iPhone 14 Pro Battery Draining Fast

I’ve unscientifically determined it is probably a problem with the network card interface and/or the graphics card when connected to an application and watching Tik-Toks or Facebook reels or You Tube shorts or anything similar. According to Apple Genius Bar, the Facebook application is poorly designed leading to the battery draining (not likely, it’s the same application) I was told to remove the Facebook application and access it through a browser where coincidentally you can’t watch reels. Also according to the Genius Bar, watching reels or similar things is not considered “normal” use despite the specs for the phone saying up to “23 hours of video playback” apparently not reels.

This problem will have to be addressed through updating the iOS and fixing the way the hardware interfaces with the applications using streaming videos.

Gdskcdhg wrote:

Also according to the Genius Bar, watching reels or similar things is not considered “normal” use despite the specs for the phone saying up to “23 hours of video playback” apparently not reels.

Watching video playback means watching videos that are already on your phone. It does not mean streaming data over the Internet, which requires a lot of energy just to download the video while it is streaming. You are correct that sending and receiving data over data connections uses a huge amount of energy. That isn’t a defect in the phone; it is simple physics. And the Facebook app itself also uses a large amount of energy as it continuously uploads everything you do on Facebook so Meta can sell your personal choices and interests to advertisers.

Cellular data is the largest energy hog, and it varies with signal strength. A 1 bar signal uses 10 times as much energy as a 4 bar signal. And it’s also inefficient; to send 1 watt of data requires 4 watts of energy from the battery. (just an example; the phone never sends as much as 1 watt, but sending and receiving cellular data is 25-30% efficient). Actual numbers: 4 bars, about 50 mw; 1 bar, about 600 mw, corresponding to 150 mw from the battery to 1.8 w from the battery for 1 bar. But the good news is that this energy is only used when actually sending data from the phone. Receiving uses very little energy, but when receiving your phone sends an “acknowledgement” for each packet received, so it is still sending something even when you are downloading videos or other content.

Wi-Fi doesn’t use as much as cellular, but it uses it continuously, as long as the screen is unlocked, so it can add up, and its why iOS turns off Wi-Fi when the screen locks. Actual numbers: Wi-Fi uses 30 mw continuously, corresponding to 90 mw from the battery.

The battery itself has a capacity of around 3500 milliwatt-hours for most models. Some a little more, some a little less, but that’s a good figure to go with; note that you should never drain the battery completely, so use 3000 mwh. Based on your usage you can calculate your battery life between charges.

I have the same issue, but I upgraded from the 12 pro max. I feel like the battery life is the same. And I don't use the always-on-screen display function (I don't find it necessary).

Check your battery usage. Go to Settings > Battery, then look at your last 10 days of battery usage. You will see the section below the graph that says "Battery Usage By App" where it will show you the apps that use the most of your battery (as a percentage). You can click on that and it will switch to the number of hours.

For instance, if you are using the Facebook App, that is notoriously terrible on battery life. I just looked at mine, and over the last 10 days, it used 30% of my battery life (the highest of all my apps), yet it was only accounting for 12 hours. For comparison, TikTok was 20 hours and only accounted for 20%. Podcast app was 22 hours, yet only used 10% of my battery (again, all across the last 10 days). Facebook has notoriously been terrible with app usage and battery drain (I have always noticed differences on days when I do not open the app at all versus when I do use it). The only solution in my situation is to delete the Facebook app and use it through safari.

That's the best way to monitor where the battery is being used. It might also help to turn off background activity, limit location access to 'while using the app', and turn notifications off for most of the unnecessary apps. I also turned off the 'raise to wake' function, so if I want to wake my phone, I have to press the side button.

I have the same problem with my iPhone 14 Pro Max. It’s so frustrating! I unplugged my iPhone with 100% battery at 8:25 AM, 02:46 PM I have 15% of battery. None of this happened with my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I have the same apps that I had on the older iPhone. Today I even turned off always on display but same problem, it doesn’t help at all. I have around 3 hours of usage from 08:25.

The Facebook app has been a battery hog ever since it was introduced. It's better today, but still not great.

Other than playing a fast action game, the apps that will drain the greatest amount of power from batteries are those that display high resolution Internet videos (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.)

