iOS 14.2 Reportedly Causing Severe Battery Drain

[Ojiisan]

iPhone X here. Battery would drain in under an hour; I could watch it dwindle in the status bar.

Began happening right around 14.2.

Ended up getting a new battery.

My iPhone X is having this problem too. I had scheduled a Genius Bar appointment for battery replacement until yesterday I read about this issue . Cancelled appointment and will deal with it until IOS 14.3 is released. Fingers crossed!

 

[phenste]

I’m throwing my hat in the ring here, regardless of ANYONE saying “I’m fine on x device!!!” (no pun intended).

2018 iPad Pro user, XS Max user, both running 14.2. If you haven’t updated already, do NOT update until they put out a public version of 14.3.

Although I have no personal experience with this battery issue, 1) I am literally always in the house, with the opportunity to fast-charge my iPad whenever; 2) I use my XS for <30 min a day, as it’s got the classic eye-burning vertical green stripe from a drop. (Retina Display takes on a whole new meaning!)

Here’s what I HAVE had an issue with: 14.2 RUINED my smart home. Thank god, my only accessories are lights and light switches (+ my Roku TV), but—despite deleting several automations, they still fired off (this included a Good Morning automation that turns on all the lights at 7:30…in the room my brother happens to be sleeping in as he thrashes through finals week). I had no control over my light schedule, and that’s something I need delicate control of, as my household consists of two tech nerds (me/my brother) and a borderline-Luddite (my grandmother). Had to do a hard reset of everything—including my TV, because resetting HomeKit from its settings was not working. (Perhaps I could’ve avoided this by removing it as an accessory from the Home before resetting. I digress.) Mind you: I have professionally calibrated my TV settings. It was easy enough to take a photo of the settings and recalibrate, but…godd*mn. The absolute most un-Apple-ish thing I’ve experienced in years.

Wait until 14.2.1 y’all. Just. Wait. It’s worth it; the extra features you get in 14.2 are, relatively, not worth it. (Adaptive Lighting was the most exciting feature for me but I expected it to combine adaptive color with adaptive brightness based on time of day, or at least based on sunset/sunrise—not the case. Oh well. Still cool but yeah.)

 

[MacinMan]

I’m throwing my hat in the ring here, regardless of ANYONE saying “I’m fine on x device!!!” (no pun intended).

2018 iPad Pro user, XS Max user, both running 14.2. If you haven’t updated already, do NOT update until they put out a public version of 14.2.1.

Although I have no personal experience with this battery issue, 1) I am literally always in the house, with the opportunity to fast-charge my iPad whenever; 2) I use my XS for <30 min a day, as it’s got the classic eye-burning vertical green stripe from a drop. (Retina Display takes on a whole new meaning!)

Here’s what I HAVE had an issue with: 14.2 RUINED my smart home. Thank god, my only accessories are lights and light switches (+ my Roku TV), but—despite deleting several automations, they still fired off (this included a Good Morning automation that turns on all the lights at 7:30…in the room my brother happens to be sleeping in as he thrashes through finals week). I had no control over my light schedule, and that’s something I need delicate control of, as my household consists of two tech nerds (me/my brother) and a borderline-Luddite (my grandmother). Had to do a hard reset of everything—including my TV, because resetting HomeKit from its settings was not working. (Perhaps I could’ve avoided this by removing it as an accessory from the Home before resetting. I digress.) Mind you: I have professionally calibrated my TV settings. It was easy enough to take a photo of the settings and recalibrate, but…godd*mn. The absolute most un-Apple-ish thing I’ve experienced in years.

Wait until 14.2.1 y’all. Just. Wait. It’s worth it; the extra features you get in 14.2 are, relatively, not worth it. (Adaptive Lighting was the most exciting feature for me but I expected it to combine adaptive color with adaptive brightness based on time of day, or at least based on sunset/sunrise—not the case. Oh well. Still cool but yeah.)

Don't you mean 14.3? 14.2.1 was already released for iPhone 12 models only.

 

[kyleh22]

This impacted my wife's iphone 8 plus but not my iphone X...Hope an update is in the works.

 

[DeepIn2U]

My OG SE is effected but my 11 pro max and iPads seem to be ok.

My OG SE also affected I thought it was my battery going nuts but I'm at 100% as it was changed last year and barely used until October (kept in cool dry space).

last week was at 18% and my iPhone '16 SE died rebooted and powered off before power on cycle could complete.

