Battery Drain, Push Notifications Cellular Data Usage High (accumulates rapidly after cellular data reset)

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9 points

Battery Drain, Push Notifications Cellular Data Usage High (accumulates rapidly after cellular data reset)

A charged battery on an iPhone 7+ running current iOS with all software updates can drain overnight. No apps running in foreground, Battery Usage shows occasional Siri use, and, no screen on. It shows steady, consistent battery decline hour-by-hour. I have already reset settings and restored the iPhone--with same result. Battery Health and Performance all show good.

In Airplane Mode, battery holds at 100%!!! So, that's significant BUT how to troubleshoot activity with some better granularity????

I turned off wifi and disabled cellular data use for a number of apps.

Battery still drains 100% to 50% in 7 hours with no active apps. However, I can watch Push Notifications cellular usage in Systems Services increase megabytes in minutes with nothing active and nothing showing in Battery, and screen off all night. I suspect some app or some iOS service is busy/stuck-on/looping/???? and I don't know how to find it. If Push Notifications use is a red herring, how else to isolate battery users?

Other Info: Background App refresh is OFF. No social media apps, (other than Apple Mail, iMessage) ever installed.

Recent change suspects:

1) I started using the Home app and HomeKit accessories (Ecobee, ConnectSense). Both of these devices use wifi and have no external bridge. DOES THE HOME APP USE PUSH NOTIFICATIONS SERVICES to communicate with the iPhone?????? I do have an Apple TV3 as the home hub. It works "just okay" while on wifi and once-in-a-great-while when away from home on LTE. I have not tried to delete Home, Ecobee and ConnectSense to see what happens....yet. I do have all 3 HomeKit apps set to NOT use cellular data, though. I figure/hope someone can tell me if Home uses Push, or extensive unreported battery power without having to delete it to find out.

2) I installed and participated in the Research App. Suddenly it showed using 17% battery overnight. It is currently deleted.

3) And, after resetting cellular data, I do show DELETED APPS using some cellular data!!!!!! I saw reports of this back in April 2020. No response from Apple after folks confirmed--like in my case--the usage occurs AFTER both deleting any apps and then resetting cellular data tracking.

Thanks for any feedback.

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 13

Posted on Aug 11, 2020 10:43 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 13, 2020 6:59 AM in response to FarmPhilbe

Protect & Prolong life of your iPhone's Battery:

Try some of these options too.

Avoid Screen Mirroring
Put on Low Power Mode
Put Auto Lock On (1 min):- with low power mode it will be 30 Sec
Put Auto Answer Off
Disable Push notifications for apps you do not use often
Keep your iPhone Face down to prevent notifications to light up screen
Enable Auto Brightness:- Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Auto-Brightness [Enable]
Manually lower brightness from Control Center
If you Want to watch continuous Video. Stream it on TV or a Monitor
Don't force close apps; Apps which are not on frontend screen are paused by the system to save energy. Apps require more energy to re-launch. Apps which are open in the background use large memory is a myth and quitting them is counterproductive
Location services to be allowed only while using the app
Set your iPhone to fetch email and calendar data from internet less frequently
Turning off Background App Refresh
Charge before it drops below 20-30%
Try connecting to trusted Wifi where ever available in stead of Cellular
Enable Airplane mode in areas with bad cellular and wifi coverage. Your phone keeps trying for reconnection with the missing / weak network. This uses lot of energy
Switch off Wifi & Bluetooth while in Roaming or Not in Range
Enable "Wifi Assist" : Settings > Cellular or Settings > Mobile Data > Wi-Fi Assist [Enable]
Periodically Check your Battery Health (Settings > Battery > Battery Health)

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Answer 2

FarmPhilbe Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 13, 2020 6:58 AM in response to FarmPhilbe

Push Notifications accumulated to 130 MEGAbytes (cellular data) in 5 hours yesterday. Watched Push Notification usage grow 800kb, 1.8MB, 3.4MB in checking at 3-4 minute intervals. Airplane mode obviously stops use. Airplane mode also flattens (ie., stops) rapid battery demise. Battery drain seems related somehow. Have been turning off wifi to monitor iPhone activity via Cellular Data use. Nothing unusual shows in usage except Push Notifications.

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Answer 3

FarmPhilbe Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 14, 2020 5:14 PM in response to SravanKrA

Does anyone know the relationship between the Apple Watch and the following Cellular Data Systems Services: Push Notifications and General (NOT the Settings, the Systems Service)??

1) I turn my watch off and data usage in these 2 categories virtually stops.

2) When on wifi, there is little to no General use, but Push Notifications increases MBs/minute.

3) When on cellular, data use in General exceeds Push Notifications. 7.0 Mbs, 8.0, 11.6, 14.4, 16.3, 20.2 in General usage as quickly as I could back up 2 settings screens and coming back to Systems Services usage.

After a fews hours with Apple Support, there seems to be no knowledge these systems services. I was told the watch cannot use cellular data since it is only a wifi/GPS model. Sigh.

I was asked to wipe my watch and pair it as new. Deleted and reinstalled the watch app on my iPhone. Deleted all backups of the watch. After repairing as new, as soon as the watch setup the cellular use zoomed up again in General and Push Notifications to 20.2 MBs in 3 minutes.

Whatever exchanges are happening, if any (??????), the iPhone battery dies overnight and Battery shows steady decline with nothing running and all the usual suspects OFF. No background refresh at all, fetch manual, etc. No apps show active or using battery.

Something in this process consumes cellular data AND battery in doing so. Apple is replacing my Watch and offered no explanation of why this would fix the reported issues. I can only find programming information for Push services and APIs. Nothing on General data use and where it will switch to wifi. Push Notifications seems to be a cellular service only???

Any non-bot generated feedback, thoughts or discussion would be appreciated. I don't know how Apple ever gets new problem reports if they only check their existing knowledge-base for customer support. Also, the Supervisor said to replace the watch. Could not talk with them due to workload.

PS: Even turned off EMERGENCY broadcast notifications and AMBER Alerts thinking there was a carrier issue. No change. It's something in the interplay with the iWatch, or what the phone does when it sees it.

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Battery Drain, Push Notifications Cellular Data Usage High (accumulates rapidly after cellular data reset)

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