Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 12 Are you experiencing an abnormal drop in battery health on your iPhone 12/iPhone 12 pro/ iPhone 12 mini/ iPhone 12 Max?
- Thread starter Ipadlover29
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
my battery health is stated as 92% now, but I’ve noticed a dramatic drop in battery life the last week or so, and yesterday and today it’s getting *disturbingly* hot. Like painful to touch. It’s a 512GB PM. I’m happy I’m only gonna have it for a little less than a week longer. 
Dropped to 88% today. Again, just 9 months of ownership.
I have to charge the 12PMx by the end of the day or hit low power mode. Love the iPhone, hate the battery & disappointed at Apple for poor support who still suggest until it’s below 80%, they can’t (won’t) replace it, even under warranty.
Even if the iPhone Battery Health is not accurate, the significant drop in battery in day to day usage is definitely noticeable now. Obviously it’s customers fault with ”you’re using it wrong”.
I have to charge the 12PMx by the end of the day or hit low power mode. Love the iPhone, hate the battery & disappointed at Apple for poor support who still suggest until it’s below 80%, they can’t (won’t) replace it, even under warranty.
Even if the iPhone Battery Health is not accurate, the significant drop in battery in day to day usage is definitely noticeable now. Obviously it’s customers fault with ”you’re using it wrong”.
Attachments
Something is not right. I have a 12PM and my son has the 12P, both launch day phones. Neither of us is particularly hard on our batteries due to good charge habits and we have both dropped to 88 or 89%. More noticeable is that our battery life is markedly worse over the past several months.
It gets worse on my 12PM. Only had it 10 months and this is the battery life I’m getting now. Just over a month ago battery health was 98% and now it is 94%. How is it degrading so much? I try to keep it in the 30-80% range and not fast charge (sometimes have to now given how quickly the battery drains) or go to 100% (obviously have to at times, can’t police it perfectly). This is just awful; should I contact apple?
How do I see how many charge cycles it has been through?
How do I see how many charge cycles it has been through?
You have to get coconut battery or something on a Mac and check the number of cycles through that. I’m very doubtful that Apple will do anything for you until you hit 80%. That’s their hard criteria.
Little late on here...
Little late to the reply here, but I've been on everything since the developer betas and I haven't had a problem with battery life; It's showing 97% now. I do a mix of magsafe and plugged in off the same 20 watt charger. How's your battery's estimate life now, 2 weeks later?
Release date 12PM, still at 100% battery health. A welcome surprise given Not that light use and my last X dropped to 80% in a year.
Anyone tried iOS 15.1? Apparently it has a fix for iPhone 12 battery reporting.
Yeah, I've been on 15.1 for a while now... Battery health has gone from 86% 84%. Really hope it goes down to 79% ASAP.
So I'm down to 82% now, with around 20 days of warranty left. I'm going to TRY and take it down to 79% and get a replacement under warranty, just for the principle of it, or just get the battery replaced once the warranty expires.
Just curious, has anyone got a replacement battery under warranty?
Just a small update on my part -
iOS 15.1 seems to have brought a new life into my 12PM. The battery health is still at 87%, and has not degraded since the last month or two.
In fact, I can vouch on the fact that my battery usage which had me constantly charging the iPhone, as it went to down to 30-20% low power mode even before the end of the day. Which was infuriating.
However, I'm back to full day usage with still ~50% battery leftover by the end of the day.
Hopefully this stays, and Apple fixed whatever was the root cause in their on secret way. 🥲
iOS 15.1 seems to have brought a new life into my 12PM. The battery health is still at 87%, and has not degraded since the last month or two.
In fact, I can vouch on the fact that my battery usage which had me constantly charging the iPhone, as it went to down to 30-20% low power mode even before the end of the day. Which was infuriating.
However, I'm back to full day usage with still ~50% battery leftover by the end of the day.
Hopefully this stays, and Apple fixed whatever was the root cause in their on secret way. 🥲
Last edited:
I’m really late to this thread but for what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure it’s MagSafe and/or the 20w brick. I was on 94% battery health on my 12 in August, bought a MagSafe charger/20w charger, charged every night with it and within 6-8 weeks the health had dropped to 88%. I then changed back to 5w lightning cable for overnight charging and in the same period it hasn’t lost a single percentage point.
Not sure if it’s the 20w brick or MagSafe itself but either way, I just use MagSafe for quick top ups at best.
Maybe the 15.1 update will help but I’m unlikely to try overnight MagSafe again!
Not sure if it’s the 20w brick or MagSafe itself but either way, I just use MagSafe for quick top ups at best.
Maybe the 15.1 update will help but I’m unlikely to try overnight MagSafe again!
I’m now down to 89%. My phone still functions the same and I have to top up at least once before I go to bed and charge my device. I still am going to use AppleCare for a battery replacement whenever I hit 80% and under.
I agree, and I’m certain it’s the 20w brick. I don’t even have a MagSafe charger.
It’s definitely not, from my experience. After a full year I’m still on 96% battery health solely using Apple’s 20W brick.
My wife and I both got identical iPhone 12s on the same day last November (2020). My wife uses her iPad for everything and the phone basically only for calls. Her phone sits on a wireless charger most of the time and the health is at 96%.
I use my phone heavily and am at 92%. It was 93% a few weeks ago. I only charge with an old 5w charger because the OtterBox case doesn't play well with the wireless charger. We have AppleCare+ just in case.
I use my phone heavily and am at 92%. It was 93% a few weeks ago. I only charge with an old 5w charger because the OtterBox case doesn't play well with the wireless charger. We have AppleCare+ just in case.