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nph

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
1,049
214
I am trying to optimize battery life on my 13 pro max. It is getting better since 15.1 so I get almost two days of limited use. But checking last night I had 8h of off-screen background activities . Only Mail and FindMy showed any background activities.
I don’t understand how mail can run a bunch of background activities given I have all accounts set to Fetch, manually so it never (shouldn’t at least) download mail without me triggering it. Please see this screen shot and help me understand what is going on. For FindMy I had it completely off in 14.8 and still have the same settings so is there a new one I need to turn off or is it simply not possible in iOS 15 to turn it off completely?
1636305959130.png
Batrery life
 

appltech

macrumors 6502a
Apr 23, 2020
688
167
Hi! If i understand correcty, there's a difference between push, fetch and manual :
  • Push: To automatically retrieve new messages as they arrive in your inbox on the server.
  • Fetch: To check for messages at the interval you previously established.
  • Manual: To check for messages only when you open the Mail app or when you drag down below the status bar to refresh your inbox.
If you set up intervals there will be background activity depending on that interval. Have you tried setting up longer intervals in fetch or switching to manual instead?
As for "Find My", it's quite easy to turn it off. I'd also suggest to have a look at location services and turn it off where necessary.
 

nph

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
1,049
214
I do use manual actually. For FindMy I have turned it off anywhere I did successfully in iOS 14. In location services and system support as well as in iCloud. Is there a new setting in iOS 15 that needs to be turned as well that I am not aware of?
 

appltech

macrumors 6502a
Apr 23, 2020
688
167
Not that i know off, at least as of now. As far as i know, you can manage it in general (turn on/off) or on per-app basis
 

nph

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
1,049
214
I finally got my 13 pro max on 15.1 in shape, on par with my previous 12 pro max on 14.8 Battery life is finally there, 75% left after more than 24 hours. See my battery status and lack of drop during the night
 

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eyespy03

macrumors regular
Sep 17, 2020
156
132
I finally got my 13 pro max on 15.1 in shape, on par with my previous 12 pro max on 14.8 Battery life is finally there, 75% left after more than 24 hours. See my battery status and lack of drop during the night
So what settings did you change to get to this and how is it fairing since.
 

yyzspotter

macrumors member
Jul 27, 2012
33
5
I might be way off on this, but I'm seeing all over multiple places (ios subreddit, here), many other people who are complaining about funky background battery usage by random apps since 15.1.

Myself personally, I have a hidrate spark smart water bottle, and since 15.1, the app has been using almsot 100% background battery usage consistently even though I have background app refresh turned off.

the ONLY way to get the app from using battery is for me to close the app down, and then do a forced reboot of the phone.

I'm not sure if what I'm describing is something similar to what you're seeing, but the dozens or so people I've seen complaining about this issue tend ot be reporting random non-standard apps (ie, purchases vs whats pre-offered on the phone) AND pre-loaded apps like yourself having a large battery drain in idle with background usage.
 
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nph

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
1,049
214
For me I turned off "find My" in 3 places You need to go into system services under location services to find additional settings to completely turn off find my. To really extend the battery best is to turn off GPS fully and set mail to Fetch. Even so on some nights I still see a significant drain. Guess it depends on if I used an app during the day that might leave a background process running. Twice I managed to get no drain at all during the night! That way I got 2 days barely out of the phone. I was expecting more since with my 12 pro max I could get more than 2 full days and with 13 having 25% battery and more efficient processor I expected 2 days and stil have significant energy left at the end of day 2.
I hope next iOS 15.2 will be more energy efficient. 14.4 was fantastic and 14.8 was decent while 15.1 so far has impacted battery negatively for me.
 

snyp1193

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2019
255
121
Canada
I'm also seeing random apps using background (Outlook, Mail, News etc.) and it's drastically affecting my battery life. I used to get really good battery for a few weeks but the past few days its been pretty bad. I don't know what is going on.
 

lindros2

macrumors 6502a
Mar 21, 2011
926
569
I'm also seeing random apps using background (Outlook, Mail, News etc.) and it's drastically affecting my battery life. I used to get really good battery for a few weeks but the past few days its been pretty bad. I don't know what is going on.
When I’ve had that - especially apps going haywire and using 100% every hour - I first reboot, then try to reset the app if it can do that (i.e. outlook), and finally uninstall > restart > reinstall.

Just happened with a 511 traffic app this week.
 

snyp1193

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2019
255
121
Canada
When I’ve had that - especially apps going haywire and using 100% every hour - I first reboot, then try to reset the app if it can do that (i.e. outlook), and finally uninstall > restart > reinstall.

Just happened with a 511 traffic app this week.

That’s insane. We should not have to do this. This must be a bug in iOS 15.
 

snyp1193

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2019
255
121
Canada
When I’ve had that - especially apps going haywire and using 100% every hour - I first reboot, then try to reset the app if it can do that (i.e. outlook), and finally uninstall > restart > reinstall.

Just happened with a 511 traffic app this week.
I tried this with Mail, Outlook and News and I'm still seeing weird background usage and my battery draining 1% every few minutes on standby..... Urgh...
 

nph

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
1,049
214
7522DF89-20EE-4231-82B9-01E41B4BA168.png
Thought they had fixed battery issues but see Siri took 45% of battery yesterday and I used it twice to set a reminder. Anyone else seeing this after 15.2?
 
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