unlock.

In fact, there currently is no Android phone other than the discontinued Pixel 4 that has a safe, biometric face unlock. Yet many phones offer it, for example Oneplus does, that Oppo is based on, so perhaps that Oppo you have now supports it too? But it actually just takes a photo of your face, and you can literally trick it to unlock your phone if someone holds a photo of your face to the camera. Oneplus phones have been shown to be unlockable that way.

the security patch is from 5 february 2023, given that it's a 3 year old device i'd say that's pretty decent. as for face unlock honestly it has a fingerprint reader, i don't need it. besides i have long hair and wear glasses, i have it enabled but it's slow because of that so i'm just gonna turn it off and use fingerprint.

The simple reality is that if they did that they'd charge more for the SE. You'd want the better battery at the same price point but that's not how Apple runs its business. Their thinking is that after 2.5 years with the SE you'd have Airpods, maybe an Apple Watch, perhaps even an iPad or a Mac, and that you'll fix the poor SE battery life by upgrading to a new more expensive iPhone.

And I don't think there is anything wrong with this, we knew back from the first iPhone SE that battery life wouldn't be good, we knew that the SE is neutered to get the price down, and there is always the option to replace the battery for $70. Check your battery health, mine says service required now and I am sure yours is pretty shot too.

you're living in your bubble. i got my SE 2 on contract so monthly payments, because i cannot afford it outright. $70 is also a lot of money for me as i'm on minimum income. i can't just replace it whenever i feel like it.

I don’t think battery health is all too relevant, honestly. My 63% health iPhone 6s on iOS 10 is amazing with the 7-year-old original battery and almost 1500 cycles.

That’s why I ask whether iOS 16 could be that poor. Either iOS 16 obliterated the 2nd-gen SE, or the user’s usage is too heavy (perhaps too many settings on, and brightness may be too high).

It’s likely that OP’s usage pattern is simply incompatible with the device. You want the SE? Light to moderate use. If you need more, I’d get something else.

i literally only use it for texting, music and scrolling twitter. 2 hours of screen on time a day average. that's not heavy use at all.

and yes iOS 16 slowed it down, particularly with multitasking it's a lot worse than it used to be.

An ex of mine went through a couple second-gen SEs—both had just abysmal battery life. One of the worst iPhones ever released for that reason alone IMO.

The third gen is much improved but still nowhere near your old midrange Android phone. Anyway, thanks for the thread—it’s already fun watching the mental gymnastics in defense of Apple’s greed.

ikr. "no no they'd have to charge more for a bigger battery sfdfkdskjk!!!1!11!"

You test drove the worst iPhone. Get a 14/Plus or 14 Pro/Max. Then use that for a couple of years. Battery is better, and no other display or camera are even close.

i'm on minimum income, i can't afford that lmfao. i mean i could but i wouldn't be able to buy food. bad idea...

In my country they still sell iPhone 11 (new, not refurbished) for 499€. That one has a great battery life for reasonable price.

yea a few friends of mine have 11's, they're good. it's just too expensive for me since i can't get one on contract now cuz it's old, and i don't have €499 lying around sadly. besides again i'm not a heavy user, the only reason i went iphone in the first place was my love of iOS. i don't actually need the power or camera's.

 

[firelighter487]

You are probably affected by a battery drain bug that has plagued iOS or years.

Try measuring the passive battery drain using the timer, starting at any battery % below 100. Let it sit all day and calculate the %/hour loss at the end of the day. It will be probably 3% or more per hour.

Then fully reset the phone, do not restore from backup, and don't sign into iCloud. Boom, battery problems will be gone. You'll see something close to half a percent per hour.

Good luck not getting the bug to come back if you try to load everything back on your phone.

i mean, it sat unused on my bed a whole day, no sim card since i've already moved my stuff over to my android, and it was at 83% at the end of the day... again, no use. just sitting there without a sim. it was connected to wifi but whatsapp wasn't connected anymore, that's on my new phone. so idk what it could possibly have been doing.

OP what apps are you regularly using? Makes a huge difference.

An app like Twitter or Facebook will quickly drain the battery with constant use. A semi heavy graphic game will too.