 

[DaveCummings]

Haven't seen any issues on my 12 Pro max. However, iPadOS 14.2, I've had issues with my Apple Pencil. It'll act fine at first, until I'll tilt to do a broader stroke, it'll initially work fine, until I bring the tip back upright, it'll still act like its tilted. I've spoken to a lot of fellow illustrators, and people who work at Adobe and its definitely a software bug. I talked to Apple Support about it, and it was of no help

 

[wood1208]

Feel more battery drain on my 6S after installing 14.1 and continues in 14.2

 

[phenste]

Don't you mean 14.3? 14.2.1 was already released for iPhone 12 models only.

14.3, yeah—my bad, I’d forgotten they released 14.2.1 to address some 12-exclusive issues. I’ll edit my post, thank you.

 

[elvineet]

iOS 14 battery life | MacRumors Forums - iPhone 7 - 21% battery with 22 minutes of minimal use and about 18 hours on standby
iOS 14 battery life | MacRumors Forums - iPhone 7 - 39 minutes of usage, 29% battery used

I've been running the 14.3 beta to see if there is any improvement to the iPhone 7's battery life. Spoiler: my iPhone 7 with a brand new Apple-replaced battery chewed through 21% battery with 22 minutes of minimal use and about 18 hours on standby.

It is obvious that Apple optimizes iOS versions for their newest devices while performance on older devices is degraded. Apple gets to have their cake and eat it too - they're able to claim iOS updates support old devices for a long time, but at the same time the performance suffers enough that users give up and buy a new one.

 

[IPPlanMan]

No battery drain issues on 14.2.1 ....

However, "Battery Optimization" keeps turning itself back on after I "permanently" disable it. This is happening on both my iPhone 12 Pro and on my Apple Watch. It's infuriating. Seems to happen after every restart and after a couple days without a restart. Anyone else?

 

[Just sayin...]

Unfortunately I have on my 2018 ipad pro. I used to do lots on including my morning surfing and afternoon and evening videos in iTunes and streaming apps and usually had over half left now a morning of surfing deplete my iPad down to 30-40%. Necessitated a daily midday charging back to 100%. Evening videos often deplete me to 20-30 % left. Have noticed this since the betas. Not improved in official 14.2 nor the official 14.2.1

Same exact thing on my 12.9” Gen 2 iPad Pro. I’m now getting down into the low single-digit battery charge level by end-of-day, where before I would be between 20% to 25%. Same apps, same usage pattern.

 

[crawfish963]

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

Yes. I usually put it on the charger at 10-11pm and take it off around 6:30 or 7.

 

[trfc54]

In the meantime until they get this fixed, would keeping the phone in low power mode be a good idea?

It's my understanding that low power mode does nothing to actually harm the battery, it can only help it, with the downside of certain features being disabled, and the processor down-clocking itself.

 

[Marshall73]

I had this issue and it was finally resolved by resettings settings. Even erasing and restoring from backup didn't fix the problem. I guess that the settings causing the problem were being restored with the backup.

 

[macdisciple]

Noticed faster battery drain on iPhone 8. Battery maximum capacity is at 83% -- down 2% from a few months ago so not so much to affect degree of perceived drain. Peak performance is supported.

 

[rjjacobson]

Same exact thing on my 12.9” Gen 2 iPad Pro. I’m now getting down into the low single-digit battery charge level by end-of-day, where before I would be between 20% to 25%. Same apps, same usage pattern.

Question for you and others with iPad Pro issues are you using the new magic keyboard? I am and I forgot that I got it around same time as testing 14.x betas. It also causes a noticeable power drop according to articles I had forgotten about. Some say its software issues, and they discuss the backlight being too bright, and on even when its closed, others imply it was just some keyboards and the swapped them (too late for that now LOL). But I read that turning down the keyboard lighting (I just turned off now and gonna see what that does) may help a bit especially when it is on so much. I am in lighted areas in house and just touching the keyboard makes it come on. Its not dark unlike what happens with my MacBook Pro which sensed the darkness better and need for the light. I also read that the trackpad on this probably uses some juice. Unlike older keyboards that had their own battery this one uses the battery of your iPad obviously.

Anyway here is one of old articles that came out when these keyboards arrived. I post it will interest to see if this is a issue for us iPad Pro users?

Some iPad Pro users complaining that the Magic Keyboard causes excessive battery drain - 9to5Mac

The iPad Magic Keyboard accessory has been widely praised for its responsive multi-touch trackpad, backlit keyboard, and clever counterbalancing magnetic...

