iPad Pro Terrible battery life on a brand new 11 inch M1 iPad Pro

[costica1234]

Wi-Fi or cellular for surfing?

Wi-Fi. Forgot to mention that all my iPads have been Wi-Fi only.

However when I read this Battery drainage experiences, it is something that making me think. Is this more of a usage issue or generic with all iPad Pro 11in M1 owners?

In my case it seems that there was something OS-related and thankfully updating to iPadOS 15.6 fixed the battery drain. The general consensus is that M1 does indeed draw a bit more power compared to the A-series chips, but one should still get the 10-hour battery life mark with *light* web browsing and other simple tasks. But then again, it’s hard to define this because everyone uses tablets differently. In my experience, though, all other iPads had great battery life and I was very surprised to see a step backwards when using this Pro version in a similar way to how I was using the old counterparts.

With that being said, I would also recommend the Pro over the Air 5. The price delta is rather small considering that you get a ton of extra features, like a faster USB-C port, LiDAR sensor, FaceID. And it’s also nice to have 128GB over the 64GB that comes standard with the Air.

 

[TightLines]

Guys - I am planning to buy a new iPad and getting a good deal on iPad Pro 11in (M1) here in India. Ideally my usage is more suited to iPad Air(I will not do some high end stuff on this device - I have a Mac mini for computing purposes) but 64Gb Air is no go for me, hence I am inclined to iPad Pro(128 GB) as opposed to 256 GB iPad Air (both are more or less at same price).

However when I read this Battery drainage experiences, it is something that making me think. Is this more of a usage issue or generic with all iPad Pro 11in M1 owners?

I am not new to iPad or apple products. I am pretty comfortable with their products specially the performance and longevity as experienced first hand with my 10 yr old iPad 4 and multiple iPhones. My question is more in terms of specific issues that are related to iPad Pro M1 edition that I should be aware of before taking the plunge.

Despite what I may convey regarding the battery life issue I have experienced, I am happy with the 11” M1 iPad Pro. It does handle some decent power tasks, like working with smaller graphic files in Affinity Photo, etc…

I just wish i could figure out this battery thing… I do keep the display at full brightness, and I know that is one huge contributing factor, but i am trying to figure out if there are other (less important things to me) that can be adjusted to help mitigate the battery life loss due to my desire to keep the screen brightness consistent. Like background app refresh… should that just be turned off all together? What apps is that feature most important to keep on? I know some listed there don’t even get used by me much, if at all, and what it does in the background I don’t even understand.

Personally, IMHO, if you need the power you can’t go wrong with the M1 iPad Pro… its the current leader and gold standard in the iPad lineup… with the exception of the behemoth 12.9” model. (iPad in compact laptop size factor)

 

[Dealmans]

Wi-Fi. Forgot to mention that all my iPads have been Wi-Fi only.


In my case it seems that there was something OS-related and thankfully updating to iPadOS 15.6 fixed the battery drain. The general consensus is that M1 does indeed draw a bit more power compared to the A-series chips, but one should still get the 10-hour battery life mark with *light* web browsing and other simple tasks. But then again, it’s hard to define this because everyone uses tablets differently. In my experience, though, all other iPads had great battery life and I was very surprised to see a step backwards when using this Pro version in a similar way to how I was using the old counterparts.

With that being said, I would also recommend the Pro over the Air 5. The price delta is rather small considering that you get a ton of extra features, like a faster USB-C port, LiDAR sensor, FaceID. And it’s also nice to have 128GB over the 64GB that comes standard with the Air.

You forgot the biggy pro motion

 

[Isengardtom]

Biggest battery drains for me are
- brightness levels
- temperature levels. At warmer temperatures the chip location can feel a bit warmer and that seems to drain battery
- some apps like YouTube drains more too compared with say a Disney plus or something. Probably due to poor optimization

That’s my experience anyway with my M1 12.9”

I usually get 6-7 hours out of my iPad with mixed use

The 10 that Apple advertises is only in extremely optimized conditions (dark surroundings, safari / Apple apps only, no apps that make heavier use of the chip such as games,…)

 

[Dealmans]

Despite what I may convey regarding the battery life issue I have experienced, I am happy with the 11” M1 iPad Pro. It does handle some decent power tasks, like working with smaller graphic files in Affinity Photo, etc…

I just wish i could figure out this battery thing… I do keep the display at full brightness, and I know that is one huge contributing factor, but i am trying to figure out if there are other (less important things to me) that can be adjusted to help mitigate the battery life loss due to my desire to keep the screen brightness consistent. Like background app refresh… should that just be turned off all together? What apps is that feature most important to keep on? I know some listed there don’t even get used by me much, if at all, and what it does in the background I don’t even understand.

Personally, IMHO, if you need the power you can’t go wrong with the M1 iPad Pro… its the current leader and gold standard in the iPad lineup… with the exception of the behemoth 12.9” model. (iPad in compact laptop size factor)

Is background app refresh on?

