Mystery of the battery overnight drain

[Peter Franks]

So still on my iPhone 14, charge every night before bed, never leave on at night, usually to 95% sometimes 100%.
Battery health is at 90 - 'Peak Performance'. Most nights, I'll listen to a podcast, but always turns off after 30 minutes.

Every morning, (used to be on occasion) the battery is at 5% or 10% from full charge.

What I don't understand is I"ve turned off 'background refresh', not individually, the whole lot, but there are still dozens of apps that show background activity in the battery list?

Any idea at all, other than turning the phone off, which I don't really want to do.

 

[russell_314]

So still on my iPhone 14, charge every night before bed, never leave on at night, usually to 95% sometimes 100%.
Battery health is at 90 - 'Peak Performance'. Most nights, I'll listen to a podcast, but always turns off after 30 minutes.

Every morning, (used to be on occasion) the battery is at 5% or 10% from full charge.

What I don't understand is I"ve turned off 'background refresh', not individually, the whole lot, but there are still dozens of apps that show background activity in the battery list?

Any idea at all, other than turning the phone off, which I don't really want to do.

Leave it plugged in. The iPhone is smart enough to complete the charge to 100% right before you need it. By charging it to 100% you’re actually wearing the battery faster than leaving it plugged in.

As to what’s draining 5%? Picking up cell signals and background processes. If it’s trying to connect to a weak cell signal that might cause some drain. You could try putting it on airplane mode if you’re insistent on charging it before you go to bed then leaving it unplugged

 

[Peter Franks]

Thanks RT

Leave it plugged in. The iPhone is smart enough to complete the charge to 100% right before you need it. By charging it to 100% you’re actually wearing the battery faster than leaving it plugged in.

As to what’s draining 5%? Picking up cell signals and background processes. If it’s trying to connect to a weak cell signal that might cause some drain. You could try putting it on airplane mode if you’re insistent on charging it before you go to bed then leaving it unplugged

Thanks Russell, not draining 5%, I wouldn't care about that. Battery charge is going from 100% to 5% by morning, nearly every night.
I can't leave plugged in as don't have the plug upstairs by bed, that's why I charge before I come up, Rarely to 100, only when I forget to take off at 80/90. Force closing all apps won't stop the background activity I suppose?
I'll try Airplane mode though

 

[russell_314]

Thanks RT

Thanks Russell, not draining 5%, I wouldn't care about that. Battery charge is going from 100% to 5% by morning, nearly every night.
I can't leave plugged in as don't have the plug upstairs by bed, that's why I charge before I come up, Rarely to 100, only when I forget to take off at 80/90. Force closing all apps won't stop the background activity I suppose?
I'll try Airplane mode though

Wow, draining down to 5% is definitely terrible. Try airplane mode because I’ve heard of cases where bad cellular reception made the radios work overtime.

 

[Peter Franks]

Wow, draining down to 5% is definitely terrible. Try airplane mode because I’ve heard of cases where bad cellular reception made the radios work overtime.

Funny you should say that, In the battery list under Phone, it does say 'low signal'.
I wonder how accurate the battery health percentage is now though. It says peak and at 90% but I'm not convinced? The 14 is a good few years old now. But going from fully charged to 5% overnight is something very fishy

 

[russell_314]

Funny you should say that, In the battery list under Phone, it does say 'low signal'.
I wonder how accurate the battery health percentage is now though. It says peak and at 90% but I'm not convinced? The 14 is a good few years old now. But going from fully charged to 5% overnight is something very fishy

My 14 Pro Max battery health is at 89% and my phone battery doesn’t die that quickly. I don’t think the battery health percentage actually describes the status of the battery properly to most people. People see their phones at 100% for six months and think their battery is just as good as new. That’s scientifically impossible. The moment you charge and discharge your battery one time it has worn. Slightly but it has worn and it’s not at 100%. I think it’s just using some algorithm to determine the capacity of the battery versus the specification, it should be at. So if your battery was supposed to hold 3000 mAh and new it holds 3110 mAh it’s going to say 100% up till it drops below the 3000. Also below 80% is considered needs replacement. In what kind of system is 80% need replacement? 😂

Have you tried airplane mode? I think that’s the only way to confirm what draining your battery.

