iOS 17 | Battery Life & Health

[ManuCH]

I've had my iPhone 15 Pro Max since launch day and my battery somehow settled. It's far from good, and nowhere the levels of how the 13 Pro Max was, but I'd say it's usable and I get to the end of the day without charging.

What I noticed is that using it on cellular uses way way more battery than on WiFi. That's expected, but the difference is really extreme. Also high screen brightness (for example when using it outside) has a bigger impact than it had with previous iPhone models. At least that's my subjective perception.

Another day another unexpected drops. I am done.

What do you mean here exactly? What unexpected drop? That graph looks fine to me.

 

[Tomas1988]

I can only imagine about battery like this on my iPhone 15 pro. You lose much less battery than I do. Yesterday I was mostly on LTE and that’s the problem. Especially that usually I have 3 or only 2 signal strength bars. Nevertheless I’ve never had that bad battery. I know that Tesla is high in that chart but previously I had 13 mini. Yes I had to charge it at the evening but I feel it was keeping battery % way better. So iPhone 15 Pro could have bad antennas or iOS 17 is a trash. Maybe both because I bought and tried regular 15 to check „old” a16 chip and to be honest I didn’t see much difference between these two. Yes I had non pro only for few days but they were too close to force me to change them.
P.S. I have to mention that I am still on 17.2.1. Moreover last 5-6 years I was using cars with a CarPlay. Non of them had wireless one. So every time (ok like 90% times) when I was getting in I plugged my phone. Maybe I am just used to high battery levels just because of that.

Looks like mine two years old 13PM

 

[Paul_W]

When I went to bed my 11 was charged to 90%. All apps forced closed, background app refresh fully off, only location services enabled are find my iPhone and networking and wireless. Mail is also set to manually fetch only. When I woke up it had lost nearly 40% over night. The battery screen just shows nothing over that time period and battery health is it 85%.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I was driving this afternoon and thought my phone felt warm in my pocket. When I stopped and looked at it this is what I saw

View attachment 2352636


View attachment 2352637

Not sure how much one should trust the battery stats, but my conclusion to this is that there are other things that is draining the phone.
What did you have connected when this happened (periperhals?) Is this a managed device (work mobile)?
What phone?

 

[Reverend Benny]

When I went to bed my 11 was charged to 90%. All apps forced closed, background app refresh fully off, only location services enabled are find my iPhone and networking and wireless. Mail is also set to manually fetch only. When I woke up it had lost nearly 40% over night. The battery screen just shows nothing over that time period and battery health is it 85%.

Then something is wrong. Try and run airplane mode one night just to see if it makes any difference. Then try and reset network settings and don't set up your wifi or connect any periperhals, let it run for one night and check the drain.

 

[Paul_W]

Not sure how much one should trust the battery stats, but my conclusion to this is that there are other things that is draining the phone.
What did you have connected when this happened (periperhals?) Is this a managed device (work mobile)?
What phone?

Nothing connected. It’s my personal iPhone 11. I agree that there is something behind the scenes that’s draining it but I’m at a loss to explain what

 

[FeliApple]

Nothing connected. It’s my personal iPhone 11. I agree that there is something behind the scenes that’s draining it but I’m at a loss to explain what

Whilst there’s clearly something wrong there regardless of software, battery life would be fine if your 11 were on iOS 13.

 

[kristof461]

Another "beauty".
I have limit 80% turned on. I know that iPhone can decide to charge to 100%. It's fine. But why why after reaching 100% it started draining like crazy even it was connected. I've lost 10% few hours. Usually I lose same amount during whole night.
It looks like iPhone decided to charge to 100% but then realized that 80% limit is on so started to drain more and more just to reach 80%. I don't know what is going on.
I am also wondering why I see status that iPhone right now is charged to 80% while in fact it is above.I decided to turn off 80% limit for now just to reach full 100% because I was worried that something is broken and iPhone won't stop draining

 

[Reverend Benny]

Another "beauty".
I have limit 80% turned on. I know that iPhone can decide to charge to 100%. It's fine. But why why after reaching 100% it started draining like crazy even it was connected. I've lost 10% few hours. Usually I lose same amount during whole night.
It looks like iPhone decided to charge to 100% but then realized that 80% limit is on so started to drain more and more just to reach 80%. I don't know what is going on.
I am also wondering why I see status that iPhone right now is charged to 80% while in fact it is above.I decided to turn off 80% limit for now just to reach full 100% because I was worried that something is broken and iPhone won't stop draining
View attachment 2353098

I'm guessing a bit below based on what Apple writes on their homepage regarding charging.

