Does anyone know, or have a good explainer, for the Battery info in Settings under iOS 12? Specifically, how Screen On/Off time correlates to the per-app on screen vs. background times. The sum of the per-app background times don't add up to the Screen Off time; the sum is usually significantly longer, especially if I've been listening to music or podcasts. However, the Screen On time does seem to match the sum of the per-app on screen times. I submitted this through Feedback, thinking it might be a bug, but never received a response.
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iOS 12 Battery info explained?
- Thread starter willdude
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To answer your specific question, an app can be using battery in the background when the screen is on too. So I’d expect total background time to be equal to or greater than total off screen time.
[doublepost=1535319218][/doublepost]But more generally, I have a lot of problems with this new battery info screen. I think most of it is to do with presentation/UI, though it does also seem to have lost that basic time-old feature of telling you how much use since last charge.
Up until now most of my dislike has been a general feeling and I haven’t taken time to put my finger on what the problems are. I’ve made a start on doing that and this is what I have so far...
- Every time I select a bar in the chart, it takes me a while to search for what time or day it is that I’ve selected. That info is below the charts, in the small header of another section, in brackets. It should be near the chart.
- It doesn’t tell you the total activity time. Or the battery useage in the multi-day* view. You can get an approximate value from the Y axis labels but not a precise one.
- Tapping tiny bars (on 4.7” at least) doesn’t feel like a great interaction, I find it easy to select the wrong one or miss entirely, reverting to the overall/no bar selected mode.
One thing I DO like is the fact the multi-day view battery useage is keeping a good record of battery life from day to day. But what’s weird is you don’t get that info on the current day, i.e. how much has been used so far today. EDIT: my bad, today is the last bar in the chart. What I’m confused about now is that the last two bars are Sunday and Today. But today is Sunday (and no it’s not past midnight). And the values are different. What’s going on there? Bug? Me being stupid?
* saying multi day as not sure if mine says 10 days because I restored 10 days ago or if that’s the limit.
[doublepost=1535319218][/doublepost]But more generally, I have a lot of problems with this new battery info screen. I think most of it is to do with presentation/UI, though it does also seem to have lost that basic time-old feature of telling you how much use since last charge.
Up until now most of my dislike has been a general feeling and I haven’t taken time to put my finger on what the problems are. I’ve made a start on doing that and this is what I have so far...
- Every time I select a bar in the chart, it takes me a while to search for what time or day it is that I’ve selected. That info is below the charts, in the small header of another section, in brackets. It should be near the chart.
- It doesn’t tell you the total activity time. Or the battery useage in the multi-day* view. You can get an approximate value from the Y axis labels but not a precise one.
- Tapping tiny bars (on 4.7” at least) doesn’t feel like a great interaction, I find it easy to select the wrong one or miss entirely, reverting to the overall/no bar selected mode.
One thing I DO like is the fact the multi-day view battery useage is keeping a good record of battery life from day to day. But what’s weird is you don’t get that info on the current day, i.e. how much has been used so far today. EDIT: my bad, today is the last bar in the chart. What I’m confused about now is that the last two bars are Sunday and Today. But today is Sunday (and no it’s not past midnight). And the values are different. What’s going on there? Bug? Me being stupid?
* saying multi day as not sure if mine says 10 days because I restored 10 days ago or if that’s the limit.
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So here's an example below. The "background" time for Overcast and Music adds up to 1h 41m, but the "Screen Off" time says 1h 14m. I can say definitively that I did not have those apps playing background audio while the screen was on for 25 minutes.
You didn’t use another app at any point while you had audio playing? A few minutes here or there could definitely not have totalled 25 mins?
Also, it wouldn’t only be background audio that counts as background use but anything in the background, like background app refresh, downloading files, location. I’m not saying there definitely isn’t a bug here, just that it’s possible it isn’t a bug, but it’s hard to say. Might be worth reporting Apple, they can check your logs and be sure.
Also, it wouldn’t only be background audio that counts as background use but anything in the background, like background app refresh, downloading files, location. I’m not saying there definitely isn’t a bug here, just that it’s possible it isn’t a bug, but it’s hard to say. Might be worth reporting Apple, they can check your logs and be sure.
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I was very confused by this too, but I think I figured it out — and it’s not obvious at all:
I think “Screen On” and “Screen Off” don’t correlate directly to “Actively Using App On-Screen” and “App Running In The Background.” Rather, they refer to “App usage when the screen is on” and “App usage when the screen is off” — foreground or background.
