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ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2009
1,109
854
I have a 12 mini, and I also notice a lot quicker battery drain. I used to be able to go two days on a charge (yes, I don’t use my phone that much), and now it’s drained after one day. My worry is that when I do use it more heavily (for example while traveling), it will not even last a day.
 

Pearsey

macrumors 603
Nov 12, 2016
5,340
11,912
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Ah yes, the endless story. It doesn’t fail. Year after year. Update after update. It has been happening since I started to use iOS devices, 12 years ago. Not once does this fail to happen. It’s irreversible folks, downgrade to iOS 15 while you can and keep it there. There is nothing Apple will ever do to fix it.

Back with the massive battery runtime jump of the Xʀ, I had a little hope. I hoped this would finally stop happening. Very soon after iOS 13’s release, I realised it wouldn’t. Maybe, with a little hope, the M1 reverses it. Expecting the inevitable reports of ”my iPad Air 5 and 2021 iPad Pro’s battery life was reduced by at least a couple of hours with iPadOS 16, what can I do?”, however.

Not even the first major version is safe anymore. Unbelievable.

iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12, surpassing the vast majority of runtime numbers I’m seeing here, even with moderately heavy use (camera-centric). On that topic: users of the iPhone Xʀ repeatedly reported north of 10 hours of screen-on time with moderate use on iOS 12, the vast majority being closer to 12. Over and over: “11.5, 12, 12.5, 10 with heavier usage”, etc. iOS 16? “Be happy, 6.5 hours is a lot!“. I’m getting 6.5 hours of full LTE usage on an iPhone 6s on iOS 10, with… 65% health.

Moan moan moan, come on, look at where we were from iOS 12 to today…

You cant even begin to compare battery life on iOS 12 to PRESENT day iOS. The software has evolved so much with billions more calculations, HDR filters, quicker facial recognition, I could go on and on and on… my point, all will be more power hungry. So it’s a constant evolution juggling act between software innovation and features with battery tech and life. Clearly the demand for features tappers off at the cost of battery life as the years have gone by. Apple does what it can at every corner to increase battery sizes, introduce more power efficient screens and processors to keep this line on a graph curved to performance.

Bottom line, get proactive with it and figure stuff out that can help improve your battery. You might be someone for instance who leaves your phone charging all night and then lets it drain down to the red, which is shocking behaviour for a lithium battery greatly reducing its health, subsequently life, for one.

There are so many variables all changing everyone’s unique power output on devices it’s impossible to compare but very easy to install something and complain about it.

Widgets, massive stock and 3rd party constantly updating pain in the arse for your iPhones battery. Find the balance using these on your device for battery life.

My iPhone 12s battery life has been solid throughout iOS 16 betas to 16.1.
 

FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,684
2,089
Moan moan moan, come on, look at where we were from iOS 12 to today…

You cant even begin to compare battery life on iOS 12 to PRESENT day iOS. The software has evolved so much with billions more calculations, HDR filters, quicker facial recognition, I could go on and on and on… my point, all will be more power hungry. So it’s a constant evolution juggling act between software innovation and features with battery tech and life. Clearly the demand for features tappers off at the cost of battery life as the years have gone by. Apple does what it can at every corner to increase battery sizes, introduce more power efficient screens and processors to keep this line on a graph curved to performance.

Bottom line, get proactive with it and figure stuff out that can help improve your battery. You might be someone for instance who leaves your phone charging all night and then lets it drain down to the red, which is shocking behaviour for a lithium battery greatly reducing its health, subsequently life, for one.

There are so many variables all changing everyone’s unique power output on devices it’s impossible to compare but very easy to install something and complain about it.

Widgets, massive stock and 3rd party constantly updating pain in the arse for your iPhones battery. Find the balance using these on your device for battery life.