About Charge Limit and Optimized Battery Charging on iPhone - Apple Support

To improve the lifespan of your battery, your iPhone learns from your daily charging habits.

support.apple.com

1. The charging "line/symbol" doesn't mean that your device is charging, it's an indicator that it is connected to the charger.
2. Sometimes it does need to charge to a 100% to "calibrate" the battery to then slowly get down to 80% that you have set as a limit.
3. Could it be that you turned off the 80% limit recently and it hasn't had the time to kick in? What you write in your post is a bit conflicting, you write that you have it turned on and then later turned off.

 

[kristof461]

I'm speculating here now based on what Apple writes on their homepage regarding charging.

About Charge Limit and Optimized Battery Charging on iPhone - Apple Support

To improve the lifespan of your battery, your iPhone learns from your daily charging habits.

support.apple.com

1. The charging "line/symbol" doesn't have to imply that your device is charging, it's an indicator that it is connected to the charger.
2. Sometimes it does need to charge to a 100% to "calibrate" the battery to then slowly get down to 80% that you have set as a limit.
3. Could it be that you turned off the 80% limit recently and it hasn't had the time to kick in? What you write in your post is a bit conflicting, you write that you have it turned on and then later turned off.

I understand that sometimes it needs to charge to 100% to calibrate battery and software. That's fine. I also know that line symbol doesn't mean that it is charging. But I was confused why iPhone was draining so fast. Why it lost nearly 10% in 3-4h while usually it loses 6-8% during whole night (8-9h). After I saw that iPhone was draining to probably reach thet 80% as you said I was scared a bit so I turned of 80% limit and connect it again to charger.
I've never read about this point 2 that iPhone slowly gets down to 80%. I thought that if it reaches 100% it stays where it is.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I understand that sometimes it needs to charge to 100% to calibrate battery and software. That's fine. I also know that line symbol doesn't mean that it is charging. But I was confused why iPhone was draining so fast. Why it lost nearly 10% in 3-4h while usually it loses 6-8% during whole night (8-9h). After I saw that iPhone was draining to probably reach thet 80% as you said I was scared a bit so I turned of 80% limit and connect it again to charger.
I've never read about this point 2 that iPhone slowly gets down to 80%. I thought that if it reaches 100% it stays where it is.

My point 2 is just my interpretation of what Apple writes in their article, but that does only seem to Apply to the iPhone 15 models only tho, not sure what model you have.

But as you write, its a fairly fast drain down to 80%, not sure if its normal or by design to take it down to 80% again, but it doesn't sound right.

Cut and paste below.

About 80% Limit with iPhone 15 models​

With iPhone 15 models, you can choose between Optimized Battery Charging, 80% Limit, and None.


When you choose 80% Limit, your iPhone will charge up to about 80 percent and then stop charging. If the battery charge level gets down to 75 percent, charging will resume until your battery charge level reaches about 80 percent again.


With 80% Limit enabled, your iPhone will occasionally charge to 100 percent to maintain accurate battery state-of-charge estimates.

 

[kristof461]

My point 2 is just my interpretation of what Apple writes in their article, but that does only seem to Apply to the iPhone 15 models only tho, not sure what model you have.

But as you write, its a fairly fast drain down to 80%, not sure if its normal or by design to take it down to 80% again, but it doesn't sound right.

Cut and paste below.

About 80% Limit with iPhone 15 models​

With iPhone 15 models, you can choose between Optimized Battery Charging, 80% Limit, and None.


When you choose 80% Limit, your iPhone will charge up to about 80 percent and then stop charging. If the battery charge level gets down to 75 percent, charging will resume until your battery charge level reaches about 80 percent again.


With 80% Limit enabled, your iPhone will occasionally charge to 100 percent to maintain accurate battery state-of-charge estimates.

Exactly but there is no info about draining to 80% again. I am confused and frustrated again. I think this is another io17 bug but who knows

 

[Reverend Benny]

Exactly but there is no info about draining to 80% again. I am confused and frustrated again. I think this is another io17 bug but who knows

I think its important not to draw the conclusion that its bug or Apple using black magic as soon as we aren't 100% sure on whats going on.

Battery management is a lot more advanced today than it used to be which can add to the confusion and it doesn't really help the situation that Apple and many others trying to over simplify things with battery status that don't give the full picture or add to the confusion.

Not saying it isn't a bug, but, the fact that we have a combo here of 80% optimized charging, clean energy charging (if you have that enabled), some sort of intelligent charging that learn how you are using your device that also use your location on top of all other things that can cause drain just makes it tricky to establish if its supposed to work this way.

My advice is if its a new device, leave it for a few days. If it still doesn't make sense, mess around with the settings in a structured way and after that head back to an Apple store or similar, their diagnostic tools can prob give you a better picture on if the battery is faulty.

 

[kristof461]

I think its important not to draw the conclusion that its bug or Apple using black magic as soon as we aren't 100% sure on whats going on.

