iOS 17 | Battery Life & Health

[FeliApple]

The A12 must be loving iOS 12! I bet battery life would drop sharply if you updated to the latest software for the XR. My 11PM was on its 4th major software update with degrading battery capacity, the 14PM is only on its first and the battery is sub par on iOS 17.

Probably looking at 9-10 hours of screen on time if I let it go 100-0%. I don’t think that’s bad for heavier use. Could be better, hope future updates improve it….

Yeah, according to available information, I think I’d be looking at a 40% decrease in SOT - at least! - if I were to install iOS 17. It’s not happening, of course.

That’s the most surprising aspect! We can explain away the iPhone 11 Pro Max through a combination of iOS 16 with 81% health, sure, but the 14 Pro Max? Nevermind the 6s on iOS 10 I mentioned, the 14 Pro Max should be making my Xʀ on iOS 12 look like an iPhone 6s on iOS 15... yet it isn’t. Yes, your usage is heavier than mine, but still. It’s not hitting 5 hours on 50% on its first major version?

Like I said, it’s usable. Usable is not bad, but at the end of a heavy, long day, you’d be looking at maybe low 30s with some luck (say, 7 hours of SOT). Enough? Absolutely. Good? Of course! iPhone Pro Max-good? Not so much.

 

[FeliApple]

The A12 must be loving iOS 12! I bet battery life would drop sharply if you updated to the latest software for the XR. My 11PM was on its 4th major software update with degrading battery capacity, the 14PM is only on its first and the battery is sub par on iOS 17.

Probably looking at 9-10 hours of screen on time if I let it go 100-0%. I don’t think that’s bad for heavier use. Could be better, hope future updates improve it….

Just wanted to show you that the A12 does love iOS 12!

5 hours of screen-on time, 100-75%. Try to match that on iOS 17...

 

[Nisaja]

This is where the only explanation that fits is you being a heavier user. Like I said, usage is everything. I haven’t had a lot of iPhones, but I’ve used them in a wide variety of conditions, and even relatively small changes in terms of Wi-Fi vs cellular, screen brightness, and apps used have a massive impact on battery life.

All of that is true! But... the iPhone 11 Pro Max, at least on iOS 13, should obliterate my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12. So, the only explanation that comes to mind is that the combo of you being a heavier user + the impact of iOS 16 combined with the battery health (which like I said a million times only matters if sufficiently updated) makes it so poor that you’d have to charge twice a day.

Otherwise... it doesn’t make sense. Even very heavy camera days with high brightness on my Xʀ ended up with 4.5 hours of screen-on time with 60% left. Yes, efficient settings and iOS 12, but still, heavy camera usage, high brightness. One of the heaviest usage patterns, and I am having better battery life than a 14 Pro Max and an 11 Pro Max? Unless iOS 12 on the A12 Bionic is the most efficient version of all time, it doesn’t make sense.

You’re absolutely right! All this 11 Pro Max talk got me digging some old battery usage screenshots from back when I first bought the phone. I used to document its battery life throughly, as I bought it FOR its battery life lol.

I’ve always managed to kill my iPhones in one day. This is the only phone I couldn’t kill. I remember playing PUBG at 3 am, trying to kill it. It didn’t die. Gave up and went to sleep lol. What a phone.

Another day with light usage. Absolutely insane. I used to keep it on Wi-Fi calls to save a bit of battery.

I ultimately sold this because it was too big and heavy for me. Ended up buying a 11 Pro. With similar usage, that got around 14 hours of SOT. Both phones were on iOS 13.

 

[FeliApple]

You’re absolutely right! All this 11 Pro Max talk got me digging some old battery usage screenshots from back when I first bought the phone. I used to document its battery life throughly, as I bought it FOR its battery life lol.

I’ve always managed to kill my iPhones in one day. This is the only phone I couldn’t kill. I remember playing PUBG at 3 am, trying to kill it. It didn’t die. Gave up and went to sleep lol. What a phone.

Another day with light usage. Absolutely insane. I used to keep it on Wi-Fi calls to save a bit of battery.

