Test Shows How Much Battery Drain Your Wallpaper Causes on the iPhone 14 Pro's Always-On Display

[valkraider]

Apple’s own battery usage info in settings tells me that AOD on my 14pro max, with no wallpaper, was consuming about 10% of my battery.

I don’t like AOD enough to leave it on.

I am glad we have a choice - everyone has their own preferences. Don’t hate on people who use their phone different than you do.

 

[Baumi]

Not judging anyone who has different preferences, but for my use case, always-on displays on a phone don't really make sense: If my phone isn't in active use, it's likely to be in a pocket, in which case any kind of display would serve no purpose. So, if I were to get one of the latest iPhones, I'd probably turn off always-on to save the battery power for other stuff.

 

[Radeon85]

FFS. It has been tested scientifically 100x. It does not. Period.

It's even shown in the video literally attached to this article, how can you not see the lower battery life!, 24hrs of testing results in 10% to 15% less battery life with AOD on depending if a wallpaper is on or just white text is used, just as I experience in real use.

The displays are OLED not E ink, no matter how power efficient it is it's going to draw power.

 

[Artemis70]

What do you use your phone for ?

Reading e-mails, reading the news, listening to music or podcasts, an occasional sudoku, iMessage/WhatsApp messages, an occasional Facetime or Teams call

And how mucH SOT do u get ?

Typically around 2 to 3 hours a day.

Initially, my 12 Pro Max would finish between 70 and 80% full at the end of the day. Early November, just before replacing it with the 14 Pro, it would finish between 40 and 50% at the end of the day, and would never go below 40%.
In almost 2 months, my 14 Pro has never ended the day above 50%, ever. It frequently ends below 30%.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Reading e-mails, reading the news, listening to music or podcasts, an occasional sudoku, iMessage/WhatsApp messages, an occasional Facetime or Teams call


Typically around 2 to 3 hours a day.

Initially, my 12 Pro Max would finish between 70 and 80% full at the end of the day. Early November, just before replacing it with the 14 Pro, it would finish between 40 and 50% at the end of the day, and would never go below 40%.
In almost 2 months, my 14 Pro has never ended the day above 50%, ever. It frequently ends below 30%.

Thank you

Yeah doesn’t sound good at all

So you basically get 5h of sot using the 14 pro? This is terrible

 

[Fred Zed]

One used a black wallpaper for AOD anyways , but nice to see Apple having this option available now.

 

[valkraider]

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Thank you

Yeah doesn’t sound good at all

So you basically get 5h of sot using the 14 pro? This is terrible

There are too many variables to really compare easily.

What kind of network? WiFi? What kind of WiFi? Cellular? Is it LTE or 5G? How is the signal strength? What brightness is the screen set to? Is it using light or dark theme? What is active in the background? How long are the FaceTime and Teams calls? What plugins or extensions are in Safari? Are there ad-blockers? Is it hot or cold in the house?

Everyone’s setup is so completely different it is really hard to define what is good and what is bad comparing different peoples phone setups.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

There are too many variables to really compare easily.

What kind of network? WiFi? What kind of WiFi? Cellular? Is it LTE or 5G? How is the signal strength? What brightness is the screen set to? Is it using light or dark theme? What is active in the background? How long are the FaceTime and Teams calls? What plugins or extensions are in Safari? Are there ad-blockers? Is it hot or cold in the house?

Everyone’s setup is so completely different it is really hard to define what is good and what is bad comparing different peoples phone setups.

I hear that, but considering the ratio 12pm@85%/14p@100% , it doesn’t look good , do u get me ?

Also I have a 11pm which has an even better battery than that of the 12pm

 

[FlyingDutch]

There's plenty of evidence in recent OLED display technology that it's really not an issue anymore - it's definitely not something to be fannying about over.

That’s simply not true. It’s organic, and physics laws could be mitigated, not changed

 

[FlyingDutch]

I experienced OLED burn-in on my Watch Series 5. The technology has vastly improved, but it's still not perfect.

It’s not a matter of being perfect. You cannot circumvent certain laws. Just trying mitigate them.

 

[Artemis70]

The biggest battery drain on Apple Watches is Raise to Wake. It drains more battery than AOD. I keep AOD on and raise to wake off because 90% of the time I need to use my other hand to operate the watch anyway.

Very interesting. I have been testing this today on my series 5. My results are unfortunately different then yours. It's close to 9 PM local time, and my watch battery is at 25%, with AOD on, and Raise to Wake turned off. This is slightly worse than usual (with AOD off and Raise to Wake turned on). It may be because of my usage habits, and because it is cold out here and I am wearing shirts with long sleeves this time of year.

Btw, I really missed Raise to Wake today. For my usage pattern, AOD off is the better tradeoff.

 

[_Spinn_]

I’m surprised there is not more of a difference between AOD with and without the wallpaper.

 

[TheSynchronizer]

Very interesting. I have been testing this today on my series 5. My results are unfortunately different then yours. It's close to 9 PM local time, and my watch battery is at 25%, with AOD on, and Raise to Wake turned off. This is slightly worse than usual (with AOD off and Raise to Wake turned on). It may be because of my usage habits, and because it is cold out here and I am wearing shirts with long sleeves this time of year.