My iPhone 12s battery life has been solid throughout iOS 16 betas to 16.1.
Thing is, you’re right! You’re totally right. And I’m not being ironic. Due to new features and under-the-hood increases in calculations, iOS versions have always been more power-hungry than their predecessors. You said that Apple does what it can to maintain battery life throughout subsequent device releases, and I’d argue they’re doing an amazing job! iPhones’ battery life, due to an increase in battery sizes and processor efficiency, has become a lot better. My iPhone 6s on iOS 9 or 10 can’t compare against a Xʀ on iOS 12, which doesn’t hold a candle to the 13 Pro Max on iOS 15. My iPad 4 on iOS 6 was the best battery life I’d ever seen on an iOS device with light use (16 hours) until my iPad Air 5, which gets at least 23 hours of screen-on time with that light use on iPadOS 15.

But, for the same iOS device, with the same processor efficiency and battery size, iOS updates are the worst thing that can happen. The iPhone 6s I mentioned? 65% health, iOS 10. 6.5 hours of screen-on time with LTE and light use. iPhone 6s, iOS 15. 100% health. 2.5-3 hours, at most, scraping the bottom of the barrel. If on the original iOS version, battery health is largely irrelevant. Otherwise, it helps, but it’s a million light years away from the original iOS version’s performance, even when the latter has a degraded battery.

My main criticism with Apple is the lack of downgrades. I was forced to update (due to Apple’s own A9 activation bug on iOS 9) an iPhone 6s and a 9.7-inch iPad Pro from iOS 9 to iOS 13 and 12, respectively. Forced how, you say? Both devices deactivated (back to the hello screen, which returned an error at the end saying “update to continue”), and I was forced to update them. Both batteries were obliterated. Cool, go back to iOS 10! No... you can’t. Why? Because Apple says so.


You have to restore because you have an issue? Cool, you have to update too! Due to what you said, battery life will be obliterated, but it doesn’t matter, there’s nothing you can do.

You have an iPhone 12, which is practically new. Yeah, you won’t see much of an impact 2 iOS versions in. Like I said, try an iPhone 6s, try an iPad Pro 9.7, try an iPhone X on iOS/iPadOS 16. Battery life will be abhorrent, and there’s nothing the user can do to fix it. Are there things you can do to improve it, somewhat? Yes, like you said, start disabling settings. Will that help? Barely. It might take the 6s on iOS 15 from 1.5 hours to 2.5. It will never take it to the 6.5 hours I’m getting on iOS 10 (with 65% health!), regardless of what you do. Can you downgrade, then? No, you cannot.
 
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Pearsey

macrumors 603
Nov 12, 2016
5,340
11,912
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Facebook app is apparently being a great source of battery drain at present on iOS 16.

Now that’s nothing to do with 16, as some people will jump to think without any close examination. That’s to do with Facebook not updating API etc on their apps in par with official apple releases.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg when dealing with battery drain in a new iOS. One of many possibilities people are suffering.
 

Pearsey

macrumors 603
Nov 12, 2016
5,340
11,912
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Thing is, you’re right! You’re totally right. And I’m not being ironic. Due to new features and under-the-hood increases in calculations, iOS versions have always been more power-hungry than their predecessors. You said that Apple does what it can to maintain battery life throughout subsequent device releases, and I’d argue they’re doing an amazing job! iPhones’ battery life, due to an increase in battery sizes and processor efficiency, has become a lot better. My iPhone 6s on iOS 9 or 10 can’t compare against a Xʀ on iOS 12, which doesn’t hold a candle to the 13 Pro Max on iOS 15. My iPad 4 on iOS 6 was the best battery life I’d ever seen on an iOS device with light use (16 hours) until my iPad Air 5, which gets at least 23 hours of screen-on time with that light use on iPadOS 15.

