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iPad Air 4 Battery Drain

Hi, I got an iPad air for drawing and the battery has been draining very quickly when the screen is off, almost as if the screen was still on. The only app I have is procreate and I have a apple pencil 2 paired with it. Any help would be appreciated.


iPad Air, iPadOS 14

Posted on Nov 2, 2020 8:21 AM

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Posted on Nov 4, 2020 12:11 PM

Same. Rapid battery drain for the new iPadAir 4 - and it was not like this the first few days of unboxing! Seems the battery has dropped dramatically after just 1 week of use..


My 2-week old iPadAir 4 drains just as fast as my 2018 iPad 6 does after 2.5 years of use.


I primarily read kindle books (no music, no video, no pencil running). After a full night of charging my battery went from 100% to 4% in less than 6 hours of on/off use.


Seems low, yes?

Similar questions

211 replies

Dec 29, 2020 3:29 PM in response to SoupLauncher

Hello from Greece! I have exactly the same problem with all of you, with my new iPad Air 4 which I activated on 25/12/2020. I bought it from Germany Apple Store. I contacted the telephone support of Apple in Greece and after doing two diagnostic tests he told me that he saw that the compass and peripheral lighting sensors were active. He needed me at the service and there he told to do a reset as new. Of course the problem was not solved and I am sure now that it is a issue of software. I contacted again today and asked them to share it with Apple. I hope it will be solved in some next update.

Dec 29, 2020 3:38 PM in response to theodosia192

As there is a new complaint on the same issue this morning, I wanted to say that I tried the trick suggested by a previous participant in this thread (whose comment I cannot find) - I let the battery run down to under 10% and then charged it fully to 100%. Since I did tha about 36 hours ago my iPad Air lost only 1% battery, albeit when not in use! He said it worked for him. I will keep a close eye on it while I wait to receive my new USB-A - USB-C cord so that I can do a factory reset if need be. if it continues as is, it'll be fine. I was told, by Apple;s online chat suppor that I replacement would be the next step if a factory reset doesn't fix things...

Dec 29, 2020 5:05 PM in response to SoupLauncher

I'm noticing a pattern emerging here when trusting buyers are calling Apple service technicians for help regarding this specific new product concern:


Trusting buyer purchases new cycle 2020 iPad Air 4.

Trusting buyer notices immediately upon opening and operating an unusual & unexplainable battery drain while unit is idle.

Trusting buyer calls Apple for help.

Apple service technician informs buyer to purchase a new cord from Apple to backup the unit before help can commence.

Trusting buyer purchases new cord from Apple for backup.

Trusting buyer again calls Apple service technician.

Apple service technician instructs buyer to perform factory reset using newly purchased cord from Apple.

Trusting buyer performs backup as instructed; no change in solving the iPad Air 4's battery drain.

Trusting buyer informs Apple service technician of the non-change.

Apple service technician informs now-skeptical buyer that all looks normal on their end, and goodbye.


Please note: Apple does not meet the specific call-to-action on behalf of the trusting buyer, nor do they fix the original source of the problem, namely the suspected (and in many cases confirmed over the phone with Apple) defective battery drain; Apple does, however, successful convince the trusting buyer that they need to spend an additional $19 on a cord before they will try to fix an issue that never should have occurred in the first place. In effect Apple generates additional revenue from the trusting buyer by preying on their desperation to remedy a seemingly defective situation out-of-the-box.


This, dear readers, reads like a scam.

Dec 29, 2020 5:34 PM in response to hawaii2484hawaii

hawaii. You are clearly a skeptic. That's fine. However, the cord buying is only for those of us with older computers which do not have USB-C connections...So, nobody is forcing us to buy anything we don't need.


Doing a factory reset is often the solution for things. What seems to have worked for me was draining and recharging the battery after the new iPad had fully downloaded everything from iCloud. Once upon a time, we were required to do this with various phones - I'm probably older than most of you on here so you won't all remember that trick. I don't think Apple needs to scam anybody.

Dec 30, 2020 6:39 AM in response to theodosia192

Draining Lithium Ion batteries to 0% is not good for them (I know.... I am an electrical engineer) and will shorten their life in the long run. Doing so allows the electrolyte in the battery to start to slightly powderize like dry salt crystals instead of remaining a liquid. The 'happy' point for this type of battery is when charged b/w 40% to 80% range. Keeping it at 100% plugged-in all the time is not optimal either and draining all the way to 0% is not good.


Based upon my own experiences, and seeing what others are reporting (on the Apple forum and other 3rd party forums), it seems our battery drain issues are either an iPadOS issue or a hardware issue within the iPad or a combo of both. I see many of us have reported battery drain of 3~10% with the unit completed shut down overnight, too. It seems that replacing the iPad (which is what Apple seems to be offering in most cases) isn't resolving the issue either as the replacement iPads have the same hardware and iPadOS that the original Air 4's have. Maybe the more iPads that are replaced will finally alert Apple that there is a problem.


