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iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12/12 Pro battery use

circatee

circatee

Contributor
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
4,563
3,116
Georgia, USA
So, you've had your iPhone 12/12 Pro, for a full day, or so. It has been setup/configured, and played with.
What is battery life like, thus far?

PS: post if you have 5G on/off.
 
For one, I'm not a heavy user and have been using my phone lightly yesterday with listening to some music, few texts.

Yesterday, I took it off the charger at 7 am. And by the end of the day, I was already down to 78% before going to bed. But as I said I'm a light user, I'm barely on my phone all day, haven't played games on it yet. I do have 5G off as there is no 5G network in my area, plus I need to get a 5G sim anyways.
 
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A day isn’t enough time—especially for those that restore. iPhones usually have background processes going on for a day or two that impacts battery. That being said, I feel like my 12 is no worse than my 11 was, maybe even a bit better. Battery page says I’m averaging 9h59m screen on time.
 
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Battery drops 1% an hour on standby. 10% overnight also on standby. I did hard reset, didn't work. I wiped it out, didn't work. It's day 3, will observe if it will improve. For the record, my previous iPhones in the past didn't have this battery issue straight out of the box. No "background processes" happening whatsoever. This is the first time I am experiencing this!!?
 
MrInquestador said:
Battery drops 1% an hour on standby. 10% overnight also on standby. I did hard reset, didn't work. I wiped it out, didn't work. It's day 3, will observe if it will improve. For the record, my previous iPhones in the past didn't have this battery issue straight out of the box. No "background processes" happening whatsoever. This is the first time I am experiencing this!!?
Click to expand...

Mine dropped 3% with 12 hours on standby.

How’s the reception in your area and any apps running in the background?
 
Caveat: I used Quick Setup on my 12 Pro/256, which carried over the battery saving settings from my original SE/64. These include setting Low Power mode to come on at 40%. That gives an extended 20% without going below the 20% I want as an unused minimum. It also includes reducing the number of apps using background app refresh, cutting back on notifications and turning off notification sounds unless necessary, cutting back on apps using Location Services, especially Precise Location (which uses more power and compromises privacy). Some apps such as Maps need it though. It also includes no brighter/louder than actually necessary.

I use the default Auto 5G since my T-Mobile LTE is so good (my 5G is ≈ 20% faster). My day involves frequent check-ins to Twitter, Discord, YouTube, and several web pages, as well as Mail.

I've been going to bed after 12-16 hours off the charger with around 50%, but I was able to get it down to near 40% by trying (I have a lot of other things in life that take time).

So I'm pretty happy with how it's holding out for me.
 
Snot Rox said:
Mine dropped 3% with 12 hours on standby.

How’s the reception in your area and any apps running in the background?
Click to expand...
Last time I checked I didn't move to a different location. Point is our reception here is great. Apps running in the background? Nada. I haven't changed the way I use my iPhone since 2007. Again, this is the first iPhone I ever had that has this problem.
 
Taz Mangus said:
Thanks for the idea of auto setting low power mode based on battery level. I just added it.
Click to expand...
I've never used the low power mode and I still got great battery life in the past. That mode is a feature required when you are out with running out of juice with no charger on hand. You're not supposed to use that mode to get better battery life from a brand new iPhone.
 
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MrInquestador said:
I've never used the low power mode and I still got great battery life in the past. That mode is a feature required when you are out with running out of juice with no charger on hand. You're not supposed to use that mode to get better battery life from a brand new iPhone.
Click to expand...
iOS already auto enables low power mode when the battery gets below 20%. All low power mode does it disable certain background processes such as checking mail, etc. How would low power mode not be good for a new iPhone?

Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Low Power Mode reduces the amount of power that your iPhone or iPad uses when the battery gets low.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
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MrInquestador said:
I've never used the low power mode and I still got great battery life in the past. That mode is a feature required when you are out with running out of juice with no charger on hand. You're not supposed to use that mode to get better battery life from a brand new iPhone.
Click to expand...
I feel like I’m reading some incorrect assumption here.