This is horrible. I updated my 14 Pro yesterday in hope of improved battery life. I have no location services toggled on, no background app refresh and always on display off. I had 95% battery when going to bed at around 10, waking up around 6 I had 74%. Even unused my Pro barely lasts a day...

EDIT: My 13 Mini on iOS 15 was way better.

This is not helpful. Everyone posting in this thread is here because we’ve seen a dramatic difference since “upgrading” to either the iPhone 14 or iOS 16 - so this is actually not normal or at least should not be acccetable since it’s entirely reasonable for us to expect better battery life, not worse when “upgrading”. If we are all seeing a dramatic worsening of battery life with the exact same settings and usage patterns, then it is a problem (that hopefully will be addressed).

You are actually incorrect and the advice Lawrence provided quite correct. A phone turned on overnight, but not charged, will without question lose power as the phone is still functioning. And plugging in the phone to charge overnight with Optimized Battery charging and iCloud backup enabled is the recommended way of charging your iPhone.

I’m not talking about the case of leaving it on overnight but rather referring to the general sentiment some are claiming that normal usage patterns that preexisted release of the new models in which many are now experiencing a dramatic decrease in battery life when they over to the new phone when changing nothing else. It just seems like fan boy speak while minimizing what so many seem to be experiencing- myself included. I returned my iPhone 14 Pro and went back to my 13 Pro Max but have also noticed a serious drop in battery life on iOS 16 with the last few point releases so perhaps it’s a software issue.

I understand that. But you commented you were concerned your iPhone lost 20+% overnight, not plugged in. That is simply not unusual or unexpected.

I own iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. Battery life on both is nothing short of stunning. If people are experiencing unusual battery drain, they have something going on in the background which using the charge. It is not an inherent flaw with the phone. I know too many people with new 16 Pro models. NONE are experiencing any battery drain issues at all.

My message probably went in under a reply to that comment - I never said I was personally experiencing 20% loss overnight so you may want to re-read my comment. also, I think you mean to say iPhone 14 - I doubt even Johny (sp?) Ive or Cook has a 16 in his pocket.

Yes, I mean 14 Pro. I have iOS 16.1 in my brain this morning :-) And yes, I was responding to someone else, but somehow commented back to you. I'm not finished my first cup of coffee this morning.......

There’s a lot of Apple pros on here telling consumers that there are no battery life issues. Guess what? There are. It depends on certain variables unfortunately, including where you live. I live in Chicago and Apple Store reps confirmed they’ve seen a lot of issues surrounding battery and signal drops (which I have) depending on your carrier. Mine is Verizon which sucks the battery due to esim/5G tower issues. My advisor told me he was having so many issues with the iPhone 14 pro he returned it and went back to his 12 pro. Don’t let armchair quarterbacks tell you you’re crazy. The 14 pro has something going on with it that hopefully is addressed in future software updates.

honandre wrote:

There’s a lot of Apple pros on here telling consumers that there are no battery life issues. Guess what? There are. It depends on certain variables unfortunately, including where you live. I live in Chicago and Apple Store reps confirmed they’ve seen a lot of issues surrounding battery and signal drops (which I have) depending on your carrier. Mine is Verizon which ***** the battery due to esim/5G tower issues. My advisor told me he was having so many issues with the iPhone 14 pro he returned it and went back to his 12 pro. Don’t let armchair quarterbacks tell you you’re crazy. The 14 pro has something going on with it that hopefully is addressed in future software updates.

Guess what? The ONLY thing that uses energy on any smart phone is apps. So if your phone is using too much energy in your opinion figure out which app it is.

My iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 16.1 (and earlier versions of 16) has the best battery life of any phone I have ever used. Yesterday, for example, I charged the phone overnight. By the end of the day my state of charge was still 75%, in spite of using the phone heavily throughout the day. And that is typical; my phone ends up the day above 60% every day no matter what I had used it for.

The answer is to go to Settings/Battery and track which apps use the most energy. If you have Facebook that wins hands down every time.

The other heavy energy user can be 5G, so go to Settings/Cellular/Cellular Data Options and change the setting to 5G Auto and read the note under the setting.

With all due respect but have you been living under a rock for every other previous iOS or hardware release? If I’m not mistaken, there have historically been PLENTY of other iOS releases and incremental updates with Apple’s own release notes stating they address battery life issues. An inherent bug in the OS and/or hardware vs OS and hardware interaction that could impact battery life outside of a problem with a 3rd party app.