Iphone 16 pro battery seems so poor. I unplugged my phone at 9:15 am and by 4pm it had only 32% with 3hrs of screen time. I did my 0.5gb update hoping it will extend baterry life and upgrade functionality of my iPhone.
How is it possible? Anyone experiencing bad battery life as well?
[Edited by Moderator]
iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 18
Here are a few insights from Apple Support’s official iPhone Battery Drain help page.
Did you recently update your iPhone to a new version of iOS?
Battery Suggestions
Battery Usage Overview
Other Battery Saving Tips
Battery Health
Here are a few insights from Apple Support’s official iPhone Battery Drain help page.
Did you recently update your iPhone to a new version of iOS?
Battery Suggestions
Battery Usage Overview
Other Battery Saving Tips
Battery Health
Your phone is still doing many background processes that will require power to complete. If you are not plugged into power, it will consume battery power. Some of the things that your phone is doing is:
Depending on how many photos you have, this could take 3-4 days to complete and will happen quicker if you leave it plugged in and turned on to allow it to complete. This is not specific to the iPhone 16 and happens on any device after an update.
jcarlo.cc wrote:
I am thinking about returning my iPhone 16 pro because of the poor battery life. My iPhone 13 Pro with a recently replaced battery has better battery life than my iPhone 16 pro
You have 14 days to return the iPhone for a full refund. If you have given it 4 days to reindex files and do the background processing needed for photo analysis and siri suggestions, and still are not happy with your battery like, then I would recommend returning it. After these background processes have been completed, it is expected that the iPhone 16 Pro should have up to 27 hours of Video Playback and up to 85 hours of Audio Playback compared to the iPhone 13 Pro having up to 22 hours of Video Playback and up to 75 hours of Audio Playback.
I had the exact same issue. Drove me insane. Battery was terrible, especially while phone was idle. Talked to Apple and they said to bring it in for inspection. I reset the phone (not factory reset) and nothing. HOWEVER, I tried a factory reset via my MacBook, and voila! The problem is gone. Battery is now amazing! Charged my phone 20 hrs ago and it still has 71% left. So, factory reset via your computer. My guess is when they installed software there was some type of error when downloading directly to the phone in the beginning. Hope this helps!
linu33 wrote:
Just got the phone yesterday and I’m running into the same problem- battery drain - did all the settings change to limit battery consumption but still does not work - crazy that Apple did not test this properly and it happens for such an expensive phone in this day and age.
If you just got your phone yesterday, it has not finished:
This can take up to 3 days and maybe more if you have a very large photo library. This significantly increasing the discharge rate until those background processes complete and happens after every update. Leave your phone plugged in when next to power to ensure that those processes continue to run.
If you currently have WhatsApp, it has been found that their latest updates of that app were consuming far more resources than necessary and users had found that removing the app had a dramatic increase on battery like.
AndieFreshMeadows wrote:
Ever since I installed the 18.3.1 update, my phone battery seems to die very quickly!
The same information that has been provided is relevant to you too. It takes 3-4 days to reindex files after any update and if it has been longer than that, post the screenshot as others have done and if it reveals Meta apps, remove them and compare your results.
sheetalgaurang wrote:
I have seen Taylor KR's post and I agree. I don't think Mac Jim is correct on this. There is no point in removing posts which doesn't align with apple sales. We have to accept that i phone 16 pro has issues. That needs rectifying. And just to update Mac JIm that not many people give positive feedback - I would concur with him. I bougth i phone 16 pro and has tried everything suggested and battery life is still poor. I have removed instagram and facebook. A limited use of whats app. The bottom line is - its a new phone and should be tested properly before selling it.
If you have removed the Meta, SnapChat apps or better yet Factory Reset phone to compare your results from a clean install, take it to Apple for service, diagnostics, or even return it if it is in 14 days. It has nothing to do about me being correct. It is what has been seen by others and I also provided documentation from other sources that confirms it.
When there are users on other device platforms complaining about the same problem with those Meta Apps, that should make you wonder if it is actually your phone.
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/296672863/instagram-battery-draining?hl=en
In addition, Lifewire a well known tech magazine, even has an article about the draining of the battery on both Apple and Google devices with the Meta apps. It is not limited to the iPhone 16. The article even quotes Meta of being aware of the problem and claimed they have "partly" fixed it.
https://www.lifewire.com/stop-facebook-from-draining-your-phone-8735865
It is clear for many with those apps installed, they are going to suffer battery drain and it has nothing to do with the phone. Some are so attached to Social Media that they refuse to accept that and it must be Apple's fault for not testing the phone with those apps. That is not the way it works, Meta has updated WhatsApp 10 times in the last month. That is once every 3 days. There does need to be some testing going on, but it is at Meta.
It should also make you wonder, why every person that has had a battery draining issue and posted their app usage on these 18 pages had those same apps installed. At some point it is no longer a coincidence. Recommendation by LifeWire above is wait for an update by Meta and use the web versions of the services in the meantime. It is not my opinion.
taynara177 wrote:
Sorry I forgot to mention that. I do have WhatsApp, as it’s one of main forms of communication where I’m from. It is consuming a lot, around 30% of battery going to background use, even with background app refresh off. Will try contacting meta. What is odd is that I have friends with pro and pro max claiming to be using their phones for up to 3 days, and they all have WhatsApp as well. Makes me wonder if it’s a specific problem with my device
Turning off Background App Refresh does not stop Background Processes from draining your battery when it is not in use. That is only for updating the UI so when you open the app again, it will already be updated. You can try force closing the app by swiping up from the bottom half way on the screen to enter the App Switcher, then swipe up on WhatsApp to close it. Let us know if you see a difference in your battery consumption after doing that.