I ultimately sold this because it was too big and heavy for me. Ended up buying a 11 Pro. With similar usage, that got around 14 hours of SOT. Both phones were on iOS 13.

That’s incredible. 17.5 hours of screen-on time and you even took the liberty to play a game. Wow.

But yeah, that further proves my point, battery life would be good forever if the device were on its original version (forever obviously means until that version is too incompatible for the user).

As long as the user doesn’t have any hardware issues or accidents (like breaking the phone), and the original version is good enough for them, no battery problems will ever arise. Why is this significant? Because many, many, many people (I can’t underestimate this) just upgrade because battery life is too poor after enough updates have elapsed. Take that out of the equation completely, and add to that the fact many people are fine with not having hardware improvements (which haven’t been very significant since the iPhone 11, phone which has a great camera), and you end up having a beautiful device with absolutely no issues at all which will work flawlessly for many years.

Battery health won’t have an impact at all on a device with 17.5 hours of SOT on iOS 13, so you won’t even need to worry about that (93% health on my 4-year-old iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 with no precautions other than using a 5w charger and avoiding heat).

Performance won’t have an impact at all because the phone will never be slow.

Occasional compatibility issues are annoying (I will not deny this), but if you have other devices they’re easily circumvented.

The end result is a flawless experience from the first minute until the end. You can use that 11 Pro Max on iOS 13 as your only phone for years and you won’t have any issues.

No grappling with battery packs, no grappling with keyboard lag (which is very annoying), no crashes, nothing. All you get is an enjoyable experience from start to finish.

 

[Nisaja]

That’s incredible. 17.5 hours of screen-on time and you even took the liberty to play a game. Wow.

But yeah, that further proves my point, battery life would be good forever if the device were on its original version (forever obviously means until that version is too incompatible for the user).

As long as the user doesn’t have any hardware issues or accidents (like breaking the phone), and the original version is good enough for them, no battery problems will ever arise. Why is this significant? Because many, many, many people (I can’t underestimate this) just upgrade because battery life is too poor after enough updates have elapsed. Take that out of the equation completely, and add to that the fact many people are fine with not having hardware improvements (which haven’t been very significant since the iPhone 11, phone which has a great camera), and you end up having a beautiful device with absolutely no issues at all which will work flawlessly for many years.

Battery health won’t have an impact at all on a device with 17.5 hours of SOT on iOS 13, so you won’t even need to worry about that (93% health on my 4-year-old iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 with no precautions other than using a 5w charger and avoiding heat).

Performance won’t have an impact at all because the phone will never be slow.

Occasional compatibility issues are annoying (I will not deny this), but if you have other devices they’re easily circumvented.

The end result is a flawless experience from the first minute until the end. You can use that 11 Pro Max on iOS 13 as your only phone for years and you won’t have any issues.

No grappling with battery packs, no grappling with keyboard lag (which is very annoying), no crashes, nothing. All you get is an enjoyable experience from start to finish.

Very true. I wish I still had that phone. It never needed a battery pack. Do you run into app compatibility issues?

I will be keeping my 14 Pro on iOS 16.6.1 for as long as I can.

Here’s the thing. My battery life was better on iOS 16.5. I guess Apple is doing this with incremental updates too now! Shame.

 

[FeliApple]

Very true. I wish I still had that phone. It never needed a battery pack. Do you run into app compatibility issues?

I will be keeping my 14 Pro on iOS 16.6.1 for as long as I can.

Here’s the thing. My battery life was better on iOS 16.5. I guess Apple is doing this with incremental updates too now! Shame.

So far no, but web browsing is a bit complicated. Occasionally, a website will just load a blank page, yet it will work perfectly on my iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15. That same website will also load a blank page on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which is also on iOS 12. I’d say that’s the main issue.

As far as I’ve seen, incremental point updates can actually improve the situation sometimes when compared to previous point updates, it can go both ways. Major versions... they won’t match original major versions.

That said, I’m a pretty basic phone user. I don’t install a million apps, and I don’t typically use my phone a whole lot.

Also, an interesting aspect is that there aren’t many compatibility issues between devices on different iOS versions. You have the notes app on iOS 10? You can read all of the notes written on iOS 17! Features will be limited to those available on iOS 10, but you can read them. It’s not like it breaks everything.

