Unusual Find My background battery drain after setting up AirTag

[great_vc]

How do you know it is the air tags causing the problem?

is this a serious question on a thread called "Unusual Find My background battery drain after setting up AirTag" ? Let's see. my iphone 12 last 3 and 1/2 days, i check the battery usage often all nomal in the background activity. I get the airtag, didn't paid too much attention but afer a while i notice that my phone now lasts a top of 2 days. Check the background activity and the "find by" was over 50%. Google a bit and got a thread saying "Unusual Find My background battery drain after setting up AirTag".

After a while and seeing this is an issue, i unpair the airtag and the "find my" has no background activity or 1% , 2%. So you either thing that we are all crazy or you don't even own an iphone with airtag

The iPad doesn’t have the same hardware as the iPhone though. There needs to be an air tag paired with the device as well.

listen to that.

 

[akash.nu]

Regardless. It shouldn't drain a battery overnight. My new iPad Pro 12.9 is fine; my newer 8 gen iPad and iPhone 11 PM are terrible. They have from 40-80% background usage routinely.

iPad batteries are too big compared to iPhones and therefore the percentage drop will be significantly lower even if it comes to it.

 

[WeatherWeasel]

Do nothing with the app. Let it sit idle over night.

Battery dropped from 89% to 87% with the find my was 8% usage. I'll keep it going for 24 hours. I have 4 Airtags. So I am not experiencing the battery drain others are experiencing. I did trigger the app when I made sure that the air tags were showing up on the app. so the app is running but nothing else.

 

[akash.nu]

Battery dropped from 89% to 87% with the find my was 8% usage. I'll keep it going for 24 hours.

Considering average iPad batteries are around 3-4 times bigger than the average iPhone battery capacity I say that’s comparable results.

 

[fischersd]

Considering average iPad batteries are around 3-4 times bigger than the average iPhone battery capacity I say that’s comparable results.

You're repeating yourself.

Many iPhones are not having any issues - there's a race condition that people experiencing excessive drain are hitting here. (if they're not reporting this to Apple, they shouldn't expect Apple to have the information they need to find and fix it).

 

[WeatherWeasel]

You're repeating yourself.

Many iPhones are not having any issues - there's a race condition that people experiencing excessive drain are hitting here. (if they're not reporting this to Apple, they shouldn't expect Apple to have the information they need to find and fix it).

I wrote earlier that I have no problems and made a recommendation. Then I am told it is with ipads, now you are saying it is with phones, which is it or is it both? I have an iphone 12 Pro and my wife has an 8. neither phones have the problem. Let me out of this crazy house...

 

[Shark5150]

You're repeating yourself.

Many iPhones are not having any issues - there's a race condition that people experiencing excessive drain are hitting here. (if they're not reporting this to Apple, they shouldn't expect Apple to have the information they need to find and fix it).

Agree. I've reported it several times, including my iPad mini running iOS 15 beta.

 

[WeatherWeasel]

I wrote earlier that I have no problems and made a recommendation. Then I am told it is with ipads, now you are saying it is with phones, which is it or is it both? I have an iphone 12 Pro and my wife has an 8. neither phones have the problem. Let me out of this crazy house...

OK 24 hours later... My device has gone from 89% to 87% and the find my ... is at 21%. Since I am not seeing the huge drain I am standing by my initial theory, the loss of battery time is due to stuff running in the background. But what do I know about anything. I do know how to use punch cards, a dec writer, and owned a TRS 80 with a stringy floppy. bye all, this thread is boring.

 

[fischersd]

I wrote earlier that I have no problems and made a recommendation. Then I am told it is with ipads, now you are saying it is with phones, which is it or is it both? I have an iphone 12 Pro and my wife has an 8. neither phones have the problem. Let me out of this crazy house...

1) I wasn't actually replying to you so...???
2) I was clarifying that the problem isn't consistent on device type. Some people are getting it, some people aren't. We don't know what the "corner case" is that people are having the excessive battery drain. Everyone experiencing it needs to report it to Apple so they get enough information to find and fix it.

