I don’t understand why iOS standby life is so much worse than macOS

[_92dopal]

Is it just my experience that iOS and iPadOS standby battery life is quite poor? I lose at least 10% per 24h period on my iPads, and my iPhones for the past few iOS versions at least have always drained 50% across the day even if I don’t take them out of my pocket.

Meanwhile my MacBooks can go a whole week lid closed and drop only 10%.

Hear me out on this before I get the usual culprits jumping down my throat explaining the obvious. I know iPhones have cellular modems, which naturally will drain faster, I know Macs typically have bigger batteries than iPads. But if we compare apples to apples (no pun intended): M1 MacBook Air vs M1 iPad Pro – both devices I use daily. If I charge both to 100% and just leave them on standby, a week later the iPad pro will be dead, the MacBook will be on 70-80% charge remaining at worst case scenario.

I don’t get it? Is iOS doing more in the background than macOS? I thought iOS was always supposed to be more streamlined and efficient than an OS with its original codebase routed in the late 90s. Is there something unique to my iOS setup that is somehow buggy?

Does anyone else notice this and feel the same way?

 

[chrfr]

Mac batteries are tremendously larger than iPhone and iPad batteries. Even if a Mac and an iPhone had similar idle power draw, the iPhone would drop more of its battery capacity simply because there's less battery.

 

[FeliApple]

iOS standby used to be amazing up until iOS 10. iOS 11 or 12 (not sure which), was a complete disaster in terms of standby battery life and it has only gotten worse since.

Background tasks, OS inefficiency, I don’t know, only Apple knows, make your pick, but what I do know is that nobody really has any hope of it getting better. Do you want good standby on iOS? Find an iPhone 6s or 7 on iOS 10 and use it as a main iPhone forever. (This is not possible for the vast majority of users including myself, of course).

Funnily enough, I do have an iPhone 6s on iOS 10, and predictably, standby battery life is astonishing even with the original battery, 7 years later.

 

[_92dopal]

Mac batteries are tremendously larger than iPhone and iPad batteries. Even if a Mac and an iPhone had similar idle power draw, the iPhone would drop more of its battery capacity simply because there's less battery.

This isn’t true. M1 MBA has battery capacity of about 4300mAh compared to 7400 on the iPad 11 inch.

 

[_92dopal]

Take your point but like I say, they have found a good balance on the Mac.. and the Mac is far less sandboxed, far less designed for portability. Big elements of the codebase date back to the previous century for goodness sake. And here we are with iPads that drain their entire battery life more or less in a week or sitting still! We can’t even open up tools to identify what the processes are that drain that battery. Just what are these devices doing in the background?

 

[Morac]

That was true until Sonoma, but since then my M1 MBA drains about 10% a day in Standby. That’s still better than my iPad 11 which drains about 30% a day in Standby.

The iPhone is a bit of an outlier as how much it drains depends on whether it’s on Wi-Fi or not and how strong a cell signal you have. At my house where I’m in eyesight of a cell tower, I get great standby battery life on my iPhone 15 PM. Other places, not so much.

 

[chrfr]

This isn’t true. M1 MBA has battery capacity of about 4300mAh compared to 7400 on the iPad 11 inch.

It is true. Amp-hours are not a good way to compare batteries of different voltage outputs. The MacBook Air battery is 49.9 watt-hours while the 11-inch Pro's battery is rated at 28.65 watt-hours.

Watts in a Name? Why We’re Using Watt-Hours to Compare Batteries

We’re switching to watt-hours for battery measurements, because it’s easier to shop for battery-powered devices if you have a way to compare them directly.

www.nytimes.com

 

[August West]

My iPhone 13 Max will lose about 7% per day if it is not used. I have most everything that sucks down battery life in the background turned off since I don't need them running.

 

[Gorshkov]

It is true. Amp-hours are not a good way to compare batteries of different voltage outputs. The MacBook Air battery is 49.9 watt-hours while the 11-inch Pro's battery is rated at 28.65 watt-hours .

