iPad Pro Poor Battery Life 12.9 5th Gen iPad Pro

[dawnrazor]

Bought my 5th Gen 12.9 iPad Pro when it was released… so Apr 2021 and I use it a lot for every day tasks, internet, emails, YT, some gaming. Lately I’ve noticed the battery depletes much faster than I‘m used to say while I’m watching some You tube videos, I’m having to charge it more than once during the day. Which all leads me to believe that the battery might be past it’s best…

Has anyone come across this and had their battery replaced? Is it worth the risk and expense…?

I downloaded iMazing onto my computer and that tells me that the battery health of the iPad is 88% and Average…

Which is better then I was expecting and not terribly reflective of the fast battery loss I’m experiencing…

I guess I’ll start turning stuff off and see if that makes a difference…

 

[Rradcircless]

I too have noticed pretty miserable battery life on my iPad of the same make. I only get about three hours out of Procreate with a bit of internet browsing on the side. I wish there was battery health information on iPad like there is iPhone.

 

[blkjedi954]

Bought my 5th Gen 12.9 iPad Pro when it was released… so Apr 2021 and I use it a lot for every day tasks, internet, emails, YT, some gaming. Lately I’ve noticed the battery depletes much faster than I‘m used to say while I’m watching some You tube videos, I’m having to charge it more than once during the day. Which all leads me to believe that the battery might be past it’s best…

Has anyone come across this and had their battery replaced? Is it worth the risk and expense…?

I downloaded iMazing onto my computer and that tells me that the battery health of the iPad is 88% and Average…

Which is better then I was expecting and not terribly reflective of the fast battery loss I’m experiencing…

I guess I’ll start turning stuff off and see if that makes a difference…

From the beginning the M1 12.9 iPad has been known for not so great battery life compared to its predecessor. Mind you, not by Apple’s claim, but real world usage. See this thread from 2021:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ipad-pro-12-9-2021-poor-battery-life.2303046/

 

[dawnrazor]

For me it’s only been recently that I’ve noticed the fall off in battery longevity. I think I’ll run it down to 5% and give it a full charge cycle a few times and see if that exercises the battery a bit… Having looked into getting a replacement battery installed… It does not seem worth the risk or expense as it’s not a straightforward job even for a professional technician. The annoying thing is that the M1 iPad Pro really ticks all the boxes I need it to, I don‘t want to upgrade anytime soon… but if the battery health falls any further then thats going to be an issue…

 

[NastyMatt]

Have you checked your screen brightness? I have found adjusting it slightly down (2% say) has an effect. Obviously the lower the brightness the longer the battery will last so get it to a place that is comfortable but as low as you can go.

 

[JulianL]

I have the same unit bought on launch day. That was a long time ago so I can't remember exactly but I don't think I was ever particularly impressed with the battery life. I can say though that for at least the last year I've been extremely disappointed with the battery life. I mostly use it permanently plugged in now because it I unplug it it won't last a whole evening (I'm a terrible sofa-surfer while watching (or should I say mostly ignoring) TV.

I plan to go back to an 11" pro on Apple's next iPad Pro refresh. In fact I hardly ever venture into the iPad sections of the forums and the only reason I came here now was to have a look at what the rumour mill is saying about when and what to expect re the next iPad Pro update because I really am pretty sick of my 12.9" model. (I also find it too big and heavy and for the sort of stuff I do the difference between an 11" and a 12.9" screen really isn't as noticeable as I was hoping when I first made the move up from my previous 11" model.)

 

[PegasusTenma]

My iPad is giving me 8 hours of heavy use. Same model. I am okay with that number. Were we expecting more?

 

[msackey]

I too have noticed pretty miserable battery life on my iPad of the same make. I only get about three hours out of Procreate with a bit of internet browsing on the side. I wish there was battery health information on iPad like there is iPhone.

I wish there were a battery health monitoring function at the consumer level too.

