iOS 16.1.1 Contacts app draining battery

It's a bug.

Turning off iCloud sync for Contacts will "solve" the problem.

Contacts app is constantly syncing with iCloud and draining battery. You can notice it when scrolling through your contacts. When bug is present the scrolling is stuttering (because of the constant updating).

iOS 16.1.1 iPhone 12 pro

Hi, I repaired it by doing the following:

1.Export on a single card by selecting all the contacts through iCloud Web to backup a copy of the contacts

2. Deleted all the contacts through iCloud Web, and realized that the contacts on my other devices were still there without being deleted (they should be deleted but something was wrong with the synchronization)

3.Manually delete the contacts on my iMac

4.Disable iCloud contacts from my iPad and iPhone and at that time selected to delete them from my iPhone and iPad, and then reactivated the Contacts App in iCloud both my iPad and iPhone

5.Open the contacts app on the iMac, iPad and iPhone ensuring that I don't have any synchronized contacts - check zero (0) contacts

6.On the iCloud website import the copy of the contact card that I had initially exported

7. Wait a moment and the contacts are automatically synchronized on all my devices

8.Done, I check the cellular data consume of Contacts in my iPhone and it only reaches 29.1 mb 24 hours have passed and the consumption remains at 29.1 mb and the battery after charging it 100% after 10 hours at night only to 97% 👍

I’m traveling out of my home country (Canada) and an observation someone had earlier about data transfer being the culprit got me thinking (was also alarmed at the idea of paying for roaming data):

I went to Settings/Cellular and his reset on my statistics. Almost immediately I could see 1MB of data transferred over cellular by Contacts. In less than 1min I would say.

I have since turned cellular data for the Contacts app off. We’ll see if that helps. It’s not a long term fix but will do for now until I can get home.

iphone se 2020. 16.1.2. Siri killing the battery,45ish%, even when disabled. Erased the phone, no restore from backup, now Contacts killing the battery to the tune of some 80% usage. This thread nailed it. Disable Contacts iCloud sync. Back to normal. Not sure if my Siri issue was related or not, but highly coincidental.

Hey guys!

I was facing the same battery drain issue with the Contacts App. It started 3 days ago when I set up a family member account on my iPhone (16.1.1 and had the same issue with 16.1.2 yesterday).

I just signed out from my child’s account and the problem stopped.

Hope this work for all or some of you, because the problem was really frustrating me.

Best!

I have this problem since update to 16.1.

16.1.1 and 16.1.2 is the same. When i turn off contacts iCloud sync it is better, but still not good as on 16.0.3

Iphone 14 Pro Max, German edition, used with dual sim.

Same, turning of iCloud sync for Contact terminated issue, today I have a send message from Apple support and I'll inform this info

Hi.

I have the same issue and my solution is to export all contact from iCloud to vCard then import the same to my google account.

Then I disable the contact sync to iCloud.

It works for me.

Looks like turning OFF contacts sync to icloud has fixed the battery drain issue for now. I also turned off cellular data for the Contacts app just in case.

iOS 16.2 fixed the contacts app battery drain issue on my iPhone 14 plus Red 512go ! 😀🎊🎉

Okay, so here’s something I tried that seems to be working. For now, at least.

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Contacts. This will show every app that has permission to access your contacts. Turn them all off.

I know this may not be the solution you’re hoping for, but it’s all I’ve got right now.

Theoretically, you could slowing return permission one at a time to see if you can isolate the culprit. I suspect it might’ve been Call Protect from AT&T for me, but haven’t tested that hypothesis.

Since posting I tried something that was mentioned on another thread. I shut off Optimized Battery Charging, shut the phone off and restarted it. The other person mentioned turning it back on after and letting your battery drain to 0%. I know I actually left my Optimized Battery Charging off and still let it drain to 0%. Then I charged it up to 100%. That was two days ago now, so my battery is starting act the way it used too. Now, I have to charge it again, so we'll see if it still holds the charge or goes back to the way it was previously.

I'm hoping this isn't a step I have to constantly do. Shouldn't have to do it in the first place, after updating the iOS.

FYI: Apple I hope you are looking into this:

In Attempt to troubleshoot this further: this seems to occur on the iPhone 12-14 pros not the base models with iOS 16.1-16.1.2.

*I backed up my data to iCloud.

*used apple configurator with my iPhone connected to a computer.

*Downloaded the fresh copy of the iOS software with firmware .

*erased my iPhone, Reinstalled IOS via configurator, and manually re-installed all my applications and logged into the applications when needed.

*activated as a new phone not restore from backup this worked for 1 day.

*my work phone which is a iPhone 12 base model hasn't experienced this issue to date.

Hey JC!

Hardly doubt it. As previously mentioned, in my case the issue was one of the most recent iCloud accounts I added to my Mail accounts, which I said earlier that I signed out from.

I do not have the problem AT ALL anymore, it’s been more than 36-48 hours and everything went back to normal.

Hope this helps anyone else here.

I just had this issue this night. Updated to 16.1.2 while charging. I disconnected and went to bed. Woke up 6 hours after and the phone was really hot, battery on red, and 1.6GB of data consumed by Contacts app. After some time, the app is taking 67% of battery power with just 1% of time. I turned of ICloud like mentioned in the thread and seems to have stopped battery drain.

reaching out Support to hear what they have to say about it.