iPhone 17 iPhone 17 Series Battery Mega-Thread: Life, Cycles, Capacity, Health, etc.

[Ctrlos]

iPhone Air, 2 weeks, 100%, 8 Cycles.

Impressed with it to be honest. I've quickly learned that screen on time and battery stat apps don't mean squat.

I managed 5 hours of SOT, 100% to 10% between 8am and Midnight the other day but this was a busy day travelling to and around London before work between 5pm and 8pm. I was in and out of 5G areas with the phone on and off constantly messaging, checking maps, email etc as well as hot-spotting my iPad Pro and maybe 2 games of Balatro. I probably took around 100 pictures so it was uploading to iCloud over 5G as well. 5 hours doesn't sound a lot but the phone was doing a lot of background stuff. I would normally have thrown on a magsafe before the evening but I wanted a real world stress test for my blog. At no point did I turn battery saver on.

Conversely the other day I managed a cumulative 10 hours of SOT sat at home playing PSP games on a rainy Sunday via the PPSSPP emulator with the phone back-powering a Backbone controller at the same time. Again, 100%-10% before I threw it on charge.

 

[Séamus Boyle]

iPhone Air, 2 weeks, 100%, 8 Cycles.

Impressed with it to be honest. I've quickly learned that screen on time and battery stat apps don't mean squat.

I managed 5 hours of SOT, 100% to 10% between 8am and Midnight the other day but this was a busy day travelling to and around London before work between 5pm and 8pm. I was in and out of 5G areas with the phone on and off constantly messaging, checking maps, email etc as well as hot-spotting my iPad Pro and maybe 2 games of Balatro. I probably took around 100 pictures so it was uploading to iCloud over 5G as well. 5 hours doesn't sound a lot but the phone was doing a lot of background stuff. I would normally have thrown on a magsafe before the evening but I wanted a real world stress test for my blog. At no point did I turn battery saver on.

Conversely the other day I managed a cumulative 10 hours of SOT sat at home playing PSP games on a rainy Sunday via the PPSSPP emulator with the phone back-powering a Backbone controller at the same time. Again, 100%-10% before I threw it on charge.

I agree. I’m starting to think some of the battery stats are off and don’t reflect anything. The graphs are confusing. And I don’t want the last 24 hours. I want since last taken off a charger.

 

[Séamus Boyle]

I turned off Apple Intelligence and I think I’m getting way better battery life since 12 pm yesterday. Almost 6 and a half hours screen active time and I still have 36 percent left with almost 23 hours off the charger.

 

[svish]

30 days on iPhone 17. 100% battery health with 12 cycles.

 

[T0MMYC]

I don’t know about anyone else but I feel like I’m blasting through the cycle count on my iPhone Air. I’m at 90 cycles in about 75 days. At this rate I’m going to surpass any iPhone I’ve ever owned by a large margin. We’ll see how the battery holds up.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I don’t know about anyone else but I feel like I’m blasting through the cycle count on my iPhone Air. I’m at 90 cycles in about 75 days. At this rate I’m going to surpass any iPhone I’ve ever owned by a large margin. We’ll see how the battery holds up.

Yeah I was consuming cycles significantly faster than I'd ever seen before when I had my Air. Do you use the Air MagSafe battery at all? (I found that this consumes cycles unlike other MagSafe batteries).

Hope it holds up as well - Apple certifies these batteries as retaining 80% health after 1000 cycles.


But yeah, I'm noticing the same ... I'm consuming cycles significantly faster than expected even on my 17 Pro max with iOS 26. I could go weeks without using a cycle on my 15 Pro Max... (I sit a lot and plug in a lot). I used 200 cycles in 2 years 1 month on my 15 Pro Max.

OK so check this out - on my 17 Pro Max.

So from Wednesday 11/26 to Wednesday 12/3 - I used MAYBE 90% of a charge cycle according to the iOS 26 battery graph.

BUT ... check this out ... (Date left, Cycles Right)

I burned 3 cycles during that time....

I really don't like iOS 26's battery management view... it sure isn't reporting accurate information.

 

[iamthedudeman]

I don’t know about anyone else but I feel like I’m blasting through the cycle count on my iPhone Air. I’m at 90 cycles in about 75 days. At this rate I’m going to surpass any iPhone I’ve ever owned by a large margin. We’ll see how the battery holds up.

90! I am at 10. But i only got my phone about 4 weeks ago. I average about 3 cycles a week. What are you doing with your phone?

 

[T0MMYC]

Yeah I was consuming cycles significantly faster than I'd ever seen before when I had my Air. Do you use the Air MagSafe battery at all? (I found that this consumes cycles unlike other MagSafe batteries).

Hope it holds up as well - Apple certifies these batteries as retaining 80% health after 1000 cycles.


But yeah, I'm noticing the same ... I'm consuming cycles significantly faster than expected even on my 17 Pro max with iOS 26. I could go weeks without using a cycle on my 15 Pro Max... (I sit a lot and plug in a lot). I used 200 cycles in 2 years 1 month on my 15 Pro Max.

