Need help with battery draining on iphone 13mini with new iOS update

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4 points

Need help with battery draining on iphone 13mini with new iOS update

I have an iphone 13mini and am having a lot of issues with battery drain, when I barely use my phone at all. It seems like the update has caused the issue. I'm on 26.2.1. Today my phone died on me, even though it was fully charged last night (battery health shows max of 94% capacity). Supposedly I used 22% of my battery on 40 minutes of talking, 20% of my battery on 1 min of slack, 15% of my battery on 5m of Safari, 11% on 5min of Instagram, 8% on google calendar... I just deleted the Gmail app because it used the most of all of these, but now i don't have the stats on how much I used it - likely 10 min or so... anyways this is bonkers and I'm not sure what to do. I updated to the new iOS months ago, so this is not a situation where I need to just wait a few days for things to resolve themself.

Posted on Feb 2, 2026 8:01 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 2, 2026 8:10 PM in response to meazzara

Apple discontinued iPhone 13 Mini close to 3 years ago. What is your Battery Health at this point? Open Settings > Battery > Battery Health - if is at or below 80%, the useful life of the battery has been used and it would be time to pay Apple to replace the battery in your phone.

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Answer 2

meazzara Author

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Feb 2, 2026 8:25 PM in response to lobsterghost1

It was replaced by a local company that specializes in fixing iPhones - I didn't get it fixed at Apple. That being said, I had no problem with my battery for months with the new battery - the battery issue started more recently, with the new iOS, and it's acting as if I have like 10% capacity with the new battery.

Do you think having Apple replace the battery would actually help? Seems like there are a lot of folks with iPhone13 minis having issues with their batteries and the new iOS.

I have absolutely no issues with my phone besides this, so seems kind of silly to replace it.

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Answer 3

Feb 2, 2026 8:25 PM in response to meazzara

Then you don't have an authentic Apple Battery. Only Apple or Apple Authorized Service Providers have access to authentic batteries. Even worse for you, your phone is not eligible for service or trade in at Apple.

I'm sorry, but there's little anyone here can do to help you. You may have saved some money by paying someone else to replace the battery, but that wasn't a good thing to do.

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Answer 4

meazzara Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 2, 2026 8:31 PM in response to lobsterghost1

Gotcha - so the question remains - what is it about the new iOS that is causing iphone13 minis to have issues with their batteries? And is there anything that can be done to alleviate it? Is it possible to go back to an earlier iOS? Anything in settings I can do to reduce battery usage?

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Answer 5

Feb 2, 2026 8:33 PM in response to meazzara

For most people, there's nothing about the new iOS which is causing battery drain. If iOS 26 did this, this forum would be overwhelmed with people complaining and the tech press would be all over it. Neither is the case.

If you had paid Apple to replace the battery, you could have taken your phone to your closest Apple Store to be tested, but you can't do that since the phone has been tampered with by someone not authorized by Apple, who didn't have access to authentic Apple batteries.

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Answer 6

meazzara Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 2, 2026 8:36 PM in response to lobsterghost1

Ok... so if my battery is the problem, is this something that I could address by getting a new battery from Apple, or are you saying that I couldn't pay them to replace the battery since it's been "tampered" with? And you think my issues would go away with a new authentic Apple battery?

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Answer 7

Feb 3, 2026 5:09 AM in response to meazzara

meazzara wrote:

Ok... so if my battery is the problem, is this something that I could address by getting a new battery from Apple, or are you saying that I couldn't pay them to replace the battery since it's been "tampered" with? And you think my issues would go away with a new authentic Apple battery?

Kurtosis12 is correct. Apple typically will never touch an iPhone which has 3rd party parts installed. You are welcome to go to Apple, explain the situation and ask, but you'll pretty much be guaranteed they won't touch your iPhone.

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