For my usage, I can do 99% of what I’d do if I were to update to iOS 17. Not bad for the benefit having no keyboard lag - in fact, no lag or glitches or crashes at all - and 16 hours of SOT, right?

 

[Nisaja]

So far no, but web browsing is a bit complicated. Occasionally, a website will just load a blank page, yet it will work perfectly on my iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15. That same website will also load a blank page on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which is also on iOS 12. I’d say that’s the main issue.

As far as I’ve seen, incremental point updates can actually improve the situation sometimes when compared to previous point updates, it can go both ways. Major versions... they won’t match original major versions.

That said, I’m a pretty basic phone user. I don’t install a million apps, and I don’t typically use my phone a whole lot.

Also, an interesting aspect is that there aren’t many compatibility issues between devices on different iOS versions. You have the notes app on iOS 10? You can read all of the notes written on iOS 17! Features will be limited to those available on iOS 10, but you can read them. It’s not like it breaks everything.

For my usage, I can do 99% of what I’d do if I were to update to iOS 17. Not bad for the benefit having no keyboard lag - in fact, no lag or glitches or crashes at all - and 16 hours of SOT, right?

Oh yeah 100%. I have an old MacBook that got so slow after updating to Big Sur, I went back to Mojave. Laptop is back to being fast and responsive. Can still read all my notes. Handoff works. Airdrop works. That’s all I really need.

Does WhatsApp work on iOS 12?

 

[FeliApple]

Oh yeah 100%. I have an old MacBook that got so slow after updating to Big Sur, I went back to Mojave. Laptop is back to being fast and responsive. Can still read all my notes. Handoff works. Airdrop works. That’s all I really need.

Does WhatsApp work on iOS 12?

WhatsApp does work on iOS 12!

Funny you mention MacBooks, because I have one, and it’s a little old at this point, it’s the 2015 MacBook Pro, which runs... OS X El Capitan. I barely use it, but it’s been flawless since day 1. AirDrop, Handoff, Notes, iCloud files, everything works. And if you count the Air 5, there’s 6 years of OS updates in-between, no compatibility issues.

 

[Nisaja]

WhatsApp does work on iOS 12!

Funny you mention MacBooks, because I have one, and it’s a little old at this point, it’s the 2015 MacBook Pro, which runs... OS X El Capitan. I barely use it, but it’s been flawless since day 1. AirDrop, Handoff, Notes, iCloud files, everything works. And if you count the Air 5, there’s 6 years of OS updates in-between, no compatibility issues.

Awesome!

Mines an early 2015 MacBook Pro 13. It got so slow on Big Sur. I remember it being really fast and snappy on El Capitan. Might revert back to that. It is what came with the Mac from factory anyway.

 

[FeliApple]

Awesome!

Mines an early 2015 MacBook Pro 13. It got so slow on Big Sur. I remember it being really fast and snappy on El Capitan. Might revert back to that. It is what came with the Mac from factory anyway.

Wow, I have the 2015 13” MacBook Pro, too! I don’t know what you need and whether it’s compatible, but I can tell you that it works perfectly fine there. Battery life is great, performance, everything. You can use Firefox as a web browser and it’s been updated so everything runs, unlike on iOS. I wish Apple allowed us to update Safari on iOS without updating the whole OS.

 

[Nisaja]

Wow, I have the 2015 13” MacBook Pro, too! I don’t know what you need and whether it’s compatible, but I can tell you that it works perfectly fine there. Battery life is great, performance, everything. You can use Firefox as a web browser and it’s been updated so everything runs, unlike on iOS. I wish Apple allowed us to update Safari on iOS without updating the whole OS.

Amazing. Apple does update safari on Macs. When I installed Mojave, Safari didn’t load YouTube properly. Then I got an update for safari. Was fine after that.

 

[FeliApple]

Amazing. Apple does update safari on Macs. When I installed Mojave, Safari didn’t load YouTube properly. Then I got an update for safari. Was fine after that.

Yeah, but I think it goes as far as the 2018 version, Safari... 11? I think? Not the best, still outdated.

