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iPad iPad Air 2 - Battery usage overnight

i-aamir

i-aamir

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 7, 2010
1,103
692
UK - London
Just wanted to find out if this was normal for all us iPad Air 2 users. Overnight and throughout the day my battery usage stats go up by 4-5 mins every hour whilst In sleep mode. All apps are closed, I don't have any push settings on, no background app refresh or iCloud.

Is this normal and does anyone know what it might be because overall after a full cycle drain the battery usage stats are quite inaccurate as I'm not even using the device and usage is going up? Thanks in advance for any helpful comments.
 
That seems high, but every one is different. We all have different usage, background apps running, etc. I left my Air 2 off the charger last night, 8 hours later I lost 2 percent.
 
Do you know how much your usage went up by? I have all apps closed including background app refresh so just want to find out if anyone is having similar experiences.

In terms of my actual battery, it drops around 2% over night.
 
i-aamir said:
Just wanted to find out if this was normal for all us iPad Air 2 users. Overnight and throughout the day my battery usage stats go up by 4-5 mins every hour whilst In sleep mode. All apps are closed, I don't have any push settings on, no background app refresh or iCloud.

Is this normal and does anyone know what it might be because overall after a full cycle drain the battery usage stats are quite inaccurate as I'm not even using the device and usage is going up? Thanks in advance for any helpful comments.
Click to expand...

I had some of this happen overnight last night. It said I had 15 minutes of usage when I put it away for the night with all apps closed, no icloud, etc., but when I went to use it today 12 hours later, usage was at 49 minutes. Not sure if I have a phantom app in the background or if this is an iOS bug.
 
puma1552 said:
I had some of this happen overnight last night. It said I had 15 minutes of usage when I put it away for the night with all apps closed, no icloud, etc., but when I went to use it today 12 hours later, usage was at 49 minutes. Not sure if I have a phantom app in the background or if this is an iOS bug.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing - seems like a common issue then.
 
Have you tried putting it in Airplane mode? If location services is on, am wondering if it is periodically checking where it is, or if it is a cell version, it might be checking in with towers..
 
Sprintina said:
Have you tried putting it in Airplane mode? If location services is on, am wondering if it is periodically checking where it is, or if it is a cell version, it might be checking in with towers..
Click to expand...

Just had it in aeroplane mode and in 5 hours usage went up by 2 mins. Normally it would have gone up by 20 mins so might be down to the wifi or location services?

Mines a wifi only version
 
i-aamir said:
Just had it in aeroplane mode and in 5 hours usage went up by 2 mins. Normally it would have gone up by 20 mins so might be down to the wifi or location services?

Mines a wifi only version
Click to expand...

I think there is a thread in the iPhone forum discussing a similar issue. You could try turning off location services to see what happens. I understand the wifi-only iPads don't have a "real" GPS chip in them but they try to confirm their own location by periodically talking to a router or through a wifi connection (even if those are off/unavailable). So maybe turning the location services off too (along with wifi) will silence that activity and let the thing sleep.
 
Can anyone else shed any light on there experiences. My usage goes up by 3.5 - 4 minutes and reduces battery by 1% every hour in sleep mode without any iCloud backup, Push or background app refresh on. The only thing this on is standard location services ( which I have trimmed down) and Wi-Fi.

If you put it in Airplane mode all of that reduces to under half a minute per hour so not sure what is causing it to increase for no apparent reason.

Any help would be welcomed! Thanks
 
i-aamir said:
It uses unnecessary battery and your usage counter will always be inaccurate to give you a true reflection of your battery's capacity.
Click to expand...

It may be WiFi only but do you have any continuity settings on? Did you pair your iPhone to receive text (SMS) messages at your iPad? Maybe something else? 1% per hour does seem like quite a bit for "sleep", but there could be any number of system processes going on in the background. Airplane mode is the only way to actually prevent RF communication.

On my new Air 2, I don't have similar results.
 
RLesko said:
It may be WiFi only but do you have any continuity settings on? Did you pair your iPhone to receive text (SMS) messages at your iPad? Maybe something else? 1% per hour does seem like quite a bit for "sleep", but there could be any number of system processes going on in the background. Airplane mode is the only way to actually prevent RF communication.

On my new Air 2, I don't have similar results.
Click to expand...

I did some tests yesterday and found out the following :

iCloud, Handoff, Background App Refresh, Auto updates and any form of Push are all off.

The iPad is in sleep mode with screen off :

Airplane Mode - Battery usage doesn't move whilst in sleep
Wifi on - Battery usage goes up by 3.5 mins every hour
iMsg/SMS/FT off / Wifi On - Usage goes up by 3.5 mins an hour
Location services off - Usage goes up by 3.5 mins an hour
Wifi off - Battery usage doesn't move

So basically the issue is when the wifi is connected. Whilst in sleep despite other data features being off usage goes up by 3.5 mins an hour. Just don't understand what it's doing.

Must be same for everyone else I assume?
 
I leave my Air 2 connected to WiFi overnight and the most I've lost in 8-9 hours of it being in standby mode is 1%. Standby on this thing is really impressive.
 
I had an issue last night where my battery dropped 4% while I was in airplane mode overnight. This has been happening the past few days, I believe after I updated to 8.1. I reset all my settings and it seemed to have fixed the issue. There must be a phantom app somewhere running in the background.
 
My usage stats are always way off now when I put the ipad to sleep. Usually shows at least an hour or usage but I have most notifications and push settings off. I also notice my gestures stop working too and I have to turn them on and off to get them in shape again. Probably ios8 issue
 
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rgusa8 said:
My usage stats are always way off now when I put the ipad to sleep. Usually shows at least an hour or usage but I have most notifications and push settings off. I also notice my gestures stop working too and I have to turn them on and off to get them in shape again. Probably ios8 issue
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. It seems to be an IOS issue and as long as its not affecting battery life I think I'll just forget about it now and enjoy using the new device!
 
I lost 3% in 8 hours last night on wifi. All services turned on.

Still this is more than the old Air, which would make sense; the device needs to power double the RAM during sleep.
 
My iPhone 6 goes up 5-10 minutes every 15 minutes at times so I think you're good. It doesn't do it all the time, but the battery is always bad, whether I notice the usage going up whilst in sleepmode or not.
 
So I reset all my settings, made sure everything (data wise) was off and just left Wi-Fi on. The usage stats still went up by 3.5 minutes every hour but didn't affect battery life as such. It usually drains like 1-2% every 6-12 hours in sleep which is good enough for me.

Just wish I understood why usage would go up by that amount for no reason when Wifi is on and and whilst in sleep.

As soon as its in Airplane mode usage stays the same and doesn't got up in sleep mode at all.

Has anyone else tested this?

Thanks
 
Has anyone been able to resolve this?
My Air 2 has died overnight twice, last night it was at 60ish% at night and was dead by morning. I'm barely using the iPad.

My iPads 1,2, 3, and Air 1 have lasted weeks on a charge with my minimal use.

For this iPad I did not restore a backup and started as new.
 
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