Other users have different results depending on the Social Graph Meta has built for that individual. The graph includes your interests as well as the contacts you have and their interests too. WhatsApp worked great before it was purchased by Meta, but they are now a data harvesting company that makes billions off of selling your data to advertisers. That is simply their business model and why the app is free for you to use, yet they can still post billion dollar profits each quarter without selling any products.
I understand WhatsApp is essential for your communication needs and Meta will have to be the one to make that experience more user friendly. In the past they have blamed it on bugs in the software and that may also be part of the problem that hopefully they will be able to resolve. There have been 8 updates to WhatApp in just the last month with the most recent being 2 days ago.
FlyBoyMcCall wrote:
• I'm not adding much to what has already been said but I will go through the list.
The question that needs to be answered is what is using up your battery. That is shown at Settings > Battery, and scroll towards the bottom to reveal the graph and the top 5 apps that are using the battery over the last 24 hours. Apps that show background processes are running whether you are using the app or not. You cannot shut off these background processes and it is the app that determines when they are run. You can control Background App Refresh, but that is not the same thing.
Saneee wrote:
I I hope what you’re saying about the phone still doing all the indexing is true because I just got my phone yesterday afternoon 16 Pro. This morning 8am I had a full charge. It’s not even 2:30pm and I have 17%. This is unacceptable if this is the battery life all the time then I am definitely returning it
It happens after every update and we have seen the same reports with the iOS 17 update as well and they eventually go away. If you still see that same performance after 3 days, then I would recommend taking it back. It is expected to last all day.
I purchased a new iPhone 16 and had the same issue. I discovered the background app refresh defaulted back to all apps again.
Background App Refresh on an iPhone allows apps to update and check for new content in the background, even when you're not using them. To turn on (or off) Background App Refresh, you can:
I only have a few apps I would like to refresh in the background so I turned the other 100 or so off. Battery life increased dramatically.
Plug the phone into your Mac. Go through the finder and select factory reset. I would assume this would be similar on a PC. Google it possibly? The phone was restored to factory conditions as if I had just received it. Then I restored from an iCloud backup. My phone now uses roughly 10% battery per hour of screen time usage. So 60 minutes of watching YouTube, max, what have you, will drop the battery about 10%. Calls, massive amounts of texts or web surfing do cause the battery to drop considerably quicker. I think the main issue had to do with some type of software issue when ios18 was initially installed on the phones before they were shipped. That’s my uneducated guess anyway. Hope that helps. My wife also has a 16pro that she received the same day as me. Our battery lives are similar since I factory reset mine.
You have the exact apps that have been the cause of the battery draining that has been reported here and it will continue until those developers update their apps or the user quit using them to force a change. The Screen Time only reflects when you are using the apps, but the apps are using you after they have been closed.
The background processes those apps run continue even when you are not using those apps and they are free to use because they are gathering a tremendous amount of data from your activities to build a Social Graph to target specific ads to you. The data it is collecting could be listed here, but frankly it would span a whole page for those 3 apps. You can view the information yourself by viewing the Privacy Page for each app in the App Store. How do you think they make billions in revenue when you are not paying them anything to use the service. You are the product.
The test is simple, remove them and you will have all day battery life. Apple gives you that page to identify the energy hogs, so now it is up to you what you do with that information. If using the apps is more important to you than the reduction of battery life, then that is a choice you make. The solution for bugs or performance issues with apps is to contact the developer or don't use the app.
Briankris wrote:
I have my iPhone 15 Pro.
Starting my day at 7 AM at 95%, only use the phone for whatsapp, instagram, video call for 30 minutes, no game at all and left only 15% at 3 PM.
Do you see the connection with all the other posts here. It is WhatsApp and Instagram? Both apps are from Meta and showing poor performance on all devices in their latest updates. Users who have removed those apps as a test have found their battery return to all day service.
You can test it out by removing those apps, for WhatsApp you probably would want to back up your data. Then after you see the increase in battery performance, you have a choice to make. Contacting Meta should be the first thing you do, but then it is either live with the poor performance or wait for Meta to optimize their apps. Currently they are perfectly happy using your battery to collect information to sell to advertisers as long as you continue to use their service.
batthis wrote:
What I don’t get is if Apple is so convinced the root cause is the Meta apps. Why continue to approve their updates?
Im an app developer and have had apps rejected for a lot less significant reasons than impacting the performance of all iOS users.
As a developer, you are aware of the Submission Guidelines. I am a developer as well and apps will be rejected for bugs and crashes on the device, but these are not bugs in those apps. They are working as designed by Meta to gather your activities in accordance with the Privacy Policy seen in the App Store for those apps and also using the allowed background processes to respond to notifications and changes on your account from the Meta servers.
Some apps will use significantly more battery resources than others, including online games for network access, background music, and high frame rate video processing. What Apple does is show you the apps that are using your Battery resources so you have the information to make the informed decision if the value of the app is greater than the decreased battery life. Looking at your battery usage, you see that Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp will be high on your list, so what you do with that information is up to you. It does not make sense to complain about your battery usage, when you know those apps have been identified by your phone and continue to use them.
Meta has no problem using your battery to serve their purpose and increase revenue as long as users continue to use their service. It will take user backlash and further complaints to Meta before they change their ways. The same battery drain with their apps has been noted on all devices with the recent updates from the Meta apps as well as Android devices, so blaming Apple or even specifically the iPhone 16 is this post is misguided.
iPhone 16 Pro Battery Draining Quickly
