iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro disappointing battery life (coming from a 13 mini)

[bbates123]

2-ish hrs on 47% battery? Yeah that’s really bad.

Your GPS arrow in the upper left is solid… were you navigating while taking the screenshot? Do you have AirTags nearby?

Could be Apple ‘crowdsource beacon’ drain - that doesn’t show up in the batt graphs for obvious reasons:

I wasn't navigating but your post got me to thinking I should maybe double check my location services again. I have 2 widgets (Fantastical and Tempest Weather) that were set to "While Using" with the GPS arrow. I set those both to "Never". We'll see what happens and I'll check for that GPS arrow coming on again when I'm not navigating. I'll also check out the crowdsource beacon. Thanks much!

 

[bbates123]

The “jumps” in the battery graph are concerning. The graph should be somewhat linear, with the graph being steeper the more you use the phone, but dropping large chunks at a time are not normal. I’d guess the Security camera app is not optimized for the A17pro or something to that effect. I noticed that some apps, looking at you NFL mobile, drain the battery much more than on my 14 pro.

Speaking of the NFL, I had Sports Alerts live updates on during MNF and boy oh boy did that drain the battery. Great feature but definitely not something you want to do when you're trying to conserve battery.

 

[Timpetus]

Huge fan of the 13 mini and had been using it since launch. Just decided to upgrade to the 15 Pro due to fantastic T-Mo trade in deals and I really wanted some of the new features of the 15 Pro, but especially 120hz and the always on display.

I've been using it for about 5 days now and I have to say, I'm underwhelmed with the battery. I thought it would be much much better than my 13 mini, but it's only slightly better at best. With the 13 mini and light use, I would typically end the day at 40-50% remaining. With the 15 Pro I'm running about the same with light use. On days when I use it more, I'm in the 20s - 30s. I thought it would be a phone that I could use as much as I wanted and not worry about getting through the day but that appears to not be the case. I'm guessing a part of the problem is the always on display, but that's one of the main reasons I got the phone.

I guess it goes in line with all the battery tests that show the base 15 lineup outperforming the pros, even though Apple's own battery numbers should be telling a different story. Still hoping it improves with a future software update. Other than that, and having to get used to the size and weight, I really do like it.

I've made the same switch and so far it's been a noticeable improvement, but not a massive jump. I am probably using the new phone more still, and I haven't turned off 120 Hz or AOD or really done anything to try to increase battery life. I usually leave it on the 80% limit setting because I left my 13 mini above 80% a lot when I first got it and I think that impacted battery health. Once I stopped charging past 80% unless it was overnight, my battery health stayed the same instead of dropping.

Certain apps are bad about using battery in the background, so I'd suggest you look at what consistently uses battery and try killing those apps when you're done using them. I do that with Facebook, and it has the added bonus of preventing them from spying on me (verified by no longer getting ads for brands I had never heard of before that someone talked about near me).

 

[gwang73]

Speaking of the NFL, I had Sports Alerts live updates on during MNF and boy oh boy did that drain the battery. Great feature but definitely not something you want to do when you're trying to conserve battery.

I love this feature. Try going into Settings-->Sports Alert-->Live Activities and turn off More frequent updates. I don't feel that this is that much of a battery sucker with this option turned off.

 

[bbates123]

I love this feature. Try going into Settings-->Sports Alert-->Live Activities and turn off More frequent updates. I don't feel that this is that much of a battery sucker with this option turned off.

Good tip, thanks!

 

[ISignedUpToAskThis]

Weird - I went from a 13 mini to a 15 Pro and completely agree.

13 mini battery used to last me all day.

Not noticing much difference really with the 15 Pro.

 

[SakManDoo]

My coworker got his 15pro a couple of weeks ago, and all he does is complain about the terrible battery life.

 

[bbates123]

Weird - I went from a 13 mini to a 15 Pro and completely agree.

13 mini battery used to last me all day.

Not noticing much difference really with the 15 Pro.

And I'm guessing like me, you probably thought it would be way noticeably better. Here it is again, 6:30pm, and after 12 hours off the charger with very light use I'm at 50% again.

