iPhone SE 3rd gen battery drain on simple alerts

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Level 1

8 points

iPhone SE 3rd gen battery drain on simple alerts

I have an iPhone SE Gen 3, purchased in September, that behaved perfectly until March of this year (no weird battery usage). I've been to the Apple store 3 times and while all techs have said the behavior is odd, there is nothing they can do since the battery health is still 100% and the battery usage is linear, not dramatically dropping. Problem is... I get a text, battery goes down 1-2%, Ring doorbbell notification, same. Scam call notification, 1-2% battery usage. To me, this is not normal. I've disabled all notifications I can. The Apple support line is dismissive and has only offered for me to send it to them for testing. I cannot be without my phone for time this will take. At this point, I have a text/call phone as using any app (Safari, Facebook, etc.) uses far too much battery. Any suggestions?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone SE, iOS 18

Posted on May 19, 2025 5:50 PM

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Answer 1

May 19, 2025 6:11 PM in response to KateID

Ask them if they will give or send you a temporary replacement while they examine it. They did that with one of my iPhones that had a battery quirk; the tech at the genius bar loaned me the same model on the spot and sent if off to the factory. A week later they returned it to the store, and I dropped off the loaner and took my repaired phone home at the same local Apple store.

The reason they gave was they wanted to do a complete laboratory analysis of the clearly malfunctioning iPhone.

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Answer 2

LD150

Level 10

104,086 points

May 22, 2025 8:47 AM in response to KateID

Assuming you charge every night so it is at 100% when you wake, it should last til bed time with normal use.

A look at a screen shot of uour usage would help .

Go to Settings, Battery to show the graph at bed time, then press side button + Home button to screen shot it,

Tap the three dots under your reply then the image icon to add the screenshot ftom Photos app here.

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Answer 3

May 21, 2025 6:00 PM in response to KateID

Apple always returns calls, however, do you have any settings that might block a return call, such as “Silence Unknown Callers” in Settings/Phone?

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Answer 4

KateID Author

Level 1

8 points

May 19, 2025 6:21 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thank you Lawrence! The Genius Bar sent me to log an issue with Support; they did not offer that as an option, perhaps because they no longer sell that model? They did offer me $100 as a trade-in but the phone is still under warranty so I did not do that.

Also editing to add: Location Services are off; auto updates are off. Pretty much anything I can turn off I havel

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Answer 5

KateID Author

Level 1

8 points

May 21, 2025 5:46 PM in response to KateID

Hi all,

First of all, thanks for retitling the post; it's much more accurate.

My issues continue; I've left an email and voice message to the tech from the support line but he is not contacting me back. I feel that I've been left with a "buy a new phone" option but since I still have a couple of months of warranty, I'm unwilling to do so right now, especially since it was fine the first months after purchase.

Now it's telling me the Books app is using battery but I've never used it nor do I have any books that might need to sync to iCloud. I deleted the app.

If one of the very kind techs would just tell me this is "normal", I'd live with it, but the three I've seen at the Genius Bar say is "odd" which leads me to believe there is some sort of an issue.

My previous iPhones have been fine; no issues and I've never had to contact Support. I never had to disable all of the things I currently have disabled. In the past, I only went to the Genius Bar to upgrade the phone.

How do I get the tech to email or call me back?

Thanks in advance!

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Answer 6

KateID Author

Level 1

8 points

May 21, 2025 6:42 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I didn't call; when I last spoke to Justin in Tech Support (he called me when the person I was on the chat with couldn't help), he sent me a email and a way to send a Voice Message via my laptop. I did both with no response.

Thank you for answering,

Kate

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Answer 7

KateID Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2025 10:05 AM in response to KateID

Thanks! I'm on my laptop as I don't use the phone for Safari (to access this forum). If I open Safari, the battery starts ratcheting down exponentially. The usage is what's odd; it shows usage for things I'm not using (Stocks, and the previously mentioned Books app) but is not accurate on what I'm using. Last night I had a 45 minute call and when I checked usage, it showed phone as 0% usage. I truly think the phone is glitchy which is what's making it hard for Apple to diagnose.

I don't charge overnight (I have a friend who's battery melted down doing this); I know it's rare but I am just not comfortable with that. I charge to 100% before I go to sleep.

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Answer 8

LD150

Level 10

104,086 points

May 22, 2025 10:17 AM in response to KateID

KateID wrote:

I don't charge overnight (I have a friend who's battery melted down doing this); I know it's rare but I am just not comfortable with that. I charge to 100% before I go to sleep.

OK I am not going to help you any further.

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Answer 9

KateID Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2025 8:18 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I'm sorry I didn't answer your question; I do not have unknown calls globally blocked. I've only blocked individual obvious scam numbers. I appreciate your responses!

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