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iPhone 15 Pro Max Turn off cellular data while wifi is active can save battery?

Jutah

Jutah

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 30, 2012
1,026
464
Hi all,
after reading a tip on a forum, i created a simple automation that turn off the cellular data when the phone connect to a trusted wifi network. And, other way round, it turn on the cellular data when i'm not connected to the hotspot i listed in the automation.

It make sense, because the most of the time (home + office) i'm very well covered by strong wifi network, but can this really save some battery? I think that the cellular data always work, somehow, but i have no evidence about this.

Thank you!
 
It's negligible unless you turn Cellular off completely (Airplane Mode ON, WiFi ON).
 
Jutah said:
Hi all,
after reading a tip on a forum, i created a simple automation that turn off the cellular data when the phone connect to a trusted wifi network. And, other way round, it turn on the cellular data when i'm not connected to the hotspot i listed in the automation.

It make sense, because the most of the time (home + office) i'm very well covered by strong wifi network, but can this really save some battery? I think that the cellular data always work, somehow, but i have no evidence about this.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
I am wondering that too. I see that wifi at work drains much more battery. Here I have only one bar of cellular comparing to max at home. Maybe this is all about cellular as you said.
 
kristof461 said:
I am wondering that too. I see that wifi at work drains much more battery. Here I have only one bar of cellular comparing to max at home. Maybe this is all about cellular as you said.
Click to expand...

try the automation i described above, it's pretty easy to set up, so you can test if your drain has something to do with the cellular data.
 
kristof461 said:
Would you like to share it?
Click to expand...

Sure.

First automation:

1700665189674.png

When: (select your wifi cellular network. Do not choose "any" but just the networks you trust.

1700665249096.png


Do the following:
1700665145399.png


The second automation is the opposite: when you disconnect from your list of trusted network then enable cellular data.

Works like a charm ;)
 

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Jutah said:
Hi all,
after reading a tip on a forum, i created a simple automation that turn off the cellular data when the phone connect to a trusted wifi network. And, other way round, it turn on the cellular data when i'm not connected to the hotspot i listed in the automation.

It make sense, because the most of the time (home + office) i'm very well covered by strong wifi network, but can this really save some battery? I think that the cellular data always work, somehow, but i have no evidence about this.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
if your phone struggles to hold a cellular signal, yes disabling cellular can save power. If you live in a location where your only getting lets say 2 bars out of 4, this can cause battery drain big time... But rarely today do I find a location where I dont have full services on my phone.
 
Back in 2013 or so, I used to have a jailbreak tweak that did this. Now Apple is letting you automate it which is pretty cool, but took them long enough.

Where I am most of the time (work from home with a femtocell riding the home network) though, signal isn't an issue.
 
MapleBeercules said:
if your phone struggles to hold a cellular signal, yes disabling cellular can save power. If you live in a location where your only getting lets say 2 bars out of 4, this can cause battery drain big time... But rarely today do I find a location where I dont have full services on my phone.
Click to expand...

yes, it's like that.
I live / work in place where the signal strength is weak.

Now i'm at my office, little country (30k people), my two phone with 2 diffent carriers (2 of the biggest in EU) reports this:

- phone A - 2 bars out of 4 - 4g signal
- phone B- 2 bars out of 4 - 4g signal

The real question is: if i am connected to a solid wifi network, may the weak data signal affect the battery?
 
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Jutah said:
yes, it's like that.
I live / work in place where the signal strength is weak.

Now i'm at my office, little country (30k people), my two phone with 2 diffent carriers (2 of the biggest in EU) reports this:

- phone A - 2 bars out of 4 - 4g signal
- phone B- 2 bars out of 4 - 4g signal

The real question is: if i am connected to a solid wifi network, may the weak data signal affect the battery?
Click to expand...
The phone is always communicating with the network to say "HI IM STILL HERE" if your not actively using the radio it shouldnt cause a power draw, but it will draw more at 2 bars then at 4 bars..

Id just try it for a day, with apples power management software you should be able to see if you do after a day save power or not..

Good luck.
 
Jutah said:
Hi all,
after reading a tip on a forum, i created a simple automation that turn off the cellular data when the phone connect to a trusted wifi network. And, other way round, it turn on the cellular data when i'm not connected to the hotspot i listed in the automation.

It make sense, because the most of the time (home + office) i'm very well covered by strong wifi network, but can this really save some battery? I think that the cellular data always work, somehow, but i have no evidence about this.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Nope, no benefit to do that, none whatsoever. Who ever tells you otherwise is lying.
 
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Jutah said:
Hi all,
after reading a tip on a forum, i created a simple automation that turn off the cellular data when the phone connect to a trusted wifi network. And, other way round, it turn on the cellular data when i'm not connected to the hotspot i listed in the automation.

It make sense, because the most of the time (home + office) i'm very well covered by strong wifi network, but can this really save some battery? I think that the cellular data always work, somehow, but i have no evidence about this.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
I can’t see how this accomplishes anything more than just turning off WiFi Assist does. Even when you turn off Cellular Data, the radio is still on an connected to the network for calls unless you turn on Airplane Mode
 
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Get a MagSafe battery pack if you’re going to have to do silly things such as turning off cell data to preserve battery life.
 
Assuming you have Wi-Fi calling meaning you still get your texts and calls without cellular being active, there is no reason to not do this as far as I can see.
 
DonkeyWonkey said:
Assuming you have Wi-Fi calling meaning you still get your texts and calls without cellular being active, there is no reason to not do this as far as I can see.
Click to expand...
The problem is that turning off Cellular Data doesn’t prevent you from getting texts or calls in the first place, as those don’t use data. Your phone stays connected to the cell network even when data is disabled for the exact purpose of receiving calls and texts.
 
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jav6454 said:
The cellular radio is on even if data is not transmitted, which means it is still powered. The only way to see battery savings would be to turn off that radio and stick to Wi-Fi only.
Click to expand...
If it saves anything maybe it’s worth trying. We don’t know exactly what iPhone really does (especially on crappy iOS 17). Maybe even with connected WiFi iPhone is trying something with cellular what at the end drains battery.
 
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RRC said:
Turning data off does nothing.
Click to expand...
Any proof? Last time under Apple Watch thread we were talking about third app which have restricted time for background activities. Why I am telling this? Because someone who is a dev knows a theory. Right. He knows what Apple said to him etc but still there is no real proof that something "bad" didn't happen. Maybe there is a bug or anything like this causes different behaviors. We need clear comparison not only "it does nothing".
 
kristof461 said:
Any proof? Last time under Apple Watch thread we were talking about third app which have restricted time for background activities. Why I am telling this? Because someone who is a dev knows a theory. Right. He knows what Apple said to him etc but still there is no real proof that something "bad" didn't happen. Maybe there is a bug or anything like this causes different behaviors. We need clear comparison not only "it does nothing".
Click to expand...

It just stops data transfer, not cellular connection and that is what eats battery.

Someone who is a developer isn’t going to be told anything like that by Apple, if so show us the proof. What app does he make?
 
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