But, for the same iOS device, with the same processor efficiency and battery size, iOS updates are the worst thing that can happen. The iPhone 6s I mentioned? 65% health, iOS 10. 6.5 hours of screen-on time with LTE and light use. iPhone 6s, iOS 15. 100% health. 2.5-3 hours, at most, scraping the bottom of the barrel. If on the original iOS version, battery health is largely irrelevant. Otherwise, it helps, but it’s a million light years away from the original iOS version’s performance, even when the latter has a degraded battery.

My main criticism with Apple is the lack of downgrades. I was forced to update (due to Apple’s own A9 activation bug on iOS 9) an iPhone 6s and a 9.7-inch iPad Pro from iOS 9 to iOS 13 and 12, respectively. Forced how, you say? Both devices deactivated (back to the hello screen, which returned an error at the end saying “update to continue”), and I was forced to update them. Both batteries were obliterated. Cool, go back to iOS 10! No... you can’t. Why? Because Apple says so.


You have to restore because you have an issue? Cool, you have to update too! Due to what you said, battery life will be obliterated, but it doesn’t matter, there’s nothing you can do.

You have an iPhone 12, which is practically new. Yeah, you won’t see much of an impact 2 iOS versions in. Like I said, try an iPhone 6s, try an iPad Pro 9.7, try an iPhone X on iOS/iPadOS 16. Battery life will be abhorrent, and there’s nothing the user can do to fix it. Are there things you can do to improve it, somewhat? Yes, like you said, start disabling settings. Will that help? Barely. It might take the 6s on iOS 15 from 1.5 hours to 2.5. It will never take it to the 6.5 hours I’m getting on iOS 10 (with 65% health!), regardless of what you do. Can you downgrade, then? No, you cannot.

Yeah it does suck that your hindered by old software being forced to be updated, but you also can’t expect Apple, at a HUGE expense to keep all those options open all it devices ever created.

I think 5 years is a good life. I rotate my MBPs every 5 and that’s never got in the way with software being a graphic designer.
 

Carlson-online

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2004
357
1,118
I experience this.
For me it’s the camera app draining the battery even though I’m not use it.

Also attaching someone else I found having the same issue ( tweet photo )
 

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Carlson-online

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2004
357
1,118
Restart normally fixes that rather than running to Twitter 🙄
I didn’t run to twitter.

That’s not my tweet, that’s a different person who has the same issue.

Either way, I this thread is about documenting any unusual behaviour of apps. That’s what I’m doing
 
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DeadKlau5

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2016
140
111
I’m very impressed with battery life on iOS 16 on my iPhone 13 Pro (Battery Health 99%), it‘s much better then iOS 15.6.1

adcc567dc1d80bfef26569adec7cc324.png
 

JulianL

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2010
1,714
726
London, UK
My 13 Pro Max gave me cause for concern the day after I upgraded to 16.0, it did seem to be draining battery more quickly than it used to although it was never catastrophic. Everything seems to have settled down nicely now though and I have a feeling that I am now getting somewhat better battery life than I did with 15.6.1. My phone came off the charger at 100% charge 51 hours ago and hasn't been on a charger or been plugged into anything since then. I've done 2 hours 22 minutes of screen-on time plus 2 hours 46 minutes of listening to music since it came off the charger and I still have 55% battery left. And after a year of ownership my battery health is still a full 100%. I'm impressed.
 
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FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,684
2,089
Yeah it does suck that your hindered by old software being forced to be updated, but you also can’t expect Apple, at a HUGE expense to keep all those options open all it devices ever created.

I think 5 years is a good life. I rotate my MBPs every 5 and that’s never got in the way with software being a graphic designer.
I think I can expect that, it’s just a digital signature. Apple just has to flip a switch, and every iOS device ever released can update or downgrade to whatever the user wants. It’s not a massive expense. In fact, it’s no expense at all!

