iOS 17 | Battery Life & Health

[cigz]

I love how bad battery life on iOS 17 is. Today, I’m at 28% battery left with 5h SOT (2 of that was on lte) but what is new I used low power mode for around 8h.
On iOS 15 and 16 with that usage I’d be left with 50-60% battery left.

Also what’s new for me - I erased everything from my phone, DIDNT restore the backup and used my phone like that for 2 weeks and guess what? That didn’t help at all so I just restored my backup.

I stg, this is the last time I’ll be updating my iPhones to new iOS versions. It happened everytime, with my 6s after updating to iOS 10, with my X after updating to iOS 12, with my 12 pro and now with my 13 Pro Max. At least, with my 13PM on iOS 16 battery life was somewhat still good, not iOS 15 good but way better than iOS 17.

 

[InvertedGoldfish]

Based on the lack of innovation on the new iPhone I’d suspect they’ll need some battery bloatware to get old iPhone users to pony up the money for a “new phone”

 

[alexcray]

It's all about the Battery and it's Health on here during the iOS 17 cycle.

I'll drop a post in, like below, to sign post a new beta, so you can mark the development.

This will help keep the other iOS 17 forums more focused and on subject. Thanks.

Background App Refresh: This feature allows apps to refresh their content in the background, even when you're not using them. This can be useful for apps like news and mail, but it can also drain your battery. You can disable Background App Refresh for individual apps or for all apps at once.

 

[kristof461]

Do you know what type of network and frequency you connect to at work? Bad coverage does drain battery fast, but it shouldn't drain it that bad. Test without using wifi at work for a day, just to see if it changes anything.

I will do that. LTE/4G can drain battery sooo much

I know I won’t say anything new but iOS 17 is a trash. I had 65%. Started using iPhone at home WiFi and suddenly in few minutes it dropped by 4%. After that maybe it is way more stable but that’s so frustrating. I’ve never experienced so many problems. Moreover I’ve been using iPhone since 3GS and seriously I had only some minor bugs.

 

[kristof461]

I was barely using my phone but it was still draining. After I disconnected it from a charger I’ve been driving for 2h. There is „cellular searching” in battery chart but at the end batter dropped only 1%. After that I started using safari for a few minutes and boom. It can’t stop draining. Draining is on the same no matter if I am barely using it or using it hard. I am confused.
I just saw that one and only place where my battery doesn’t look that bad (no matter if it is WiFi or cellular) is my home. Why? What’s the reason? There is no evidence of strange behavior like this in battery chart. Is it about location which doesn’t show clear evidence in battery data? I thought maybe weather widget on Home Screen but it should visible on battery list. In fact „Home Screen” is there but it drains just 3-4% per day. I don’t know.
I just turned off significant places in location services. Maybe it will help.

 

[cigz]

Here’s my battery life for today. It’s down to 46% left, with 2h40min SOT with around 30min on WiFi, the rest is just LTE, not even 5G. I won’t be able to get 6h SOT from a full charge which is 4-5 hours LESS than I used to get on iOS 15 and 16.
And I don’t do anything major on my phone, just using safari, few minutes on insta, around 20 minutes of Spotify, iMessage and twitter.
How long it would last if I wanted to use maps? Half of that? And that’s on a 13 Pro Max.
This is one of the worst iOS releases for me. I even had less problems with iOS 11 on my iPhone X back then. I kept saying that the performance of iOS 17 is amazing, but it actually keeps getting worse, constant lags and stutters here and there, especially when I open camera, take a picture and go back to Home Screen, it thinks for like 2 seconds and closes the app but the animation is down to 10 fps top.

 

[FeliApple]

View attachment 2318292 Here’s my battery life for today. It’s down to 46% left, with 2h40min SOT with around 30min on WiFi, the rest is just LTE, not even 5G. I won’t be able to get 6h SOT from a full charge which is 4-5 hours LESS than I used to get on iOS 15 and 16.
And I don’t do anything major on my phone, just using safari, few minutes on insta, around 20 minutes of Spotify, iMessage and twitter.
How long it would last if I wanted to use maps? Half of that? And that’s on a 13 Pro Max.
This is one of the worst iOS releases for me. I even had less problems with iOS 11 on my iPhone X back then. I kept saying that the performance of iOS 17 is amazing, but it actually keeps getting worse, constant lags and stutters here and there, especially when I open camera, take a picture and go back to Home Screen, it thinks for like 2 seconds and closes the app but the animation is down to 10 fps top.