 

[TightLines]

Is background app refresh on?

Yes, and its turned on by default on every app too… thats where my confusion comes in… with some of these apps, its like what needs to be refreshed in the background? When i think background refresh, i think of programs like mail, calendar, etc… where i want those to work in the background despite not having them opened and be notified about things in those apps as i might define… but apps like GarageBand or Keynote… what is it those do in the background that justifies it to have its own on/off background app refresh?

 

[Isamilis]

Yeah, definitely second Isamilis' ---^ suggestion. That is of course if you have an apple store near you, and even then, it's often multiple hours of time and not fun. And also, that is if you are really sure that your battery is "bad" or draining more quickly than your other ipads. Mine for example is the opposite, but that is just my own personal perception of it, compared to my other i-devices, which drain way more than the ipad. Anyway, I'm glad you like the device in most ways, I enjoy mine as well.


Also, it's not always accurate perhaps and sadly the Apple store folks don't seem to care about it, but I suggest using Coconut Battery app if you have a Mac computer, for a "second opinion" to verify what your battery health is for the iPad. Just an idea. Rereading your original post, 35% after just a few hours does seem a lot, but not that*** extreme. (just based on my limited experience.)

Yeah, it’s not easy to claim the battery due to Apple has 80% battery health threshold.

 

[Rafterman]

Sometimes, it takes a few battery charges/discharges to get efficient battery life.

 

[Dealmans]

Yes, and its turned on by default on every app too… thats where my confusion comes in… with some of these apps, its like what needs to be refreshed in the background? When i think background refresh, i think of programs like mail, calendar, etc… where i want those to work in the background despite not having them opened and be notified about things in those apps as i might define… but apps like GarageBand or Keynote… what is it those do in the background that justifies it to have its own on/off background app refresh?

turn it off

 

[Kellyeffct]

My issue and solution: Turn off iCloud Contact Sync, under Apple ID > iCloud > Apps using iCloud.

Explaination:

I had my 12.9 M1 for three weeks, and then got the air tags a week ago, and that's when I noticed the battery drain. After trying internet remedies, the only one that worked was turning on Flight mode, but that didn't make sense at the time because Bluetooth was still on. Additionally if I reset my ipad without signing into Apple ID, there was no drain.

So after I signed into Apple ID I checked the network activity on my router for my ipad as there was no way to check on the ipad itself (the network activity spinny thingy wasn't on), and there was a 50KB/20KB down/up activity constantly. I concluded the only thing that can consume network, and therefore battery, relating to Apple ID was iCloud and apps that use it. To find the culprit, I turned off apps one by one, and the network activity stopped when I got to Contacts. A quick internet search showed people also have problem with Contacts sync running constantly, but have yet found a cause or fix. I suspect issues with some contacts or special characters, but my iphone 13 pro max doesn't seem to be affected. Having other contacts in the "List" like Google isn't a problem.

Hope the process I went through help with your problem.

PS.

During my invistigations Google Drive also popped up as a background drain for over 5 hours, but at least that was visible in the Battery status, the Contact Sync was not.

PPS.
Background App Refresh wasn't a issue for me, neither was my two Air tags. With both on, my ipad goes through 1% battery in about 8 hours idle.

 

[Digitalguy]

My issue and solution: Turn off iCloud Contact Sync, under Apple ID > iCloud > Apps using iCloud.

Explaination:

I had my 12.9 M1 for three weeks, and then got the air tags a week ago, and that's when I noticed the battery drain. After trying internet remedies, the only one that worked was turning on Flight mode, but that didn't make sense at the time because Bluetooth was still on. Additionally if I reset my ipad without signing into Apple ID, there was no drain.

So after I signed into Apple ID I checked the network activity on my router for my ipad as there was no way to check on the ipad itself (the network activity spinny thingy wasn't on), and there was a 50KB/20KB down/up activity constantly. I concluded the only thing that can consume network, and therefore battery, relating to Apple ID was iCloud and apps that use it. To find the culprit, I turned off apps one by one, and the network activity stopped when I got to Contacts. A quick internet search showed people also have problem with Contacts sync running constantly, but have yet found a cause or fix. I suspect issues with some contacts or special characters, but my iphone 13 pro max doesn't seem to be affected. Having other contacts in the "List" like Google isn't a problem.

Hope the process I went through help with your problem.

PS.

During my invistigations Google Drive also popped up as a background drain for over 5 hours, but at least that was visible in the Battery status, the Contact Sync was not.

PPS.
Background App Refresh wasn't a issue for me, neither was my two Air tags. With both on, my ipad goes through 1% battery in about 8 hours idle.

