iOS 18 Battery Life Thread

[ATmahe]

I suggest you try this.

- Fully charge the battery from about 10/20% without using it
- Leave it on for another half hour
- Unplug and turn off the phone for 15 mins
- Turn it On, unlock and leave it for a couple mins
- Plug in the charger for another 5 mins without using it

Enjoy!

I found it to be a better way to calibrate the battery and it seems to have stopped the inexplicable idle drain on my 13P.

To give you an update:

On the first two days I thought it changed something because I ended the day with 30-35 % battery, but then I realized I've used my phone 50 % less than I usually do (had some stressful days at my job).

Today, I slept a little longer than usual (+2h), I took it off the charger at 07:30 with (of course) 100 % battery.
At 23:00, so 15.5h after I took it off the charger, I've used it for 2h and it's at 20 % now.

Conclusion: nothing changed

 

[Stiille]

To give you an update:

On the first two days I thought it changed something because I ended the day with 30-35 % battery, but then I realized I've used my phone 50 % less than I usually do (had some stressful days at my job).

Today, I slept a little longer than usual (+2h), I took it off the charger at 07:30 with (of course) 100 % battery.
At 23:00, so 15.5h after I took it off the charger, I've used it for 2h and it's at 20 % now.

Conclusion: nothing changed

Thats abnormal :/
Which phone by the way?

 

[ATmahe]

Thats abnormal :/
Which phone by the way?

iPhone 15 Pro, bought at release, 92 % battery health

 

[Stiille]

iPhone 15 Pro, bought at release, 92 % battery health

That’s way to less SOT and battery life for the 15 Pro!

 

[ATmahe]

It‘s at 58 % right now, for 12h off the charger, 40 minutes SOT, 1h12m standby usage (which were phone calls over WiFi), on WiFi the whole day.

 

[Stiille]

It‘s at 58 % right now, for 12h off the charger, 40 minutes SOT, 1h12m standby usage (which were phone calls over WiFi), on WiFi the whole day.

That’s ridiculous low SOT!

 

[ATmahe]

i was working, no time to use the phone beside of small breaks.

 

[Stiille]

i was working, no time to use the phone beside of small breaks.

Ok but no point in dropping that low on battery life - with that less usage I meant

 

[HouseLannister]

It‘s at 58 % right now, for 12h off the charger, 40 minutes SOT, 1h12m standby usage (which were phone calls over WiFi), on WiFi the whole day.

Your home/lock screen is eating all the battery. You probably have a widget refreshing too often. Remove the widgets, reboot, and test it tomorrow.

 

[Tomas1988]

It‘s at 58 % right now, for 12h off the charger, 40 minutes SOT, 1h12m standby usage (which were phone calls over WiFi), on WiFi the whole day.

I don't understand you..you can see for yourself that background programs dominate to your battery life

 

[ATmahe]

Your home/lock screen is eating all the battery. You probably have a widget refreshing too often. Remove the widgets, reboot, and test it tomorrow.

Only the stock photo widget is on the homescreen.
Nothing on the lockscreen.
On the widget page: Battery, Calendar, WaterMinder (had it removed for testing), Notes, Weawow (weather, also already removed), Shortcuts.

I don't understand you..you can see for yourself that background programs dominate to your battery life

Beside of background app refresh is of for all of the top apps, there is no significant drop when background usage is shown compared to when not …
And even if you add the times and round up, it’s only 2h (1h12m + 40m) …

Teams had 50ish minutes, homescreen 20ish and is still on top, tell me which programs … I‘m begging you …

 

[Reverend Benny]

i was working, no time to use the phone beside of small breaks.

Have you changed anything else when it comes to peripherals that the phones using or that are connected to the phone.
New router back home, BT units(watches, headphones etc.), Airtags, IOT stuff on the network. Have you updated anything that's hooked up to the phone that might cause the drain?


Just as a test, if possible, can you try and use it on cellular only and/or BT only for a day to see if you get the same crazy battery drain?
I know MS Teams is a batterymuncher but still, it shoudn't be this bad.

