Is the battery life of the iPhone 6 THIS HORRIBLE on iOS 9?

[Radon87000]

I am running iOS 9.3 on my iPhone 6 and my battery life has gotten so bad to the point of me having to charge my phone thrice a day just to get by.My usage is moderate with probably an hour of Apple Music,an hour or so of gaming and some web browsing.On iOS 8.4.1 my iPhone only needed to be charged twice a day.Is there something wrong with my iPhone?My Nexus 5 on Android Marshmallow is starting to last longer than the iPhone 6

The above is after I charged my phone twice till 90% and yet it's already down to 40

 

[adnbek]

Tap the clock above the percentages to display app running time and background time and repost

 

[Polaroid]

Yah mines aweful too! Thought 6S+ battery was meant to be good...

 

[C DM]

Attached is an example of what it's like for me on my iPhone 6 with iOS 9.2.1--although it's been about the same with previous iOS 9 and 8 versions--around 50% (simply going down from 100% without any additional charges) on a perhaps slightly above average day in this particular instance. Seems like pretty much the opposite of anything horrible.

 

[bushido]

that looks like amazing battery life to me lol. nearly 7h of usage and still 40% remaining? i never get more than 7 hours of usage in total and never had on any iPhone i ever owned

 

[NoBoMac]

As I mentioned in this thread, seeing it too as of 9.2. And basically seeing random swings. For example, yesterday, phone pretty much sat idle for all day when off charger (only one check of e-mails and stopped into one website) and battery meter went from 98% to ~75%. Plugged it in until 100%. Off charger, played podcasts over the speaker for 3-4 hours, battery meter dropped to about 90%. Plugged back in about an hour ago, meter dropped to 62%.

I just don't trust any meter readings with this OS. Overall, seem to get normal battery life/usage, just that meter never reads correctly. Unfortunately, do to the wild swings re: when plugging in to a charger, the phone can plummet into red-zone, thinking almost dead, and will shut itself down, even though suspect I have still plenty of juice available.

At this point, plug in to a charge as much as possible, to keep from system thinking the battery is getting too low.

 

[oMc]

"iPhone has been plugged in since the last full charge".

So basically your screenshots are useless for us. Try again from 100% to like 50% to get a precise idea of your battery life.

 

[Yun0]

no its not that horrible my 1.5 year old iphone 6 battery battery is still fine around 8.5hrs till dead without use of low power mode. ur gaming on it, dont expect battery life when gaming, use low power mode when doing that if the game fps is unaffected.

u also didnt mention other relevant settings like

background app refresh? is that filled to the top with 25 apps enabled?
is bluetooth on even if u dont use it?
is the phone constantly switching between 3g/lte from crap coverage?
wifi on or are u one of those that likes to toggle it on/off alot?
do u always manually force close all apps everytime ur done with them?
auto brightness or manual? if manual at what setting?
use night mode all the time?
have apps that constantly use ur location even when not using them (regardless of background app refresh)? change as many to "while using" as possible

 

[stevemiller]

almost positive this is 9.3 beta issue.

i have it on my iPad 3 through all the betas. it drains almost entirely on standby in about a week. before the beta, i could get well over a month of standby, even with a reasonable intermittent usage throughout, so i don't think its the battery itself.

also the per-app usage metrics have been broken on 9.3, even after a full settings reset, so its tough to troubleshoot. it claims 50 hrs of "usage", but i'd be surprised if even 1-2 hr of that has been screen-on time, so some process is stuck running nonstop. i've rebooted and closed all apps from the app switcher and the relatively rapid drain continues.

i'd all but given up that they'd even bother fixing older generation hardware, but if its happening on a 6, it means there might be some hope that they'd bother fixing it.

 

[flori13]

I never get more than 4h of light usage on my iPhone 6 with the latest iOS 9.3 beta 5.

actually, 7hours would be amazing for me

 

[C DM]

I never get more than 4h of light usage on my iPhone 6 with the latest iOS 9.3 beta 5.

actually, 7hours would be amazing for me

That seems strange for light usage. For heavy usage I can perhaps see that sometimes. But the average for many has been in the 6 hour range or so, with lighter usage allowing for more.

 

[Jimrod]

This build seems to be a mess battery-wise. My iPhone 6 shut off at 23% today, tried to power up and had the "insert power" symbol, tried later (was out playing golf) and it briefly powered-up then shut down, tried one more time when I got in and it powered up fine at 20% and continued as normal...

