Are we talking about WiFi or cellular data? Normally there would certainly be higher battery usage in relation to data usage (compared to when data isn't being used).
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 7 battery life
- Thread starter stuey12345
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Doesn't matter. I think my examples are very clear. I'm saying in comparison. I've tested both devices downloading the same apps and playing the same videos on safari. The wifi/cellular radios decrease battery faster on the iPhone 7 compared to previous iPhones (I tested my iPhone 6)
Could be YOUR iPhone 7 .. I find the opposite is true comparing with my 5s
Funny because Apple says up to 10 hours on LTE for the 6s. I know it says 'up to' and that clears it from any complaints, but 10 hours on LTE at a brightness that allows you to see the screen on daylight outside, is impossible. It reaches maybe 7 consistently. I found Apple's ratings for iPhones to be misleading. 11 hours on Wi-Fi? Maybe 9 if you are lucky and all settings are off and brightness is low as well. (Ideal conditions)
No. I swapped for a new iPhone back in October and my friends notice the same thing for their iPhones.
I don't have an issue with my 7 draining faster than previous iPhones while downloading on cellular data personally.
[doublepost=1490829256][/doublepost]
The quoted figures by Apple will be best possible figures .. these certainly won't be achieved while sitting outside having a picnic under bright sunlight with the screen up full. You might get closer to them indoors though with the screen set lower at a setting bright enough to view the screen fine indoors.
I can get close to Apples figures sometimes on my iPhone 7 while mainly indoors with the screen set at around 30% brightness which is easily bright enough under artificial lighting.
Cheers
Last edited:
Does that include, though, background activity? (i.e: Music?) seems high for the standard 7 if it is always screen on time. I say that because a friend has the standard 7 and he is getting close to my 6s. (Maybe 8:30-9:30 hrs on that usage, closer to 9:30 if the usage is light enough.)
I once got 10 but that was very light use. Normally and with mixed LTE (high brightness) and Wi-Fi (20% brightness)? I get between 7 and 8. 9 is impossible.
Edit: That is with no background music whatsoever.
iOS usage time isn't necessarily on-screen time as it includes any usage even that which happens without the screen on or even user interaction.
I know, but I wanted to know - and I think - that's too high of a usage without the user adding to that number by background activity (i.e, by listening to music in the background); regardless whether there is more or less background usage of the system itself, which we know there is.
Enjoy this while it lasts. My 6s+ used to have great battery life also but one day it hit a cliff and never regain its old self.
After I did the OTA update to iOS 10.3, my battery life got really bad. I think it's something to do with the new file system. It's kind of a major update. Any major update should be restored and set up as new IMO. I restored and set up as new 2 days ago, and my battery life is back to normal now. Just thought I'd share this.
Here's my battery usage as of right now. Pretty reasonable.
![84ac8a6690aee6f92f8538e4c3351907.jpg]()
![c12af43c3078473dd226be5cc6c51fbb.jpg]()
Here's my battery usage as of right now. Pretty reasonable.
Last edited:
Hi y'all I'm new around here and this is will be my first post... 
Anyway, I have 7+ Jet Black and my battery life is actually amazing, I'm a hardcore user normally streaming music and you know living the social life. Ive had days were I would normally be dead on my 6s+ but my 7+ would still have over 50% left. Im really impressed with this battery life on my 7+. I don't have anything weird setup or turned off as I like to be available and a social person all the time. Hoping that I haven't just put a curse on me but Im really happy with my battery thus far in my life with the 7+, I got this in Dec 2016.
Anyway, I have 7+ Jet Black and my battery life is actually amazing, I'm a hardcore user normally streaming music and you know living the social life. Ive had days were I would normally be dead on my 6s+ but my 7+ would still have over 50% left. Im really impressed with this battery life on my 7+. I don't have anything weird setup or turned off as I like to be available and a social person all the time. Hoping that I haven't just put a curse on me but Im really happy with my battery thus far in my life with the 7+, I got this in Dec 2016.
Hi y'all I'm new around here and this is will be my first post...
Anyway, I have 7+ Jet Black and my battery life is actually amazing, I'm a hardcore user normally streaming music and you know living the social life. Ive had days were I would normally be dead on my 6s+ but my 7+ would still have over 50% left. Im really impressed with this battery life on my 7+. I don't have anything weird setup or turned off as I like to be available and a social person all the time. Hoping that I haven't just put a curse on me but Im really happy with my battery thus far in my life with the 7+, I got this in Dec 2016.
Share some battery usage screenshots
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-7-plus-battery-life.1998209/Hi y'all I'm new around here and this is will be my first post...
Anyway, I have 7+ Jet Black and my battery life is actually amazing, I'm a hardcore user normally streaming music and you know living the social life. Ive had days were I would normally be dead on my 6s+ but my 7+ would still have over 50% left. Im really impressed with this battery life on my 7+. I don't have anything weird setup or turned off as I like to be available and a social person all the time. Hoping that I haven't just put a curse on me but Im really happy with my battery thus far in my life with the 7+, I got this in Dec 2016.
No that's not with background music/activity .. the 7 hours usage at 50% battery is pretty much all screen on time (usage time hardly goes up when the screen is off on My phone), highest useage is safari browsing etc. It is a mixture of Cellular data and wifi.