Btw, I really missed Raise to Wake today. For my usage pattern, AOD off is the better tradeoff.

Fair! TBH my claim could be outdated because when I was testing which one to keep on and which one to turn off, it was on an older version of WatchOS. Things certainly could've been changed and optimised since then, and indeed everyone's results will vary because we all use our devices differently throughout the day.

 

[valkraider]

indeed everyone's results will vary because we all use our devices differently throughout the day.

Now don’t go bringing reason into this discussion…

 

[The Game 161]

I switched wallpaper off as it became distracting and annoying anybody could see your photos walking by.

 

[jmovie]

I am not a tech blogger, just a user. Me and my wife, we turned off AOD within a day of receiving our iPhone 14 Pro's. We have AOD turned off on our watches too. We are happy for others that enjoy AOD, but we have no need at all. In my social circle, nobody has AOD turned on, also not on Android phones. Based on my social circle, I would say that a vocal minority wants AOD. Apparently your social circle is such that you think the opposite.

To each their own, for sure. My social circle feels too varied to draw any particular conclusions, but no one in my circle has turned AOD off on any devices (nor ever complained about the notch, etc). And while I consider AOD on iPhone to be a nice option, I consider AOD on Apple Watch essential - I'm quite surprised to hear anyone would want to turn AOD off on their watch! But again, having the option to do so is nice - and marks a change in Apple attitudes as well.

 

[Artemis70]

To each their own, for sure. My social circle feels too varied to draw any particular conclusions, but no one in my circle has turned AOD off on any devices (nor ever complained about the notch, etc). And while I consider AOD on iPhone to be a nice option, I consider AOD on Apple Watch essential - I'm quite surprised to hear anyone would want to turn AOD off on their watch! But again, having the option to do so is nice - and marks a change in Apple attitudes as well.

In my circle, I see both. My boss upgraded to the Watch 5 only because of AOD. Like you, she sees it as essential. My wife and I have both turned off AOD, for different reasons. My wife doesn't want AOD. I have turned AOD off because I don't make it through the day with AOD turned on. I use my Apple Watch as an alarm clock in the morning, so wear the Watch overnight. With AOD, my Watch is down to 10% at around 6 PM. Without AOD, I can charge the phone at 10 PM, and still have juice left, and charge it to 100% before I go to bed.
So indeed, different uses, different preferences, and different reasons.

 

[iMas70]

Look in display under settings.

I checked but didn't see anything. I then updated to 16.2. Looking at settings for the Always on Display, there is nothing that allows the time the display is on to be adjusted. Just a toggle to turn it on and off, show wallpaper and show notifications. I'd like to be able to keep the display at 100% for 5-10 minutes.

 

[CarAnalogy]

I checked but didn't see anything. I then updated to 16.2. Looking at settings for the Always on Display, there is nothing that allows the time the display is on to be adjusted. Just a toggle to turn it on and off, show wallpaper and show notifications. I'd like to be able to keep the display at 100% for 5-10 minutes.

Ah ok I'm thinking of the normal time to sleep from non always on displays. It may be different on that one, or it may actually be under face ID.

 

[dannys1]

That’s simply not true. It’s organic, and physics laws could be mitigated, not changed

To the point where it'll never ever be noticible to be on any device I own in the lifetime I own it. Again stop fannying around with your devices and worrying about longevity and resale value and just use them!

 

[dannys1]

I experienced OLED burn-in on my Watch Series 5. The technology has vastly improved, but it's still not perfect.

It'll never be perfect but burn in is not one of the things with Oled i'm actually concerned or remotely think about. Never had any burn in (or in this case I'm guessing you really mean ghosting) effect on any Apple Watch I've had either.

 

[FlyingDutch]

To the point where it'll never ever be noticible to be on any device I own in the lifetime I own it. Again stop fannying around with your devices and worrying about longevity and resale value and just use them!

The fact you didn’t notice doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Again stop writing nonsense. Burn in on an organic display is a fact, not an opinion. You can mitigate it. Not cancel it.

 

[dannys1]

The fact you didn’t notice doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Again stop writing nonsense. Burn in on an organic display is a fact, not an opinion. You can mitigate it. Not cancel it.

It does not exist on any OLED display i've ever had and I guarantee i've had more sizes and types that you over the last 7 years.

Is it possible - yes. Is it likely to affect anyone day to day so they have to turn off features the company designed into the display NO. Stop babying your electronics like they're something special and just use the things ffs.

 

[FlyingDutch]

It does not exist on any OLED display i've ever had and I guarantee i've had more sizes and types that you over the last 7 years.

Is it possible - yes. Is it likely to affect anyone day to day so they have to turn off features the company designed into the display NO. Stop babying your electronics like they're something special and just use the things ffs.

Again: it is possible so it’s happening for some people. That’s enough.

 

[johnnytravels]

I would turn it on again if I could disable the music control. Maybe it’s just a split second thing but I keep turning off the music whenever I pull my phone out of my pocket with aod enabled, but have no problems with the aod off.
Certainly a case of “holding it wrong” but it is what it is…