Watts in a Name? Why We’re Using Watt-Hours to Compare Batteries

We’re switching to watt-hours for battery measurements, because it’s easier to shop for battery-powered devices if you have a way to compare them directly.

www.nytimes.com

It's definitely a helpful reminder to consider the voltage output when comparing battery capacities across different devices.

 

[I7guy]

My newish iPhone 15 PM loses about 1% overnight. But I have email fetching on and some other background activities. I consider that 1% pretty darn good.

 

[FeliApple]

My newish iPhone 15 PM loses about 1% overnight. But I have email fetching on and some other background activities. I consider that 1% pretty darn good.

1% from 100% (i.e., to 99%)? Or from other percentage points? If it's the former, that's the same sad standby that's been there even on devices that run original iOS versions since iOS 11 or 12.. If it's the latter, perhaps that hints towards an improvement?

 

[I7guy]

1% from 100% (i.e., to 99%)? Or from other percentage points? If it's the former, that's the same sad standby that's been there even on devices that run original iOS versions since iOS 11 or 12..

It’s the latter.

If it's the latter, perhaps that hints towards an improvement?

1% in with hours where background activity is on is within a good statistical norm, imo. Before I had all of this stuff configured, on the first day, overnight and actually throughout first day was 0%.

 

[chrfr]

It's definitely a helpful reminder to consider the voltage output when comparing battery capacities across different devices.

This is why using watt-hours is the better comparison- there's no need to think about voltage if you already know the watt-hour output.

 

[FeliApple]

It’s the latter.

1% in with hours where background activity is on is within a good statistical norm, imo. Before I had all of this stuff configured, on the first day, overnight and actually throughout first day was 0%.

Yeah, absolutely, that looks great!

 

[NoBoMac]

iOS standby used to be amazing up until iOS 10. iOS 11 or 12 (not sure which), was a complete disaster in terms of standby battery life and it has only gotten worse since.

Maybe 13? That's when they introduced "always on Find My".

Screen image here. Original Macrumors story here.

 

[FeliApple]

Maybe 13? That's when they introduced "always on Find My".

Screen image here. Original Macrumors story here.

iOS 13 likely further worsened it, but my experience with the iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 has been rather mediocre in terms of standby battery life, with it being a lot worse than my iPhone 6s on iOS 10, even with the latter at 63% battery health. Other users I’ve asked also agreed, some stating that iOS 11 was the one with which everything irreversibly fell apart.

Several users here have told me, for example, that the iOS version which severely worsened battery life on A9 devices was iOS 13 (more specifically, the iPhone 6s and 9.7-inch iPad Pro), so it’s very likely that iOS 13 only worsened the issue even more, but I reckon it started a little earlier.

Sadly, it hasn’t gotten back to what it was.

I have next to me an iPhone 6s on iOS 10, and I can definitely say that this device has the supreme standby iOS was known for, whereas my Xʀ on iOS 12 does not.

I have an iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15 and its standby is even more mediocre.

So even though the starting point is debated, I think we know a couple of things:

-the Find My aspect you mention on iOS 13 has been the worst addition in recent history for standby time, further cementing a decline which likely started earlier.

-A possible starting point is 32-bit devices being dropped on iOS 11

-Larger batteries on iPhones haven’t improved standby battery life to iOS 10 and earlier’s standards

I’m not going to say that standby time is “poor” on iOS. I don’t think we are there yet, but iOS was the king of standby efficiency when the iPhone 7 was the newest iPhone, and that has definitely been lost at some point since. Grab a 32-bit device, leave it on standby for weeks and it’ll be fine, even if updated. Can’t do that with a 64-bit device unless it’s a non-updated iPhone 5s, 6, 6s, or 7.

 

[minimo3]

I left an iPad Air 4 fully charged to 100% on my desk and left on a 5 day trip. When I got back it was totally dead. I was shocked. My old iPads could last weeks when sleeping.

