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Dj64Mk7

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 15, 2013
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  • Hi! Just got my 7 Plus on Tuesday. I'm on iOS 10.2 beta 7 (14C92), and I'm dealing with not so stellar battery life. See attached.
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What's the issue exactly? Seems like you have almost 3 hours of usage and still something like 75% of the battery left.
 
  • Hi! Just got my 7 Plus on Tuesday. I'm on iOS 10.2 beta 7 (14C92), and I'm dealing with not so stellar battery life. See attached.

There seems to be nothing wrong with your battery life, you seem to have very high background usage though.
 
Background App Refresh is turned off though.

Background Refresh does not have anything to deal with apps running in the background.

Background Refresh = Refreshes apps that are closed so they are ready to go when you open them.
Background activity = Apps that are open in the background (not closed from app switcher menu) that are still working in the background.

Your battery stats clearly state background activity, that means the apps are working even if the phone was off. If you closed those apps out when you were finished, you would not see background activity.
 
Background Refresh does not have anything to deal with apps running in the background.

Background Refresh = Refreshes apps that are closed so they are ready to go when you open them.
Background activity = Apps that are open in the background (not closed from app switcher menu) that are still working in the background.

Your battery stats clearly state background activity, that means the apps are working even if the phone was off. If you closed those apps out when you were finished, you would not see background activity.
What kind of background activity would mail do? I turned push off.
 
What kind of background activity would mail do? I turned push off.

Leaving the app open in your background, without closing it out will still allow mail to run and possible refresh. Leaving any app open in the background leaves room for potential background usage. Now with that being said, some apps in the background are okay. If you are constantly using mail, leaving it in the background will use less power than opening and closing as you go. But leaving maps open in the background is a bad idea because that will continuously search for you GPS location. So that is one you should probably close out. As you use your device you notice what uses background power and to what extent. Youtube is another one, if you aren't constantly using it, then close it because it will continue to run in the background.
 
Leaving the app open in your background, without closing it out will still allow mail to run and possible refresh. Leaving any app open in the background leaves room for potential background usage. Now with that being said, some apps in the background are okay. If you are constantly using mail, leaving it in the background will use less power than opening and closing as you go. But leaving maps open in the background is a bad idea because that will continuously search for you GPS location. So that is one you should probably close out. As you use your device you notice what uses background power and to what extent. Youtube is another one, if you aren't constantly using it, then close it because it will continue to run in the background.

When I look now, it says mail has 1 min on screen and 4 min in the background. Why would there be so much background activity?
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Man Chatous is really killing your battery. That is a lot of background activity.

It says 2 min background.
 
When I look now, it says mail has 1 min on screen and 4 min in the background. Why would there be so much background activity?

The app must be updating in the background. Whether its refreshing your inbox or something is stuck in a different folder that is causing usage. The app itself is open so it cannot be 100% idle.
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When I look now, it says mail has 1 min on screen and 4 min in the background. Why would there be so much background activity?
[doublepost=1481225778][/doublepost]

It says 2 min background.

Yes but what is it doing in those two minutes, if its using location services, 2 minutes of that can consume a lot of power!
 
Background Refresh does not have anything to deal with apps running in the background.

Background Refresh = Refreshes apps that are closed so they are ready to go when you open them.
Background activity = Apps that are open in the background (not closed from app switcher menu) that are still working in the background.

Your battery stats clearly state background activity, that means the apps are working even if the phone was off. If you closed those apps out when you were finished, you would not see background activity.
To be fair, background refresh can allow an app to run in the background at various times to perform refresh actions and the like, and that would typically be counted as part of background time. It's just that it's but one aspect of things that apply to apps running in the background. As I recall, background refresh might not apply to apps that have been actually closed (or haven't been run and are just in suspended state), as Apple mentions at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202070 (toward the bottom of the page).
 
To be fair, background refresh can allow an app to run in the background at various times to perform refresh actions and the like, and that would typically be counted as part of background time. It's just that it's but one aspect of things that apply to apps running in the background.

Correct, but I'm just trying to show the difference. Refresh is for known for when the app is closed while activity is when the app is running in the background.
 
I use that app (Chatous) very often, though, so is it efficient to push it out of memory every time I'm done using it?

As far as mail goes, would fetch still work, even with the app out of memory?
 
I use that app (Chatous) very often, though, so is it efficient to push it out of memory every time I'm done using it?

As far as mail goes, would fetch still work, even with the app out of memory?
Yes, fetch and push work whether or not the app is running or has been opened at some point before (and is just suspended).
 
Yes, fetch and push work whether or not the app is running or has been opened at some point before (and is just suspended).

Great, thanks.
That, however, doesn't answer my first question...
 
Great, thanks.
That, however, doesn't answer my first question...
It's up to you to close it or not, but if you are using it often it might not be the best thing to do, maybe when you know you might not use it for a bit. Perhaps there are some settings within the app to minimize usage, perhaps disabling access to location services (or only having it allowed while the app is actually in use), or something similar? In any case, it doesn't really seem like your battery usage is bad or anything, despite the app being responsible for a good portion of the battery usage (which might simply be a reflection of how often you use it and not that it's doing too much in the background or anything like that).
 
I usually kill all my apps in the background (and do not anything running in Background App Refresh), but I am still experiencing the rapid battery drain on my new 7+. Not sure where I saw it in my researching this morning, but shutting off iMessage completely seems to have slowed the drain down a little bit. I will keep an eye on that as the afternoon progresses.

Apple ran a diagnostic over the phone and said it's possible there's a software issue; they want me to do a complete restore tonight. If I am still experiencing this tomorrow morning, back this phone goes (there are other reasons too (personal choice).

UPDATE: second diagnostic run tonight and according to this Senior Apple rep, the battery is great (3 cycles, 102%)... so he is also thinking it is software related. Mine is going back some time in the next 3 days as the home button freeze issue also happened while on that call.
 
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Did a restore and upgrade from 10.1.1 to 10.2.

How does this look?

Should I be concerned that usage is the exact same as standby?
 

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Yes. Something is stuck and not letting your phone sleep. I had this with Pacer and the phone was dead in 7 hours. Uninstalled it and was instantly better.

Restore and set up as new phone. Install apps one at a time until you find problem.
 
I restored the phone from a backup. Battery life with Bluetooth disabled is fantastic.Testing with my Watch connected today.
 
[...] Youtube is another one, if you aren't constantly using it, then close it because it will continue to run in the background.

I noticed this as well. That kind of background activity should be illegal...

[...] Apple ran a diagnostic over the phone and said it's possible there's a software issue; they want me to do a complete restore tonight. If I am still experiencing this tomorrow morning, back this phone goes (there are other reasons too (personal choice).

UPDATE: second diagnostic run tonight and according to this Senior Apple rep, the battery is great (3 cycles, 102%)... so he is also thinking it is software related. Mine is going back some time in the next 3 days as the home button freeze issue also happened while on that call.

Stupid question: Did you have to go to an Apple Store or how are they able to run a diagnostic over the phone?
 
I noticed this as well. That kind of background activity should be illegal...


Stupid question: Did you have to go to an Apple Store or how are they able to run a diagnostic over the phone?

never a stupid question, it was done over the phone. The Senior AC+ rep ran the diagnostic while we were talking. Said my battery was perfect (102% on 3 charges), so I suspect this was iOS 10 not playing nice even after a DFU.
 
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