5 years is a good time for an iOS device, yeah, but why can’t it be longer? I’m using a 7-year-old 6s that works as well as the day I got it, the battery life is as good as it was when I bought it. I have a 5s on iOS 8, which, while it can no longer do much, it works just as fine as the day I bought it. It’s 9 years old.
 

casjohnr

macrumors 6502
Aug 31, 2007
280
240
I'm having some weird drain issues with my iPhone X at the moment, like earlier I looked and it was at 20%, picked it up an hour or so later and now it reckons 6%!

Also had it power off last night at around 8%, think I'll give it a full charge from dead and see if that improves things
 

xxray

macrumors 68040
Jul 27, 2013
3,115
9,412
Wow, iOS 16 is buggy. Completely wrecked my battery life on my 13 Pro. Now I have a 14 Pro and all seemed well, was getting great battery life, and now have had horrible battery life today. Like estimated 4.5-5 hours of SOT. And now, out of nowhere, my phone started getting really hot. What is going on??? Apple please fix this mess.
 

Samdh90

macrumors 6502a
Apr 26, 2021
997
812
Wow, iOS 16 is buggy. Completely wrecked my battery life on my 13 Pro. Now I have a 14 Pro and all seemed well, was getting great battery life, and now have had horrible battery life today. Like estimated 4.5-5 hours of SOT. And now, out of nowhere, my phone started getting really hot. What is going on??? Apple please fix this mess.
Can you share the battery graph? I have seen others report battery usage out of the ordinary on both the camera app as well as the find my app. Some 3rd party apps like Facebook are also known to wreck havok right now.
 

xxray

macrumors 68040
Jul 27, 2013
3,115
9,412
Can you share the battery graph? I have seen others report battery usage out of the ordinary on both the camera app as well as the find my app. Some 3rd party apps like Facebook are also known to wreck havok right now.

Looking at hour by hour, I think TikTok is what made my phone super hot out of nowhere. The app has been extremely buggy for me the past week or two, which is weird because it’s been very stable the past two years I’ve used it. I’m guessing Home & Lock Screen is the Always On Display which I’ve now turned off. Joplin is normally not a battery hog at all but I was synchronizing it today since I’ve switched phones.

C24-DFBE0-9-D53-4-E8-D-92-C0-1-AE80-B2-E7940.jpg
 
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Samdh90

macrumors 6502a
Apr 26, 2021
997
812
Looking at hour by hour, I think TikTok is what made my phone super hot out of nowhere. The app has been extremely buggy for me the past week or two, which is weird because it’s been very stable the past two years I’ve used it. I’m guessing Home & Lock Screen is the Always On Display which I’ve now turned off. Joplin is normally not a battery hog at all but I was synchronizing it today since I’ve switched phones.

C24-DFBE0-9-D53-4-E8-D-92-C0-1-AE80-B2-E7940.jpg
Try removing Tiktok and reload the app. If that does not help, I would remove it again and leave it uninstalled for a few days to compare. I know it is not the same but you could always access Tik using Safari or any mobile browser.
 
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skveezer

macrumors member
Jul 24, 2012
48
19
Ever notice the small print as you sign off your iPhone? Something about your iPhone being findable even after you turn it off... Hmmm. maybe one of the big issues with power?
 

FyerFyer

macrumors 6502
Dec 14, 2015
370
85
Wow, iOS 16 is buggy. Completely wrecked my battery life on my 13 Pro. Now I have a 14 Pro and all seemed well, was getting great battery life, and now have had horrible battery life today. Like estimated 4.5-5 hours of SOT. And now, out of nowhere, my phone started getting really hot. What is going on??? Apple please fix this mess.
Yeah it feels real buggy. Web pages not loading, touchscreen isn’t working as well, AirPods say connected but are not, battery awful, not feeling this release at all.
 

Infrared

macrumors 68000
Mar 28, 2007
1,715
65
How is it that there's a battery drain thread every time after an iOS release?
People expect everything to work on day 1 despite hundreds of posts advising giving it a few days. Every year it's the same old cycle.


Perhaps the expectation is that it shouldn’t take several days to complete the installation of an operating system.
 
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