Incidentally, you can buy cheaper USB-C to USB-A cords on Amazon and other sites compared to the $19 ones on Apple's website. I got 2 cords for $13 on Amazon and had them the next day. It is sort of mind-boggling that Apple sells our iPads with USB-C ports but doesn't supply the cord to connect to our computers... only the cord to connect to their supplied power adapter (which is not USB-A on the power adapter end).

Dec 30, 2020 10:17 AM in response to n3ntjmatt

Like I said earlier, my battery was at 53% and next morning (all night just on standby) down to 12%. The next night I put it in flight mode and guess what: only 2% less battery from the moment putting it in flight mode. So it is for sure a software issue. some process in the background is using up the energy. I have to point put, I also had the pencil 2 disconnected the 2nd time. (air 4 64gb wifi/4G) Some of you use 14.1 like me others 14.2. Makes no difference so far. If all of us experience this or similar problems, swapping hardware (and chargers) using any percentage of charge it keeps draining without using it) makes no sense. 1st I advise Apple to test this themselves and they will for sure notice we are not complaining or treating the ipad wrong in any way. My ipad 4 2012 even lasts longer on a charge!!!

Dec 30, 2020 2:37 PM in response to n3ntjmatt

Thanks for that information. I wonder if I might have jumped the gun with my complaint as I found the transfer of info to my new iPad Air (14.3) was not complete...lots of books and emails did not automatically download. Now they are. The last time I charged to 100% 0n Tuesday 29 at 1.54 Australian Central daylight savings time, it was all downloaded. In short, it is now 9 am on 31st Dec here and the iPad has lost only 5%.


However, I looked at it several hours ago and it was 96% and apart from looking at battery usage since Tuesday, it has dropped 2% this morning. No activity by apps.


I'll come back when I've spent some time using the thing...HOWEVER, I've got it open beside me ATM and it seems to be dropping 1% every few minutes just being on!!!


Dec 31, 2020 3:48 PM in response to SoupLauncher

I contacted Apple again today via their online chat feature. The tech did another battery analysis remotely and said it is fine. They had no clue as to why my battery drain issues persist. They had a senior tech call me and he didn't help much at all. He said I'd need to send my unit in or or I can take my again to an Apple Store. I explained that I use my iPad for work and therefore can't send it in and wait 10~20 days for a return unit. I told them I had done this already and they did a factory reset to no avail and the issues persist. I asked if they could send me a replacement (charge me for it) and I'd return my current iPad back and then credit back to me when they receive it back. They said Apple won't do that. Then, the tech had me download the Apple Support app to set up an appt. Within 150 miles, there is no appt. available any earlier than next weekend at any Apple Store, Best Buy, or other retailer. Their online scheduler only goes out 8 days so who knows. No idea why no Apple Store or other retailer has any available appts. for at least 8 days.. do that many Apple customers have problems with their devices right now that need repair or replacement and that explains why all appts are taken in the next week plus within 150 miles of me?

Jan 6, 2021 1:58 PM in response to mulberrywriter

Just curious what browsers everyone is using on their iPads. I normally use Firefox for iOS on my iPad for work but I tried using Safari for work today (doing the same procedures as I always do in Firefox) and noticed the battery drain is only about 20% of what I have been experiencing when using Firefox. I have been seeing nearly 50% drain in about 1~2 hrs of work using Firefox but saw only about 11% drain using Safari doing the same work. Doing this will help but won't fix everything but should help some of these problems.


Of course, this won't prevent the battery drain when the unit is turned off overnight or in sleep mode (with wifi, bluetooth, and air drop off). That seems like a separate issue.

Jan 6, 2021 2:12 PM in response to n3ntjmatt

Wow, thanks for that advice. My iPad has seemingly settled down. I didn't have to do a full reset after all. It probably still drains faster than I hoped but it's OK. I use Firefox nowadays too and find it slow even on the iMac. And confusing at times. I'll do a comparison with Safari as it's faster anyway than Firefox. Thanks for the advice.

Jan 10, 2021 7:01 PM in response to SoupLauncher

Same issues for me. One night, I went to bed with 40ish% juice left and had it disconnected from wifi. Woke up to a dead iPad.

Today, woke up and took it off the charger after I disconnected from WiFi, made sure all apps were closed and turned off background app refresh. Lost 46% across several hours of it doing nothing but sitting in its case with the screen locked.


This has been the issue since I got it on Tuesday. I thought for the first couple of days that maybe it was still indexing after the backup was restored, but obviously not the issue. I had Apple support run a remote diagnostic on it and they say everything “Is operating normally.” 🙄 I was then informed that if I wanted a battery replacement that it would come out of my pocket.


I upgraded from an Air 2 and that bold thing didn’t suffer this badly.

iPad Air 4 Battery Drain

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