Try swapping out for a new battery and do fresh reinstall of iOS.

i use whatsapp, youtube music and twitter when i'm on a smoke break outside, so like 5 minutes of scrolling. i also use Duolingo for about 15 minutes a day cuz i'm learning Japanese. that's pretty much it.

i have apps like Hue installed for my lights, but i only open that twice a day. to turn my lights on in the morning and off when it's night... other things like Crunchyroll for occasional watching anime on a train (that's rare, i do that twice a month or so)... like, not the type of apps to dramatically drain battery i think.

can't swap the battery as i don't have that sort of money spare. €70 or whatever it costs is a lot for me, i don't wanna spend it on an already 3 year old 64-gb phone.

Basic rule of thumb and my advice to anyone - if it says SE on it, don’t buy it.

Spend the extra and get the standard/flagship model. You’ll thank me later

i can't afford standard or flagship iphones, so that's bad advice in my case.

I think he’s greatly understating his usage. My iPod Mini gives me more than he’s getting on his SE?

first of all i'm a she

second, you think i'm talking BS? you want proof? here's a screenshot of my screentime from last week, when it was still my main device.

lol so you are complaining that your 1600mAh battery didn’t last as long as a 5000mAh battery? You think that a 4” phone should accommodate a battery from a 6.5” phone? This is not a fair comparison. Apple could do better in the battery department, but complaining your SE didn’t live up to your expectations of a bigger phone with a larger capacity battery is a pointless argument.

explain the SE3 being a lot better than the SE2 despite being in the exact same case, using the same display, and the SE3 even using a faster chip and 5G, which the SE2 doesn't have.

Just to put things in perspective, the second generation SE in specific is known for particularly poor battery life. Even the 12 mini is rated higher. You couldn't have made a worse choice in regards to battery.

apparantly....

 

[Choco Taco]

If you can't afford a new phone, then buy used. You can get an 11 for much less than the SE on eBay or somewhere similar. Just make sure you buy from a reputable seller.

 

[firelighter487]

If you can't afford a new phone, then buy used. You can get an 11 for much less than the SE on eBay or somewhere similar. Just make sure you buy from a reputable seller.

i know that. 11's are still like €250 to 300 here.

 

[Choco Taco]

i know that. 11's are still like €250 to 300 here.

Yes, that's about what they cost used in the UK. It's unfortunate you don't have Swappa in your country.

 

[Wokis]

I was prepared for some silly reason as per usual but the disappointing battery-life of the SE-models is a legit concern.

The SE3 did improve it what with the A15 draining less battery (same insane efficiency cores as the M2), but I can imagine it still having no chance against midrange Androids.

The low-end iPhone needs an overhaul. The culture that has grown from this shortcoming is that people buy used 11s/12s etc instead and for environmental purposes I guess that's great. But sometimes used isn't an option and it'd be nice for Apple to match its competitors.

 

[FeliApple]

the battery health is at 78% so...

also iOS 16 is f**king horrible. i have to press the power button multiple times sometimes before the phone responds at all, apps close a lot like say i have youtube open, i go out of it to the camera app to take a quick picture and then back to youtube, youtube reloads so i lose where i was.. it sucks!

the issue is that i don't get a responsive iOS experience because iOS 16 is terrible. idk if it's just me or not but it's noticably worse than 15.




i literally only use it for texting, music and scrolling twitter. 2 hours of screen on time a day average. that's not heavy use at all.

and yes iOS 16 slowed it down, particularly with multitasking it's a lot worse than it used to be.

I’m a little surprised honestly, I’d expect this performance-wise from an iPhone 4s on iOS 9, and I’d expect this battery life-wise from an iPhone 6s on iOS 15.

I’m sorry iOS 16 ruined it for you, there’s not much you can do. Usage doesn’t even sound heavy. Do you have a screenshot from settings-battery?

 

[firelighter487]

I’m a little surprised honestly, I’d expect this performance-wise from an iPhone 4s on iOS 9, and I’d expect this battery life-wise from an iPhone 6s on iOS 15.

I’m sorry iOS 16 ruined it for you, there’s not much you can do. Usage doesn’t even sound heavy. Do you have a screenshot from settings-battery?

 

[FeliApple]

Thank you for the screenshot, but I meant the tab before that, which shows the screen-on time. Maybe the last 10 days if it has data? (If you haven’t used it so as to populate the last 24 hours).