iOS 17 | Battery Life & Health

[FeliApple]

I still remember those days, where activating the 3G or the LTE was a guarantee of overheating and battery drain.

Thankfully, modems have improved a lot efficiency-wise, and even my iPhone 8 with the Intel modem didn’t overheat too much under 4G.

Now, with 5G, at least with the Qualcomm modems used on the iPhone SE, the difference between cellular and WiFi usage is even lower, and barely noticeable temperature-wise.

I assume that an iPhone 15 Pro with the latest Qualcomm 5G modern built on 3nm will be really efficient. Although I would disable UW.

Yeah, newer iPhones are better (my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 has been very close on Cellular to my Wi-Fi SOT... once. Conditions were perfect and brightness was unusually low, however. It still couldn’t match it, even with lighter usage than normal), but they still can’t match Wi-Fi use, unless something changed very recently (like, on the 15 series). I’m not saying newer iPhones aren’t more efficient, I’m saying they still can’t match Wi-Fi, let alone surpass it, like he said.

 

[Populus]

Battery life on my M2 iPad Pro two days after a DFU install of iPadOS 17.5.1:

Two whole hours of non-stop usage, with screen at 50%, Apple Music playing Sonic songs, while I use Safari (with ad-blocker, which usually helps) and post on several MacRumors threads. All while wearing headphones and the background rain noise is on. Also finishing the setup of the iPad on settings.

Two hours in those conditions -> down to 80%

Which translates to the 10 hours Apple claims, with a newer software, and a slightly older device, an M2 iPad Pro that is a little more than one year old. Honestly, I think it is quite a good battery life. If this keeps this way, next week I’m performing the same DFU-restore to my iPhone SE.

 

[FeliApple]

Battery life on my M2 iPad Pro two days after a DFU install of iPadOS 17.5.1:

Two whole hours of non-stop usage, with screen at 50%, Apple Music playing Sonic songs, while I use Safari (with ad-blocker, which usually helps) and post on several MacRumors threads. All while wearing headphones and the background rain noise is on. Also finishing the setup of the iPad on settings.

View attachment 2384398


Two hours in those conditions -> down to 80%

Which translates to the 10 hours Apple claims, with a newer software, and a slightly older device, an M2 iPad Pro that is a little more than one year old. Honestly, I think it is quite a good battery life. If this keeps this way, next week I’m performing the same DFU-restore to my iPhone SE.

It’s incredible how brightness is consistently the #1 factor. You’d probably get a lot more than that just by reducing brightness to 10-20%, and you wouldn’t get half that if you turned it up to 100%.

That’s light usage, just like I use my iPads, and my iPad Air 5 (M1) gives me 25 hours with that usage and low brightness on iPadOS 15. If I were to increase brightness to 50%, I reckon I’d get something similar.

I don’t think iPadOS 17 is relevant here. One major update isn’t enough to reduce battery life. Not on an M2 iPad Pro, anyway.

 

[kristof461]

Do you have an Apple Watch paired with your phone (Apple ID) ?

I do

 

[Chrisjmv]

I do

What I did was unpair my Apple Watch, shut off the watch.

Made an DFU restore of my iPhone - no backup etc, and used the phone without the watch for some days, now battery life is awesome.

But as soon as I paired my AW Ultra… battery life became really disappointing.
Something seems wrong (in my case) when using phone with watch paired - maybe a process or something like that got stucked. Didn’t find it out yet

Maybe give it a try, if this works better without the watch and testing it for some days

 

[kristof461]

What I did was unpair my Apple Watch, shut off the watch.

Made an DFU restore of my iPhone - no backup etc, and used the phone without the watch for some days, now battery life is awesome.

But as soon as I paired my AW Ultra… battery life became really disappointing.
Something seems wrong (in my case) when using phone with watch paired - maybe a process or something like that got stucked. Didn’t find it out yet

Maybe give it a try, if this works better without the watch and testing it for some days

I restored my iPhone 15 Pro at least 3-4 times. Not in DFU mode but still. No backups etc. Battery was always way better after that. Even with AW connected. Unfortunately after few days maybe 1-2 weeks everything comes back.
I am bit tired because I won't restore my phone after every single update. That's nonsense. Disconnecting AW sounds only like a test plan because I can't get rid of AW so....

 

[Chrisjmv]

I restored my iPhone 15 Pro at least 3-4 times. Not in DFU mode but still. No backups etc. Battery was always way better after that. Even with AW connected. Unfortunately after few days maybe 1-2 weeks everything comes back.
I am bit tired because I won't restore my phone after every single update. That's nonsense. Disconnecting AW sounds only like a test plan because I can't get rid of AW so....

I had the same experience like it’s coming back after 2-3 weeks when only having the AW connected.

Now since about one week without AW paired Battery is perfect as it should be.

 

[kristof461]

I had the same experience like it’s coming back after 2-3 weeks when only having the AW connected.

Now since about one week without AW paired Battery is perfect as it should be.

Thank you for that but it doesn't look like a real solution because I want to use AW

 

[Chrisjmv]

Thank you for that but it doesn't look like a real solution because I want to use AW

It's definitely worth a try, because then there seems to be some process in connection with an app or other in combination with the iPhone and the AW, so you can at least conclude that everything is okay with your iPhone hardware and software.

 

[Clompus]

Someone has experienced a sudden drop in the charge level by 2% every time you lock the phone and unlock it after 2 minutes, this always happens to me when 12-36 hours have passed since the last charge, while the next % after this sudden drop lasts 2-3 times longer than usual. For example, I had 25% charge, I locked the phone and unlocked it after a couple of minutes and my charge level drops to 23% and lingers on it for about 20 minutes of use, when I usually lose 1% every 4-6 minutes of using my iPhone 13. iTunes recovery does not help solve this problem, because it returns 1-3 days after a full recovery without backups. I'm very disappointed with my iPhone 13, it's probably the worst phone I've ever had and my very first iPhone.

