iPad Pro 2020 (iPadOS 14) Battery Drain

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iPad Pro 2020 (iPadOS 14) Battery Drain

I have spoken to Apple Support on numerous occasions who have examined diagnostics and reported back that my battery is performing at 100% capacity and there are no hardware issues. They did acknowledge that the battery drain must be software-related but were unable to isolate the exact cause. Battery part of settings reports nothing out of the ordinary...it shows under an hour of screen on time in the last 24 hours and nothing untoward with regards to rogue processes etc. I've been purposefully not using it while testing this issue.

And yet the battery keeps on draining while in standby...

We're talking 10+% overnight, and a further 10-20% during the day...easy...for example I charged it to 100% about 48 hours ago and I used it for about 20 minutes and it was down to 92%. Then I left it overnight (roughly 6 hours) and woke up and it was at 81%. Then I left it all the way through to around 8pm and it was all the way down to like 50%. Running stable iPadOS 14.0.1 btw.

It was then that I decided to join the beta program and see if the newer releases had addressed some of the battery problems so I updated to iPadOS 14.2 beta 3 (Public) and when that was complete the battery was at 44%. Left it overnight (again from around 3:30am till just after 9am) and it was already down to 36%. Am now monitoring it further...

It's important to clarify NO APPS are running in the background (i.e. All apps are closed after use). Screen brightness is set to AUTO (and 95% of the time it runs at below 50% brightness). All the tablet does in the background is routinely check for updates such as emails, etc. And that should NOT, under any circumstances, be consuming battery to this extent. I have already tried a restore to factory with no success.

iPad Pro, iPadOS 14

Posted on Oct 16, 2020 2:02 AM

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Answer 1

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LotusPilot

Community+ 2024

Level 10

281,196 points

Oct 16, 2020 2:52 AM in response to maxwilkes92

As described, on the basis of your description alone, your battery utilisation does appear to be higher than expected.

A general rule of thumb...

Expect an unused iPad, whilst sleeping, to consume about 10% of its available battery capacity per day.
Expect an iPad to consume at least 10% of its battery per hour while being used; 12-15% battery utilisation, per hour, being typical for moderate CPU loading with a screen brightness of 30-50%.

It follows that CPU intensive Apps and higher screen brightness will expend battery at a much higher rate. Apple’s quoted battery endurance figures are often optimistic over that actually achievable - and are based upon controlled/repeatable conditions.

I hope this information is helpful in establishing reasonable expectation as to what should be achievable. If your battery performance differs significantly from the figures suggested here, you may have a problem that requires further investigation.

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Answer 2

maxwilkes92 Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 16, 2020 2:07 AM in response to Jamesd49

No they haven't...I suspect the issue is actually the operating system itself. They said themselves it was probably software related but advised I do a restore to factory to see if that solved it, and it did not. Therefore, I suspect it is apple's OS itself.

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Answer 3

maxwilkes92 Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 16, 2020 2:10 AM in response to Jamesd49

I want to know if anybody else is having similar issues. Because, as we all know, an iPad Pro is a VERY expensive piece of equipment and therefore should (reasonably) be expected to perform like one. And the battery performance is abysmal to say the least. And Apple basically say the equivalent of "it's not our problem". Well, yes Apple...yes it is.

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Answer 4

Oct 24, 2020 10:03 PM in response to maxwilkes92

Having the same issue here. My ipad is the Ipad pro 2020 model .Battery draining faster than usual since updating to IOS14. Really frustrating. Using onenote to write down notes now drains more than ever. Hopefully there is a fix to this soon.

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Answer 5

Oct 25, 2020 8:05 AM in response to maxwilkes92

I’ve had exactly the same issue with my iPad Air 2. It started after I updated my iOS to 14.1. I’ve been on the phone with Apple multiple times and they’ve run the same diagnostics on mine, telling me my battery is operating perfectly. I am waiting for a fix as I’ve seen many similar comments from others with the same problem. Unfortunately, I’ve not seen anyone that has found a fix for this.

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Answer 6

maxwilkes92 Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 25, 2020 10:27 AM in response to snipshow45

I ended up getting a replacement iPad Pro from the retailer and it just so happened that iPadOS 14.1 (stable) was released on the same day the replacement iPad Pro arrived...anyway...the battery drained only 2% in a 12 hour overnight period on standby. I'm not sure if the OS 14.1 fixed it or whether the replacement iPad fixed it but my issues seem to be fixed, at least for now. Previously I'd lose 2% PER HOUR in standby which, quite frankly, is ridiculous.

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Answer 7

Oct 25, 2020 12:07 PM in response to maxwilkes92

Hmm interesting. I bought my iPad from the Apple website. Not sure if they’ll hook me up with a replacement. Might have to give 14.1 a try tho. I’m currently running 14.01. At this rate there is nothing for me to lose.

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