 

[ATmahe]

Have you changed anything else when it comes to peripherals that the phones using or that are connected to the phone.
New router back home, BT units(watches, headphones etc.), Airtags, IOT stuff on the network. Have you updated anything that's hooked up to the phone that might cause the drain?


Just as a test, if possible, can you try and use it on cellular only and/or BT only for a day to see if you get the same crazy battery drain?
I know MS Teams is a batterymuncher but still, it shoudn't be this bad.

The only thing new are AirPods Pro 2, which replaced my old AirPods Pro. But I had the problem before.
The number of AirTags didn’t change, network at home didn’t change.
Got my new Apple Watch together with the phone.
So everything is pretty consistent.

The drain is the same when I‘m not on WiFi, already checked a few times when I wasn’t working from home.

Yeah, MS Teams usually eats the battery when in use or in a call, but not when it’s in the background.
To me it’s clear that the battery goes down when I use the phone, but it shouldn’t go that fast when it’s only in standby.

btw. I updated to 18.4 Dev Beta 1 yesterday.
I know it’s early to say and tbh I did expect even more drain than I already have, but …
11h off the charger, I‘m at 48% with 1h49m SOT and 2h12m standby usage. I was driving with CarPlay, Apple Maps and streaming music (Apple Music lossless).
This looks better to me than usual, but also doesn’t make any sense to me.

 

[mariuskv]

The only thing new are AirPods Pro 2, which replaced my old AirPods Pro. But I had the problem before.
The number of AirTags didn’t change, network at home didn’t change.
Got my new Apple Watch together with the phone.
So everything is pretty consistent.

The drain is the same when I‘m not on WiFi, already checked a few times when I wasn’t working from home.

Yeah, MS Teams usually eats the battery when in use or in a call, but not when it’s in the background.
To me it’s clear that the battery goes down when I use the phone, but it shouldn’t go that fast when it’s only in standby.

btw. I updated to 18.4 Dev Beta 1 yesterday.
I know it’s early to say and tbh I did expect even more drain than I already have, but …
11h off the charger, I‘m at 48% with 1h49m SOT and 2h12m standby usage. I was driving with CarPlay, Apple Maps and streaming music (Apple Music lossless).
This looks better to me than usual, but also doesn’t make any sense to me.

What phone ?

 

[ATmahe]

What phone ?

iPhone 15 Pro, bought at release, 92 % battery health.

 

[mariuskv]

iPhone 15 Pro, bought at release, 92 % battery health.

Ok

 

[Artemiz]

The only thing new are AirPods Pro 2, which replaced my old AirPods Pro. But I had the problem before.
The number of AirTags didn’t change, network at home didn’t change.
Got my new Apple Watch together with the phone.
So everything is pretty consistent.

The drain is the same when I‘m not on WiFi, already checked a few times when I wasn’t working from home.

Yeah, MS Teams usually eats the battery when in use or in a call, but not when it’s in the background.
To me it’s clear that the battery goes down when I use the phone, but it shouldn’t go that fast when it’s only in standby.

btw. I updated to 18.4 Dev Beta 1 yesterday.
I know it’s early to say and tbh I did expect even more drain than I already have, but …
11h off the charger, I‘m at 48% with 1h49m SOT and 2h12m standby usage. I was driving with CarPlay, Apple Maps and streaming music (Apple Music lossless).
This looks better to me than usual, but also doesn’t make any sense to me.

That’s really messed up.
I’m beginning to think either you got a bad battery or some setting needs changing.

 

[ATmahe]

That’s really messed up.
I’m beginning to think either you got a bad battery or some setting needs changing.

