iPad Pro iPad Pro M4 Battery Life

[aakshey]

You know, that’s interesting, because in my experience, it had been like that until the M1. An iPad 4, a 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and a 6th-gen iPad were pretty similar on their original iOS versions with light use and low brightness (16 hours of SOT for the iPad 4 and 14 for the rest). But my M1 iPad Air skyrocketed to north of 25 hours. I reckon that’s due to my light usage: the processor is very efficient and my light usage on its original iOS version doesn’t even push it (I never update anything so it’s always been on iPadOS 15). So, original version, light use, and a very efficient desktop chip makes it almost a given that battery life will be amazing. I know some people have complained about M-series iPads’ battery life with heavy usage, but like you said, no iPad has ever been good with that usage (no iPad and no iOS device, for that matter).

What has probably happened is you’re using the Battery section to check and not Screen Time

The battery section will show 2 mins of usage for every minute passed if you’re using 2 apps at the same time (for example watching a video in pip mode while using Safari). If you use 3 apps at the same time then it shows 3 hours or usage for 1 hour of time elapsed

so even 4 hours of actual Screen time can show up as maybe 7 hours in the battery section

Start using Screen Time to measure Screen On Time and then report back

 

[aakshey]

Here’s a live example

i used my iPad for over 5 hours and battery went down to around 65%, but battery usage shows 8.5+ hours because both Safari and Netflix were in parallel use

The solution is to use Screen Time instead of using Battery alone

 

[FeliApple]

What has probably happened is you’re using the Battery section to check and not Screen Time

The battery section will show 2 mins of usage for every minute passed if you’re using 2 apps at the same time (for example watching a video in pip mode while using Safari). If you use 3 apps at the same time then it shows 3 hours or usage for 1 hour of time elapsed

so even 4 hours of actual Screen time can show up as maybe 7 hours in the battery section

Start using Screen Time to measure Screen On Time and then report back

I’m aware, but this isn’t the case. I only use one app at a time, and it is accurate.

 

[caoimhe]

I’m really disappointed with the battery life on my new 13”. My old iPad was the 2018 11” and I only had to charge it every second or third day, but despite leaving the new one plugged in overnight it doesn’t get through a whole day. I’ve made sure I’m not using the new one more often, turned down the brightness to the very lowest that I can still see the screen with, turned off the backlight on the Magic Keyboard, and still can’t make it through a single day without needing to charge it mid-day (Pages and Safari). I wonder if the 11” would last longer?

 

[aakshey]

I’m really disappointed with the battery life on my new 13”. My old iPad was the 2018 11” and I only had to charge it every second or third day, but despite leaving the new one plugged in overnight it doesn’t get through a whole day. I’ve made sure I’m not using the new one more often, turned down the brightness to the very lowest that I can still see the screen with, turned off the backlight on the Magic Keyboard, and still can’t make it through a single day without needing to charge it mid-day (Pages and Safari). I wonder if the 11” would last longer?

My 13 Pro is the longest lasting iPad I’ve owned till date

 

[aakshey]

My 13 Pro is the longest lasting iPad I’ve owned till date

I’ve owned multiple 10/11inch iPads including Pro M1, Pro 2018, Pro 2017 and many iPads prior

 

[FeliApple]

I’m really disappointed with the battery life on my new 13”. My old iPad was the 2018 11” and I only had to charge it every second or third day, but despite leaving the new one plugged in overnight it doesn’t get through a whole day. I’ve made sure I’m not using the new one more often, turned down the brightness to the very lowest that I can still see the screen with, turned off the backlight on the Magic Keyboard, and still can’t make it through a single day without needing to charge it mid-day (Pages and Safari). I wonder if the 11” would last longer?

Can you share a screenshot of settings-battery?

 

[aakshey]

Can you share a screenshot of settings-battery?

I think you should try the new 11 inch

OLED + Dark mode + larger battery per unit display size for 11” should lead to at least 20% additional battery life for you, especially with light use

 

[FeliApple]

I think you should try the new 11 inch

OLED + Dark mode + larger battery per unit display size for 11” should lead to at least 20% additional battery life for you, especially with light use

The Air 5 on iPadOS 15 already gives me over 25 hours of SOT. I’m good!

 

[caoimhe]

The Air 5 on iPadOS 15 already gives me over 25 hours of SOT. I’m good!