So, basically: If you were playing Overcast in the background and you were using Safari, that Overcast background usage would fall under “Screen On” — ie, Overcast was running in the background while the screen was on. If you pressed the Sleep/Wake button and turned off the screen and were listening to Overcast, then that usage would fall under “Screen Off Time”.
This is why the “Screen Off” time doesn’t equal the sum of the background activity time in the app list. (And also why it’s “Screen On” and “Screen Off” vs “On Screen” vs “Off Screen”; it’s referring to the display being on, not the app being on-screen).
Thoughts?
Can we assume that Overcast and Music are never updated in the background at the same time or could we be counting the same minutes twice?
I know Overcast will use background app refresh to download new podcast episodes. I don't think Music does any sort of background updates since I don't use Apple Music.
[doublepost=1535637453][/doublepost]
As stated above, all my Overcast and Music listening for this period occurred while driving. Except for maybe at most 5 minutes of using the phone to check traffic, the screen was off.
If you don't use Apple Music, why was it using any battery at all I guess would be the question to ask then right?
Because the Music app has functions outside of Apple Music the service
Which goes back to my point about double counting minutes right?
To me it looks like Overcast was used for a total of 1 h 17 minutes 1 hour 16 minutes of that in the background and 1 hour and 14 minutes of that background use was done while the screen was off. This leaves 1 minute of screen on time while launching and selecting a podcast and ~2 minutes of background while the screen was on (presumably the < 5 minutes referred to by the OP while he was waiting in traffic).
Apple Music at some point during this 1 h and 14 minutes ALSO updated in the background for whatever reason meaning you can't simply add these numbers together, because they've already been accounted for.
Just my theory. Thoughts?
I think he means he played music in Music with it in the background. It couldn’t play at the same time as Overcast. And he doesn’t think the background could be anything but audio as he doesn’t subscribe to Apple Music.
The question is why do we think that Music and Overcast can not be updating in the background at the same time?
I'm not arguing whether or not they should be updating, I'm arguing that adding the two time periods together is not the correct way to to look at this.
If you look at the screen shots you can see that Photos and gmail also had background activity. If you add everything together you're at 1 h 44 m of background activity. This 1 h and 44 m of time can not fit entirely in the screen on OR screen off time. So we have two options:
1.) Some of the activity happened while the screen was on and some of it while the screen was off
2.) Each app accounts for its own unique amount of background time.
According to OP the screen was only on for < 5 minutes, which leaves ~ 25 minutes unaccounted for.
To me it's far more likely that these background updates are occurring simultaneously and not sequentially.
Yes, you are correct, background activity could be occurring simultaneously. We were just pointing out that the background activity of the two main apps was probably audio playback, which couldn’t be simultaneous. It seems unlikely that Music had other non-audio background activity as OP is not subscribed to Apple Music, but yes, it wouldn’t be impossible, and Overcast could be doing non-audio background updates while Music was playing background audio.
Got it. Yeah - based on what's being reported (and what we know about OPs description of events) it appears that something other than audio is being calculated. Or, I guess it is possible that the activity is being calculated incorrectly - though that seems much less likely to me. I'd say there's a bug in something incorrectly staying active in the background vs Apple calculating the background activity incorrectly - anything is possible though.
The most upsetting change for me is the removal of since last full charge info. The other info provided is nice but I like knowing how much a single charge lasts.
I hear you. But it’s still there sort of. You just need to see when you were last fully charged then click each individual bar graph bust out the calculator app then add up your total usage. Annoying but still works. Or just click on the last 7 days view and click on the current day. As long as you haven’t used your phone after midnight then unplug in the morning it’ll be just as accurate up until you start charging. (I use a smart battery case that’s why my batter chart isn’t going down yet) still doesn’t show standby but who really cares as most people charge daily.
[doublepost=1536861299][/doublepost]I see what op is saying. I went for a short jog on the TM just now. Opened Spotify started music and immediately close it. 28 minutes in the background yet it only shows 24 minutes screen off usage. Something seems to be up. Where did those 4 minutes go?
Maybe the phone isn’t actually sleeping for a few minutes after you lock it each time and then it starts the counter? Hmmm
One thing I’ve noticed too is that as soon as you open a new app and any app additionally it will give you 1 minute of screen on time for that app even if you just open it for seconds. So I could open up 15 apps in 15 seconds and it would give me 1 minute of use for each app even though I wasn’t even using it for long.
[doublepost=1536861857][/doublepost]See what I mean??? How could I have 9 minutes of screen on time in 3 minutes?? Hmmm Apple has to work on this.
[doublepost=1536862081][/doublepost]Maybe it’s an error or it’s there by design to make you think you are getting better screen on time then you actually are!
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