 

[great_vc]

I am standing by my initial theory, the loss of battery time is due to stuff running in the background.

which are what ? messenger and facebook ? We are showing pictures of the "find my" that has 80% usage. How is that "to stuff running in the background" ?

read again this:

what does facebook and messenger has to do with this? Unless you are suggesting that we gain 25% by closing this so loosing 25% by airtag balances it

your theory lacks of logic

 

[bradbomb]

14.7 didn't solve anything on my iPad Pro. Just had it sitting unplugged I think for 24 hours

 

[akash.nu]

So this shows it really. In the last 10 days the Find My app has used the most amount of battery when I never used it once. This just goes to show how much that app is chewing through the battery life.

 

[wlow3]

Never had a problem with Find My. Today I left the house around noon with the iPad charged to 95%. I came back before 7 PM — the iPad was dead. Complete battery drain with the main culprit evidently being the Find My app. It ran at around 93% for the entire time I was gone. Had my iPhone and my AirTagged keys with me, but I often do this and never had the issue before. I have 14.7 loaded on everything. Hope this is a fixable bug.

 

[Shark5150]

Never had a problem with Find My. Today I left the house around noon with the iPad charged to 95%. I came back before 7 PM — the iPad was dead. Complete battery drain with the main culprit evidently being the Find My app. It ran at around 93% for the entire time I was gone. Had my iPhone and my AirTagged keys with me, but I often do this and never had the issue before. I have 14.7 loaded on everything. Hope this is a fixable bug.

Report it to Apple. I have several times.

 

[ParaShot]

My iPhone 11 seems good with my airtag but my iPad… oh god… what can we do about it? Can we just unpair from iPad and keep it on the iphone?

 

[bradbomb]

My iPhone 11 seems good with my airtag but my iPad… oh god… what can we do about it? Can we just unpair from iPad and keep it on the iphone?

I wish. Or I wish that you can exclude a device from the find my network (I think that setting travels with iCloud)

 

[akash.nu]

I wish. Or I wish that you can exclude a device from the find my network (I think that setting travels with iCloud)

I’m wondering if we can just uninstall the find my app and then download it only if we need it. The AirTag should still function without the actual app and if we need to find something we can just download the app then and use?!

 

[akash.nu]

Just an update. I’ve got a call scheduled with apple for tomorrow morning.

 

[PIX]

Spoke to Apple Support about the Airtag battery drain issue. Mentioned that Find My app is using 30-90% (100% today) of the battery activity when attached to Airtag. Find My app using 0% when not attached. I tested this on both my XS Max and 11 with identical results. The Tech consulted with senior Support Staff. Apple's response was to make sure brightness and other battery consuming settings are turned down to help with battery throughout the day.

I asked if there would be a fix for the Airtag battery issue. Tech said he wasn't aware of any fix.

 

[great_vc]

Apple's response was to make sure brightness and other battery consuming settings are turned down to help with battery throughout the day.

that is fantastic advice from Apple. Also turn off data, put it on airplane mode and it will last a week!

The part that tech (senior support staff) wasn't aware of any fix drives me mad!

Just an update. I’ve got a call scheduled with apple for tomorrow morning.

let us know if at least they have acknowledge this.

 

[bradbomb]

I would love to show them my IPad screenshot that shows the screen was off the entire 24 hours. How would they explain that one then

 

[akash.nu]

let us know if at least they have acknowledge this.

Yeah sure. Will do.

 

[Ev0d3vil]

Same find my 100% usage on my iPad too. Definitely an airtag bug.

 

[537635]

Funny, FindMy battery usage was around 10-15% in average. I have 3 Airtags connected. After I removed one (with two still connected), the battery usage went down to 3-5%.

1. Keys.
2. Bicycle.
3. Car.

I removed the car AirTag.

 

[akash.nu]

So had a call with a senior Apple tech support agent and after going a little back and forth he was suggesting me to try some other battery optimisation methods.

I mentioned to him that this has categorically started happening from the day I paired my AirTag. He then suggested to turn the AirTag pairing off when I think I’m not going to need it. I said that defeats the whole purpose of having it. I might as well just return it.

He has now booked an appointment for me at the store. Let’s see what happens there.