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User profile for user: DavidZzzzzz
DavidZzzzzz Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

SIM Card Effect on Battery Drain

When in lock mode without a SIM card installed, my iPhone 8 battery drains 0.43% per hour. In other words, it will last about 10 days. With a SIM card installed, it drains 1.56% per hour, which means it will last about 2.7 days. With a SIM card in Airplane mode, the battery drains 1.21% per hour for a life of 3.4 days.


Is there a setting that would get me closer to a drain rate of 0.43% per hour with the SIM card installed?


Please note that my iPhone 8 is already set to silence calls and notifications in lock mode.

iPhone 8, iOS 13

Posted on May 1, 2020 12:35 PM

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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch
Lawrence Finch
User level: Level 10
214,072 points

Posted on May 1, 2020 1:55 PM

No, there is no setting because with a SIM card installed the phone registers with the cellular network every 5 minutes to report its location (so it can find you when someone calls you), and a cellular connection is one of the most energy-intensive things the phone can do. Even in Airplane mode if there is a SIM in the phone the phone still listens for network, it just doesn’t send.


But why are you so obsessed with how many days you can go? If you plug the phone in overnight, every night it will easily get you through the next day. Do you want a phone or a battery meter? And what use is a device that goes for 10 days but only if you don’t use it? Why don’t you just turn it off if you aren’t going to use it? That way it will get 6 months or more between charges.

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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch
Lawrence Finch
User level: Level 10
214,072 points

May 1, 2020 1:55 PM in response to DavidZzzzzz

No, there is no setting because with a SIM card installed the phone registers with the cellular network every 5 minutes to report its location (so it can find you when someone calls you), and a cellular connection is one of the most energy-intensive things the phone can do. Even in Airplane mode if there is a SIM in the phone the phone still listens for network, it just doesn’t send.


But why are you so obsessed with how many days you can go? If you plug the phone in overnight, every night it will easily get you through the next day. Do you want a phone or a battery meter? And what use is a device that goes for 10 days but only if you don’t use it? Why don’t you just turn it off if you aren’t going to use it? That way it will get 6 months or more between charges.

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User profile for user: DavidZzzzzz
DavidZzzzzz Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

May 1, 2020 2:41 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks. I bought this iPhone to keep in the glove box of my new car for Apple CarPlay, which gives me access to Amazon Ultra HD music and Google Maps. Amazon Ultra HD music is essentially studio quality recordings that blow away everything else. I'm an audiophile and that's very important to me.


If I leave the phone in the car, it drains until I start the car again, which may be the next day or the next few days. The longer the phone battery lasts in lock mode, the less likely it is that the battery will be dead when I start up the car.


As you say, i can turn the phone off when I leave the car and turn it back on when I get back in. But it's much more convenient not to have to do that.

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SIM Card Effect on Battery Drain

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