iPhone battery draining after iOS 18 Update

iOS 18 draining my battery

Last night (17/09/24) I upgraded to iOS 18 update but this morning when I started using the phone, my battery drained out very quickly - anyone had similar issues.

any solution please ?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 14

Posted on Sep 17, 2024 2:06 PM

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Posted on Nov 3, 2024 5:07 AM

It’s the photos app. I’ve had things like background app refresh, dictation and location turned off for years. I have about five (non Apple) apps installed (no social media or entertainment type) and I use my iPhone 15 Pro primarily for talk and text which never accounts for more than 5% of my battery use, even on a heavy use day. I went from holding a two day charge to charging twice a day immediately after iOS 18. I noticed in Battery Heath that Photos was using 32% of my battery in the background which was alarming because I don’t use Photos in that capacity, and for the fact that I have background refresh disabled. My solution was to turn cellular data off for Photos entirely. (Settings > Apps> Photos > Cellular Data> toggle off) It’s been about a week and my battery is holding almost the same charge it did pre-update. I hope this helps!


Apple has essentially overhauled the utility app into their own version of social media, riddled with unnecessary AI and it’s working as such. Imagine it as uploading 5,000+ photos and videos to Instagram all at the same time. As long as you connect to WiFi periodically, your photo’s will continue to sync to iCloud. I don’t use the app much, but I can’t find any reason to have Photos running on cellular.


Side note: I do not connect my iPhone to WiFi on a regular basis. If you are constantly connected to WiFi, this fix likely won’t work for you as the app will continue to run in the background via WiFi and there is currently no way to disable this function (hence the issue).

490 replies

Nov 2, 2024 12:47 PM in response to Mis73

My wife had zero problems when her 13 mini ran on 17.6, 17.7 then on 18.0.1. After updating to 18.1 the battery life halved or so.


I restored her iphone to 17.7, zero battery problem then, later to 18.0.1, zero battery problem again.


I am happy that not IOS 18 as a whole is a problem, because she did not make a dedicated backup when 17.7 ran, so I was unable to fully restore her phone settings with 17.7.


[Edited by Moderator]



Nov 26, 2024 7:22 AM in response to Mis73

you have to turn off all AI functions. That’s what’s draining the battery. Once I did that, my phone has been fine. You have to toggle each individual one off, which is annoying, but it’s the only way. The software is constantly supporting the AI in the background. Settings>AI&Siri> Apps> shut all functions down specifically “Learn from this app”. Your battery will be back to normal. Thank me later

Dec 12, 2024 3:52 AM in response to Tungcao1109

What is the Battery Health of your 10XS Max? Your iPhone was introduced in 2018 and discontinued in September 2019. Your iPhone is 5 to 6 years old and if you haven’t replaced the battery and it’s still the original battery, it’s over 5 years old at a minimum. Lithium batteries have a life span of about 5 years and from your description of the charging performance it’s reached the end of its life. There is nothing unusual here. Have your battery replaced by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.


https://getsupport.apple.com/repair-locations



Feb 1, 2025 4:57 PM in response to metriks

metriks wrote:

Same problem continues. I’ve gone through every app on the phone turning off everything not needed. Messages is using 42% of the battery as that is most of what I do. I upgraded three weeks ago so it cannot be “working on upgrades”. I have a 13 and do not even have Apple AI and have turned Siri off to the extent I can. Logically if the battery lasted a day and a half with my style of usage before the update and literally the only change was the update, this is not a me issue. Given some recent developments with Apple I will stick with them but come on folks, this needs to be addressed.

Hello~ Apple Intelligence will not be a factor because your iPhone 13 is incapable of using it. Click on below and review everything there…


If the battery in your iPhone drains too quickly - Apple Support


Have you forced restarted your iPhone?


Force restart iPhone - Apple Support


What version of iOS are you using?


~Katana-San~

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iPhone battery draining after iOS 18 Update

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