iPad Air 5 poor battery life

My iPad Air 5 is less than a week old. In roughly an hour's use this morning, battery life has dropped from 100% to 65%. Plus, the device is quite warm. Battery life on my iPad Air 3 is far better without the heat. And most of what I wasn't doing wasn't processor intensive (mostly editing contacts), but that shouldn't really matter on a new, state of the art device.

My relatively new Ipad air 5th gen (purchased a month ago) all of a sudden starts having fast battery drain issues. After trying all the tips, I noticed when looking at the battery usage, there isn’t any particular app that ends up using 98% of the battery. Its random and this is when the ipad is just left unattended. I tried a complete factory reset. Not installing any apps after the reset and its still draining super fast - 50% of battery in a 4 hours while un attended/used. I suspect the internal sleep mode is not activating, any way to check?

This was my issue too. I was quite surprised since I just bought my Air 5 a few days ago but the battery doesn’t last even up to 5 hours. Though after optimizing my settings, I found that what helped me save the battery the most was turning off automatic app updates (other than turning off background app refresh and mail push)

Maybe this will help someone else, in my case it turned out to be a bad sensor in the ipad air that caused the battery to drain very fast. I think it was the internal barometer. The diagnostic tool at the Apple store was able to find. Anyhow, a good test to see is even turning off wifi and not having the screen turned on - the ipad would still use up most of the battery in a day. For a frame of reference, a new ipad air 5th gen should be able to go multiple days with normal use - hours of browsing, watching videos etc..

I have the same issue. I just got this on the mail 2 days ago and have been trying everything. I got it for school and this drains 20%+ every 30 minutes. This issue needs to be addressed asap. I shouldn’t have to turn off the automatic updates etc for my iPad Air 5 to last me more than 3 hrs.

Hopefully this helps someone else. I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this thread that I was getting about 5 or 6 hours use from my 2022 iPad Air. Performing a forced restart (or sometimes referred to as a hard reset) improved the battery life for me. I now get about 9 to 10 hours use. I updated to the latest iPadOS (16.1) prior to doing the reset.

An Apple support article explaining how to do this is available here.

Force restart iPad – Apple Support (AU)

My iPad Air 5 has had suspect battery life since day 1. I updated mine and my wife's and noticed less battery life than Gen 4. Last night, after a full charge, I decided to unplug it. This morning, I woke up to a fully discharged iPad. Come on Apple. Observe the perfect slope of the battery discharge last night. Something is seriously wrong here.

i had the same issue with a new iPad Air.

took it in to apple and they ran testing and said no issues came up with batter.

battery health is 100.

I lose about 20% of battery per hour.

I get 5 hours Max on a full charge with full brightness.

I feel like we’ve all been scammed.

I traded in an iPad Pro gen 3 for this newer smaller iPad.

at the store the apple employee looked up battery life between my old iPad and new iPad Air and it clearly states 10 hrs of bagger life on video playback or safari browsing.

I had them restore it. Started from scratch. Same thing.

took it in. They replaced it.

guess what. My replacement is no different. 20% use per hour.

updated to most recent iOS.

I have ZERO notifications on iPad.

I have Background app refresh turned off.

this is utterly disappointing and unacceptable…

wish I had good news… believe me.

Hello Hadrielsfury,

For difficulties with your battery life, you'll want to take the following steps:

1. Update to the latest software, including your apps
2. Optimize your settings
3. Enable Low Power Mode
4. View Battery Usage information

This resource has more details on each of those steps: Batteries - Maximizing Performance

Should you continue to face difficulties with your battery life after taking those steps, you'll want to reach out to Apple Support so they can look into this further: Contact Apple Support

Take care.

Some folks in this forum said resetting all the settings solved their problem of battery drainage. So, I also did the same(reset all settings) thrice but all my efforts went in vain. No improvement at all.

I have the exact same issue. Upgraded from my iPad Air 3. The battery on the iPad Air 5 was draining quite fast, 49% down within 2.5 hours.... Apple support advised updating your iPad as this fixes the battery drain issue. I will test this out once updated.

I have the latest software and have tried all the steps mentioned but ipar air 5 battery life is terrible.. have to charge atleast twice a day where as my ipad air 3 used to last entire day comfortably with my usage..

CzarVRT wrote:

I have the latest software and have tried all the steps mentioned but ipar air 5 battery life is terrible.. have to charge atleast twice a day where as my ipad air 3 used to last entire day comfortably with my usage..

If you are experiencing difficulties with your iPad battery holding charge, you might be best advised to first have your iPad tested. 

If you directly contact Apple Support - and explain your problem - you can request a remote battery diagnostic. The tests will confirm the status of your battery - and other elements of your iPad’s health.

Alternatively, a visit to the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store would provide opportunity for your iPad to be similarly tested by the Apple technicians - after which you can explore your available options.

You can contact Apple Support using the Contact Support link at top-right of this page. You can also initiate a support case using the excellent Apple Support App; if not already installed on your iPad, the App can be downloaded from the App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/apple-support/id1130498044