 

[lagwagon]

I am running iOS 9.3 on my iPhone 6 and my battery life has gotten so bad to the point of me having to charge my phone thrice a day just to get by.My usage is moderate with probably an hour of Apple Music,an hour or so of gaming and some web browsing.On iOS 8.4.1 my iPhone only needed to be charged twice a day.Is there something wrong with my iPhone?My Nexus 5 on Android Marshmallow is starting to last longer than the iPhone 6

The above is after I charged my phone twice till 90% and yet it's already down to 40

Hold up. Didn't you claim in another thread a little while back that you get only 4 hours of battery life? Oh yeah, here it is https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-7-higher-res-display.1957365/page-7#post-22607793

It looks to me by your screenshots you're getting a lot more than 4 hours. (Almost 7 hours usage with 40% left)

There is nothing wrong with your battery life at all. You can't have personal hotspot as second on the list and expect more than what is considered above average battery life. Using your phone as a hotspot takes a lot of juice. You also mention gaming, which really uses up battery because the high CPU and GPU activity.

 

[ipooed]

I am running iOS 9.3 on my iPhone 6 and my battery life has gotten so bad to the point of me having to charge my phone thrice a day just to get by.My usage is moderate with probably an hour of Apple Music,an hour or so of gaming and some web browsing.On iOS 8.4.1 my iPhone only needed to be charged twice a day.Is there something wrong with my iPhone?My Nexus 5 on Android Marshmallow is starting to last longer than the iPhone 6

The above is after I charged my phone twice till 90% and yet it's already down to 40

That's awesome battery life for a 6, I have a 6s plus and only get 7hrs usage until I reach 20% and that's with almost everything turned off I.e. Location, Bluetooth, background app refresh, 3D Touch, etc etc... I only got 5hrs max on my 6s (before trading it in for a 6s plus)

 

[Paddle1]

Hold up. Didn't you claim in another thread a little while back that you get only 4 hours of battery life? Oh yeah, here it is https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-7-higher-res-display.1957365/page-7#post-22607793

It looks to me by your screenshots you're getting a lot more than 4 hours. (Almost 7 hours usage with 40% left)

There is nothing wrong with your battery life at all. You can't have personal hotspot as second on the list and expect more than what is considered above average battery life. Using your phone as a hotspot takes a lot of juice. You also mention gaming, which really uses up battery because the high CPU and GPU activity.

It says "iPhone has been plugged in since the last full charge" so you can't really tell anything from those pictures necessarily.

 

[flori13]

That seems strange for light usage. For heavy usage I can perhaps see that sometimes. But the average for many has been in the 6 hour range or so, with lighter usage allowing for more.

yeah I know, I am very disappointed with the battery life. Unfortunately, this is not 9.3 beta only, I have tested it over 2 weeks with 9.2(.1), - same results.
Coconut battery shows me that the design capacity of the battery is just at 74% after 475 load cycles.
I am very familiar with iOS, so I turned off literally any feature that would cost battery. Always low power mode on, reduce motion, more contrast, no background refresh, ca. 33% screen brightness, no facebook app etc.

At this point it is really a mess. After owning the iPhone 3G, 4, and 5, I am (by far) the most dissatisfied with any iPhone.
I am rooting for the iPhone SE.

 

[Radon87000]

no its not that horrible my 1.5 year old iphone 6 battery battery is still fine around 8.5hrs till dead without use of low power mode. ur gaming on it, dont expect battery life when gaming, use low power mode when doing that if the game fps is unaffected.

u also didnt mention other relevant settings like

background app refresh? is that filled to the top with 25 apps enabled?
is bluetooth on even if u dont use it?
is the phone constantly switching between 3g/lte from crap coverage?
wifi on or are u one of those that likes to toggle it on/off alot?
do u always manually force close all apps everytime ur done with them?
auto brightness or manual? if manual at what setting?
use night mode all the time?
have apps that constantly use ur location even when not using them (regardless of background app refresh)? change as many to "while using" as possible

Background App Refresh is enabled for FlipBoard,Mail,Play News Stand,Google Maps,Facebook and Twitter.Rest is disabled
Bluetooth is off
No.I am mostly on WiFi most of the day.I am on LTE around 3-5 hours though
Yes.I always force close all my apps when I am done with them
Auto Brightness
Night Mode is on Auto enable
No

I never get more than 4h of light usage on my iPhone 6 with the latest iOS 9.3 beta 5.

actually, 7hours would be amazing for me

I have had the same experience as well.I can deplete this battery in 3 hours with heavy usage EASILY

Hold up. Didn't you claim in another thread a little while back that you get only 4 hours of battery life? Oh yeah, here it is https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-7-higher-res-display.1957365/page-7#post-22607793

It looks to me by your screenshots you're getting a lot more than 4 hours. (Almost 7 hours usage with 40% left)

There is nothing wrong with your battery life at all. You can't have personal hotspot as second on the list and expect more than what is considered above average battery life. Using your phone as a hotspot takes a lot of juice. You also mention gaming, which really uses up battery because the high CPU and GPU activity.

