iOS 14 battery life

[RN17]

1 month old SE 2020 here and 3 days with iOS 14.

Before this update, the battery never drained over night when idle (the battery level chart was almost flat), but now it loses 1 to 2% per hour.
The activity table shows no data during this interval. Restarts didn't help, and it also seems to charge slower than before.

The internet is full of recent articles on how to "fix" it by turning off this and that, and going off the rails from the root cause...

 

[Victor Mortimer]

It's fine.

I ran the beta for over a month, now have the release installed, never noticed any significant battery life differences from 13.

Maybe it's more of a problem on newer, inferior iPhones. I've got a 6s+, which is great because it still has a headphone jack. (And yes, I use it, plugged in a wired headphone yesterday when I couldn't quickly find either of my BT headsets and needed to talk to a client and type at the same time.)

 

[2979382]

I still get 48h on a single charge on my XS, so I'm happy. 😃

 

[abrahamw88]

Health app appears to be killing my battery. And I don’t really use the health app. iPhone X.

 

[BenTrovato]

1 month old SE 2020 here and 3 days with iOS 14.

Before this update, the battery never drained over night when idle (the battery level chart was almost flat), but now it loses 1 to 2% per hour.
The activity table shows no data during this interval. Restarts didn't help, and it also seems to charge slower than before.

The internet is full of recent articles on how to "fix" it by turning off this and that, and going off the rails from the root cause...

I have the same issue with iPad and iPhone. It rarely lost charge overnight, now I'm losing anywhere from 2-5% on airplane mode. Thought I would give it a few days but it's the same every night.

 

[cp1160]

These threads pop up every single year.

Do you not think you’re just using it more, hence the battery appearing to drain faster?

My iPhone 7+ went from 100% at 8:30 am to 42% at 11:10 am today and I never used the phone as a test. Had it sitting in pocket for a 45 minute walk and sitting on my desk after that. Used my iPad to be sure I was not using it.

It's reporting my activity at 21% today for an application I used for 5 minutes and closed yesterday. I had restarted the phone 2 times since using it so it was not stuck. Yesterday it had Google at 39% and News at 32% and I used neither application at all. Strange things. Never had this like this before. I've had spikes when upgrading, but I am recharging my phone 3 times a day right now so I have a usable phone with me. I'm not using on purpose too.
[automerge]1600702479[/automerge]

Health app appears to be killing my battery. And I don’t really use the health app. iPhone X.

I'm getting reports like that too. Google at 39% when I never used it. Health at 22% and I only opened and then closed it.

 

[iggypod]

11 pro max with a noticeable drain since iOS 14.

I do see a location services arrow intermittently turning on and off (frequently) which I've never noticed on iOS 13. When I check, "Find My iPhone" always has a purple arrow (within Privacy > Location Services > System Services).

Anyone else?

 

[dan71]

Going well on my SE 2020, I’m still charging after two days.

 

[Woochifer]

I haven't noticed any changes to my battery life. Then again, I haven't upgraded to iOS 14.0 yet either. For people who REALLY care about battery life, they should never upgrade to a first version iOS update to begin with, especially since this one had only one day between the final beta version and the XX.0 release. That alone made me decide to wait this version out.

Apple had to time the iOS 14 release to coincide with the new iPad Air and Apple Watch releases. But, that doesn't mean it was entirely ready to go for existing device upgrades.

In addition to the usual advise about waiting a few days for all the background indexing and caching to finish up, people should also keep a watch on any changes to their location services, background app refresh, and other background task settings. I have seen iOS updates and app updates that occur around an iOS update switch out some of the background settings, and some of those changes can really hammer the battery life.

Also, for a major iOS update, I also generally prefer to use the full IPSW update file with Finder/iTunes rather than the over-the-air delta update. Using the larger full IPSW installation package will replace the entire iOS installation, rather than only the changed files. With hundreds of thousands of files being replaced you can't count on every individual file getting replaced correctly. I recall at least one instance where the OTA iOS update installed some files in the wrong place, which broke numerous functions and IIRC resulted in data loss for some users. Those who updated using the full installation on iTunes were not affected.

The OTA update for iOS 14 look like it's somewhere in the mid-2 to 4 GB range in size. The full iOS 14 IPSW installation weighs in around 4.5 to 5.7 GB in size, depending on your device. The probability of a random glitch, particularly one that affects battery life, seems higher using the OTA update. I'd rather replace iOS in its entirety than switch out nearly half of the OS files, and hope that all the replacements were done correctly.

 

[AllergyDoc]

I've been on 14 since the first developer beta and haven't noticed any difference on my XR and Mini 5. Big difference on my 12.9 IPP gen 2, though. Battery life had become deplorable on the last couple of releases. It's back to lasting forever on 14.

 

[Lekro]

Battery life was a bit worse on the first 5 days. It is normal now. Probably background workload after the update + me using it more to setup the new home screen.

 

[ejx220]

iPhone X here, and battery has sucked since installing 14.0. Can't make it past 10 am without dipping to 50%.

 

[sulster2012]

First time I’ve ever experienced the battery issues after updating an iOS. Eleven Pro. (No issues on my iPad.) Won’t charge above 80%. Battery setting showed Health app was 83% of battery usage. AND check this out: Woah, this is a lotta Health data.... WTH even *is* a PB?

 

[nokiauk]

11 pro max with a noticeable drain since iOS 14.