Battery management is a lot more advanced today than it used to be which can add to the confusion and it doesn't really help the situation that Apple and many others trying to over simplify things with battery status that don't give the full picture or add to the confusion.

Not saying it isn't a bug, but, the fact that we have a combo here of 80% optimized charging, clean energy charging (if you have that enabled), some sort of intelligent charging that learn how you are using your device that also use your location on top of all other things that can cause drain just makes it tricky to establish if its supposed to work this way.

My advice is if its a new device, leave it for a few days. If it still doesn't make sense, mess around with the settings in a structured way and after that head back to an Apple store or similar, their diagnostic tools can prob give you a better picture on if the battery is faulty.

You were right. I mean when I let my iPhone charge to 100% it wasn’t losing % so fast.
It doesn’t change my opinion that iPhone 15 with iOS 17 on board is a disaster in terms of battery life time but that’s different story.

 

[Reverend Benny]

You were right. I mean when I let my iPhone charge to 100% it wasn’t losing % so fast.
It doesn’t change my opinion that iPhone 15 with iOS 17 on board is a disaster in terms of battery life time but that’s different story.

Glad you got it figured out and share it.
When it comes to iOS 17 and iPhone 15 you don't have much choice.
There's obviously people that do get good batter life but that doesn't help you. I would guess its one or more bugs/incompatibilities/apps or services that are creating this issue. It can pretty much be anything and since todays iOS is far more complex its hard to nail what it could be.
I would log a case with Apple and hopefully you get to provide them with logs so that they can see whats causing the battery issue.

 

[kristof461]

Glad you got it figured out and share it.
When it comes to iOS 17 and iPhone 15 you don't have much choice.
There's obviously people that do get good batter life but that doesn't help you. I would guess its one or more bugs/incompatibilities/apps or services that are creating this issue. It can pretty much be anything and since todays iOS is far more complex its hard to nail what it could be.
I would log a case with Apple and hopefully you get to provide them with logs so that they can see whats causing the battery issue.

But let's be honest. iOS 16 was also more complex than 10 years ago. I mean it is clear to me that something is not right. Too many bugs. About good battery life...I think most people with great results work from home or have nice WiFi connection at work. That's why they dont see main problem which is battery while using on mobile data

 

[Reverend Benny]

But let's be honest. iOS 16 was also more complex than 10 years ago. I mean it is clear to me that something is not right. Too many bugs. About good battery life...I think most people with great results work from home or have nice WiFi connection at work. That's why they dont see main problem which is battery while using on mobile data

I think we tend to forget and glorify things of the past, iOS 16 was not free from bugs.
I have had very little issues with iOS 17 and would say it actually works better than iOS16 for me, I get better battery performance on my 13pro. With that said, there can be a number of things that cause this issues and a lot of time we aren't specific when we describe our issues. That can trigger the feeling that everyone is affected when the truth is that it might be specific devices used in a certain way, with certain apps in a certain place using certain peripherals.
That's why its important to keep other things up to date too since that may affect the performance on your device (apps, periperhals).

Mobile data is another one that's tricky to nail why it may be causing the issue, what technique is being used and what frequency bands? Lets say the software bug hits LTEband 8 when using 4G due to a bug in a chipset being used (extreme example yes). Add to that that it might only happen with certain network equipment being used. The solution there might be to both apply a bugfix on the phone and that the cellular provider updates their devices.

Take my example and move it to a users home envirioment using Wifi, there we have routers with different configs and standards, we have network equipment that might broadcast to your device that affect the battery.

I'm not saying we should all just accept bugs but some sort of understanding that things are complex and not always easy to solve is also important to have.

 

[kristof461]

I think we tend to forget and glorify things of the past, iOS 16 was not free from bugs.
I have had very little issues with iOS 17 and would say it actually works better than iOS16 for me, I get better battery performance on my 13pro. With that said, there can be a number of things that cause this issues and a lot of time we aren't specific when we describe our issues. That can trigger the feeling that everyone is affected when the truth is that it might be specific devices used in a certain way, with certain apps in a certain place using certain peripherals.
That's why its important to keep other things up to date too since that may affect the performance on your device (apps, periperhals).

Mobile data is another one that's tricky to nail why it may be causing the issue, what technique is being used and what frequency bands? Lets say the software bug hits LTEband 8 when using 4G due to a bug in a chipset being used (extreme example yes). Add to that that it might only happen with certain network equipment being used. The solution there might be to both apply a bugfix on the phone and that the cellular provider updates their devices.

Take my example and move it to a users home envirioment using Wifi, there we have routers with different configs and standards, we have network equipment that might broadcast to your device that affect the battery.

I'm not saying we should all just accept bugs but some sort of understanding that things are complex and not always easy to solve is also important to have.