You accuse me constantly of not reading what I quote yet you didnt read my OP.I specifically stated that 7 hours was after I charged it twice to 90% and put it on the plug at 20%.If I do heavy gaming the battery would be toast after 2 hours or so

I was using the hotspot for 3 hours for connecting to my MacBook.It shouldnt be that much battery draining

 

[robstunner]

5 hours of usage time on a 10+ hour standby? Yea good luck finding another phone that will beat that in the Android market. Stop using your phone so much.
Your battery life is great and even the newest Android phones would struggle to even come close (I'm writing this from my Android phone and I'm at 15 minutes of "usage" time at 94%).

 

[Max(IT)]

a useless screenshot and another ranting about the iPhone....

On my iPhone 6 I used to have no less than 6 hours of usage (best case: 8 hours) with iOS 9.2.1
With my actual 6S the situation is even slightly better (7 hours average, 9 best).
Have your checked: must be defective

 

[CalmEnvy]

My iPhone has been off the charger since 6:30am yesterday. Safari has about 1.5 hrs on screen. Currently running iOS 9.2

 

[C DM]

My iPhone has been off the charger since 6:30am yesterday. Safari has about 1.5 hrs on screen. Currently running iOS 9.2

That's an iPhone 6?

 

[lagwagon]

You accuse me constantly of not reading what I quote yet you didnt read my OP.I specifically stated that 7 hours was after I charged it twice to 90% and put it on the plug at 20%.If I do heavy gaming the battery would be toast after 2 hours or so

I was using the hotspot for 3 hours for connecting to my MacBook.It shouldnt be that much battery draining

I was just testing to see if you were reading.

Hotspot does and will use battery. Constant network activity (3 hour hours in and out tragic from your MacBook) can chew up quite a bit of battery.

 

[Yun0]

Background App Refresh is enabled for FlipBoard,Mail,Play News Stand,Google Maps,Facebook and Twitter.Rest is disabled
Bluetooth is off
No.I am mostly on WiFi most of the day.I am on LTE around 3-5 hours though
Yes.I always force close all my apps when I am done with them
Auto Brightness
Night Mode is on Auto enable
No



I have had the same experience as well.I can deplete this battery in 3 hours with heavy usage EASILY



You accuse me constantly of not reading what I quote yet you didnt read my OP.I specifically stated that 7 hours was after I charged it twice to 90% and put it on the plug at 20%.If I do heavy gaming the battery would be toast after 2 hours or so

I was using the hotspot for 3 hours for connecting to my MacBook.It shouldnt be that much battery draining

turn off app refresh for facebook, twitter, google maps. or at least test it temporary if u cant live with the couple second wait at their launch to refresh manually. stop force closing apps. they have to load up again when used, that loading takes power (and time). 3-5hrs of cell usage is a battery sucker, cell usage period is.

 

[CalmEnvy]

That's an iPhone 6?

Yes, I've usually always had between 7-9 hrs of usage with my iPhones. However I just recently got it and seem to only have to charge the phone so far every 1 & 1/2 days.

For example I charged the phone today from about 4% to 32% and had to leave the house. Have no car charger and this is what my battery has been like since about 6:30am yesterday with only a small charge.

 

[lagwagon]

turn off app refresh for facebook, twitter, google maps. or at least test it temporary if u cant live with the couple second wait at their launch to refresh manually. stop force closing apps. they have to load up again when used, that loading takes power (and time). 3-5hrs of cell usage is a battery sucker, cell usage period is.

Closing apps and having to load apps again vs apps left in the switcher and not having to fully load depends on how long it's been since you've last used the app, how many apps you've used inbetween wanting to launch it again. Left long enough or using enough other things can kick the older app out of RAM and have to load again. Making zero difference between either method of it's not something you open often enough.

Personally I'd rather trust that a completely closed app can never cause battery issues. No software is 100% and does everything it should 100% of the time. There will always be the chance iOS doesn't end an app properly or an app gets stuck trying to suspend.

Not allowing that possibility to happen, to me mostly gets rid of "oh hey, my battery is draining quick somehow" noticing too late when the battery has already drained a bunch of percent. Preemptive not reactionary is how I see it. I never have mystery drains or bad battery life as a result.