However, there is a way to get it without buying additional software. Start an iMessage chat with Apple Support and ask them to run a diagnostic test for you. I've done it many times with them. They can do it remotely.

 

[sracer]

I recommend using this method for checking the battery health on an iPad:

Your iPad has a hidden battery health feature — here’s how to check it

Apple hasn't given iPads a Battery Health feature yet — but this is how you can check anyway

www.tomsguide.com

 

[FeliApple]

It’s definitely not battery health. An iPad’s battery life won’t degrade in two years even if updated. It’s most likely usage. Try the basics first: how high is brightness? Overall settings? Gaming can be heavy on the battery.

Battery health takes years to degrade on iPads, and it never matters. If updated far enough, the culprit is software updates, if not updated battery life won’t degrade. A two-year-old iPad is fine.

Also, newer iPads struggle with heavy usage, like other users mentioned above. Even when new and on their original iOS versions.

 

[Digitalguy]

It’s definitely not battery health. An iPad’s battery life won’t degrade in two years even if updated. It’s most likely usage. Try the basics first: how high is brightness? Overall settings? Gaming can be heavy on the battery.

Battery health takes years to degrade on iPads, and it never matters. If updated far enough, the culprit is software updates, if not updated battery life won’t degrade. A two-year-old iPad is fine.

Also, newer iPads struggle with heavy usage, like other users mentioned above. Even when new and on their original iOS versions.

I (kind of) disagree... (as you know). Even a 1 year old iPad can have a very degraded battery health if treated poorly (e.g. left dead for months), which is probably not the case here however. So what you say is true with proper (or at least "normal") use.
Updates can impact stand-by time more than battery life itself in my experience (although in the long run this will slowly wear the battery more). However that's not always the case, sometimes updates actually improve standby time and have no negative impact on battery life, but it's a lottery.
But the assumption that the original OS has the best battery life / standby time is not true in my experience, as it is not true that OS updates always make things worse (although this has been the case in some instances, but the changes have been very minor most of the time).
Having said that my 12.9 M1 iPad, on the current iPadOS version is the one with the best standby time, much better than my 2018 11" pro and even than my 2018 12.9 which is on iPadOS 15 and has over 100% battery health (the other 2 have around 95).

 

[Johnny365]

There's my iPad Pro 5th Gen stats from launch day 2021.

 

[FeliApple]

I (kind of) disagree... (as you know). Even a 1 year old iPad can have a very degraded battery health if treated poorly (e.g. left dead for months), which is probably not the case here however. So what you say is true with proper (or at least "normal") use.
Updates can impact stand-by time more than battery life itself in my experience (although in the long run this will slowly wear the battery more). However that's not always the case, sometimes updates actually improve standby time and have no negative impact on battery life, but it's a lottery.
But the assumption that the original OS has the best battery life / standby time is not true in my experience, as it is not true that OS updates always make things worse (although this has been the case in some instances, but the changes have been very minor most of the time).
Having said that my 12.9 M1 iPad, on the current iPadOS version is the one with the best standby time, much better than my 2018 11" pro and even than my 2018 12.9 which is on iPadOS 15 and has over 100% battery health (the other 2 have around 95).

I’m not sure a one-year-old iPad can be degraded, but regardless, the iPad should be used in outstandingly poor conditions in order to suffer that quickly. I mean, I haven’t tried it obviously, but it would be interesting to see. Use an iPad on its original iOS version for 1 year in extremely hot environments with no care. I don’t know how that would turn out, but the key point is, you need extraordinarily poor conditions for any iPad on its original iOS version to suffer. Give it a little care, and it will be fine for a massively long time.

The original version does have the best battery life, always, and while updates can be harmless, they’re typically on the device’s first major version. The second is already pushing it. Sure, at first it can be minor (a two-year-old iPad won’t be obliterated by iOS updates, not that quickly).

Note that I am not talking about point updates, those can improve relative to older point versions of the same major versions.