Everyone's usage is different though and not all iPhone 7's perform exactly the same (I know this from experience) so you can't say because your friend only gets similar results to your 6s my iPhone 7 can't do better etc
Cheers
I am neither denying nor implying that what you're saying is false, I just said that reading through the battery thread of every single iPhone (since the 5s) it just seemed too high for me with a standard phone (non plus), and without user background activity. That would be slightly lower than my iPad, for instance. (and like the plus? Not sure, maybe even higher)
Maybe your use allows the phone to get to that amount of usage (and that does not, in any way, cast doubt about the veracity of your claim.) but I do not think I would get that if I used the 7. As I said on a different thread I think, I performed a battery test with my friend (same YouTube video, same quality of the video, same brightness, on the same place (physically) and we have the same settings - all conservative regarding battery life -) and we got 54 minutes of usage on 87% on both phones. (My 6s and his 7)
Based on that, and reading through all the iPhone's battery life threads (again, from the 5s), I concluded that the standard battery isn't as good as the plus's battery, and based on those threads, I would get three more hours on the plus.
Cheers!
Edit: Now on my 6s I am at 7 hours 21 minutes of usage and 21% remaining with 31 hours of standby. I don't think can get much higher than that on this phone.
That's not too bad you'll probably get close to 9 hours if you completely drained your battery.
As I said though it seems not all iPhones are exactly equal for some reason with battery life. I have access to 2 iPhone 7's and both have good battery life .. but set up exactly the same my own iPhone 7 can manage up to 11 to 12 hours usage and the other can do 10 or so max with the same usage (still decent though). My iPhone 7 loses on average 2% battery over night (sometimes just 1%) , the other loses on average 4% even if iOS is freshly reinstalled and it's set up as new with no apps installed.
Nothing wrong with either phones battery life neither are faulty and compare favourably to many other iPhones but they arnt exactly the same
Cheers
Yes, but that usage was minimal, all on Wi-Fi at low brightness. I do not have an issue with standby drain, but there's no way I would get 9 hours if I included outside - bright sun - use (higher brightness and varying signal strength, all LTE, maybe even 75% LTE 25% Wi-Fi low brightness - inside use - ) I would probably get something closer to 7.That's not too bad you'll probably get close to 9 hours if you completely drained your battery.
As I said though it seems not all iPhones are exactly equal for some reason with battery life. I have access to 2 iPhone 7's and both have good battery life .. but set up exactly the same my own iPhone 7 can manage up to 11 to 12 hours usage and the other can do 10 or so max with the same usage (still decent though). My iPhone 7 loses on average 2% battery over night (sometimes just 1%) , the other loses on average 4% even if iOS is freshly reinstalled and it's set up as new with no apps installed.
Nothing wrong with either phones battery life neither are faulty and compare favourably to many other iPhones but they arnt exactly the same
Cheers
How often do most people use their phones in direct bright sunlight though with full brightness .. I work indoors and live indoors so usually over 95% of my screen on time is indoors with around 30% screen brightness .. if I'm walking around outside I'm more likely to use my phone to make/receive a call with perhaps the odd message where the screen brightness applies but that's not often cus I tend to drive more than I walk. Shopping is mainly in shopping malls indoors etc too so no need for full brightness there either. Sure there are many exceptions but the point I'm making is most the screen on usage is indoors and Apples quoted battery figures are for best possible battery life in ideal conditions which won't be sitting on a beach with the screen brightness up full or with a weak LTE signal.
Cheers
Yes, outside use isn't significant in relation to the total amount of use, but it does make a difference when I do use it (maybe an hour a day when I do, and I do use it on full brightness as I cannot see well with anything lower on bright sun - not my eyesight, lol, it's ok -) I don't think I am the only one who uses it daily at least an hour or so outside and on bright light, and that has a large impact on battery life. There, I get 7 hours.
Also what it does make a difference is LTE. I have found that unless you have perfect signal (which I almost never have) it drains quite faster than Wi-Fi. And even then (on perfect conditions) I don't get Apple's quoted figures. I get roughly 9.
What I mean with perfect conditions is all draining settings off (almost everything is off actually) and brightness under 20% indoors I still get 9. Not higher than that. Heavier usage? 6:30 to 7:30.
Okay .. for comparison I probably have a few minutes outside screen on usage on average per day so it doesn't impact my battery life (as you can see), the rest is indoors with around 30% screen brightness (I agree I also need the screen up high though in direct sunlight outdoors).
Maybe it's an iPhone 6s problem (Although I think my 5s is similar to what you describe with LTE) but my iphone 7 only drains significantly faster than wifi if the Cellular signal is weak (1 or 2 signal dots), .. if I have a least 3 or more signal dots it doesn't drain significantly faster than on wifi while browsing safari or whatsapp messaging etc which I'm quite happy about.
Cheers
On weekends, my typical day is with 80% LTE with max brightness 20% WIFI and on 20-30% brightness. I get 4-5h usage with 12-16h standby time.
On working days, I don't use phone so much, then i get 5-6h usage (airplane mode on work with max brightness, using calculator and camera) and 30-36h of standby.
On working days, I don't use phone so much, then i get 5-6h usage (airplane mode on work with max brightness, using calculator and camera) and 30-36h of standby.
I just recently switched from ATT to Verizon and I find my Verizon Project (RED) iPhone 7 battery last a lot longer than my Jet Black iPhone 7. Where I live and work reception is not an issue - usually full bars the entire time. Where my ATT phone would be almost drained by the time I get home around 7p (off charger 7a), my Verizon iPhone 7 still has 40-50% left. Needless to say, I'm very happy.