 

[Peter Franks]

My 14 Pro Max battery health is at 89% and my phone battery doesn’t die that quickly. I don’t think the battery health percentage actually describes the status of the battery properly to most people. People see their phones at 100% for six months and think their battery is just as good as new. That’s scientifically impossible. The moment you charge and discharge your battery one time it has worn. Slightly but it has worn and it’s not at 100%. I think it’s just using some algorithm to determine the capacity of the battery versus the specification, it should be at. So if your battery was supposed to hold 3000 mAh and new it holds 3110 mAh it’s going to say 100% up till it drops below the 3000. Also below 80% is considered needs replacement. In what kind of system is 80% need replacement? 😂

Have you tried airplane mode? I think that’s the only way to confirm what draining your battery.

It's mad in 2025 there are still battery problems. My whole life is spent charging my iPhone, MBP, iPad... In this day and age, there should be batteries that last a few days! The only reason I won't buy an Apple watch is because I can't stomach another thing to charge, iPhone, iPad and laptop every day is enough. But yeh, I get what you're saying, and you'd think they'd invent a longer lasting battery by now. I've not done airplane yet, but will. Thanks again

 

[Bichon]

It's mad in 2025 there are still battery problems. My whole life is spent charging my iPhone, MBP, iPad... In this day and age, there should be batteries that last a few days! The only reason I won't buy an Apple watch is because I can't stomach another thing to charge, iPhone, iPad and laptop every day is enough. But yeh, I get what you're saying, and you'd think they'd invent a longer lasting battery by now. I've not done airplane yet, but will. Thanks again

Part of the problem is Apple's obsession with making their devices as thin as possible. I guess their market research shows that a thinner phone will outsell a thicker one with longer battery life, even though those aren't my priorities.

 

[smirking]

Part of the problem is Apple's obsession with making their devices as thin as possible. I guess their market research shows that a thinner phone will outsell a thicker one with longer battery life, even though those aren't my priorities.

All true, but I don't think thinness has anything to do with the OP's battery drainage problem from 95% to 5% overnight.

A larger battery might leave the OP with 45% instead of 5%, but it would still be just as problematic because a battery being run that hard every single night is going to degrade way ahead of schedule.

 

[Bichon]

All true, but I don't think thinness has anything to do with the OP's battery drainage problem from 95% to 5% overnight.

A larger battery might leave the OP with 45% instead of 5%, but it would still be just as problematic because a battery being run that hard every single night is going to degrade way ahead of schedule.

I was addressing his comment about battery technology, not his drainage problem. My suggestion for the rapid drainage problem, if a poor cellular signal is determined to be the cause and he's not willing to simply leave it on the charger overnight, turn off the phone, put it in airplane mode, etc., would be to buy a femtocell extender from his wireless carrier.

 

[smirking]

I was addressing his comment about battery technology, not his drainage problem. My suggestion for the rapid drainage problem, if a poor cellular signal is determined to be the cause and he's not willing to simply leave it on the charger overnight, turn off the phone, put it in airplane mode, etc., would be to buy a femtocell extender from his wireless carrier.

Oh gotcha.

 

[russell_314]

It's mad in 2025 there are still battery problems. My whole life is spent charging my iPhone, MBP, iPad... In this day and age, there should be batteries that last a few days! The only reason I won't buy an Apple watch is because I can't stomach another thing to charge, iPhone, iPad and laptop every day is enough. But yeh, I get what you're saying, and you'd think they'd invent a longer lasting battery by now. I've not done airplane yet, but will. Thanks again

Battery technology is improving, but like everything it’s slow. Why are you spending any time charging devices? Most battery powered devices in 2025 have a battery management system where you can charge them unattended. Just plug in the device when you’re not using it.

If you don’t have power where you’re staying then it’s a pain because you will be spending time taking your devices somewhere to charge. Perhaps that’s your scenario and it’s not a great one. If I was in that scenario, I would consider a portable power station made by Anker or another reputable company. You don’t want to go cheap with that because cheap can sometimes mean dangerous. With that you can plug it in during the daytime to charge it then take it home at night. Of course you still need a secure place to plug it in during the day so if you don’t have any way to leave it unattended then it’s not going to help.

Maybe one day we’ll have some type of nuclear powered cell that never needs recharging. Our phones will just keep going forever.