I've already tried turning of and changing a few settings:

• many of the location services (system services and apps) are turned off
  • I only have 4 apps who are allowed to always access my location (Blitzer.de Pro, Nuki, Weawow, stock Weather)
• 4G/5G (automatic) - no difference (bc I'm 95 % on WiFi)
• VoLTE/VoWiFi - nothing
• turning off background app refresh - nope, it's usually turned on for only 7 Apps which I remove from the app switcher if I know I no longer need them for that day (and I don't need them daily, maybe 3 times/days a week)
• AOD is and was always off - but even on (yeah, tried that too, just for comparison) only makes a difference of about max. 5 % over the day, because my phone nearly always lays face down on the table
• I've removed all widgets from the homescreen - but not widget screen, there only the ones which access location services
• uninstalled many apps I don't always need (like the ones for hotels, booking, airlines, ...)
• I went through the hassle of resetting my network settings

I know my tests aren't scientific and I don't have the exact same usage pattern every day.
Also, of course, some apps drain the battery more when used (like MS Teams).

But for God's sakes ...
If I'm using my phone less than an hour during the day, I'm expecting it to end the day (~18 hours for me) with more than just 20-25 % of battery left (my XS ended with that with 5-6 hours of usage, including playing Pokemon go ...).
But at least ... that's more or less consistent ...

 

[tor_2]

Do you have an Apple Watch? Have you tried to switch the watch off to observe if the problem is related to the watch?

 

[Tomas1988]

I've already tried turning of and changing a few settings:

• many of the location services (system services and apps) are turned off
  • I only have 4 apps who are allowed to always access my location (Blitzer.de Pro, Nuki, Weawow, stock Weather)
• 4G/5G (automatic) - no difference (bc I'm 95 % on WiFi)
• VoLTE/VoWiFi - nothing
• turning off background app refresh - nope, it's usually turned on for only 7 Apps which I remove from the app switcher if I know I no longer need them for that day (and I don't need them daily, maybe 3 times/days a week)
• AOD is and was always off - but even on (yeah, tried that too, just for comparison) only makes a difference of about max. 5 % over the day, because my phone nearly always lays face down on the table
• I've removed all widgets from the homescreen - but not widget screen, there only the ones which access location services
• uninstalled many apps I don't always need (like the ones for hotels, booking, airlines, ...)
• I went through the hassle of resetting my network settings

I know my tests aren't scientific and I don't have the exact same usage pattern every day.
Also, of course, some apps drain the battery more when used (like MS Teams).

But for God's sakes ...
If I'm using my phone less than an hour during the day, I'm expecting it to end the day (~18 hours for me) with more than just 20-25 % of battery left (my XS ended with that with 5-6 hours of usage, including playing Pokemon go ...).
But at least ... that's more or less consistent ...

And try reduce white point by 25%

 

[Artemiz]

I've already tried turning of and changing a few settings:

• many of the location services (system services and apps) are turned off
  • I only have 4 apps who are allowed to always access my location (Blitzer.de Pro, Nuki, Weawow, stock Weather)
• 4G/5G (automatic) - no difference (bc I'm 95 % on WiFi)
• VoLTE/VoWiFi - nothing
• turning off background app refresh - nope, it's usually turned on for only 7 Apps which I remove from the app switcher if I know I no longer need them for that day (and I don't need them daily, maybe 3 times/days a week)
• AOD is and was always off - but even on (yeah, tried that too, just for comparison) only makes a difference of about max. 5 % over the day, because my phone nearly always lays face down on the table
• I've removed all widgets from the homescreen - but not widget screen, there only the ones which access location services
• uninstalled many apps I don't always need (like the ones for hotels, booking, airlines, ...)
• I went through the hassle of resetting my network settings

I know my tests aren't scientific and I don't have the exact same usage pattern every day.
Also, of course, some apps drain the battery more when used (like MS Teams).

But for God's sakes ...
If I'm using my phone less than an hour during the day, I'm expecting it to end the day (~18 hours for me) with more than just 20-25 % of battery left (my XS ended with that with 5-6 hours of usage, including playing Pokemon go ...).
But at least ... that's more or less consistent

Since your battery seems to drain whether you’re actually using it, why not try and enable every which feature you could possibly benefit from and post the graph.
I’m kinda curious how much of an effect AOD and others would have if any. Probably easier to reset all settings if you can afford to.

 

[ATmahe]

Do you have an Apple Watch? Have you tried to switch the watch off to observe if the problem is related to the watch?

