iPad Pro Magic Keyboard (Battery Drain?)

[Foghorn leghorn]

it can be somewhat deceiving if you just took it off the charger. It takes a lot longer to go from 100% to 99% than it does to go from 99% to 98%.

I noticed the same thing. It was like this before the MK.
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I’m seeing excessive battery drain. I’m constantly needing to charge my IPad Pro.

My keyboard backlight was staying on all the time even when closed. Removed the iPad to clean it and now the light goes out as it’s suppose to.

 

[papbot]

My keyboard backlight was staying on all the time even when closed. Removed the iPad to clean it and now the light goes out as it’s suppose to.

That backlight on all the time would definitely do it. I wonder if keeping the pencil in charging position affects it. But so far if I’m not using my iPP the battery barely moves if at all when I’ve locked the screen even hours later. If it has been 5 or 6 hours I do notice it because I get a lot of notifications - News, Messages, various alerts, etc. - that will wake the screen temporarily. But other than that nothing over shorter periods and this is on a 2 year old device. I think it was almost this time exactly two years ago that I originally got it.

 

[nyc232]

Still happening for me...

 

[The Game 161]

I think those who are having issues it seems it’s backlit being on longer than normal or is on bright when it’s day light. Mine stays on the level i choose to leave it on it doesn’t seem to be going back and forth too much.

not like we need backlit on during the day in bright sunlight

 

[papbot]

I think those who are having issues it seems it’s backlit being on longer than normal or is on bright when it’s day light. Mine stays on the level i choose to leave it on it doesn’t seem to be going back and forth too much.

not like we need backlit on during the day in bright sunlight

There may be a software glitch with the operation of the backlighting causing this. I know with mine the backlight goes off or dims to a very low level within a few seconds after I stop any interaction with the key board or screen. Once I touch the screen or any key or the trackpad it comes back on to its set brightness. Looking at it right now it turns off about 5 seconds after I stop typing this post. I would believe that‘s the correct behavior and if it’s varying for others that may well be part of their issue.

 

[The Game 161]

There may be a software glitch with the operation of the backlighting causing this. I know with mine the backlight goes off or dims to a very low level within a few seconds after I stop any interaction with the key board or screen. Once I touch the screen or any key or the trackpad it comes back on to its set brightness. Looking at it right now it turns off about 5 seconds after I stop typing this post. I would believe that‘s the correct behavior and if it’s varying for others that may well be part of their issue.

It’s weird as when i picked up my iPad last night i had to manually put the backlit all the way to 100% so for some reason it stayed on the level i left it on during the day.

Likely just a software issue

 

[edry.hilario]

I’m seeing excessive battery drain. I’m constantly needing to charge my IPad Pro.

Yup same on my 12.9 ipad pro, feels like my battery life has been cut in half when using the keyboard case. Anyone in the beta know if this issue has been addressed?

 

[The Game 161]

Well I’m on 7 hours screen time with 27% left...better than in previous days I would say

 

[ThePit]

I’m definitely seeing the iPad drain on the magic keypad when it’s closed without power connected. I was at 80% charge and did not use it for about 2 days. Today I went to use it and found it was at 14%. That sucks! I saw in a earlier post that shutting off WiFi helped. I could just take it off the magic keyboard but I really don’t want to do that. I have the 12.9 iPad Pro. And the actual iPad alone has great battery life. I’ve only had my magic keyboard for a couple weeks now. Could this just be the newer ones?

 

[verdi1987]

I have also been noticing drain caused by the keyboard while my iPad Pro is completely powered off. I had not really paid much attention until now. I completely power off my iPad at night. The other day it was completely charged to 100%, I powered it off, and the next morning when I tuned it on the meter was at about 80%. The same thing today: I powered it off at 100% last night. This afternoon when I powered it on it was at about 75%. See attached; the gap from 100% to about 75% is when it was turned off. (Also odd is that Home & Lock Screen would be nearly 90% of battery usage.)

I am going to do more systematic testing now that I have noticed it. Coconut battery says my iPad battery is at 100% original capacity and actually over 100% of design capacity.

 

[ejin222]

I have also been noticing drain caused by the keyboard while my iPad Pro is completely powered off. I had not really paid much attention until now. I completely power off my iPad at night. The other day it was completely charged to 100%, I powered it off, and the next morning when I tuned it on the meter was at about 80%. The same thing today: I powered it off at 100% last night. This afternoon when I powered it on it was at about 75%. See attached; the gap from 100% to about 75% is when it was turned off. (Also odd is that Home & Lock Screen would be nearly 90% of battery usage.)

