Some iPhone Users Report Significant Battery Drain Due to Music App Background Activity in iOS 13.5.1

[MacRumors]

A significant minority of iPhone users have taken to Apple's Support Communities and Reddit to report battery drain issues largely related to the Music app and high levels of background activity.

Hundreds of users, many running iOS 13.5.1 on devices both new and old, are experiencing rapid battery drain when the Music app is not in use. In some cases, the background activity occurs over several hours each day, even if the app has not been used for weeks or even at all.

User: Mojo06
I just purchased a new iPhone 11 a few days ago, and my battery is crashing so fast. I haven't even used the Apple Music App yet and it says that it has been running in the background for over 18 hours and has used 95% of my battery. My phone is also getting very hot from this. I am concerned this will kill my battery on my new phone.

User: Brianwpi
Phone is burning up. Switched off background app refresh. Restarted phone. Battery health 91%. iPhone X running iOS 13.5.1. Had to recharge several times during the day just to keep up. Help?

User: svphies
I'm having this exact same problem with my iPhone 11, recently updated to IOS 13.5.1. I never had Background App Refresh turned on and I haven't found any downloading song in the Music app. I might try to backup my phone to iTunes and do a reset later. I hope Apple fixes this issue soon.

While reports of the Music app draining battery in the background go back to April, there has been a rapid uptick in reports over the last week, suggesting Apple may have recently changed something on the server side which is causing the problem.

Below are some of the steps that users have taken to try to resolve the issue, but which appear to have a low rate of success.

• Force quit the Music app.
• Restart / Restore iPhone.
• Delete Music app then reinstall it.
• Turn off Automatic Downloads (Settings -> Music -> Automatic Downloads).
• Disable background app refresh (Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh -> Disable Music).
• Turn off Mobile Data (Settings -> Music -> Mobile Data).
• Cancel all downloads in the Music Library.

Some users have resorted to deleting the Music app on their device, which brings the battery usage to an end. For those with Apple Music subscriptions, however, this isn't even a short-term solution, so we're bringing these reports to the attention of the wider community in the hope that it will prompt Apple to investigate.

Article Link: Some iPhone Users Report Significant Battery Drain Due to Music App Background Activity in iOS 13.5.1

 

[Squuiid]

Yep, I had this a few days ago. Removed iCloud library from settings and signed out, rebooted phone, then re-added, and issue resolved.

 

[KaPOWitsCHRIS]

I’ve been having this issue for months and thought it was only me. I even reset my device and setup as new and it returned.

 

[shabagiuly]

It’s not only the Music app, since 13.5 a lot of apps suffer of constant background activity. You can check this subject on Apple forum.

 

[Squuiid]

It’s not only the Music app, since 13.5 a lot of apps suffer of constant background activity. You can check this subject on Apple forum.

Nah, it was 100% the music app.

 

[shabagiuly]

Nah, it was 100% the music app.

Maybe for you. But if you check Apple’s forum, it’s far from the only one app with troubles.

 

[iDron]

I don't know if this is related, I checked this background activity and on my phone it showed the KMB app (only relevant to users in HK) had 19hrs of background activity within the last day. Doesn't seem to affect the battery though, as it is just an app for bus schedules.

 

[weup togo]

It’s not only the Music app, since 13.5 a lot of apps suffer of constant background activity. You can check this subject on Apple forum.

something is definitely worse since 13.5.1. My 3rd gen iPad air battery is getting murdered by Overcast background activity. Sounds like an OS audio bug.

 

[shabagiuly]

I don't know if this is related, I checked this background activity and on my phone it showed the KMB app (only relevant to users in HK) had 19hrs of background activity within the last day. Doesn't seem to affect the battery though, as it is just an app for bus schedules.

Yes, it’s related. The bug is for background activity in general, not only Music app.

 

[Mikkis]

I noticed battery drain right after updating my iPhone X to 13.5.1. I haven't seen anything unusual with music app but today noticed that Dropbox had almost 9 hours of background usage even though I had disabled background app refresh for Dropbox and hadn't used it on screen either for weeks.

 

[itsmilo]

significant minority?

Either way, one of the reasons i keep closing apps at least daily. MR can say what they want. Stuff like Instagram does seem to stay active longer than it should and since there is no indicator which apps are actually indeed still running, i will keep closing them (if not for being a habit)

 

[TimB21]

No problem for me. 11 Pro Max that I charge daily and never gets below 75% battery.

 

[iEimis97]

Vouch, haven’t even used apple music for the past couple of days and was strangely having to charge the phone more often recently

 

[dhoughal]

Same **** here with Mail.app background activity.

 

[Thrutheroofnunderground]

I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on last nigh. I charged by phone and went to bed. Had 100% charge Woke up at 4:00am to get ready for work and was at 1%, and all the phone had done in that time was sit there. The music app wasn't even open, so I don't know how it's doing what it's doing...
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Vouch, haven’t even used apple music for the past couple of days and was strangely having to charge the phone more often recently

I use Apple Music MAYBE once a week, and then close it. Not a person who leaves apps open typically, and yeah, same.
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significant minority?

Either way, one of the reasons i keep closing apps at least daily. MR can say what they want. Stuff like Instagram does seem to stay active longer than it should and since there is no indicator which apps are actually indeed still running, i will keep closing them (if not for being a habit)

I close apps too, basically never use Apple Music—and this issue started for me yesterday, showing 86% o battery
usage from Apple Music, when it hasn't even been opened period, much less left open.12 minutes of screen on time in the last 10 days, yet yesterday (while not opened once) it drained 88% of my battery. Killing a full charge in 4 hours, with the screen off the whole time from 12AM-4AM (roughly).

 

[maku Music]

Same here with me... iPhone on 13.5.1 and you can watch the battery uncharge... I tried all of the options mentioned above with no success... hope there will be a fix, soon...

 

[Wackery]

Does anyone else have the problem where if you wear airpods and pause an app like youtube, and then unpause, it starts playing a random song in apple music?
that’s why I deleted my apple music.

 

[JoshBoy]

I’m on ios14 and it’s happening to me. Have not been using the music app nor had it open but it’s used 39%/14 hours of battery

 

[Squuiid]

A picture tells 1000 words. Didn't even use Apple Music. All 'Background Activity".
One more thing, as soon as this started happening, iTunes Match no longer works on my HomePods. I've tried so many things to try and fix, nothing.

Definitely a server side change Apple have made to their music backend to cause this IMO.
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[transpo1]

Same here with iPad Pro 9.7” — Music background activity drains battery AND battery stays hot during usage and charging, much hotter than it ever got previously.

Shut off background app refresh for all apps and that seems to help, but not dismiss the problem entirely.

 

[slineaudi]

I have noticed some battery and performance issues with my iPhone X lately. Especially when using CarPlay my phone has been getting really hot to the touch and becomes super sluggish.

 

[boswald]

Ah! No wonder why my SE battery has been trash since I bought it. Going to disable Background App Refresh until further notice. Thanks, MR!

 

[Populus]

We’ll see if they solve this in iOS 13.6 or even 13.6.1

I haven’t updated my iPhone 8 from iOS 12 yet because of all this battery drain issues

 

[gank41]

this was also an issue for me on iOS 13.5.1 and remains an issue thru both of the iOS 14 betas. Just the Music app for me.

 

[monicamanako]

Yep, the super battery drain suddenly started four days ago when I opened the Apple Music app on my iPhone 11 Pro 13.5.1 for the first time in months to download some already purchased songs from years ago. I tried everything listed here and on the Apple discussion board, but the Music app continues to run in the background 24 hours a day. Haven't deleted the app yet, though, as I'm hoping Apple will release a fix??