iPad Pro 12.9 2023 battery drains quickly since iOS 17 update

Hello MrsCampbell1,

We would like to see how we can help you with your iPad battery draining quickly. Which iPadOS 17 version are you currently running? Go to Settings > General > About for the version. If you are not already, please update to iPadOS 17.0.3 and test the issue for 48 hours. Follow the steps in this link to update: Update your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

"Update your iPhone or iPad wirelessly

1. Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.
2. Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi.
3. Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.
4. If you see more than one software update option available, choose the one that you want to install.
5. Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now. If you don't know your passcode, learn what to do."

Cheers!

Are you not using the iPads as screen extensions with your Mac or Macbook? I was wondering why my iPad Pro screen does not dim and shut down, so the battery is draining fast. Then I moved the iPad farer away from my Macbook and 'voila' the screen timeout was suddenly working correctly. I realised the external display feature was what prevented the iPad from going to sleep.

If this feature is on, your tablet is close to your laptop, and you forget the tablet's screen on, both devices think the tablet is the 2nd extended screen. The tablet will not dim but die on battery guickly.

Hey MrsCampbell1,

You mentioned that your battery lasts about an hour and a half. Are specific apps using an unusual amount of battery life? To check, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage By App. This will show you which apps are consuming the most battery life and why.

Check for any pending app updates: How to manually update apps on your Apple device - Apple Support

If a third party app consuming the majority of your battery life, but you don't have any pending updates in the App Store, we recommend working with the app developer: How to contact an app developer - Apple Support

Let us know what you find! Take care.

Good afternoon. I own an iPad Pro (11th-inch M2 chip). and my iPad battery health is 95% with approximately 300 battery cycles (there is neither liquid damage nor physical damage). After updating to IPados 17, I observed a rapid battery drain. As my iPad battery life is 95%, I assume it should give me only 8–9 hours for video playback time (Apple advertises that the iPad Pro has a video playback time of 10 hours), but it only gives me approx. 4 hours of battery backup. Even after resting my operating system through my MacBook and not downloading apps and only browsing Safari (as suggested by Apple Advisor), I am still getting 4 hours of battery life, so I conclude that there is no app that is harming my battery backup. After getting in touch with Apple Support and talking to them for a month, they told me it was because I was using a mobile hotspot as internet access on my iPad. After using wifi as internet access on my iPad, I am still getting the same result. and I think I am not the only one who is facing this problem. I can see on the Apple Community website that there are many issues related to battery backup. I am very disappointed with the health of my iPad battery. Being an Apple fan boy, if I am getting this type of issue, then I am not good at it. This type of thinking motivates me not to recommend the iPad to anyone and to shift to an available product on the market. If it is an operating system issue, I would look for a way to get this solved in IPados 18. (I don't have any hardware issues, as told by the Apple Advisor.)

it is suggested that to benchmark how our iPad Pro batteries drain so quickly we should do a comparison with however we normally use our devices and then do the same but turn off features that require constant network attention, like location services and notifications. Optimizing screen brightness to auto is supposed to make a difference, also working in low power mode.

When my last iPad Pro started draining worse than usual, my initial support call resulted in being told to find my most use app, which I was told to delete. So why would I delete my most use app? He didn’t even say to reinstall as some apps can hold such huge caches without any way to purge them other than a fresh install. A few days after that call at the Apple Store and I was told there was water damage, which made me realize how susceptible these things are. I had some rain drops fall on it in the wrong place which bricked it completely … according to the geniuses. I don’t know how you make that determination without opening it, but I will say that I was told something totally different the first time I brought it in, which was at least gave me some options that were more appropriate for a two year old device than the second time which was basically buy a new one because we are telling you it’s the one thing that we can tell you.

The major difference between those two visits that had Christmas Eve and Day in between them was that the second day I had to use a wheeled walker due to my hemoglobin count tanking from my autoimmune issues. At least that’s exactly what it felt like was happening. Two totally different experiences.

[Edited by Moderator]

I’m pretty sure it’s just the design at this point. I had a pro 12.9 as well from 2018 and it did the exact same thing. Very minimal apps, nothing running in the background that’s unnecessary, settings all optimized, and average on screen time of less than an hour; Screen off time around 2 hours. Extremely fast battery drain. New pro model, same issue. My 5th gen ipad would last days with harsh use. I know it obviously takes more power to push a pro, but that’s a bit ridiculous. Pretty disappointing, to say the least.

Did you ever get a resolve to this issue? Also, which apps are using the most battery? For me it is Safari and Chrome by a longshot.

Hello, I can solve this problem! I got same problem with my old iPhone 7 like yours. Here is my answer: You can go to the store or Apple store to change your iPad’s battery.

I think we all have a bigger issue here. Switching to Sonoma reduced my battery drastically.

My iPad lost 12% battery capacity!!!

Apple has to do something.

I monitor the battery strength/capacity regularly on all my devices. Updating to Sonoma reduced my battery capacity by over 1.200 mA. That is about 12% of the battery capacity.

I own an iPad Pro M2 12.9inch (iPad 14,6).

Before the update to Sonoma the iPad had 10.707mA battery capacity. That is about 99,5% of the default of a new and healthy battery.

My iPad lost 12%!!!

hey! my battery drains incredibly quickly too and i want to check my battery health/capacity but it doesn't appear to be an option in the settings as compared to the iPhone... may I know how you were able to check yours? thanks!

I came here for this exact problem. I have all of the updates, I have done everything that has been suggested and I have nothing running in the background, no apps running, i did everything. I charged my iPad to full and I am sitting here watching the battery drain for no apparent reason. When I first got this iPad 12.9 2022 6th gen, I did not have any battery problems. Now I can't even have the thing open for 30 minutes before it's lost over 50% battery life.

There is obviously a known issue going on with these devices. Apple needs to take care of this or replace our devices. We have paid too much money for something that doesn't work to it's capacity.

I’m having the same or similar issue where after my last OS update my battery is hovering at less than 10% and periodically dies completely. I can get it to a full charge by leaving it alone for a few hours, but once I try to work again it plummets back down to below 10% and seems to have difficulty staying connected to charge, which it is not the cable or brick or botch’s doing as they have all been tested and swapped out to eliminate that potential problem.

as of now it won’t even display what % it is charged at. It’s just in the red but has the bolt indicating it is charging.