I am going to do more systematic testing now that I have noticed it. Coconut battery says my iPad battery is at 100% original capacity and actually over 100% of design capacity.

View attachment 921382

This is great info! Some days I notice the drain badly on mine. Other days, it's not. Thanks for the extra work of figuring this out for us~

 

[verdi1987]

This is great info! Some days I notice the drain badly on mine. Other days, it's not. Thanks for the extra work of figuring this out for us~

I performed the test again. I fully charged my iPad to 100% yesterday and powered it off. After 19 hours, I powered it on, and this time it is still at 100%. The last two times it was about 80% and 75% from a full charge. I suppose the keyboard backlight must have remained on. I will continue to monitor.

 

[NightWingz]

That backlight on all the time would definitely do it. I wonder if keeping the pencil in charging position affects it. But so far if I’m not using my iPP the battery barely moves if at all when I’ve locked the screen even hours later. If it has been 5 or 6 hours I do notice it because I get a lot of notifications - News, Messages, various alerts, etc. - that will wake the screen temporarily. But other than that nothing over shorter periods and this is on a 2 year old device. I think it was almost this time exactly two years ago that I originally got it.

Just to chip in on my experience.

The Apple Pencil 2 affects my iPad Pro 12.9” 2018 battery life. The constant bluetooth connection with the pencil seems to drain the battery on the pencil a lot even when the pencil is not in use, and in turn, the iPad Pro battery when the pencil is re-attached to it.

It is true that our iOS devices receive a lot of notifications throughout the day, so my iPads have always been in Do Not Disturb mode 24/7. Because of this, my iPads do not consume a ton of battery when it is in sleep mode (the screen does not come on). And because the screen does not come on in DnD mode, I am guessing neither does the keyboard backlight.

I just received my Magic Keyboard and initial impression is that the the Magic Keyboard drains the battery of my iPad about 50% more than when it was connected to the Smart Keyboard Folio. Likely due to the backlighting and trackpad. When trackpad or screen (touch) is in use, the backlighting of the keys comes on all the time.

There may be a software glitch with the operation of the backlighting causing this. I know with mine the backlight goes off or dims to a very low level within a few seconds after I stop any interaction with the key board or screen. Once I touch the screen or any key or the trackpad it comes back on to its set brightness. Looking at it right now it turns off about 5 seconds after I stop typing this post. I would believe that‘s the correct behavior and if it’s varying for others that may well be part of their issue.

It takes 30 seconds for the keyboard backlight to fade away (sleep), no matter if I am looking at the screen or not (Face ID sensing for attention aware features). I timed this using iPhone’s stopwatch.

 

[ALN1]

sadly after all these years, my first 'buyer beware' moment with apple. my ipad pro (11", new 2020 model) has no issues with regular keyboard case or without. but connect the magic keyboard and battery life is sucked out like you wouldn't believe. 1hr 15 minutes of zoom takes battery life from about 75% to 25%. to make matters worse, i didn't realize this until the THIRD week of owning it so i couldn't return/replace the keyboard unit as others have done with good result. apple tech support has put me through three different technicians with multiple calls and their requests for diagnostics over the past four days - most recently two four hour tests. now they want more diagnostics. they really have me over the barrel. never expected this from a company i trusted until now.... (sigh, sorry for venting, it won't do any good but what else is there to do? i'm at the point of throwing the keyboard out and just sticking with my old ipad pro keyboard case).

 

[verdi1987]

1hr 15 minutes of zoom takes battery life from about 75% to 25%. to make matters worse, i didn't realize this until the THIRD week of owning it so i couldn't return/replace the keyboard unit as others have done with good result.

There's also a separate battery issue in iOS/iPadOS 13.5.x where some apps are performing nonstop background activity. (There are threads on MacRumors and the Apple Discussion forums.) I am experiencing it on all my devices. You can identify it by looking at the Battery activity in Settings. If you see nonstop activity during hours you're not using your iPad, you have the issue.

 

[verdi1987]

I performed my test again, and now I am irate.

I fully charged my iPad to 100% last night. I turned it off (full shutdown) and made sure the keyboard backlight turned off. Today, after almost 13.5 hours, upon turning it on, it was at 83%. (Also, the iPad thinks it was charging all night as evidenced by the shading even though I disconnected the USB-C cable prior to shutting it down. I’ve never seen that before.) I am past the return period, but I am exploring my options.

 

[brnkstr.]

I’ve witnessed an excessive amount of battery drain during use two weeks ago.

Full disclosurer: I’m using my 2020 iPad Pro 12.9 (wi-fi) as my main computer and currently due to COVID-19 as my work-from-home machine. I “am” a heavy iPad user.