 

[bbates123]

Here's today's numbers. The top 3 apps are me surfing news stories for about 45 min or so, at least 30 min of that time on cellular.

 

[Apple_Robert]

OP,
You still have enough battery to get through the day and you are still complaining because you still have to charge the phone like you did the 13 mini? The problem (in my opinion) is your expectation of the 15 Pro battery. There is nothing wrong with your phone.

I went from a 13 mini to the 14 Pro to the 15 Pro and haven't had a problem. I charge my phone to 80% and most of the time I have only used about 40-50% at the end of the day.

 

[bbates123]

OP,
You still have enough battery to get through the day and you are still complaining because you still have to charge the phone like you did the 13 mini? The problem (in my opinion) is your expectation of the 15 Pro battery. There is nothing wrong with your phone.

I went from a 13 mini to the 14 Pro to the 15 Pro and haven't had a problem. I charge my phone to 80% and most of the time I have only used about 40-50% at the end of the day.

Apple_Robert, big fan, as I recall that we both got our 12 minis at the same time and I recall that you were as excited as I was. As I recall, we both had issues with screen sensitivity that was later corrected with a firmware upgrade. Anyhow, I digress down memory lane...

Do I have enough battery life to get me through a day of very light use. Sure! Was I expecting the battery life to be much better than the 13 mini, of course! Who wouldn't? The mini's battery life was much maligned. Every review of the mini talked about how horrible the battery life was. Regardless, I thought this would be a phone where I didn't really have to worry so much about how much I used the phone in a day, and here I am consciously going to my MacBook when the iPhone would have been more convenient in the moment. So, yes, my apparently unrealistic expectations. First world problems and all with everything going on in the world, I'm merely expressing a strong surprise that the battery life is basically the same as the 13 mini when AOD and 120hz are on. I got by with the 13 mini and I will with this phone as well. For now, the benefits of the AOD outweigh the less than impressive battery life.

 

[bbates123]

Deleted duplicate post.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Apple_Robert, big fan, as I recall that we both got our 12 minis at the same time and I recall that you were as excited as I was. As I recall, we both had issues with screen sensitivity that was later corrected with a firmware upgrade. Anyhow, I digress down memory lane...

Do I have enough battery life to get me through a day of very light use. Sure! Was I expecting the battery life to be much better than the 13 mini, of course! Who wouldn't? The mini's battery life was much maligned. Every review of the mini talked about how horrible the battery life was. Regardless, I thought this would be a phone where I didn't really have to worry so much about how much I used the phone in a day, and here I am consciously going to my MacBook when the iPhone would have been more convenient in the moment. So, yes, my apparently unrealistic expectations. First world problems and all with everything going on in the world, I'm merely expressing a strong surprise that the battery life is basically the same as the 13 mini when AOD and 120hz are on. I got by with the 13 mini and I will with this phone as well. For now, the benefits of the AOD outweigh the less than impressive battery life.

Looking at your battery graph, I think you should consider using something besides Google. It is known to use more battery. I think it would make a difference. I would also look at your other apps. It very well could be some of them haven't been optimized for iOS 17 or they just use more battery driving the bigger display etc.

I still use my one of my 13 minis for work and when it gets used, it doesn't last as long as my 15 Pro. However, there are many days where both seem to go through battery. Speaking of the 15 Pro, I leave my AOD on though I have it off on my Ultra.

We aren't going to get the same type of battery usage we got from the 13 mini because of all the variables involved. The only way you will see a substantial battery difference is if you use the Apple Watch more versus the pihone or get the Pro max size phone.

13 mini battery - 2438 mAh
15 Pro battery - 3,274 mAh

 

[DesmoPilot]

For what it's worth I did the same 13 Mini>15 Pro upgrade and was underwhelmed by the battery for the first ~week (though mine wasn't as underwhelming as yours seems to be) before it got better. For that first week or so the 15 Pro seemed to end the day at 45-50% regardless of usage while my Mini would do 30-40%. Not bad by any stretch but a bit worse than what I had in mind (which was probably my fault anyway lol). It's gotten better now and similar usage sees my day ending in the high 50s, if I'm WFH I can get two days out of it ending the second day with 15-20%.