I could live with the 11” Air and just leave the 13” Pro plugged in all the time, that might be the answer for me!

 

[alecgold]

I came from a 13” M2 that was often on 70-80% brightness. After a year of daily 8-14 hour use I charged the battery a few times a day when I got the chance. It would do about 7 hours going from 100% down to 20% or even 10%.

Now I’m on an 11” M4 and it usually at or below 50% brightness. It has been used 11h47 minutes and is down to 29%.
It has been 3 hours safari, 2 hours Documents 5, 1,5 hours Prime, 1 hour notability, 1h45 WhatsApp, 46min Proton Mail, 40 minutes iMessage, and the remainder time in different newspaper apps.

So I’m confident I can get a 14 hour usage out of my 11” M4! This is really nice!
Now I’m really curious what will happen when I go and use heavy apps like Nebo.app and te likes that can really drain a battery of a M2 in 3-5 hours.

 

[FeliApple]

I could live with the 11” Air and just leave the 13” Pro plugged in all the time, that might be the answer for me!

Don’t be mistaken. I’m a very light user with efficient settings. Somebody using it to edit videos at 70% brightness won’t get that. And I’m running its original iOS version, iPadOS 15.

For example, on my last test, I got 18.5 hours on my iPhone Xʀ. You may say “I’ll go running to buy a Xʀ”, but it won’t be on iOS 12 and if you’re a heavy user with inefficient settings any iOS device will be poor.

It’s firstly - and most importantly - the fact that I run original iOS versions, but my usage pattern is just as important. Grab my Xʀ on iOS 12 or my iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15 and use them heavily and you won’t get that.

Why do I say the iOS version is key though? Because my usage pattern can’t make up for a device that has been updated enough. iPhone 6s. I have two. One on iOS 10 (which even with 60% health gets me 7-8 hours, just like it did when it was new), and one on iOS 13 (which struggles to get 4 hours with the same efficient usage). I can’t get more than 4 because iOS updates have obliterated it.

But if usage is heavy, no iOS version will guarantee that battery life. You need a combination of both: you must be a light user and you must run an original iOS version.

 

[Gelam]

Don’t be mistaken. I’m a very light user with efficient settings. Somebody using it to edit videos at 70% brightness won’t get that. And I’m running its original iOS version, iPadOS 15.

For example, on my last test, I got 18.5 hours on my iPhone Xʀ. You may say “I’ll go running to buy a Xʀ”, but it won’t be on iOS 12 and if you’re a heavy user with inefficient settings any iOS device will be poor.

It’s firstly - and most importantly - the fact that I run original iOS versions, but my usage pattern is just as important. Grab my Xʀ on iOS 12 or my iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15 and use them heavily and you won’t get that.

Why do I say the iOS version is key though? Because my usage pattern can’t make up for a device that has been updated enough. iPhone 6s. I have two. One on iOS 10 (which even with 60% health gets me 7-8 hours, just like it did when it was new), and one on iOS 13 (which struggles to get 4 hours with the same efficient usage). I can’t get any more than 4 because iOS updates have obliterated it.

But if usage is heavy, no iOS version will guarantee that battery life. You need a combination of both: you must be a light user and you must run an original iOS version.

I understand that the original OS version of that respective device will always be sipping the least energy per device version.

However, what about just 1 OS above? Is that still viable? I plan to update the new iPP M4 to iPad OS 18 and remain there for the rest of its life if possible.



Also what about security? What is your personal use case that you are not worried enough about security to update to the latest OS version?

 

[FeliApple]

I understand that the original OS version of that respective device will always be sipping the least energy per device version.

However, what about just 1 OS above? Is that still viable? I plan to update the new iPP M4 to iPad OS 18 and remain there for the rest of its life if possible.



Also what about security? What is your personal use case that you are not worried enough about security to update to the latest OS version?

In general, the first major update is completely fine. I don’t really think that there will be any significant difference. In fact, I reckon it’s the only “safe” major update you have.

