My iPad Air M2 battery is draining fast

Well, a full reinstall of the iPad OS resolved the issue. Still working great after a week or so.

I went to the Apple Store yesterday. The tech support reinstalled the iPad os and it solved the problem. Make sure you make a full backup on iCloud of your iPad before doing so.

I have also felt like my battery was draining faster than it should.

So, I recently ran a battery life test on my M2 iPad Air while streaming video, and I thought I’d share my experience for anyone curious about my real-world usage.

For context, my brightness was set at about 30% (my usual setting), Bluetooth was turned off since I was using external speakers, and push notifications and alerts were active throughout.

I started streaming at 1:00 PM with the battery at 80%. By 6:03 PM, it had dropped to 18%, meaning 62% of the battery was used over 5 hours and 3 minutes. That works out to an average drain of around 12.28% per hour.

After that, I left the iPad idle from 6:03 PM to 6:32 PM, and the battery stayed steady at 18%. Then I resumed streaming at 6:32 PM and kept going until the battery hit 0% at 7:44 PM. During this second stretch, 18% of the battery was used over 1 hour and 12 minutes, which is about 15% per hour.

All in all, I streamed for a total of 6 hours and 15 minutes, draining the battery from 80% to 0%. Averaging everything out, the drain rate was about 12.8% per hour. Starting with a full 100% charge, I estimate I’d get about 7 hours and 48 minutes of continuous streaming under these same conditions.

Next, just because I’m a geek and have been really obsessing over whether or not my battery is functioning well, I’m planning to run a similar test that includes my full scope of daily usage. This would mean streaming while also using other apps like email, Word, and maybe some light browsing for work. I’m curious to see how multitasking impacts the overall battery life.

If anyone else here has done similar tests, or has tips for optimizing battery performance, I’d love to hear them! 😊

UPDATE: I returned the iPad and changed to the identical model and spec. Problem solved

in the general parameters, first make an icloud backup, then reinstall. you don't need to go to the store to do this.

I purchased my M2 iPad in August, and unfortunately, I believe there’s nothing we can do about it. This issue affects the entire M2 iPad series. I’ve read that some individuals visited the Apple Store to have their iPads repaired. There were two potential outcomes: either the repair technician didn’t perform any work because your battery life was still around 100%, or they noticed the problem and offered a free replacement. However, it’s important to note that this solution doesn’t resolve the underlying issue. Additionally, I’ve learned that this problem is relatively rare or doesn’t occur with the iPad Pro and iPad Air 13-inch models. However, it’s possible that these models may also have issues with their battery capacity, but less noticeable because of higher capacity.

My first iPad Air M2 (with battery issues), if I am not mistaken, was manufactured in May 2024 and first used in June 2024.

The second iPad Air M2, (without the battery issues) is manufactured in August 2024 and first used in September 2024.

Precisely! I returned the iPad with the battery problem and asked for the identical brand new one.

For anyone who is wondering how is the situation on iPadOS 17.6.1 on iPad Air M2 11 Inch, the situation got slightly better, however not enough to notice it unless you are counting.

On average, the improvement is around 20-30 minutes (from 5 hours average it got to 5 hours 30 minutes).

This is the first time I have ever encountered the battery issue on an iPad. I really hoped that the iPadOS 17.6 would fixed it. Interestingly, not that many people talk about, I have seen only one YouTube video talking about it, however there are many on Reddit and everyone who I asked personally shared similar problems with the iPad Airs M2.

My new iPad started 100% and down to 18% after 4 hours! . I complained and it was exchanged, the replacement is exactly the same. IT looks like it might be a fault in the 2024 iPads. I hope Apple do the right thing to remedy this.

My iPad Air M2 battery drains very quickly. I've checked the settings and turned off notifications, background refresh, and always-on display. I've also turned down the screen brightness. I've had my iPad for 12 days, and I don't think it's learning my habits yet. I was expecting more with battery usage with this m2 chip. And also Updates will Drain the Battery Capacity. Hopefully Apple releases and update to fix this issue.l

Hi there!

Brand new M2 Ipad Air 11' 128 GB WiFi + Cellular, battery manufactured in '24 September, same problem.

I'm sad to see, that an 80% charge only lasts 5-6 hours of Goodnotes, I was expecting it to last at least a day, since my Macbook Air M1 can do 7-8+ hours with a full charge (85% battery capacity, around 320 charge cycles) after 3 years of use.

That’s interesting, after a few days of buying mine I returned it and got it replaced due to touch screen issues. The first device had a good battery but the replacement has an insane battery, it started draining really fast and it’s annoying, if it’s not fixed with an update I’m considering returning it. One thing I think is important to mention, on the replacement unit the date of first use was not the same day this unit was delivered to me, the date listed is June 24th and the day I first used it was October 15th. If you can check it on your unit it might help me out.

I own a 2022 iPad Pro M2 purchased new in 2023. It must be the M2 chip which may be the first M series chip used in an iPad. My battery drains in 2 hours of watching YouTube car videos. My Apple MacBook Air M2 battery lasts many more hours than the iPad. I was about to replace my wife's 2019 iPad Air 3rd generation with a new iPad Air. I am going to wait awhile until I am sure "m" chip is not a problem in other iPads.