iOS 8 tells you what app is draining your iPhone's battery
Users curious about what's draining their iPhone or iPad battery can now see exactly where that precious electricity is being consumed, thanks to a new battery usage feature found in iOS 8.
The new battery tracking feature can be found in iOS 8 by opening the Settings application and navigating to General, Usage, Battery Usage. The list will take a second to populate before displaying a list of apps and how much energy they are consumed.
Apps can be listed in terms of battery usage over the last 24 hours, and over the last week. The percentages displayed show the proportion of battery used by each application when the iPhone is not charging.
In addition to applications, Apple also includes the iOS home and lock screen, as well as backup and restore services, to identify battery drain that may be coming from other places.
Apps that run in the background, either for location tracking or other activities, are also identified in the list.
Even if a user has uninstalled an application, it will remain in the list to show how much power the software was using before it was removed.
Apple also provides information on usage and standby time of an iPhone or iPad since the device was last charged. Such times are shown after the iPhone has been fully charged.
For more useful features in Apple's new mobile operating system, check out AppleInsider's ongoing iOS 8 Tips series.
The new battery tracking feature can be found in iOS 8 by opening the Settings application and navigating to General, Usage, Battery Usage. The list will take a second to populate before displaying a list of apps and how much energy they are consumed.
Apps can be listed in terms of battery usage over the last 24 hours, and over the last week. The percentages displayed show the proportion of battery used by each application when the iPhone is not charging.
In addition to applications, Apple also includes the iOS home and lock screen, as well as backup and restore services, to identify battery drain that may be coming from other places.
Apps that run in the background, either for location tracking or other activities, are also identified in the list.
Even if a user has uninstalled an application, it will remain in the list to show how much power the software was using before it was removed.
Apple also provides information on usage and standby time of an iPhone or iPad since the device was last charged. Such times are shown after the iPhone has been fully charged.
For more useful features in Apple's new mobile operating system, check out AppleInsider's ongoing iOS 8 Tips series.
Comments
Interestingly, it says 'low signal' on mine against a couple of apps (incl. the App Store). I wonder if that means greater battery drain when either the wifi or cellular signal is less strong.
Mine won't display. They displayed in iPhone 5. I restored my iPhone 6 from that backup and they won't populate anymore.
Interestingly, it says 'low signal' on mine against a couple of apps (incl. the App Store). I wonder if that means greater battery drain when either the wifi or cellular signal is less strong.
That is pretty cool. Yes indeed I would assume it means more usage due to: low signal.
Hate to say this but android has had this for a while, reason being they had serious issue with battery drain and app being power and memory hogs. I hope that will not be the case with IOS apps
Interestingly, it says 'low signal' on mine against a couple of apps (incl. the App Store). I wonder if that means greater battery drain when either the wifi or cellular signal is less strong.
Yes, more power, at least for cellular when the phone moderates the power to the cellular radios to try and bring in a weak signal, that's been a part of cell phones going back to the analog ones (I could drain one in a couple of hours by inadvertently putting it in my steel desk drawer without turning it off first, with the steel blocking all signals the thing went nuts, digitals got a bit smarter in my impression) I don't know whether WiFi does that.
This is a good start. However, it is of little real benefit if any. What is needed is a way to figure out what app is using power at a given moment, or the power use when not active. There is no reset button.
Mine shows Safari is using most of the power but I use the damn thing so that is no help.
Here is what I would like to see in one place:
- Reset button
- Storage use (it exists but in different location)
- Power usage when active versus when not active
- cellular use
- Wifi Use
- Ideally, list of URLs the app is communicating with
Give me the above and I LOVE it so would all the tech people who will quickly be able to identify badly written apps.
This is a good start. However, it is of little real benefit if any. What is needed is a way to figure out what app is using power at a given moment, or the power use when not active. There is no reset button.
Mine shows Safari is using most of the power but I use the damn thing so that is no help.
Here is what I would like to see in one place:
- Reset button
- Storage use (it exists but in different location)
- Power usage when active versus when not active
- cellular use
- Wifi Use
- Ideally, list of URLs the app is communicating with
Give me the above and I LOVE it so would all the tech people who will quickly be able to identify badly written apps.
There's an APP for that. Just like Android has an APP for that.
This is a good start. However, it is of little real benefit if any. What is needed is a way to figure out what app is using power at a given moment, or the power use when not active. There is no reset button.
Mine shows Safari is using most of the power but I use the damn thing so that is no help.
Here is what I would like to see in one place:
- Reset button
- Storage use (it exists but in different location)
- Power usage when active versus when not active
- cellular use
- Wifi Use
- Ideally, list of URLs the app is communicating with
Give me the above and I LOVE it so would all the tech people who will quickly be able to identify badly written apps.
No, this is extremely useful. On my phone, if I get midway through the day, and the battery is lower than normal, I can quickly see what apps are responsible. Then I can change settings on those apps, kill them, or uninstall them, if appropriate.
Then we would *know* Facebook is a bitch of an app.
They should also do this for cellular downloads, for us poor saps that live in countries where downloads are highly limited.
Then we would *know* Facebook is a bitch of an app.
iOS 7 introduced per-app data usage. Is that what you're looking for?
Interesting to see (in the first example) that Facebook is a worse offender than the home screen. I don't regret deleting the app from my phone awhile back, I saw instant improvement in battery life.
My largest usage is the home screen and Safari.
I think this is quite cool...
next I'd like one that tells me what's using data,
since our carrier can't or won't.
I deleted a few games, because I found out that I was playing too many, and spending a bit too much time on games.
I don't think it works quite that way. It seems to be just a list of which apps you use most and how long they have been used over time a certain time period. The only reason I say this is because mine states Safari as using 93% of the power on my iPad. While it may have its quirks, I don't think it's a badly written app.
Has anyone had anything on their list that didn't make sense vs how long they used the app? I'm curious to know that.
Mine reads 42% Mail as the top usage.
I think my phone is warmer to the touch since updating to iOS 8 but I haven't seen unusual battery depletion I guess because I always have half a charge at the end of the day since I don't use it very much while at work.
AppleInsider keeps draining all of mine's.