32-bit devices suffered immediately, but we have come a long way from that. iOS 11 was abhorrent even on the iPhone 7 and 10.5-inch iPad Pro; however, we really haven’t seen that since. There was a slight battery life drop for the iPhone Xʀ on iOS 13, but it wasn’t anything significant. There is a chance that that will happen to you, especially if the new iOS version is heavy in terms of features, but really, who knows? There are rumors about it being AI-heavy so there is a chance that it isn’t perfect, but I’m just speculating here. I can only talk about general trends, and really, ever since the iPhone 5s and the iPad Air 1 debuted with iOS 7, updating to the first major version has been fine, barring iOS 11, of course.

How many cases have you heard (or how many cases exist in the literature) of laypersons being hacked for using an iOS device that is no longer supported?

 

[Gelam]

In general, the first major update is completely fine. I don’t really think that there will be any significant difference. In fact, I reckon it’s the only “safe” major update you have.

32-bit devices suffered immediately, but we have come a long way from that. iOS 11 was abhorrent even on the iPhone 7 and 10.5-inch iPad Pro; however, we really haven’t seen that since. There was a slight battery life drop for the iPhone Xʀ on iOS 13, but it wasn’t anything significant. There is a chance that that will happen to you, especially if the new iOS version is heavy in terms of features, but really, who knows? There are rumors about it being AI-heavy so there is a chance that it isn’t perfect, but I’m just speculating here. I can only talk about general trends, and really, ever since the iPhone 5s and the iPad Air 1 debuted with iOS 7, updating to the first major version has been fine, barring iOS 11, of course.

How many cases have you heard (or how many cases exist in the literature) of laypersons being hacked for using an iOS device that is no longer supported?

Thank you, that was really interesting. I could ask you for opinions once iPadOS 18 comes out.

What was in iOS 11 that caused such drastic energy consumption increase?
In my case my iPhone X and iPhone 12 mini are both on iOS 16, and the battery life has been tough for both. Also due to degraded batteries. Is iOS 17 more energy efficient than iOS 16?

I guess I have not heard stories of people getting hacked on iOS yet, and even MacOS (except deliberately installing "Clean My Mac"). So I can see how you feel about that.

 

[aakshey]

In general, the first major update is completely fine. I don’t really think that there will be any significant difference. In fact, I reckon it’s the only “safe” major update you have.

32-bit devices suffered immediately, but we have come a long way from that. iOS 11 was abhorrent even on the iPhone 7 and 10.5-inch iPad Pro; however, we really haven’t seen that since. There was a slight battery life drop for the iPhone Xʀ on iOS 13, but it wasn’t anything significant. There is a chance that that will happen to you, especially if the new iOS version is heavy in terms of features, but really, who knows? There are rumors about it being AI-heavy so there is a chance that it isn’t perfect, but I’m just speculating here. I can only talk about general trends, and really, ever since the iPhone 5s and the iPad Air 1 debuted with iOS 7, updating to the first major version has been fine, barring iOS 11, of course.

How many cases have you heard (or how many cases exist in the literature) of laypersons being hacked for using an iOS device that is no longer supported?

iPhone X/iPad Pro 10.5/iOS11 were milestone updates for Apple and hence iOS11 on iPad Pro 10.5 might have been a major hit

Similar is the case between iPhone 16 Pro (AI)/iPad Pro M4/iOS18/iPadOS18, the advantage is M4 is super powerful compared to what A10X was even back in the day

So only time will tell

In my experience even iPhone X took a hit with iOS12 and that had shipped with iOS11

 

[FeliApple]

Thank you, that was really interesting. I could ask you for opinions once iPadOS 18 comes out.

What was in iOS 11 that caused such drastic energy consumption increase?
In my case my iPhone X and iPhone 12 mini are both on iOS 16, and the battery life has been tough for both. Also due to degraded batteries. Is iOS 17 more energy efficient than iOS 16?

I guess I have not heard stories of people getting hacked on iOS yet, and even MacOS (except deliberately installing "Clean My Mac"). So I can see how you feel about that.

Honestly I’m not sure why iOS 11 was such garbage. It’s the only iOS update post-64-bit devices that was that awful as a first major update.

Makes sense, you updated the iPhone X as far as it would go, and the 12 Mini didn’t have a great battery life on iOS 14 to begin with. It doesn’t have much headroom. iOS 17 is not more efficient; in fact, people have reported worsened battery life on devices like the iPhone Xʀ and 11, among others.

