Some iPhone users report high battery drain following iOS 14.6 update

AppleInsider · June 1, 2021 7:01PM

A number of iPhone users are reporting issues with their battery life, with some noting severe battery drain when left off-charge overnight.

Generally, users see the power level drop by a few percentage points when leaving their iPhone off charge overnight. With the release of iOS 14.6, it seems more power is being consumed.

A number of posts made to the Apple Support Forums mention excessive battery drainage. Some users offer that the battery is seemingly draining at a faster rate versus previous iOS releases.

In one case posted on Monday, a user saw Siri consume 70% of an iPhone XS battery from a complete charge. Another had their iPhone 12 see its battery go down to 30% while it was being charged overnight, and a third claimed the update drained the battery faster than their Apple Smart Cover could recharge their iPhone 11 Pro.

It is unclear exactly what is causing the battery drain problem. One user on the forum blamed the Podcasts app for the battery drain. Another Reddit poster offered that it could be related to AirTags due to the timing, though that seems to be unlikely given the range of affected hardware and other users claiming it happened while set in airplane mode.

There is also some debate as to how many people are actually affected by the problem. AppleInsider regularly tracks social media trends as they pertain to Apple devices, and there isn't a statistically significant increase in complaints for iOS 14.6, versus any other recent version. In the case of the iPhone 12 Pro battery drain issue of December 2020, there was a much bigger support forum response my an order of magnitude than what has been observed so far.

Apple has yet to comment or acknowledge there is a battery problem stemming from the latest iOS release. Any fixes for it will likely appear in a future firmware update.

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shamino · June 1, 2021 7:17PM

We see articles like this for every iOS release. Most people see a spike in battery usage, probably due to things like optimizing the file system or re-indexing search databases, but that returns to normal in a day or two. And every time, some people report excessive usage that never seems to go away while others with identical hardware report no such problems. And people speculate about what's going on, but never come to a satisfactory conclusion.

As the article says, this release isn't much different from any other release.

At any time, there are some people whose batteries are failing or are close to failing. I personally suspect that the extra load from a system update is sometimes enough to push these devices over the edge, or at least push them far enough that their owners take notice - even if what they're noticing is something that's been gradually degrading for several months or more.

rcfa · June 1, 2021 7:59PM

That’s the problem, with media giving credence to anecdotal information. It leads just to nonsense, like withdrawals of important vaccines, baseless lawsuits, etc…

mike1 · June 1, 2021 8:00PM

I started to notice a faster rate of battery usage from my 9.7" Pro within the past few weeks. I know it's older and the battery health is definitely not ideal, but it was going from mid 30% to less than 5% just sitting overnight.

By simply looking at which app was consuming the most power, I realized that my local newspaper's app seemed to be the culprit, even if it was just in the background and not being actively used. I resolved the issue by simply making sure I force-close the app when I'm done. While there may be nothing inherently wrong with 14.6, I suspect that this particular app did not react well to some change in iOS.

person · June 1, 2021 8:03PM

I’ve actually been very impressed with my battery life lately. iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The latest update helped me.

lkrupp · June 1, 2021 8:49PM

Big f’ing deal. This article is dragged out and reprinted after every iOS update. The Apple Discussion Forums and other Apple, Reddit, Instagram forums fill up with outraged users screaming bloody murder, demanding a patch. Within a week it all dies down until the next iOS update.

lkrupp · June 1, 2021 8:54PM

"Apple has yet to comment or acknowledge there is a battery problem stemming from the latest iOS release. Any fixes for it will likely appear in a future firmware update.”

But what if there is NO problem? Would Apple still have to come up with a fake patch just to satisfy the conspiracy theorists? /S

Rayz2016 · June 1, 2021 8:59PM

lkrupp said:

"Apple has yet to comment or acknowledge there is a battery problem stemming from the latest iOS release. Any fixes for it will likely appear in a future firmware update.”

But what if there is NO problem? Would Apple still have to come up with a fake patch just to satisfy the conspiracy theorists? /S

That might actually be a very good idea.

twokatmew · June 1, 2021 9:40PM

Rayz2016 said:

lkrupp said:

"Apple has yet to comment or acknowledge there is a battery problem stemming from the latest iOS release. Any fixes for it will likely appear in a future firmware update.”

But what if there is NO problem? Would Apple still have to come up with a fake patch just to satisfy the conspiracy theorists? /S

That might actually be a very good idea.

Yes! The placebo affect is very real. Apple could release a patch that does nothing, and the masses would never know the difference. 🤣

jcs2305 · June 1, 2021 9:41PM

mike1 said:

I started to notice a faster rate of battery usage from my 9.7" Pro within the past few weeks. I know it's older and the battery health is definitely not ideal, but it was going from mid 30% to less than 5% just sitting overnight.

By simply looking at which app was consuming the most power, I realized that my local newspaper's app seemed to be the culprit, even if it was just in the background and not being actively used. I resolved the issue by simply making sure I force-close the app when I'm done. While there may be nothing inherently wrong with 14.6, I suspect that this particular app did not react well to some change in iOS.

Imagine that… you went to the battery info on your phone and found the offending app and realized you needed to close it to stop the battery drain. Hopefully your local paper will give it an update at some point and all will be good. If more folks would just do what you did we wouldn’t see so many of these types of non stories.

cistern_on_a_chip · June 1, 2021 9:50PM

Noise cancellation with single airpod also gets reset each time. Pisses me off.

ndornquast · June 1, 2021 10:06PM

I have been having big battery drain on both iPhone 12 Max and iPad Pro 12.9. It's been this way for some weeks. iPhone would be almost out of battery by evening.. when I did NOTHING on it all day.. or next to nothing. Typically would have only used 30-35% with similar usage. Same story on iPad Pro. I found "Exposure Notification" taking 25% of my battery. Turned that off. After that.. all other apps seemed very high - Mail 20%, Messages 22%, Music 30% - this on a device without much usage.