I agree with you that we have so many things which have an impact on our devices. But I understand that if we have same environment but different result something is not right. I see people can compare old iPhones old iOS to iOS 17 and it doesn't look that good

 

[Reverend Benny]

I agree with you that we have so many things which have an impact on our devices. But I understand that if we have same environment but different result something is not right. I see people can compare old iPhones old iOS to iOS 17 and it doesn't look that good

Depends on what devices you are talking about, if you take a vanilla iPhone out of the box there is very little difference even if you go way back in iOS versions. I would rather see it as quite impressive that Apple has managed to update some devices for may years with very little degradation in battery performance.
Now many of these tests are done in a similar environment and may not always reflect the real world and the average user so that's why its important to give a little more detail regarding bugs and also contact Apple to help them help the rest fixing bugs.

I have mentioned it a few times here but I had a very annoying Apple specific bug years ago that made me get a new phone (cuz I thought the battery was crap) just to realize the problem was also on the new phone.
Very annoying but my case was quite specific but a user with similar issue found the problem and presented a solution.
My case was simply that I had deleted one of the built in apps that caused this bizarre battery issue.

 

[FeliApple]

Depends on what devices you are talking about, if you take a vanilla iPhone out of the box there is very little difference even if you go way back in iOS versions. I would rather see it as quite impressive that Apple has managed to update some devices for may years with very little degradation in battery performance.
Now many of these tests are done in a similar environment and may not always reflect the real world and the average user so that's why its important to give a little more detail regarding bugs and also contact Apple to help them help the rest fixing bugs.

I have mentioned it a few times here but I had a very annoying Apple specific bug years ago that made me get a new phone (cuz I thought the battery was crap) just to realize the problem was also on the new phone.
Very annoying but my case was quite specific but a user with similar issue found the problem and presented a solution.
My case was simply that I had deleted one of the built in apps that caused this bizarre battery issue.

“Very little degradation“ isn’t true.

And it’s not “pretty much anything”. It’s iOS updates. As to the iPhone 15 and iOS 17, perhaps it might be a specific user’s configuration, but that’s pretty much the only case in which this applies. At least as far as battery life goes. Other bugs? Sure.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I agree with you that we have so many things which have an impact on our devices. But I understand that if we have same environment but different result something is not right. I see people can compare old iPhones old iOS to iOS 17 and it doesn't look that good

Did you mess around anything disabling WiFi during the night, reset of network settings and mabye keep bluetooth devices disconnected?

More to try and find whats draining the battery.
In another thread severe battery drain was found when using a 3rd party BT pencil to an iPad, not saying this is your issue but more to give an example of what can cause drain.

 

[kristof461]

Did you mess around anything disabling WiFi during the night, reset of network settings and mabye keep bluetooth devices disconnected?

More to try and find whats draining the battery.
In another thread severe battery drain was found when using a 3rd party BT pencil to an iPad, not saying this is your issue but more to give an example of what can cause drain.

I don’t disable Bluetooth because it doesn’t make any sense. Maybe I should turn off my phone when I don’t use it.
I see a bit of Facebook background but it depends a lot on connection. Even if you are still at WiFi range.
I didn’t reset network settings because I restored my 15 pro three-four times from beginning. I am over it. It’s annoying I have to do this. Unacceptable. I can perform hard reset or soft one. That’s still too much I think to do it constantly

 

[Reverend Benny]

I don’t disable Bluetooth because it doesn’t make any sense. Maybe I should turn off my phone when I don’t use it.
I see a bit of Facebook background but it depends a lot on connection. Even if you are still at WiFi range.
I didn’t reset network settings because I restored my 15 pro three-four times from beginning. I am over it. It’s annoying I have to do this. Unacceptable. I can perform hard reset or soft one. That’s still too much I think to do it constantly

As someone wrote in another thread, their 3rd party BT pen drained his iPad. That's why it may be a good idea. just as a test. But if you don't use any BT accessorizes it doesn't make any sense of course.
If you restored from a backup or another phone then your settings is inherited, if not its as you say, it shouldn't make any difference since you start new and have to add all your network settings.

My suggestions is more to try and nail what it is that's draining the battery as there seem to be others that suffers from the same issue.

 

[P_Watt]

When I went to bed my 11 was charged to 90%. All apps forced closed, background app refresh fully off, only location services enabled are find my iPhone and networking and wireless. Mail is also set to manually fetch only. When I woke up it had lost nearly 40% over night. The battery screen just shows nothing over that time period and battery health is it 85%.

Try this

Check your iPhone battery for Self-Discha… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[Blue Hawk]

Somehow it’s also a battery topic. So my question is if I really need to enable Push for iCloud when I don’t use the Mail app but I want other data like photos to be on another devices immediately? I want to save battery life and disable things I don’t need.