 

[bbates123]

Looking at your battery graph, I think you should consider using something besides Google. It is known to use more battery. I think it would make a difference. I would also look at your other apps. It very well could be some of them haven't been optimized for iOS 17 or they just use more battery driving the bigger display etc.

I still use my one of my 13 minis for work and when it gets used, it doesn't last as long as my 15 Pro. However, there are many days where both seem to go through battery. Speaking of the 15 Pro, I leave my AOD on though I have it off on my Ultra.

We aren't going to get the same type of battery usage we got from the 13 mini because of all the variables involved. The only way you will see a substantial battery difference is if you use the Apple Watch more versus the pihone or get the Pro max size phone.

13 mini battery - 2438 mAh
15 Pro battery - 3,274 mAh

Good advice, thank you.

 

[bbates123]

For what it's worth I did the same 13 Mini>15 Pro upgrade and was underwhelmed by the battery for the first ~week (though mine wasn't as underwhelming as yours seems to be) before it got better. For that first week or so the 15 Pro seemed to end the day at 45-50% regardless of usage while my Mini would do 30-40%. Not bad by any stretch but a bit worse than what I had in mind (which was probably my fault anyway lol). It's gotten better now and similar usage sees my day ending in the high 50s, if I'm WFH I can get two days out of it ending the second day with 15-20%.

Yeah, I'm hoping it will get even better with time. Have it set to load the release 17.1 tonight so we shall see.

 

[Al Rukh]

Yeah, I'm hoping it will get even better with time. Have it set to load the release 17.1 tonight so we shall see.

Would you consider swapping the 15 Pro to the 15PM?

 

[Nozuka]

Gonna do the 13mini -> 15pro switch today. Will be interesting to see how it goes for me.

Since i started taking the train to work (and use it more) i often get below 35%, which is when battery saver mode kicks in for me. Still get through the day, but would like to see a bigger safety margin.

 

[laszlo182]

2-ish hrs on 47% battery? Yeah that’s really bad.

Your GPS arrow in the upper left is solid… were you navigating while taking the screenshot? Do you have AirTags nearby?

Could be Apple ‘crowdsource beacon’ drain - that doesn’t show up in the batt graphs for obvious reasons:

Where did you find this? Would love to read more about this. Maps.app is using location on my iPhone sometimes several times a minute constantly all day without using it or widgets.
Also I would love to always be able to tell if a service/app is using a GPS location or just approximate geo location from other sources.

 

[snipr125]

Gonna do the 13mini -> 15pro switch today. Will be interesting to see how it goes for me.

Since i started taking the train to work (and use it more) i often get below 35%, which is when battery saver mode kicks in for me. Still get through the day, but would like to see a bigger safety margin.

Doing the same thing today at some point (natural titanium), although I'm keeping my 13 mini as my secondary phone.

 

[FeliApple]

OP,
You still have enough battery to get through the day and you are still complaining because you still have to charge the phone like you did the 13 mini? The problem (in my opinion) is your expectation of the 15 Pro battery. There is nothing wrong with your phone.

I went from a 13 mini to the 14 Pro to the 15 Pro and haven't had a problem. I charge my phone to 80% and most of the time I have only used about 40-50% at the end of the day.

I don’t think OP’s expectations are wrong. Look at the screenshot above your comment: 1.5 hours of SOT and 50%. My iPhone 5c on iOS 10 with 9 years and 60% health is better than that. I wouldn’t be happy with that battery life either.

 

[toobravetosave]

I generally assume it's an app's fault. seems a very large chunk of 3rd party apps just run phones hot and tank the batteries

 

[bbates123]

Would you consider swapping the 15 Pro to the 15PM?

No, coming from the mini the Pro is already more than I can bear size/weight-wise. If it wasn't for the always on and 120hz I'd probably be looking at a base 15.

 

[thatJohann]

I exchanged my 15 Pro for a regular 15 and it has much better battery life.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

My coworker got his 15pro a couple of weeks ago, and all he does is complain about the terrible battery life.

is it the same after 17.0.3 update ?​