That’s awful for a 13 Pro Max, but why do you have so much background usage?

In fact, I’d consider 2h 40 min on LTE with 20% Wi-Fi awful even on my iPhone 6s on iOS 10, let alone my Xʀ on iOS 12, and let alone a 13 Pro Max (which should be almost twice as good as my Xʀ on iOS 12). The usage you describe is light, too.

The fact that performance suffers too is abhorrent. One question related to that though: do you have any keyboard lag at all, even if minimal?

As far as expectations go, with light use I’d expect my 6s to be around 3.5 hours with 46% remaining on LTE, and my Xʀ should have at least 6-7 hours of usage with 50% remaining on LTE. The 13 Pro Max should have something like 10 hours, at least.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I will do that. LTE/4G can drain battery sooo much

I know I won’t say anything new but iOS 17 is a trash. I had 65%. Started using iPhone at home WiFi and suddenly in few minutes it dropped by 4%. After that maybe it is way more stable but that’s so frustrating. I’ve never experienced so many problems. Moreover I’ve been using iPhone since 3GS and seriously I had only some minor bugs.

Its strange that there such a mixed experience. My guess it that it is some component that is causing this, an app or some sort if incompatibility. iOS 17 has been working flawlessly for me on 3 devices, I even get better battery-life than 16.7.2 with my daily driver (13pro 256gb). Thought I would see a drop as I now am running with a carrier that has 5G.

I don't use Wi-Fi at work, only at home with a fairly oldschool router (Wifi4/n-standard).

Fingers crossed 17.1.2 will sort these network issues that some of the users has problems with.

 

[cigz]

That’s awful for a 13 Pro Max, but why do you have so much background usage?

In fact, I’d consider 2h 40 min on LTE with 20% Wi-Fi awful even on my iPhone 6s on iOS 10, let alone my Xʀ on iOS 12, and let alone a 13 Pro Max (which should be almost twice as good as my Xʀ on iOS 12). The usage you describe is light, too.

The fact that performance suffers too is abhorrent. One question related to that though: do you have any keyboard lag at all, even if minimal?

As far as expectations go, with light use I’d expect my 6s to be around 3.5 hours with 46% remaining on LTE, and my Xʀ should have at least 6-7 hours of usage with 50% remaining on LTE. The 13 Pro Max should have something like 10 hours, at least.

The background usage is actually coming from my sleep cycle app, I’m not sure why it’s showing like that since it’s (obviously) running at night when I sleep and I always charge my phone overnight so it’s not using any battery.

Yes, I do have keyboard lag. Not all the time but few times a day.

And yes, I used to get 10 hours SOT, even on LTE, on previous iOS.

 

[MacDaddyPanda]

My iPhone 15PM seemed to take a month to finally settle into my usage pattern. Each iteration seems to be taking longer to do so. At least for my use. SInce Iphone 11 Pro. Since 11 series I've found the battery life to be exceptional. Only the initial period seems to be taking longer.

 

[FeliApple]

The background usage is actually coming from my sleep cycle app, I’m not sure why it’s showing like that since it’s (obviously) running at night when I sleep and I always charge my phone overnight so it’s not using any battery.

Yes, I do have keyboard lag. Not all the time but few times a day.

And yes, I used to get 10 hours SOT, even on LTE, on previous iOS.

So this cycle doesn’t even include that background usage as part of that 100-46% drain? It’s just pure 2h 40 min 100-46%? AND you have sporadic keyboard lag only 2 major iOS versions in? Also, your usage pattern isn’t the problem (because you had great battery life before).

Wow. I’ve repeatedly complained about my 9.7-inch iPad Pro being forced out of iOS 9 into iOS 12, and the only drawbacks I have (because it is still on iOS 12), are very infrequent keyboard lag, and about 25% worse battery life (10-11 hours of light usage SOT instead of the 14 I got on iOS 9), but that’s nothing compared to your result.

I guess I have one more question: is brightness at 100%? It’s the only way you have something to fight with, lowering the brightness. Otherwise there’s nothing you can do, and it’s sad.

It’s very funny how I once thought that there was a possibility that the A12 Bionic’s power coupled with iOS 12’s astonishing efficiency for that processor (I think my Xʀ on iOS 12 is even better than my iPad Air 5 - with an M1! - on its original iOS version, iPadOS 15) would mean that the days of Apple obliterating iOS devices through irreversible updates came to an end.