 

[James6s]

How can background app refresh be off and yet many apps are still able to run in the background using up battery?

 

[Nisaja]

Yeah, but I think it goes as far as the 2018 version, Safari... 11? I think? Not the best, still outdated.

My safari version on Mojave is 14.1.2. Just checked.

 

[ade555]

I think ios 17 is very heavy on battery when away from wifi and hope in future things will imprve, if you in perfect situation and always on wifi the battery last lot longer.
I'm not disputing this and I get that but when I'm use to getting 5-6h soc down to around 4h soc that is a issue, is not just SOC but how long before the phone needs recharge.
I'm out and about so can never guarantee best possible signal. When on iOS16 phone in pocket 20 min later pull it out and battery wouldn't even drop 1%, on iOS17 battery drops sometimes about 2%, all apps closed.
We use devices differently so is hard to compare and no one should compare to someone else.
I'm working from home today so will be very interested how long phone will last.

 

[kristof461]

Some apps are terrible on iOS 17. We all know that Meta's apps can drain battery like no other but c'mon. 4 minute sot and 4 with screen off and Facebook during 1h period is on the top of the list while 2 other apps have been using for 15-20 minutes. Youtube is an example of excellent optimized app. Moreover why Facebook is still working background if it disable it? Notifications? Ok but 2-3 notification last few seconds not few minutes.

Moreover I am wondering why "setting" shows on battery draining apps list. Usually with background works. Does it mean that iPhone still doing something?? Like battery optimization (that's the option I turned on). What do you think?

 

[Ameer_1]

What's the point of doing these beta for the new iOS when it destroys the battery health?

 

[rukind2]

Battery life on my 13PM dropped after the iOS 17 update. It’s terrible.

 

[Nisaja]

Guys, just go back to iOS 16 while it’s still signed. At least until iOS 17 gets fixed. That’s what I did. My battery life is great.

 

[ade555]

Iphone 12 iOS17.0.3 and all day on wifi 😬, I even left the phone off charge last night to see how it drops over night, for a older device is not to bad. Lot better then using on 4g/5g, almost double battery life if you compare to my previous.

 

[B0bby]

I switched vom 14 Pro to the 15 Pro Max.

iOS 17.0.3. 80% on WiFi. No AoD.

i like the battery life a lot.

 

[krvld]

Iphone 12 iOS17.0.3 and all day on wifi 😬, I even left the phone off charge last night to see how it drops over night, for a older device is not to bad. Lot better then using on 4g/5g, almost double battery life if you compare to my previous.

That's exactly the problem with newer iphones imo. Seems like these new Qualcomm modems are just power hungry, even on 3G\LTE in standby.

 

[Sleepinlight]

Has anyone else noticed that the 100% --> 99% drop has become way shorter in recent years?

It used to be the case that iOS was known for having battery life hover at 100% for a WHILE before it would finally drop to 99%, then it would be more linear from 99% down to 0%. Like on lighter use work days, I remember sometimes it would be nearly lunch time before I finally hit 99%. But now that drop only takes an hour or two.

I don't think there was ever an official explanation why Apple deliberately skewed the stats to make it look like the phone was still at 100% when it was probably really somewhere between 95% and 100%, but it seems like they stopped doing that.

 

[kristof461]

View attachment 2290478

I switched vom 14 Pro to the 15 Pro Max.

iOS 17.0.3. 80% on WiFi. No AoD.

i like the battery life a lot.

how many % left?

 

[ManuCH]

Has anyone else noticed that the 100% --> 99% drop has become way shorter in recent years?

It used to be the case that iOS was known for having battery life hover at 100% for a WHILE before it would finally drop to 99%, then it would be more linear from 99% down to 0%. Like on lighter use work days, I remember sometimes it would be nearly lunch time before I finally hit 99%. But now that drop only takes an hour or two.

I don't think there was ever an official explanation why Apple deliberately skewed the stats to make it look like the phone was still at 100% when it was probably really somewhere between 95% and 100%, but it seems like they stopped doing that.

I have noticed that too on more recent iPhones. The last one I had where the battery would hover at 100% for hours was the 13 Pro Max.