 

[Gorshkov]

I totally agree that pinpointing the exact culprit for the decline is tricky. iOS 13 definitely seems to have been a big turning point for many, especially with the "Find My" aspect you mentioned. But like you, I suspect the seeds were sown a bit earlier, maybe with the dropping of 32-bit support in iOS 11.

 

[applepotato666]

I left an iPad Air 4 fully charged to 100% on my desk and left on a 5 day trip. When I got back it was totally dead. I was shocked. My old iPads could last weeks when sleeping.

This is a thing with the Air. Takes mine 3 days. I leave it on Airplane Mode with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth completely off and the Apple Pencil detached. Not sure if it helps. 5 days max as you said, and that's from 100 to 0. Totally defeats the purpose of a device that largely sits in a drawer and is available for whenever you want to sketch or watch something

 

[Dust-by-Monday]

iOS standby used to be amazing up until iOS 10. iOS 11 or 12 (not sure which), was a complete disaster in terms of standby battery life and it has only gotten worse since.

Background tasks, OS inefficiency, I don’t know, only Apple knows, make your pick, but what I do know is that nobody really has any hope of it getting better. Do you want good standby on iOS? Find an iPhone 6s or 7 on iOS 10 and use it as a main iPhone forever. (This is not possible for the vast majority of users including myself, of course).

Funnily enough, I do have an iPhone 6s on iOS 10, and predictably, standby battery life is astonishing even with the original battery, 7 years later.

Think about all the stuff the phone is constantly doing in the background. Listening for Hey Siri, updating your location, looking for AirTags (even if you don't have any), connecting to cell towers, push notifications (each time you get a notification, your screen lights up, even with AOD), getting the current weather depending on your widget usage, accelerometer status for raise to wake, proximity sensor to know when it's in your pocket vs on a desk and probably more, but I'm having a brain fart thinking of them.

 

[FeliApple]

Think about all the stuff the phone is constantly doing in the background. Listening for Hey Siri, updating your location, looking for AirTags (even if you don't have any), connecting to cell towers, push notifications (each time you get a notification, your screen lights up, even with AOD), getting the current weather depending on your widget usage, accelerometer status for raise to wake, proximity sensor to know when it's in your pocket vs on a desk and probably more, but I'm having a brain fart thinking of them.

All of this is true and probably the reason, but you can disable all of this and standby time will still be worse.

My iPhone Xʀ is on iOS 12: no AirTags (iOS 14.5); no constant location services (all disabled); no weather widget (no widgets on the home screen on iOS 12), many of the heavy hitters have been disabled or don’t exist, yet standby time is not that great.

iPads too, my Air 5 on iPadOS 15 is even worse, with similar settings, but the fact that you can probably provide reasonable alternatives to explain this standby obliteration it doesn’t make it right. iOS has always been astonishing in terms of standby and they broke that. Like I said, not unusable, but the difference is obvious for those of us who have been using iOS for a long time.

 

[I7guy]

My 7th gen iPad sips battery life. I’m not going to say it’s as good as my one iPad 2, which could last for months on stand by. But it’s pretty good as very little loss when not in use.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

The cell (data) modem and wifi have a big part in that. I've taken my phone on several-day hiking trips before, and with cell data and wifi disabled, my phone will last for days.

Don't know if that would work now with VoLTE. Does anyone know?

 

[NoBoMac]

Think about all the stuff the phone is constantly doing in the background.

Yup. And Facebook, Twitter, 3rd party chat/text apps, etc. constantly updating themselves.

Replying since this popped up on my updated threads list, and timely... I lean heavy into all the other stuff (aka apps) going on behind the scenes. Woke up this morning with only 2% drop in battery with my 13 Mini. So about 6-8% a day if not using? And I don't use Facebook, Twitter, 3rd party chat/text apps, etc. so phone is pretty much idling over the course of the night.