OP did not say they did it to get better battery life out of a new phone. They said it happened to copy from their old phone via a quick setup.

Additionally, I don’t think it’s your place to determine how someone does or does not chose to use the feature.
 
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Geckotek said:
I feel like I’m reading some incorrect assumption here.

OP did not say they did it to get better battery life out of a new phone. They said it happened to copy from their old phone via a quick setup.

Additionally, I don’t think it’s your place to determine how someone does or does not chose to use the feature.
Click to expand...

Even so why not use low power mode to extended amount of battery life. I don't see the issue with using it. Not that you were saying that it was an issue.
 
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Geckotek said:
I feel like I’m reading some incorrect assumption here.

OP did not say they did it to get better battery life out of a new phone. They said it happened to copy from their old phone via a quick setup.

Additionally, I don’t think it’s your place to determine how someone does or does not chose to use the feature.
Click to expand...
Oh I am not telling you or anyone how to use your god damn phone. It was a general opinion of mine that for a premium phone that's new, you (meaning the general consumers) shouldn't resort to low power mode to have better longer battery. A new phone should have longer better battery for the higher price tag. And I was talking about my experience in using iPhones for over a decade that this is the first time I have owned an iPhone that sucks in the battery department!
 
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MrInquestador said:
Oh I am not telling you or anyone how to use your god damn phone. It was a general opinion of mine that for a premium phone that's new, you (meaning the general consumers) shouldn't resort to low power mode to have better longer battery. A new phone should have longer better battery for the higher price tag. And I was talking about my experience in using iPhones for over a decade that this is the first time I have owned an iPhone that sucks in the battery department!
Click to expand...
Wow, little pissy aren’t we??

You’re still missing the point. Nobody resorted to low power mode to have longer battery life. It was a setting brought over from a previous configuration.

Sounds like you need a nap. Stop taking out your frustration on people here and take up your gripe with Apple. Sounds like your device has an issue as it doesn’t match the experience others are reporting.
 
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Hmm, sounds like there are a few options available to 'extend' the life of the battery. Albeit, some of those options would temporarily disable certain features.
 
MrInquestador said:
I've never used the low power mode and I still got great battery life in the past. That mode is a feature required when you are out with running out of juice with no charger on hand. You're not supposed to use that mode to get better battery life from a brand new iPhone.
Click to expand...

As I said, it carried over from my old SE. But I left it at that. If I ever get down to 40%, which would be atypical with the 12 Pro, and I may not notice it, I consider myself to possibly be in a risky situation. That's perhaps without charging available, implying away from my vehicle. An operating cell phone and credit cards are among my top survival tools.
 
MrInquestador said:
Oh I am not telling you or anyone how to use your god damn phone. It was a general opinion of mine that for a premium phone that's new, you (meaning the general consumers) shouldn't resort to low power mode to have better longer battery. A new phone should have longer better battery for the higher price tag. And I was talking about my experience in using iPhones for over a decade that this is the first time I have owned an iPhone that sucks in the battery department!
Click to expand...
Your iPhone 12 Pro has an issue. If there are no background tasks running then you need to get Apple to check it out and probably replace it. What you are experiencing is not normal.
 
MrInquestador said:
Oh I am not telling you or anyone how to use your god damn phone. It was a general opinion of mine that for a premium phone that's new, you (meaning the general consumers) shouldn't resort to low power mode to have better longer battery. A new phone should have longer better battery for the higher price tag. And I was talking about my experience in using iPhones for over a decade that this is the first time I have owned an iPhone that sucks in the battery department!
Click to expand...

I don’t understand all this bs coming from the forum. This is by far not the worst battery life I have seen on an iPhone. The iPhone 5, iPhone 7, and iPhone X were much worse. Agree that expectations were set high with the iPhone 11s, and 11 pro, but these 12s and 12 pros are not bad at all. Much better than the X.
 
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If you think this wailing and gnashing of teeth about 12/12 Pro battery charge life is bad, just wait until folks get their hands on the 12 mini.
 
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