OK so check this out - on my 17 Pro Max.
View attachment 2585091
So from Wednesday 11/26 to Wednesday 12/3 - I used MAYBE 90% of a charge cycle according to the iOS 26 battery graph.

BUT ... check this out ... (Date left, Cycles Right)

View attachment 2585093

I burned 3 cycles during that time....

I really don't like iOS 26's battery management view... it sure isn't reporting accurate information.

I purchased the MagSafe battery around 3 weeks ago but I’m not sure it’s helped the cycle count much. For example on 11/11, after 53 days of usage, I was at 63 cycles. Since 11/11 I’ve used 27 cycles in the last 23 days.

 

[T0MMYC]

90! I am at 10. But i only got my phone about 4 weeks ago. I average about 3 cycles a week. What are you doing with your phone?

I’m getting my $1K worth!!

 

[Macdctr]

I have had my iPhone Air from the beginning. Took delivery of my Air on the 19th of September and have been using this device as my primary iPhone. Today after checking my battery health, I’m still at 100% with 61 cycles on my battery.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I purchased the MagSafe battery around 3 weeks ago but I’m not sure it’s helped the cycle count much. For example on 11/11, after 53 days of usage, I was at 63 cycles. Since 11/11 I’ve used 27 cycles in the last 23 days.

Yeah, check this one post out: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-observations-resolved.2470697/post-34276278

I found out that the Apple Air MagSafe battery doesn't do passthrough charging like other batteries - probably why it's so cool to the touch when working. The solid block with no shading = passthrough charging. The shaded energy symbol = going through internal battery.

My Anker MagSafe batteries will do the solid block / no shade charging and not consume cycles. But they also get significantly hotter (which is bad for longevity).

I’m getting my $1K worth!!

Excellent way to look at it. I kept my Apple Air MagSafe battery because I like the Air a lot - I use it now and then (sideways) on my 17 Pro Max. It's a beautiful battery.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have had my Cloud White Air since 10/9 and have 33 cycles. I bought a space black model at launch and sold it to a coworker so I could buy the white model. I believe my space back had 24 cycles.

 

[stanza.richi]

Since 1st October, 47 cycles for my Air.

 

[ValerieDurden]

I’m at 100% still (I’d be pissed otherwise lol) at 37 cycles since September 29th, not bad.

 

[Domadia_Jasmine]

17 Pro Max, 33 days, 11 battery cycle, one battery cycle was already there at the time of unboxed,

 

[svish]

My 17 Pro Max is at 29 cycles, with 100% battery health after 60 days. Happy with the battery life on my new iPhone.

 

[sleeptodream]

I was on a pretty lengthy phone call on cellular today while out and about, one I thought was going to burn through my battery pretty badly (about 50 minutes), and I was surprised that my Air lost only 1% battery, from 90 to 89%.

Is this anyone else’s experience? Seems kind of unreal, I swear on my 14 Plus phone calls would use way more battery than this, and it’s battery was significantly bigger

My Air has had pretty fantastic battery life overall, I’ve been really impressed. It’s really just Youtube that kills it. This is an average/heavy day for me, the steep slopes are either Youtube or navigation:

Edit: forgot to mention this is on 26.2 RC

 

[StoneJack]

My air after whole day of use holds still 60% of charge by night

 

[Macdctr]

Since having my Air (September), I haven't had to worry about my battery running out of juice during my day's usage. I also have a MagSafe battery pack to use in case I needed it however I'm never too far away from a source where I need to charge my device. Battery life has not been an issue for me. Love using this iPhone!

 

[sleeptodream]

My air after whole day of use holds still 60% of charge by night

That’s awesome! I feel like mine would too if I could keep myself off Youtube 💀

You may want to cap your charging to 80 or 90% if that’s the case, to minimize the time it’s at 100% so your battery degrades slower

 

[Macdctr]

That’s awesome! I feel like mine would too if I could keep myself off Youtube 💀

I have this problem sometimes as well 🤣

 

[StoneJack]

Yesterday morning I charged Air at night and since then about 30 hours have passed, I did not charge tonight and this morning at afernoon battery is still about 35%. I have just toggled low battery consumption, lets see if it holds until evening.

 

[1rottenapple]

Yah I what apple is doing with the modem is truly magical. I’m always amazed at the battery life. I usually end the day with 40% battery life. Standby is great.

 

[StoneJack]

Yesterday morning I charged Air at night and since then about 30 hours have passed, I did not charge tonight and this morning at afernoon battery is still about 35%. I have just toggled low battery consumption, lets see if it holds until evening.

Finally at 5pm the Air had 21% when i charged it with powerbank. So for 2 full working days, 2 mornings, 1 night Air worked with a single charge from 100 to 21% and still had some power left

 

[Hajj.david]

Yea the hate against the battery live is nonsense. It is much better then my 14 pro max