 

[James6s]

iPhone 13 Pro so far today running iOS 17.5.1

 

[cigz]

iPhone 13 Pro so far today running iOS 17.5.1

Meanwhile my 13 Pro MAX yesterday lasted me 4h45m SOT with 21% or so battery left (and I did recharge it from around 25% to 75%)🥰

I really don't understand what did apple do to my phone that after iOS 17 the battery went downhill.
It was fine on some iOS 17.0 betas until beta 8 I guess? It literally felt like they did it on purpose because it was really close to the 17.0 RC which meant - September and new iPhones.
They made me hate that phone so much, a huge heavy brick that I have to recharge at least once a day so it can last me from 5 am till 11pm with embarrassing 6h SOT. Pathetic.

 

[Helmsley]

My iPhone 13 was brand-new in April 2023 and today the battery health dropped to 99%.

I'm pretty impressed with how long it stayed at 100% for.

 

[Stiille]

My iPhone 13 Pro (bought in September 2021) with iOS 17.5.1 went from battery health 90% to 84% in less than two weeks! Not charged more or did anything that heated up my iPhone more than usual. It’s horrendous how one iOS update killed my 13 Pro in less than two weeks. It drains more than 20% over night. And SoT is less than 5hrs. Have to charge it twice a day most of the time.
I can’t believe that the battery health dropped 6% in that short amount of time.
Anyone else experiencing this? That’s not normal right?

 

[chriswhv6]

My iPhone 13 Pro (bought in September 2021) with iOS 17.5.1 went from battery health 90% to 84% in less than two weeks! Not charged more or did anything that heated up my iPhone more than usual. It’s horrendous how one iOS update killed my 13 Pro in less than two weeks. It drains more than 20% over night. And SoT is less than 5hrs. Have to charge it twice a day most of the time.
I can’t believe that the battery health dropped 6% in that short amount of time.
Anyone else experiencing this? That’s not normal right?

My iPhone 14 Pro Max was sitting at 99% when i checked it this April and ive had the phone since launch day and always charge every 2nd day only.
I went to check a few weeks ago and it's gone down to 95% within a few months :/

 

[Tomas1988]

My iPhone 14 Pro Max was sitting at 99% when i checked it this April and ive had the phone since launch day and always charge every 2nd day only.
I went to check a few weeks ago and it's gone down to 95% within a few months :

My iPhone 13 Pro (bought in September 2021) with iOS 17.5.1 went from battery health 90% to 84% in less than two weeks! Not charged more or did anything that heated up my iPhone more than usual. It’s horrendous how one iOS update killed my 13 Pro in less than two weeks. It drains more than 20% over night. And SoT is less than 5hrs. Have to charge it twice a day most of the time.
I can’t believe that the battery health dropped 6% in that short amount of time.
Anyone else experiencing this? That’s not normal right?

my 13PM now at 89% at 2 years old ,,I don't think that IOS somehow affects the health of the battery.. it's just marketing plus the new model coming soon.. we're both just so old 😀😀👍

 

[ahmede]

My iPhone 13 Pro (bought in September 2021) with iOS 17.5.1 went from battery health 90% to 84% in less than two weeks! Not charged more or did anything that heated up my iPhone more than usual. It’s horrendous how one iOS update killed my 13 Pro in less than two weeks. It drains more than 20% over night. And SoT is less than 5hrs. Have to charge it twice a day most of the time.
I can’t believe that the battery health dropped 6% in that short amount of time.
Anyone else experiencing this? That’s not normal right?

I'm also experiencing severe battery drain on my 13Pro since 17.5.1
Battery capacity is at 90%
Overnight standby and the battery drops to 86%

 

[winxmac]

Purchased a pre-owned iPhone 13 Pro and is running iOS 17.0.3

Checked battery status using Coconut Battery and showing 100% battery health and 0 cycle count...

Full charge - 3198mAh
Design capacity - 3095mAh

Should I update to iOS 17.5.1 or wait for iOS 17.6?

 

[Stiille]

Purchased a pre-owned iPhone 13 Pro and is running iOS 17.0.3

Checked battery status using Coconut Battery and showing 100% battery health and 0 cycle count...

Full charge - 3198mAh
Design capacity - 3095mAh

Should I update to iOS 17.5.1 or wait for iOS 17.6?

Definitely wait!!!
iOS 17.5.1 is bad for the battery - costed me like 6% battery health!

 

[Ledsteplin]

My iPhone 14 Pro Max was sitting at 99% when i checked it this April and ive had the phone since launch day and always charge every 2nd day only.
I went to check a few weeks ago and it's gone down to 95% within a few months :/

My 14 Pro Max I got December 2022 is at 88%. No clue why.

 

[chriswhv6]

My 14 Pro Max I got December 2022 is at 88%. No clue why.

So it would seem like all of a sudden they are dropping down a lot more in battery health life within a shorter period of time then :/

 

[chriswhv6]

Ok so I just went to check in my battery health and between now and two weeks ago that I last checked it’s dropped another 1% down to 94% now.

 

[Stiille]

iOS 17.5.1 is really a mess!
wondering why they don’t release a update with a fix…

 

[ahmede]

I'm still experiencing severe battery drain on 17.6 with my 13 Pro , no change after upgrading from 17.5.1
I'm basically loosing 1hr of battery use everyday.

 

[Stiille]

That’s bad to hear!