I do see a location services arrow intermittently turning on and off (frequently) which I've never noticed on iOS 13. When I check, "Find My iPhone" always has a purple arrow (within Privacy > Location Services > System Services).

Anyone else?

I get this as well, along with exposure notifications taking 80+% of battery usage

 

[iggypod]

I get this as well, along with exposure notifications taking 80+% of battery usage

I don’t have exposure notifications turned on but am still seeing the location services arrow for find my iPhone go off and on all day long.

 

[C DM]

I don’t have exposure notifications turned on but am still seeing the location services arrow for find my iPhone go off and on all day long.

Is there anything like AirPods or something similar connected, in case it could be related to that?

 

[Woochifer]

First time I’ve ever experienced the battery issues after updating an iOS. Eleven Pro. (No issues on my iPad.) Won’t charge above 80%. Battery setting showed Health app was 83% of battery usage. AND check this out: Woah, this is a lotta Health data.... WTH even *is* a PB?

LOL That would be a petabyte = 1,000 terabytes

Unless they're trying to replicate your cellular structure with the health data, I would guess that's a typo, maybe?

Assuming that you used the over-the-air iOS update, have you considered reinstalling iOS using the full IPSW installation file via Finder/iTunes? This would look like a random glitch. If a simple restart doesn't resolve it, replacing the entire iOS contents (rather than leaving bits and pieces from the older installations and updates in place) could.

This is the site that takes you to the IPSW downloads for every compatible version of iOS for all devices. You'll need to reinstall the file using recovery mode and then restore the phone using a back. So, make sure that you backup your device before starting (a local backup will be more complete than restoring using an iCloud backup).

Download iOS Firmware for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod and Vision Pro / IPSW Downloads

Download current and previous versions of Apple's iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, audioOS and macOS firmware and receive notifications when new firmwares are released.

ipsw.me

 

[PhillyGuy72]

First time I’ve ever experienced the battery issues after updating an iOS. Eleven Pro. (No issues on my iPad.) Won’t charge above 80%. Battery setting showed Health app was 83% of battery usage. AND check this out: Woah, this is a lotta Health data.... WTH even *is* a PB?View attachment 956920

What the...
PB - Pedabyte

Very odd glitch and simply just not possible.
17.34 PB is equal to 18182307 GB

Filesizes
Megabyte - MB
Gigabyte - GB
Terabyte - TB
Pedabyte - PB

 

[iLLUMI]

My iPhone 8 battery life was good the first day ... but then I noticed it was draining really fast the next day and appeared to stop charging when the screen was locked. I gave it a couple of days with no change. I eventually realised that iOS had turned on Bluetooth the day after the upgrade and thus I believe that was the main drain (even though Battery stats was saying Home/Lock screen was using the most power). The problem with not having the Bluetooth icon on the display is you can't see at a glance that its on.
But then yesterday I was using my iPhone while the battery was sitting on 30%. I used it for about 30 minutes and the battery remained on 30%. I put it down (screen locked), plugged in my charger, came back to it about 15 minutes later and it was still sitting on 30%. But then, as I was looking at the display I noticed the % increment by 1% ... and then every 30 seconds or so it went up 1%. So in the space of approx. 10 minutes I literally watched the battery increase from 30% to just under 60%. I've never seen that happen before. Can't be normal surely?
I'm somewhat thinking that I probably should expect different performance/battery usage on iOS 14, considering I've made the leap from iOS 11.4.

 

[iggypod]

Is there anything like AirPods or something similar connected, in case it could be related to that?

I thought about that. I have an Apple Watch and Airpods. Identical setup in iOS 13. The same problem exists with / without the Apple Watch or AirPods powered on / connected.

Perhaps I’ll try resetting my location and privacy settings next.

 

[ibookjake]

I thought about that. I have an Apple Watch and Airpods. Identical setup in iOS 13. The same problem exists with / without the Apple Watch or AirPods powered on / connected.

Perhaps I’ll try resetting my location and privacy settings next.

nope! Bluetooth was all-the-way off too, not on the "disconnect til tomorrow" mode

 

[Matthew.H]

My XR was using a bit more battery after the update. Updated on the Macbook so the whole OS was replaced. Phone hasn't got hot at all. Settings haven't changed themselves. Most likely just iOS indexing.

 

[SR 7]

my iPhone Max Pro has been off the charger for 3 hours...I used it for 30 min and the phone died on me.

I went from charging JUST at night around 10pm to now charging by 3PM. This is ridiculous.

 

[decafjava]

Well a bit early, my battery so far has been pretty poor but I will give it anoter day or so.

 

[sulster2012]

Unless they're trying to replicate your cellular structure with the health data, I would guess that's a typo, maybe?

Ha! Well, I assume at some point Google/Apple/Facebook will attempt that!

Assuming that you used the over-the-air iOS update, have you considered reinstalling iOS using the full IPSW installation file via Finder/iTunes? This would look like a random glitch. If a simple restart doesn't resolve it, replacing the entire iOS contents (rather than leaving bits and pieces from the older installations and updates in place) could.

I see that other folks are having this issue. Given the way the Health app was a battery culprit, I suspect this is related to the iOS14 update glitch. However, I am probably going to go this route if Apple doesn't release a fix soon.

This is the site that takes you to the IPSW downloads for every compatible version of iOS for all devices. You'll need to reinstall the file using recovery mode and then restore the phone using a back. So, make sure that you backup your device before starting (a local backup will be more complete than restoring using an iCloud backup).

Thank you!!