Level 1

16 points

Photos app causing battery drain after iOS 18 Update

Hello everybody,

i‘m dealing with major battery issues since the iOS18 update (Wednesday), my 13 mini dies within 5 hours of idling (battery health 88%), while regularly getting so hot while charging that its hard to get more than 80% of charge (original cable and wallplug). I noticed, that the main source of drain is the photos app. Initially i thought i will do some kind of data scraping and „train“ whatever with my images, but it's nearly a week now. I tested deactivating all photos feature (siri, search, icloud, etc) but nothing helped. The photos app is also active in „low power mode“, which should suppress background activities.

Hope someone has a tip, i literally could not find anything related online.

Thanks!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 mini

Posted on Sep 23, 2024 4:43 AM

Top-ranking reply

Harami

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Feb 21, 2025 11:18 AM

Hey everyone,

I came across this thread after searching for similar solutions to battery drain from my Photos app after upgrading to iOS18.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I contacted Apple support via a call and explained the situation and the actions I’ve already taken to fix this. So, I sent them screenshots and they asked to gather analytics from my phone. Which I allowed them to do remotely.

Their solution was to reset my phone (which doesn’t erase any data). This worked perfectly! My battery drain has vanished and I’m now able to use my phone for a full day as before without any drain.

Hope this helps you guys.

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Similar questions

27 replies

Dec 8, 2024 10:01 PM in response to asca_mini

Iphone x on ios 16.6.1 same thing.

photos 5 h in background doing something. Looks suspicious like apple is taking our pictures from the libraries.

i have all cellular data for photos turned off long time ago.

i was busy yesterday all day and literally didn’t have time to look at the phone, but when i picked it up it showed me the battery os 10% only while it was around 75 when i put it my pocket.

Jan 8, 2025 7:29 PM in response to asca_mini

Has anyone found any fixes for this? I literally just looked into what was draining my phone so quickly today and saw it was the photos app, googled ways to fix it and the suggestion didn’t exist in the new IOS 18 update. Then I found this post! Hoping Apple found a way to help!

L2dor

Level 1

13 points

Mar 28, 2025 9:17 PM in response to asca_mini

Same thing has happened with me on my iPhone 13 mini after the last update. I thought it was just my phones battery health, but I checked and it seems fine. The biggest user of my battery percentage is my photos app even when I’m not using it. (In the background and I can’t turn it off!) @Apple You need to fix this!

Sep 30, 2024 12:10 PM in response to Zuruuu

Have you been able to fix the problem?

vhw04

Level 1

8 points

Oct 2, 2024 1:34 PM in response to asca_mini

Same issue here, iPhone 14 Pro Max with 88% battery health. What on earth is the photos app doing to be that active in the background and drain so much battery.

maruf285

Level 1

8 points

Oct 3, 2024 11:44 AM in response to asca_mini

I’m using 12 pro max with 83% battery health. Photos app is ruining my battery so badly. Where’s the fix?

NDMC

Level 1

12 points

Oct 5, 2024 2:44 AM in response to asca_mini

I have The same problem with My iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Since I’ve updated to iOS 18 my battery drains so fast!

Oct 6, 2024 12:23 PM in response to asca_mini

I am having the same problem! It's been 3 days now since iOS 18 upgrade and Photos consuming 84% of my battery life and I barely even use it.

Oct 9, 2024 9:29 AM in response to Zuruuu

How did you do that? Thought that would not be possible as iOS 17 is not signed by Apple anymore?

Nov 7, 2024 1:14 PM in response to asca_mini

This was today. IpadOS 18.1. The battery of my iPad Pro 2022 emptied within a day. Ridiculous.

Jan 12, 2025 8:34 PM in response to asca_mini

Photos & Home App is draining my iPhone 16 Pro Max battery. I’m on iOS 18.2.1. Apple hasn’t fixed the issue yet. This issue is with my iPhone 12, iPhone 15 Plus & now with iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Feb 6, 2025 5:40 AM in response to asca_mini

WTH Apple, fix it ASAP !!!

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Photos app causing battery drain after iOS 18 Update