Exclude extraordinarily poor treatment and conditions, and an iPad on its original iOS version with normal use should be fine... forever in iPad terms. And by this I mean, until the iOS version is too obsolete to be used. I’m sure they’ll still work for something though. An iPad Air 2 on iOS 8 would probably work for video streaming like YouTube and Netflix just fine, with very good battery life. Yes, practically nothing else would work, but the iOS version will be mostly obsolete before the battery suffers if kept on the original iOS version and treated “kindly”.

Still, I admit that I have one thing I need to know about this aspect: with very heavy usage throughout many years, how would an iPad fare, even if not updated? How would an iPad Air 2 on iOS 8, with proper care (avoiding heat and not doing something like keeping it plugged in 24/7), fare after 10 years and, say, 2500 cycles? I don’t know, because nobody does that. All I can say is, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were very decent. Nobody can prove that because older devices are all updated which excludes them from any serious consideration.

I’m not a heavy user and my oldest iPad has sadly been forced out of its original version (honestly, screw Apple for that abhorrent bug), but my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12, 7 years after purchase and 4 years after being forced out... has the exact same battery life it had when it was originally forced out of iOS 9 back in September 2019, which means, it would probably have the same battery life if it were on iOS 9 (which again, it would be barring Apple’s pathetic bug).

 

[FeliApple]

There's my iPad Pro 5th Gen stats from launch day 2021.

92%, decent. Do you have the stats for your 10.5-inch iPad Pro?

 

[Digitalguy]

I’m not sure a one-year-old iPad can be degraded, but regardless, the iPad should be used in outstandingly poor conditions in order to suffer that quickly. I mean, I haven’t tried it obviously, but it would be interesting to see. Use an iPad on its original iOS version for 1 year in extremely hot environments with no care. I don’t know how that would turn out, but the key point is, you need extraordinarily poor conditions for any iPad on its original iOS version to suffer. Give it a little care, and it will be fine for a massively long time.

The original version does have the best battery life, always, and while updates can be harmless, they’re typically on the device’s first major version. The second is already pushing it. Sure, at first it can be minor (a two-year-old iPad won’t be obliterated by iOS updates, not that quickly).

Note that I am not talking about point updates, those can improve relative to older point versions of the same major versions.

Exclude extraordinarily poor treatment and conditions, and an iPad on its original iOS version with normal use should be fine... forever in iPad terms. And by this I mean, until the iOS version is too obsolete to be used. I’m sure they’ll still work for something though. An iPad Air 2 on iOS 8 would probably work for video streaming like YouTube and Netflix just fine, with very good battery life. Yes, practically nothing else would work, but the iOS version will be mostly obsolete before the battery suffers if kept on the original iOS version and treated “kindly”.

Still, I admit that I have one thing I need to know about this aspect: with very heavy usage throughout many years, how would an iPad fare, even if not updated? How would an iPad Air 2 on iOS 8, with proper care (avoiding heat and not doing something like keeping it plugged in 24/7), fare after 10 years and, say, 2500 cycles? I don’t know, because nobody does that. All I can say is, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were very decent. Nobody can prove that because older devices are all updated which excludes them from any serious consideration.

I’m not a heavy user and my oldest iPad has sadly been forced out of its original version (honestly, screw Apple for that abhorrent bug), but my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12, 7 years after purchase and 4 years after being forced out... has the exact same battery life it had when it was originally forced out of iOS 9 back in September 2019, which means, it would probably have the same battery life if it were on iOS 9 (which again, it would be barring Apple’s pathetic bug).

you are generalising a specific experience to all iPads and OS versions. I have and have had a ton of iPads over the years and the difference in battery life between iPadOS 14, 15, 16 and 17 is minimal and indeed standby is worse than it was on some older version like 9/10 or even 12/13. The original device OS is irrelevant in my experience.