I’m jumping between Outlook, Wordpress, Mailchimp, Safari, the Files App and iA Writer as my core productivity applications -within less than two hours of proper use, my iPad Pro’s battery went all the way down from 98% to 60%.

Hard resetting my iPad has all but completely resolved that issue for me, though! So I’d recommend everyone who notices increaded battery drain on their machines to do the same and see how that works out for them.

I still notice incrementally higher battery drain when the Magic Keyboard’s paired with may iPad compared to the Smart Keyboard Folio, though. Nothing dramatic, but what used to be a comfortable 9 1/2 hours of screen on time is now down to 8 1/2 to 9 hours for me. I guess that amount of battery drain is to be expected?

However: There appears to be an issue with apps like OneDrive and the NYTimes “constantly” refreshing in the background? Seems to be more of a software issue with iPadOS 13.5.1, than with the magic keyboard, though, and it didn’t noticeably affect my iPad Pro’s battery while it sleeps, as far as I can tell.

 

[verdi1987]

There appears to be an issue with apps like OneDrive and the NYTimes “constantly” refreshing in the background? Seems to be more of a software issue with iPadOS 13.5.1, than with the magic keyboard, though, and it didn’t noticeably affect my iPad Pro’s battery while it sleeps, as far as I can tell.

I explained the background activity drain two posts above yours (post #40). If you haven't already, please submit a bug report to Apple. I have, but they need to be made aware that it's a pervasive issue.

 

[verdi1987]

I have run my test again, and it again shows significant drain while my iPad is completely shut down. I charged my iPad to 100%, unplugged the USB-C cable, and shut it down (powered off). I waited over one minute to allow for complete shutdown and made sure the keyboard backlight was off, after which time I closed the Magic Keyboard. After 13.5 hours, I turned on the iPad, and the battery charge was at 83%! Again, I am seeing that the iPad thinks it is charging during the hours it was completely off, as indicated by the shading. (Normally, there would be no color for the hours it is unused or off.)

One thing I have noticed is that when I do have this drain while off, the Apple boot logo appears almost immediately after I press the power button. With a normal cold boot, it takes a couple of seconds for the logo to appear.

So far, of my last 5 tests, 4 of them showed drain while powered off. (The first two were anecdotal, which prompted me to try and somewhat scientifically measure the drain.)

I have done a force restart as another user suggested, but it did not make a difference. I have a new keyboard arriving Wednesday.

 

[brnkstr.]

I explained the background activity drain two posts above yours (post #40). If you haven't already, please submit a bug report to Apple. I have, but they need to be made aware that it's a pervasive issue.

I’ve filed a report to Apple. In the meantime, I’ve deactivated Background App Activity for OneDrive and that has resolved the issue.

I haven’t experienced a massive amount of battery drain since my last post. Battery life seems to be clocking in at around 9,5 hours of screen on time again, depending on the apps that I use (I haven’t fully drained the battery all the way down to 0% yet, so it’s just rough maths). Keep in mind that both the Apple pencil and Magic Keyboard are connected to my iPad Pro 24/7, so at 30 minutes less battery life compared to Apple’s 10 hours estimate is to be expected, I guess.

I’m sorry that hard-resetting the iPad didn‘t resolve these issues. Would be great if you could keep us updated on how the replacement keyboard works out for you!

 

[marlman]

Running iOS 13.6 beta 2 and my battery life has improved dramatically back to getting two days with my MK attached.

Also getting three days life with my 11 Pro Max

 

[verdi1987]

I’ve filed a report to Apple. In the meantime, I’ve deactivated Background App Activity for OneDrive and that has resolved the issue.

I’m sorry that hard-resetting the iPad didn‘t resolve these issues. Would be great if you could keep us updated on how the replacement keyboard works out for you!

My replacement MK arrived Tuesday. So far, it is not causing excessive drain. (My first MK would drain the iPad while the iPad was completely shut down.) However, I did install iPadOS 13.6 beta, so I do not know which variable may have been the culprit. I am still seeing constant app background activity with Background App Refresh disabled (I always have it disabled), but that is a separate issue affecting all my iOS/iPadOS devices.

For what it’s worth, my first keyboard was manufactured in week 17 and my replacement in week 21.

 

[brnkstr.]

For what it’s worth, my first keyboard was manufactured in week 17 and my replacement in week 21.

Sorry for being obtuse, but where can you check which week the keyboard has been manufactured in?

 

[verdi1987]

Sorry for being obtuse, but where can you check which week the keyboard has been manufactured in?

Plug in your serial number here: http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

 

[brnkstr.]

Thanks for the info! Manufacturing week on mine is 20.