Since updating to 14.6; iPhone looks much, much better.

tommikele · June 1, 2021 10:34PM

It's like reading about some disease and then deciding you have it. Happens every time.

I wonder how many people who had no such thought will read these articles and then insist their battery life was impacted and jump on the bandwagon. Quite a few I would guess.

JFC_PA · June 1, 2021 11:18PM

Check the battery setting: turn off the big offenders until the developer updates it.

timetravelNov51955 · June 1, 2021 11:49PM

I’ve had big battery drain since day 1 with my iPhone 12 Pro so needless to say, it’s not an update issue that is causing the batteries to drain. It’s that the batteries suck on the 12 lineup.

hackintoisier · June 2, 2021 12:07AM

Happened to me on 14.6, but was due to YouTube background audio, safari background audio, and/or Heartfeed background audio. When I ensured those apps were closed before going to sleep, the battery drain issue went away. Haven’t had any problems with 14.7 beta.

aegean · June 2, 2021 3:39AM

I did not experience any noticeable change on battery drain on my iPhone X. But I stopped worrying about iPhone battery drain issue long time ago, so I just jump on the update-ship the day they release any

and cross my fingers.

I typically upgrade my phone after every 4-5 models. I upgraded from iPhone 4 to X when it was released. So will update it when it dies

Battery capacity is still at 88%.

It all started out with battery drain issue on my Apple Watch 3 Hermes 42mm. Invested close to $3,000 on Hermes bands. But sometime at the end of 2020, Apple released an update and I updated it as usual right away but that time was shocking one and it was a total heartbreaking experience. Before that update, my watch used to last two full days after doing 3 hour intense workout on each day, means 6 hours total in cardio and other workouts. It started all of sudden the moment I updated my Apple Watch it started draining the battery within 1.25 days. And from that day to today, it still lasts closer to 1.25 day. So I wasn't able to do my 2nd day workout before I put it on a charger. I tried everything I can but I never turned off any notification or background refreshes, or anything when it was lasting two full days. So that was not an excuse.

Granted battery ages but this was happened all of sudden not gradually. And its been like 6-8 months my A3 battery still lasts 1.25 days, maybe a couple of hours less. So I lost hope and learned to stop worrying about what the big kahunas at Apple do and don't, and worry about other things in life that matter to me most.

Rayz2016 · June 2, 2021 4:13AM

timetravelNov51955 said:

I’ve had big battery drain since day 1 with my iPhone 12 Pro so needless to say, it’s not an update issue that is causing the batteries to drain. It’s that the batteries suck on the 12 lineup.

I hope you’re not in the medical profession.

“Toothache, you say. Must be a brain tumour.”

timetravelNov51955 · June 2, 2021 7:53AM

Rayz2016 said:

timetravelNov51955 said:

I’ve had big battery drain since day 1 with my iPhone 12 Pro so needless to say, it’s not an update issue that is causing the batteries to drain. It’s that the batteries suck on the 12 lineup.

I hope you’re not in the medical profession.

“Toothache, you say. Must be a brain tumour.”

I sincerely hope that you’re not in the medical
profession either or the education field for that matter since you obviously have never heard of spellcheck. It’s tumor not tumour. Also, your statement is absolutely ridiculous.

maccaguy · June 2, 2021 9:48AM

timetravelNov51955 said:

I sincerely hope that you’re not in the medical
profession either or the education field for that matter since you obviously have never heard of spellcheck. It’s tumor not tumour. Also, your statement is absolutely ridiculous.

I hope you’re not a lexicographer, understanding that there are more than one way to spell words. “Tumour” is like any other British English spelling that often includes a “u” after an “o”. Flavour, honour, savour, saviour, candour, behaviour, colour, armour, demeanour, glamour, and harbour are all perfectly good spellings.

As far as the original topic, my 6th gen iPad has had terrible battery drain after one of the 14.x updates, and the culprit seems to be Find My, with that app alone using 60% of battery whenever it’s off charge. It loses as much as 25% overnight, compared to 2-4% before. Turning off the “Find My Network” seems to help, but only a little. Apple ran a remote diagnostics and said the device seems fine from that perspective, and it’s not like I can uninstall and reinstall that app.

timetravelNov51955 · June 2, 2021 10:20AM

maccaguy said:

timetravelNov51955 said:

I sincerely hope that you’re not in the medical
profession either or the education field for that matter since you obviously have never heard of spellcheck. It’s tumor not tumour. Also, your statement is absolutely ridiculous.

I hope you’re not a lexicographer, understanding that there are more than one way to spell words. “Tumour” is like any other British English spelling that often includes a “u” after an “o”. Flavour, honour, savour, saviour, candour, behaviour, colour, armour, demeanour, glamour, and harbour are all perfectly good spellings.

As far as the original topic, my 6th gen iPad has had terrible battery drain after one of the 14.x updates, and the culprit seems to be Find My, with that app alone using 60% of battery whenever it’s off charge. It loses as much as 25% overnight, compared to 2-4% before. Turning off the “Find My Network” seems to help, but only a little. Apple ran a remote diagnostics and said the device seems fine from that perspective, and it’s not like I can uninstall and reinstall that app.

Yes it is true that there is more than one way to spell certain words but the correct grammar for tumor is exactly that and not tumour which sounds incredibly snobby like, “Poo poo wee wee look at me, I can spell these words with a completely droll sense of grammar.”

Flavour, Tumour, Hounour, what the hell is that? Where do we live? France with the other upper crust aristocrat pedigrees?

Guess what? The battery life on the 12 lineup still sucks.

Some iPhone users report high battery drain following iOS 14.6 update

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