Your result is one of the worst I’ve ever seen if brightness isn’t at 100% and every draining setting isn’t enabled.

I think this is yet another confirmation that the only way to fight this is to keep the original version forever. Does this have drawbacks? Yes, but it has no headaches (that are always unfixable). I cannot stress this enough! You said the following earlier: “I stg, this is the last time I’ll be updating my iPhones to new iOS versions”. Like I said, I am a user of a now 5 years (and models) old iPhone Xʀ on its original iOS version, iOS 12. Due to my stagnant app requirements, the only issue I’ve had is the occasional website that won’t run. Otherwise, it’s perfect. The peace of mind this gives you is impossible to overlook. It’s too flawless. And sadly, it’s the only way you can fight this.

 

[vince085]

Normal use 15PM, 70% 5G/30% WIFI
17.2 b3
It’s awful..

 

[Tomas1988]

View attachment 2318635 Normal use 15PM, 70% 5G/30% WIFI
17.2 b3
It’s awful..

All in the background,do you used phone ?

 

[vince085]

2h in background, I used it for 3h 30m

 

[Tomas1988]

2h in background, I used it for 3h 30m

Ok and what app or something do u used this 3hours ?

 

[vince085]

 

[Tomas1988]

Not bad ✌️ lockcreen maybe used a little bit more resource for you

View attachment 2318762

 

[LouisMac90]

So I have a 15 Pro Max since October 9th battery health is already at 99% after 25 cycles. So I keep an eye on it every time it’s charged to 100% with battery optimisation turned on. However I woke up this morning to find instagram has been running in the background all night, can any explain this to me please, I don’t fully close my apps as I learned last year constantly closing all your apps drains your battery faster. It will show recently deleted app as I want to do a fresh install but I can confirm it’s Instagram on the latest update.

 

[Reverend Benny]

View attachment 2320412 So I have a 15 Pro Max since October 9th battery health is already at 99% after 25 cycles. So I keep an eye on it every time it’s charged to 100% with battery optimisation turned on. However I woke up this morning to find instagram has been running in the background all night, can any explain this to me please, I don’t fully close my apps as I learned last year constantly closing all your apps drains your battery faster. It will show recently deleted app as I want to do a fresh install but I can confirm it’s Instagram on the latest update.

Good feedback.
It prob won't make a big difference "killing" the app as it is using background services anyway. Best is to turn off "background app refresh" and see if it makes a difference.

 

[LouisMac90]

Good feedback.
It prob won't make a big difference "killing" the app as it is using background services anyway. Best is to turn off "background app refresh" and see if it makes a difference.

Since my battery health dropped I don’t have battery app refresh on for anything apart from WhatsApp and find my.

 

[Reverend Benny]

Since my battery health dropped I don’t have battery app refresh on for anything apart from WhatsApp and find my.

If you don't need an instant updated Whatsapp and can wait a sec for it to be updated i'd say turn it off. Notifications still work and your app will be updated the second you open it anyway of you have network connectivity.

 

[Helmsley]

I've never had any issues with battery life, but I seem to be getting superb battery life with iOS 17.1.2 (iPhone 13).

 

[ph.rei]

I've never had any issues with battery life, but I seem to be getting superb battery life with iOS 17.1.2 (iPhone 13).

Would you post a screenshot of your battery usage please?

 

[kristof461]

View attachment 2318635 Normal use 15PM, 70% 5G/30% WIFI
17.2 b3
It’s awful..

I’ve never experienced so bad battery life using 4G/5G until iPhone 15 pro and iOS 17. Signal strength 2 out of 4…well it kills your battery in a blink of an eye
WiFi is completely different story.
Look how many % I lost from 12 am when I left home

 

[FeliApple]

I’ve never experienced so bad battery life using 4G/5G until iPhone 15 pro and iOS 17. Signal strength 2 out of 4…well it kills your battery in a blink of an eye
WiFi is completely different story.
Look how many % I lost from 12 am when I left home

Phone calls are pretty draining, but yeah, that doesn’t look good. Definitely not for the latest iPhone on its original iOS version.

We’ve come a long way when it comes to iPhones’ battery life, but heavy usage is still not great. Poor cellular signal is still an issue, especially when usage is moderately heavy and brightness is high.

On the other hand, with light use, iPhones have been two-day phones since the Plus models first arrived.