PS I care more about standby time that actually battery life, since I don't use my iPads for 8+ hours running, but I monitor battery health very regularly with all my iPads, with a file listing the number of cycles and battery health every month. I started the monitoring 3-4 years ago, so in a few years I'll have a good overview of battery degradation when you take care of the devices (avoiding heat and extreme voltages, that is full or empty for prolonged periods).

 

[Johnny365]

92%, decent. Do you have the stats for your 10.5-inch iPad Pro?

Ohhh lord. No, but I'll have to check. That one isn't faring so well. :X

My iPad Mini 5 is at 92.3%, but a few years ago, I did a warranty claim and they sent a refurb, so that was back to 100% again.

 

[FeliApple]

Ohhh lord. No, but I'll have to check. That one isn't faring so well. :X

My iPad Mini 5 is at 92.3%, but a few years ago, I did a warranty claim and they sent a refurb, so that was back to 100% again.

Would be interesting to hear!

 

[FeliApple]

you are generalising a specific experience to all iPads and OS versions. I have and have had a ton of iPads over the years and the difference in battery life between iPadOS 14, 15, 16 and 17 is minimal and indeed standby is worse than it was on some older version like 9/10 or even 12/13. The original device OS is irrelevant in my experience.

PS I care more about standby time that actually battery life, since I don't use my iPads for 8+ hours running, but I monitor battery health very regularly with all my iPads, with a file listing the number of cycles and battery health every month. I started the monitoring 3-4 years ago, so in a few years I'll have a good overview of battery degradation when you take care of the devices (avoiding heat and extreme voltages, that is full or empty for prolonged periods).

I’m generalising a repeated experience throughout the entire history of iOS. Nobody has ever, in the entire history of iOS, shown me a screenshot of a device having like-new battery life if updated far enough. Nobody. Some people with great practices have managed to keep specific devices with the original battery life throughout up to three major updates. Go far enough and the entire thing crumbles, regardless of battery health (you can replace a battery... it won’t bring it back to what it should be). I know about efficiency and I can extract everything out of a battery: I haven’t been able to match iOS 9 on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12. Not once, and I was never even close. Alternatively, I’ve matched an iPhone 6s on iOS 9 with 100% health’s battery life with a 7-year-old, 63% health 6s on iOS 10. Perfection.

Let’s get into speculation just to give an example: An iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 17 matches the battery life I get with mine on iPadOS 15. Fine. It can happen. iPadOS 18? The same? Well, how about iPadOS 19? Or 20? It will crumble eventually.

I’m not talking about battery health at all. I’m talking about screen-on time and standby time. Battery health degradation is probably the same on all versions. It won’t degrade faster because it is updated, but who cares about battery health, anyway? The only thing that matters is battery life.

Give it enough updates and every device has crumbled. Do you know what gave me hope? The iPhone Xʀ. The A12 has been touted as extremely efficient, Apple touted iOS 12 as an update to improve performance on older devices. I thought “maybe this whole thing is over now”. Go ask Xʀ users how much battery life they’re getting on iOS 16. I’ll answer: it’s 25-30% worse than iOS 12. Same old story.

People start caring about battery health when the device is updated, because increased power requirements make the device suffer when degraded. It’s sad. Because it shouldn’t. People on select older devices which are usable today are forced to replace a quintillion batteries just because iOS pathetically obliterates everything. People replace 7, 8, 9 batteries on the iPhone 6s just because iOS 15, honestly, sucks.

But as far as iPads go, yes, they do suffer less because batteries are larger (1st-gen iPad Pro users on iPadOS 16 report 4-5 hours, which is usable even if it is pathetic), but they suffer regardless. Battery can be new, it will still be very poor. Like I said, perhaps a specific device three iOS versions in is fine, but it will suffer eventually. Just to end with the example, my 9.7-inch iPad Pro saw a 25% battery life loss on iOS 12 from iOS 9, which I’ll never get back. And funnily enough, it was the same story: the A9X was widely touted as a powerhouse when it launched; in fact, it was the beginning of the iPad Pro. They can kill any processor-RAM combo.