9to5mac.com

Here is another article, this one (and one above you should read the comments especially afterwards, there seem to be issues with the backlight not turning off when it should, being stuck on when you have used in dark place and not going off well in light places, turning off the brightness to zero did not turn off for some they had to take iPad off cover and then put on.) I have turned off backlight as in most home uses I do not need it will see if that helps. Other comments are the Apple Pencil 2 is a big drain for some. I have that also may have to test how much it being on drains my iPad it could for me end up being these two things (backlight on magic keyboard and Apple Pencil 2) are my main issues over 14.x although 14.x could be a third factor.

Poll: Are you experiencing iPad Pro battery life issues with the Magic Keyboard? - 9to5Mac

A few days ago, we highlighted that some iPad Pro users are experiencing excessive battery drain when paired with the...

9to5mac.com

UPDATE: Have had my keyboard backlight off all day. I have gone from loosing average of 15% per hour now to around 2-5% per hour so far with todays testing. Video streaming tonight will give better average though. So it does appear for me it may be more the magic keyboard that has been draining me more than before I got it.

 

[Radeon85]

No battery drain issues on 14.2.1 ....

However, "Battery Optimization" keeps turning itself back on after I "permanently" disable it. This is happening on both my iPhone 12 Pro and on my Apple Watch. It's infuriating. Seems to happen after every restart and after a couple days without a restart. Anyone else?

Had this bug immediately after upgrading to 14.0 on my 11 Pro Max and it still happens on my 12 Pro Max through every update until the current latest 14.2.1, bloody annoying when I want a 100% charge guaranteed and not a random chance of maxing out at 80% because the toggle decided to switch back on.

Don't need to restart here either, just seems to randomly toggle on, hope this bug is on Apple's patch list as it's a pretty bad one.

 

[Just sayin...]

Question for you and others with iPad Pro issues are you using the new magic keyboard?[/URL]

Unfortunately, I have the Gen 2 12.9” iPad Pro - which I don’t think can use the new magic keyboard. I‘m running the original Apple keyboard-folding cover thing and never fully detatch it from the iPad.

 

[rjjacobson]

Unfortunately, I have the Gen 2 12.9” iPad Pro - which I don’t think can use the new magic keyboard. I‘m running the original Apple keyboard-folding cover thing and never fully detatch it from the iPad.

Ok thanks just curious if these keyboards are a factor or not. Yes my iPad Pro is a third generation.

 

[futurist101]

Funny story - I went to the Apple store last year to have my 8+ battery replaced (was planning to hold on to it for another year). The replacement attempt failed, they ended up replacing my 8+ entirely, which qualified me for a free year of TV+.

That said, battery life on my 8+ has definitely been (a little) better compared to iOS 13, though I typically still need to charge it once during the day.

The same thing happened to me when trying to upgrade the battery on my iPhone 7 Plus. It's been almost 2 years since that day and I'm trying to decide between another battery replacement or upgrade to the 12 Mini. I wonder if they would replace the phone again if the replacement failed another time.

I have noticed a quicker drain in battery on rare instances. For example, I would do a full charge and in the middle of the day the battery would be nearly dead without any usage. The usage stats would seem to point to certain apps (ex. ESPN, WhatsApp, Mint, etc.) consuming more battery life running in the background.

 

[rgbrock1]

I had a substantial battery drain issue with my 12 Pro Max. (Which is also shared on Apple's Community support forums, totally almost 60 pages so far.). I saw battery depletion of between 15-25% each evening even though nothing was running in the background - or so I thought - and even with 'low power mode' on. Looking at the 'battery' utility in iOS 14.2.1 revealed absolutely nothing. And then I discovered exactly what it was causing the drain: "Exposure Notifications". Toggling this off completely addressed the battery drain issue and now, overnight, I see a more palatable 1%/hr. drain. My hunch is iOS 4.2.1 toggled "exposure notification" back on after I had specially turned it off.
YMMV.

 

[MacBH928]

I thought my iPhone 7 battery was aging...

 

[Ed1000]

Not a bug. Apple has been doing this for years. It’s apple’s little way of “encouraging” us to buy new hardware...

 

[snowatom]

Not a bug. Apple has been doing this for years. It’s apple’s little way of “encouraging” us to buy new hardware...

OK? - but you can’t buy the iPhone 13 yet...

 

[sdf]

My iPhone X's battery isn't quite making it through the day anymore, but that's not new to 14.2. I think it has more to do with it being an iPhone X.