 

[FeliApple]

iPhone X/iPad Pro 10.5/iOS11 were milestone updates for Apple and hence iOS11 on iPad Pro 10.5 might have been a major hit

Similar is the case between iPhone 16 Pro (AI)/iPad Pro M4/iOS18/iPadOS18, the advantage is M4 is super powerful compared to what A10X was even back in the day

So only time will tell

In my experience even iPhone X took a hit with iOS12 and that had shipped with iOS11

Yeah, iOS 11 was abhorrent, and I also agree, I reckon M1 iPads onwards have a lot more chances of withstanding more iOS updates better, but we’ll see.

Regardless, like I’ve always mentioned, it’s difficult to make accurate assessments of the iPad’s battery life as it is updated. People don’t really share the iPad’s battery life as the years go by.

iOS 12 was great performance-wise, but it still instilled a battery life degradation that wasn’t there on iOS 11.

 

[mhs80]

How is the 11” M4 battery performing? My 11” M2 on MK is not that good, my brightness is on c.25% and low battery mode, c.8 hours.

My 11” iPad Pro M4 battery drains 95% in about 24 hours without being used at all. I think I’m going to ask for replacement at apple store. I’ve been using it for a week so photo syncing and indexing must have done.

 

[FeliApple]

My 11” iPad Pro M4 battery drains 95% in about 24 hours without being used at all. I think I’m going to ask for replacement at apple store. I’ve been using it for a week so photo syncing and indexing must have done.

I’d try solving it through software before doing that. Try checking settings for something that runs continuously like location and, if it doesn’t work, try a full restore.

 

[asleep]

Anecdotal, unmeasured I'm certainly recharging my M4 11 sooner/more than I was my Air 5 with auto-everything on both but the M4 is cellular and I am enjoying the new screen.

One of these days I'm going to switch to airplane mode for a week and get a better comparison. I expect the times will be similar.

 

[Gelam]

Honestly I’m not sure why iOS 11 was such garbage. It’s the only iOS update post-64-bit devices that was that awful as a first major update.

Makes sense, you updated the iPhone X as far as it would go, and the 12 Mini didn’t have a great battery life on iOS 14 to begin with. It doesn’t have much headroom. iOS 17 is not more efficient; in fact, people have reported worsened battery life on devices like the iPhone Xʀ and 11, among others.

Dang looks like iPhone X and iPhone 12 Mini is at their last leg then. I did not know about iOS versions affecting such things back then. I will have to do that with my next iPhone.

Thanks for the details. Will ask about iPadOS 18 efficiency before updating the iPP M4. But I really want those AI features too. Not sure how much more energy will it sips. However, if AI features come to iPadOS 19 instead of 18 then we are gg.

 

[AppleFeller]

Getting 10-12 hours of actual usage on my 11” usually safari (YouTube) and or movies/tv shows in tv app. Default settings automatic brightness used. As others say standby use is super low usually a percent or two.

 

[DarkSorrow82]

My battery is decent. I can’t complain. I browse Safari and YouTube all day when I work.

 

[FeliApple]

Dang looks like iPhone X and iPhone 12 Mini is at their last leg then. I did not know about iOS versions affecting such things back then. I will have to do that with my next iPhone.

Thanks for the details. Will ask about iPadOS 18 efficiency before updating the iPP M4. But I really want those AI features too. Not sure how much more energy will it sips. However, if AI features come to iPadOS 19 instead of 18 then we are gg.

I always keep the original iOS version regardless of features or whether the device can take it. I have the iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15, and I’m pretty sure iPadOS 16 runs almost like iPadOS 15, but I like to do it this way.

If you really want the features on iPadOS 18, it’s the major update that has the least risk. Perhaps you can update.

Also remember that downgrading is not allowed. But it is not allowed only when Apple stops signing the iOS version. Typically, after a major update (when the whole number changes, I mean), Apple keeps signing the previous iOS version for a few weeks. If you update on day 1, you should have a week to try it without much risk.

iOS 17 was released on September 18, 2023. Apple stopped signing iOS 16.6.1 (the last version of iOS 16) on October 4 (source: https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/04/apple-stops-signing-ios-16-6-1-through-17-0-1/), which gave you exactly 15 days without counting either end (the 18th and the 4th) to try iOS 17.

You can be pretty much sure that you will have a week to try it. If you don’t like it, you can roll back.