iOS 14.2 Reportedly Causing Severe Battery Drain

[SmugMaverick]

Having this issue on 12 Pro

not happy, this is kind of crap I expect from oneplus or moto not Apple on their newest flagships.

Standards continue to slip under cook.

 

[SmugMaverick]

Breaking: usage reportedly drains battery

CRINGE.

 

[martyjmclean]

I’m wondering if it’s related to cold weather

What I mean is that it’s causing the battery readings to go crazy. All the way back to the iPhone 4s I’ve had this issue, it could be 20 degrees outside and the percentage would suddenly drop dramatically or the phone would turn off, and when I turn it back on it would jump back up.

My brand-new 11 Pro Max is barely lasting a day on iOS 14.2, in the middle of summer.

 

[snowatom]

Now, please don´t everybody just reinstall, this is not my intention with this information.

But, I experienced battery drain on my iPhone 12 mini. This iPhone was installed by an iCloud recovery, and updated to 14.2.1. As I had some other issues, I decided to do a clean reinstall of my iPhone, and not use iCloud recovery, which is a pain in the.....

But I do see a better battery standy-by management. After I did this, my Battery discharge shown in Battery Settings, has a much nicer curve, and it isn't using a lot of power just doing nothing. Oh, I do have an automation, turning on Low Power Mode at 50%.

 

[dj1891]

Could it be people were so excited by iOS 14, new features, widgets that they ignored the battery issue. Now the novelty has worn off they're noticing the battery

 

[k2k koos]

iPhone 11, and Xr in our household, no issues so far..

 

[deeside81]

iPhone 12 pro max. Dwindled 70 % in 5 hours. Before it would last 2 days.

 

[deeside81]

Could it be people were so excited by iOS 14, new features, widgets that they ignored the battery issue. Now the novelty has worn off they're noticing the battery

Definitely not. I have 12 pro max.

 

[MacinMan]

I skimmed through some of the comments just to see what people were saying. I have an iPhone 7 Plus, and was getting faster battery drain than usual. However, the phone wasn't getting hot. According to the battery settings Google Assistant was doing it for me at random times. I uninstalled Google Assistant, and a few other apps I hadn't been using in a while, and battery seems to be OK now.

There are documented cases of Assistant having a known battery drain bug on Android, however it wasn't easy to find anything documented on iOS. According to the usage graph, Assistant was using up to 97% battery for background audio. Thing was, the app wasn't even open, and I have background app refresh off. Also, most of the time the phone was just sitting idle untouched. I usually can get 3 to 4 days (depending on usage) before the battery gets low enough before going into the red to charge. Still going to install 14.3 when released though. Just letting people know if they use assistant, it could be part of the battery drain problem.

 

[deeside81]

I skimmed through some of the comments just to see what people were saying. I have an iPhone 7 Plus, and was getting faster battery drain than usual. However, the phone wasn't getting hot. According to the battery settings Google Assistant was doing it for me at random times. I uninstalled Google Assistant, and a few other apps I hadn't been using in a while, and battery seems to be OK now.

There are documented cases of Assistant having a known battery drain bug on Android, however it wasn't easy to find anything documented on iOS. According to the usage graph, Assistant was using up to 97% battery for background audio. Thing was, the app wasn't even open, and I have background app refresh off. Also, most of the time the phone was just sitting idle untouched. I usually can get 3 to 4 days (depending on usage) before the battery gets low enough before going into the red to charge. Still going to install 14.3 when released though. Just letting people know if they use assistant, it could be part of the battery drain problem.

Don’t have assistant.

 

[DanielCoffey]

I am on 14.2.1 on a XS and have not noticed this at all but I am a very light user.

 

[contacos]

Same here. 12 Pro and my battery life under 14.2.1 has been so good that I'm afraid to upgrade to 14.3 when it comes out for fear it will get drastically worse.

Are you charging it over night? I usually charge mine around 8 pm so I don’t want to leave it plugged in all night and I have noticed that it drains almost 20% on standby while I sleep

Breaking: usage reportedly drains battery

Except I am not. My iPhone 12 PM is loosing nearly 20% over night and it doesn’t show any app running in those hours. I also have most location services, 5G, background refresh and Push disabled. It was also set up as a new device when I received it, without a backup

 

[laszlo182]

happens every year that’s how they make you upgrade

 

[inigou]

happens every year that’s how they make you upgrade

What happens every year is your comment.

 

[pointy]

I’m on 14.2.1 and have not had any issues personally. I’m on the 12 Pro Max.

nice phone. issue doesn't apply to you, though.

The affected iPhones all appear to be slightly older, such as the iPhone XS, iPhone 7, iPhone 6S, and first-generation iPhone SE.

 

[DragonJade]

I have 14.1 on my 6s and I've seen some mad stuff happen with the battery power.

 

[Kuckuckstein]

iPhone 11 Pro, 14.2, cold weather, and only need to recharge every 3rd day. Either model dependent or I just don’t use features that trigger this.

 

[Cloudtrekker]

Folks,

Turn off the background app refresh - or at least only the apps you don't use daily - as worked a treat on my iP 12PM - can now play games, surf, some video and lasts through the day.

 

[return2sendai]

2018 iPad Pro mentioned in article. No issues on mine.

 

[Cloudtrekker]

I can add this to the conversation from an App Dev's perspective.

It appears that beginning with iOS 14.1, Apple has been modifying the code that controls the Performance Controller part of the A-series chips, which basically acts as an Arbiter & Scheduler.

To my knowledge they had NOT touched that code for an entire year leading up to iOS 14.1.

Specifically, I had NOT noticed any low-level (timing) changes in my 11 Pro Max for over a year, until iOS 14.1.

Why would they be doing this ?

IMO, they've now got something else running in the Background, under iOS control, that needs (considerable ?) CPU cycles.

I don't have ANY clue as to precisely what they're up to, however.

But, as a low-level App Dev, I can definitely see the impact it has on cycle-to-cycle Timing of certain operations (starting with iOS 14.1, that is).

I found that my security app (Norton 360) was using 88% - turned off the background app refresh and now excellent battery life.

 

[spartan1967]

So I let my XS sit overnight with no charger attached on 14.2. Phone started at 100%, with over 15 apps already opened and phone display turned off at home screen before bed.

Woke up 8 hours later and battery was 99% charged. Fetching email on Mail app every 30 minutes and only background refresh is Teams, Fuze, Weather, and AccuWeather. Hope this helps.

 

[TroyBoy30]

np with my max or any of our ipads

 

[MacinMan]

Has anyone on this thread done a wipe and restore on their device per Apple's earlier recommendation to solve battery drain on ios 14? I Haven't, and don't plan on it since I seem to have resolved the issue. Was mainly asking if this problem is present with a stock install, or is it only with third party apps installed? From my own experience, it points to third party apps being the problem, but wanted to find out if people have a different experience.

 

[Aeeelex]

No such issues with my 12 Pro. The best iPhone for a long time! Now being equipped with a Snapdragon X55 it performs really good under all TX/RX conditions and there are NO battery issues at all...

 

[I7guy]

If there is a battery drain issue, I haven't noticed one. My xs max is 2years+, so I expect some battery degradation.