Yes, more or less.
I went a few days with cellular only on the watch, so not connected to my phone. Didn't see any significant difference, beside of the usual few % which it always differs from day to day. I think it drained a bit more, because of all notifications let the phone buzz.

And try reduce white point by 25%

hm, but I don't want my phone to be "darker" (even if I have it in dark mode all of the time). Anyway, will give it a try in the next days.
But this is something where I usually say I'm expecting the phone to last with the default settings without turning "everything" off/down (I know it depends on the usage pattern too).

Since your battery seems to drain whether you’re actually using it, why not try and enable every which feature you could possibly benefit from and post the graph.
I’m kinda curious how much of an effect AOD and others would have if any. Probably easier to reset all settings if you can afford to.

As said, with AOD on the difference is max. 5 % over the day, but my phone usually is display down on the table.
When resetting all settings, my notification settings will be gone do (as far as I'm aware), which alone (beside of the other stuff) is a big pita for me. This is one thing I will try before I decide to reset my phone completely.

 

[Chrisjmv]

@ATmahe

if you want to find the culprit I would do the following and maybe this could work:

1. Check your iCloud settings (also your messages and if you don’t need - delete all the messages there stored in, and after that disable it. Turn off and on the phone.

2. Check iCloud Drive settings (maybe there is an app syncing data the whole time) - I had a case where an older App that stored data was in endless sync with it.

3. Check if you use any DNS ADBlocking features - in some cases if you use special DNS services like NEXT DNS or Adblock with lots of blocking lists that leads to endless request from iCloud services that won’t sync anymore = battery drain like hell!

4. Save your data on your iCloud or on a Mac - make a Backup.

5. Reset your phone DFU - set up as new phone without restoring any iCloud data yet.
When set up - just use your phone for one day or two and check.

Optional: after you did the re-install DFU - sign off your iCloud account - don’t sync anything- just in case to see if some data left like contacts, photos mails are causing the drain. Use your phone 1-2 days and check it drain gets better.

If still getting that battery drain and usage with a clean “raw” iOS install it might be something faulty with the hardware (at least my guess)

 

[fergus2019]

@ATmahe

if you want to find the culprit I would do the following and maybe this could work:

1. Check your iCloud settings (also your messages and if you don’t need - delete all the messages there stored in, and after that disable it. Turn off and on the phone.

2. Check iCloud Drive settings (maybe there is an app syncing data the whole time) - I had a case where an older App that stored data was in endless sync with it.

3. Check if you use any DNS ADBlocking features - in some cases if you use special DNS services like NEXT DNS or Adblock with lots of blocking lists that leads to endless request from iCloud services that won’t sync anymore = battery drain like hell!

4. Save your data on your iCloud or on a Mac - make a Backup.

5. Reset your phone DFU - set up as new phone without restoring any iCloud data yet.
When set up - just use your phone for one day or two and check.

Optional: after you did the re-install DFU - sign off your iCloud account - don’t sync anything- just in case to see if some data left like contacts, photos mails are causing the drain. Use your phone 1-2 days and check it drain gets better.

If still getting that battery drain and usage with a clean “raw” iOS install it might be something faulty with the hardware (at least my guess)

Hello. On my iPhone 11 with 17.7.1 everything was great and the phone drained the battery very slowly. With the transition to 18.3 (18.3.1 now), the battery drains even when it is lying on the table. And when using it, it drains even faster. I flashed it via DFU with the settings as new, without restoring backups. The battery drain is still wild, compared to 17.7.1. So this is not a hardware problem.

 

[Stiille]

Hello. On my iPhone 11 with 17.7.1 everything was great and the phone drained the battery very slowly. With the transition to 18.3 (18.3.1 now), the battery drains even when it is lying on the table. And when using it, it drains even faster. I flashed it via DFU with the settings as new, without restoring backups. The battery drain is still wild, compared to 17.7.1. So this is not a hardware problem.

It’s an iPhone 11 - don’t expect miracles on iOS 18! 🙄