 

[Digitalguy]

I’m generalising a repeated experience throughout the entire history of iOS. Nobody has ever, in the entire history of iOS, shown me a screenshot of a device having like-new battery life if updated far enough. Nobody. Some people with great practices have managed to keep specific devices with the original battery life throughout up to three major updates. Go far enough and the entire thing crumbles, regardless of battery health (you can replace a battery... it won’t bring it back to what it should be). I know about efficiency and I can extract everything out of a battery: I haven’t been able to match iOS 9 on my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12. Not once, and I was never even close. Alternatively, I’ve matched an iPhone 6s on iOS 9 with 100% health’s battery life with a 7-year-old, 63% health 6s on iOS 10. Perfection.

Let’s get into speculation just to give an example: An iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 17 matches the battery life I get with mine on iPadOS 15. Fine. It can happen. iPadOS 18? The same? Well, how about iPadOS 19? Or 20? It will crumble eventually.

I’m not talking about battery health at all. I’m talking about screen-on time and standby time. Battery health degradation is probably the same on all versions. It won’t degrade faster because it is updated, but who cares about battery health, anyway? The only thing that matters is battery life.

Give it enough updates and every device has crumbled. Do you know what gave me hope? The iPhone Xʀ. The A12 has been touted as extremely efficient, Apple touted iOS 12 as an update to improve performance on older devices. I thought “maybe this whole thing is over now”. Go ask Xʀ users how much battery life they’re getting on iOS 16. I’ll answer: it’s 25-30% worse than iOS 12. Same old story.

People start caring about battery health when the device is updated, because increased power requirements make the device suffer when degraded. It’s sad. Because it shouldn’t. People on select older devices which are usable today are forced to replace a quintillion batteries just because iOS pathetically obliterates everything. People replace 7, 8, 9 batteries on the iPhone 6s just because iOS 15, honestly, sucks.

But as far as iPads go, yes, they do suffer less because batteries are larger (1st-gen iPad Pro users on iPadOS 16 report 4-5 hours, which is usable even if it is pathetic), but they suffer regardless. Battery can be new, it will still be very poor. Like I said, perhaps a specific device three iOS versions in is fine, but it will suffer eventually. Just to end with the example, my 9.7-inch iPad Pro saw a 25% battery life loss on iOS 12 from iOS 9, which I’ll never get back. And funnily enough, it was the same story: the A9X was widely touted as a powerhouse when it launched; in fact, it was the beginning of the iPad Pro. They can kill any processor-RAM combo.

Yours is a theory and it would take an experiment with tons of devices (many instances of the same) over many years to prove whether it's true or not.
And why could an iPadOS version not IMPROVE battery life over the previous one, 2 or 3?
Again my experience is that standby time got worse after IOS 10 but the degradation over the last 4-5 OS version has been very minor, insignificant, and in some cases things have improved (17 for instance seems better).
Having said that I agree that, with the addition of new features, things tend that to get (slightly) worse rather than better, but clearly no "crumble" experience with my devices (in my signature) over the last couple of years.

 

[FeliApple]

Yours is a theory and it would take an experiment with tons of devices (many instances of the same) over many years to prove whether it's true or not.
And why could an iPadOS version not IMPROVE battery life over the previous one, 2 or 3?
Again my experience is that standby time got worse after IOS 10 but the degradation over the last 4-5 OS version has been very minor, insignificant, and in some cases things have improved (17 for instance seems better).
Having said that I agree that, with the addition of new features, things tend that to get (slightly) worse rather than better, but clearly no "crumble" experience with my devices (in my signature) over the last couple of years.

It could improve battery life over the previous one (if it is the second major version, otherwise it’s has never happened, historically). And sure, in theory anything can happen. Apple can get tired of obliterating devices and they can make newer iOS versions so good and so efficient that it will shut me up forever... but they won’t because they don’t care. They could allow downgrading to shut me up, too, but they won’t because reasons.