Contacts is disabled in my icloud, as is find my iPad, and still find my is the main battery drain in standby

 

[FeliApple]

Despite what I may convey regarding the battery life issue I have experienced, I am happy with the 11” M1 iPad Pro. It does handle some decent power tasks, like working with smaller graphic files in Affinity Photo, etc…

I just wish i could figure out this battery thing… I do keep the display at full brightness, and I know that is one huge contributing factor, but i am trying to figure out if there are other (less important things to me) that can be adjusted to help mitigate the battery life loss due to my desire to keep the screen brightness consistent. Like background app refresh… should that just be turned off all together? What apps is that feature most important to keep on? I know some listed there don’t even get used by me much, if at all, and what it does in the background I don’t even understand.

Personally, IMHO, if you need the power you can’t go wrong with the M1 iPad Pro… its the current leader and gold standard in the iPad lineup… with the exception of the behemoth 12.9” model. (iPad in compact laptop size factor)

I know this is late, but your problem is unsolvable unless you decrease brightness. The iPad’s battery life is outstanding if - and only if - brightness is not at 100%. That’s the case for all iOS devices, in my experience, but on iPads it is way more noticeable.

There is nothing you can do to improve battery life meaningfully as long as you keep your brightness at 100%. The screen uses way too much power for it to be efficient at that brightness.

With low brightness and light use, my Air 5 gets me more than 20 hours of screen-on time. More than any other iOS device I’ve used. I’d kill it in 4-6 hours with that exact same light use just by increasing brightness to 100%.

It never fails. It’s the first questions I ask and the answer is always yes. If the problem is “my battery life on my iPad is four hours”, the reason is always brightness at 100%. Always, unless the task is a massively heavy game. If the usage is moderate, brightness is always at max. Like I said, the screen is way too much of a power drain for users to expect otherwise. You can decrease brightness (maybe to 50%, that’d give an iPad with moderate use north of 10 hours), or you can charge every 3-4 hours. No other solution.

 

[eren akil]

My issue and solution: Turn off iCloud Contact Sync, under Apple ID > iCloud > Apps using iCloud.

Explaination:

I had my 12.9 M1 for three weeks, and then got the air tags a week ago, and that's when I noticed the battery drain. After trying internet remedies, the only one that worked was turning on Flight mode, but that didn't make sense at the time because Bluetooth was still on. Additionally if I reset my ipad without signing into Apple ID, there was no drain.

So after I signed into Apple ID I checked the network activity on my router for my ipad as there was no way to check on the ipad itself (the network activity spinny thingy wasn't on), and there was a 50KB/20KB down/up activity constantly. I concluded the only thing that can consume network, and therefore battery, relating to Apple ID was iCloud and apps that use it. To find the culprit, I turned off apps one by one, and the network activity stopped when I got to Contacts. A quick internet search showed people also have problem with Contacts sync running constantly, but have yet found a cause or fix. I suspect issues with some contacts or special characters, but my iphone 13 pro max doesn't seem to be affected. Having other contacts in the "List" like Google isn't a problem.

Hope the process I went through help with your problem.

PS.

During my invistigations Google Drive also popped up as a background drain for over 5 hours, but at least that was visible in the Battery status, the Contact Sync was not.

PPS.
Background App Refresh wasn't a issue for me, neither was my two Air tags. With both on, my ipad goes through 1% battery in about 8 hours idle.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/contacts-low-signal-battery-drain.2371195/?post=31759064#post-31759064

 

[SaguaroSeven]

My issue and solution: Turn off iCloud Contact Sync, under Apple ID > iCloud > Apps using iCloud.

Tried this and it was of no help. Find My still was a signifiant battery drain overnight. Disabling iCloud Contact sync had not noticeable effect.

 

[eren akil]

İos 15.6 rc dfu
İos 15.7.1 ota update
Contact very much big cellular data STOP.

 

[Isamilis]

It looks like iCloud is having issue now. My notes is taking half day to sync from iPhone to iPad/MacBook.

 

[Caterry]

I know this is late, but your problem is unsolvable unless you decrease brightness. The iPad’s battery life is outstanding if - and only if - brightness is not at 100%. That’s the case for all iOS devices, in my experience, but on iPads it is way more noticeable.

There is nothing you can do to improve battery life meaningfully as long as you keep your brightness at 100%. The screen uses way too much power for it to be efficient at that brightness.

With low brightness and light use, my Air 5 gets me more than 20 hours of screen-on time. More than any other iOS device I’ve used. I’d kill it in 4-6 hours with that exact same light use just by increasing brightness to 100%.

It never fails. It’s the first questions I ask and the answer is always yes. If the problem is “my battery life on my iPad is four hours”, the reason is always brightness at 100%. Always, unless the task is a massively heavy game. If the usage is moderate, brightness is always at max. Like I said, the screen is way too much of a power drain for users to expect otherwise. You can decrease brightness (maybe to 50%, that’d give an iPad with moderate use north of 10 hours), or you can charge every 3-4 hours. No other solution.

How does screen brightness p drain my iPad when it’s not used for 2 days, the brightness is anyway set to minimum since I use at night, and the mag cover has been closed for 2 days ? It still drains in 2 days.