Link between number of push notifications & battery life

[iPhone7s]

Hi,

Is it correct that having 20 apps set up for push notifications is pretty much the same as having 1 or 2 apps using push notifications?

Can't seem to find any definite information on this. I'm just wondering because I want push notifications for a few apps but wondering if I turn it on for most apps will it be the same amount of battery used if only a few of them get notifications on a regular basis anyway?

Also for Apple's iCloud email notifications is it better for battery life to set it to fetch hourly or push? I've read mixed reports that aren't definitive.

Thanks in advance

 

[Tyler23]

Hi,

Is it correct that having 20 apps set up for push notifications is pretty much the same as having 1 or 2 apps using push notifications?

Can't seem to find any definite information on this. I'm just wondering because I want push notifications for a few apps but wondering if I turn it on for most apps will it be the same amount of battery used if only a few of them get notifications on a regular basis anyway?

Also for Apple's iCloud email notifications is it better for battery life to set it to fetch hourly or push? I've read mixed reports that aren't definitive.

Thanks in advance

Push notifications wake the phone - when you receive one, your screen lights up for a few seconds. The more notifications you get, the more times your screen lights up, and that eats battery.

Hourly uses less battery than push. With push, it is constantly looking, looking, looking for a new email. With fetch, it only looks once per whatever time-period you have it set for. It uses less battery to check for emails once per hour than every second of every hour.

Now, for both of these, it's not absolutely, dramatic differences in battery life. It may only mean a few minutes to an hour or so..but, if you're looking to get as much from your battery as possible, set it for less push notifications and fetch, not push email.

 

[C DM]

Push notifications wake the phone - when you receive one, your screen lights up for a few seconds. The more notifications you get, the more times your screen lights up, and that eats battery.

Hourly uses less battery than push. With push, it is constantly looking, looking, looking for a new email. With fetch, it only looks once per whatever time-period you have it set for. It uses less battery to check for emails once per hour than every second of every hour.

Now, for both of these, it's not absolutely, dramatic differences in battery life. It may only mean a few minutes to an hour or so..but, if you're looking to get as much from your battery as possible, set it for less push notifications and fetch, not push email.

Right, for email there can be a difference, for apps, as I recall, whether you have one that gets push notifications or a bunch it doesn't make much of a difference as far as push for apps goes (and I don't believe there's any fetch for that anyway), the bigger difference with that comes with the screen waking up basically, as you mentioned.

 

[GreyOS]

Yes in general (in theory) it's more about number of notifications than it is the number of apps you have enabled for notifications. Because they're all meant to be pushed via the same connection to apple servers maintained by the OS.

20 apps with push enabled each sending 1 each is the same as 1 app with push enabled sending 20.

That said... this is slightly muddied by the fact since ios7 apps can also send silent notifications which kick off background stuff (if background app refresh is enabled)... So there may be some benefit to disabling it for apps that you think never send notifications... Though dunno how many apps take advantage of this feature.

 

[Kapybarus]

What about battery usage in statistics. It is basically screen time like on android or it is more CPU usage? For example 5 hours usage is 3hours screen time, etc?

 

[GreyOS]

Oh and as for icloud push or fetch. I really do not know for sure but I would guess push uses the same connection as the app push notifications (they all go via apple servers). If so icloud push adds no extra strain if you already have push enabled apps. The only strain is related to how frequently you receive emails.

Exchange push for other email providers is another matter though.

 

[C DM]

What about battery usage in statistics. It is basically screen time like on android or it is more CPU usage? For example 5 hours usage is 3hours screen time, etc?

It's more along the lines of CPU usage than just screen time, since the usage will go up if you are listening to music even with the screen off, for example.