Degradation over the past 4 versions has been insignificant? So the 3rd-gen iPad Pro on iPadOS 17 is close to iOS 12? Interesting. I’d love to see the numbers. Do you have a battery life screenshot?

 

[Digitalguy]

It could improve battery life over the previous one (if it is the second major version, otherwise it’s has never happened, historically). And sure, in theory anything can happen. Apple can get tired of obliterating devices and they can make newer iOS versions so good and so efficient that it will shut me up forever... but they won’t because they don’t care. They could allow downgrading to shut me up, too, but they won’t because reasons.

Degradation over the past 4 versions has been insignificant? So the 3rd-gen iPad Pro on iPadOS 17 is close to iOS 12? Interesting. I’d love to see the numbers. Do you have a battery life screenshot?

I don't measure battery life, because as I said earlier, I don't use a device for 8-10 hours running. And I charge them well before they get close to empty. I have several devices so it's easier to do that.
So I don't have numbers and nobody has done the kind of experiments needed to draw any conclusions. I base what I said on how I find battery life and standby and no, it has not degraded more than battery health suggests over the past 4 years. So the impact of the various iPadOS versions has been minimal.
What I care about is standby time, how much they drain while not in use. And this does not depend (only or even mainly) on the OS version, but on ton of factors, some of which are still not clear.
For instance, I have 2 devices with very similar battery health, same chip, same OS version, same settings, background apps etc. but one drains much more than the other at night, for no reason.

 

[Isamilis]

It could improve battery life over the previous one (if it is the second major version, otherwise it’s has never happened, historically). And sure, in theory anything can happen. Apple can get tired of obliterating devices and they can make newer iOS versions so good and so efficient that it will shut me up forever... but they won’t because they don’t care. They could allow downgrading to shut me up, too, but they won’t because reasons.

Degradation over the past 4 versions has been insignificant? So the 3rd-gen iPad Pro on iPadOS 17 is close to iOS 12? Interesting. I’d love to see the numbers. Do you have a battery life screenshot?

I think point you’re making is the same iPhone will degrade its standby/operating time in line with increased iOS version. I agree, as this is very logical due the new version always introduced new functionalities which require more power obviously. I remembered, only once, newer version (iOS 10) is faster than the old one (iOS 9).

 

[FeliApple]

I don't measure battery life, because as I said earlier, I don't use a device for 8-10 hours running. And I charge them well before they get close to empty. I have several devices so it's easier to do that.
So I don't have numbers and nobody has done the kind of experiments needed to draw any conclusions. I base what I said on how I find battery life and standby and no, it has not degraded more than battery health suggests over the past 4 years. So the impact of the various iPadOS versions has been minimal.
What I care about is standby time, how much they drain while not in use. And this does not depend (only or even mainly) on the OS version, but on ton of factors, some of which are still not clear.
For instance, I have 2 devices with very similar battery health, same chip, same OS version, same settings, background apps etc. but one drains much more than the other at night, for no reason.

Well, if you don’t measure it then, respectfully, how do you know?

I agree that with the amount of iPads you have it would be difficult to measure it spontaneously (i.e., without actually trying).

We’ve discussed this, standby time has worsened significantly since iOS 12, regardless of whether the device is on its original iOS version.

 

[Digitalguy]

Well, if you don’t measure it then, respectfully, how do you know?

I don't notice any significant difference in battery life (without any statistical measure) other that for devices that have had serious battery health degradation

 

[Falhófnir]

Yes, same model and I've noticed the battery has been underwhelming from the start vs my previous 1st gen 12.9". Usage time is definitely worse, I suppose this is a far more powerful chip, and the display gets much brighter, though I don't tend to do anything really taxing, or have the screen very bright. Using Bluetooth accessories in particular (pencil or headphones) seems to especially cause excessive drain. I have also noticed standby time can be inconsistent, which I'm willing to accept is a software/OS bug, but no updates seem to have made this any better yet.