9.2.1 Mail App Background Activity Draining Battery and Data

Question

Level 1

21 points

9.2.1 Mail App Background Activity Draining Battery and Data

Ever since upgrading to iOS 9.2.1., the Mail App drains over 60% of my battery due to "Background Activity" and consumes an immense amount of data.

I have made zero changes to how I use my phone, including the Maill App, since upgrading to 9.2.1. Everything I do is exactly the same, all settings the same.

Prior to 9.2.1 the Mail App used about 5-10% of my battery in a 24 hour period. Now with 9.2.1, the Mail App is using over 60% of my battery in a 24 hour period. If I just have my home screen open I can actually see my battery tick down ridiculously fast.

I looked at my data numbers to see how much data the Mail App was using and it said 28 MB; however, when I went in to System Services it showed that Exchange used 4.8 GB, in a week! No, I did not send and receive 4.8 GB of emails, nor did I check my mail enough to get that high in a single week. Prior to 9.2.1., my Exchange was using about 200 MB, per month, with the same settings. I reset my data completely to see how long it would take for Exchange to start consuming more data, even though I'm not using it at the moment and nothing is getting pushed. After 5 minutes I checked and Exchange has already consumed over 5 MB of data--even though I did nothing except put the phone to sleep and set it on my desk. No new emails were sent or received, Nothing was pushed.

Why is this happening, and how do I fix it? Again, none of my settings have changed since upgrading to 9.2.1 and this issue was not present on previous iOS versions. This issue has to be resolved immediately, because this is making my phone have a life of about 3 hours. This problem is being caused by something in 9.2.1. and how it handles Exchange.

iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Mar 9, 2016 10:51 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 13, 2017 4:43 AM in response to deggie

I also had four accounts active. I deleted four of them to see if that helps. They were all gmail accounts.

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Answer 2

Nextcomm

Level 1

4 points

Sep 20, 2017 2:42 PM in response to deggie

Same thing with Gmail accounts also. 😟

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Answer 3

Oct 12, 2017 10:13 AM in response to Nextcomm

Me too. All Gmail accounts, and my background activity is minimum 20% all the time. Considering bailing on the Mail app and switching to the Gmail app but I hate the design/interface.

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Answer 4

deggie

Level 10

167,543 points

Oct 12, 2017 1:32 PM in response to davekcooper

You may hate it but it might resolve your issue. Try it for a couple of days.

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Answer 5

Apr 3, 2017 6:59 PM in response to JDRusch

I had the exact same issue (STILL DO) took it to the apple store and the lady in line in front of me had the exact same complaint! They told her she needed a new phone and she bought! I knew better because the problem started the day I did the upgrade. never even saw background activity and Web and Text was always the top battery users, now I use 25-30% a day on background mail! They told me to back it up - delete everything and do a clean reinstall .... after wasting a night doing that it did not change anything!

Phone always dies half way though the day and it never ever died before - ever. What is equally upsetting is it USING UP MY DATA ! if your not at wifi. You cannot go in and turn off mail in background settings.

This problem is 100% due to the recent upgrade or downgrade and it needs to be fixed, my day or phone usage hasn't changed in years the downgrade messed it up.

Going back to the apple store tonight to see what excuse they give me this time

Oh and after the re-install I then deleted years of old emails to see if that helped and it did not. right now all accounts have less then a year of old emails and the problem persists - If apple is going to make this better and work on the mail issues you should also have the ability to choose how much or how far back mail it keeps like the OLD OLD iOS! I only need last 30 days of mail on my phone - with the ability to search older

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Answer 6

Apr 3, 2017 10:22 PM in response to deggie

I never updated to iOS 10 in Sept 2016 because of all the complaining - I finally did in February 2017 because many apps required it. Thats when the problem started. Today I took it back to Apple store they said callout in and have the issue escalated.

if its iOs 9 or 10 the problem is still the same, there should be no background mail activity at all. All my mail is set to MANUAL, and there is no way to turn off background mail in the Settings/security/background area.....

updating to iOs 10.3.1 to see if there is a fix in that

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Answer 7

deggie

Level 10

167,543 points

Apr 3, 2017 11:12 PM in response to Jason Sieczkowski

Actually the only thing that you have in common with the OP is that mail is using background activity which is not unusual. Heavy use is. You really need to post your own thread as you have nothing in common with this one and since it is so old most people will pass it by.

Did Apple have you remove all of the email account and run the phone for 12 hours or more then check the battery drain and usage?

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Answer 8

Domel86

Level 1

4 points

Mar 9, 2016 11:03 AM in response to JDRusch

I've been having same problem. Even took it to apple store... after they claimed they fixed it still draining battery life

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Answer 9

JDRusch Author

Level 1

21 points

Mar 9, 2016 11:23 AM in response to JDRusch

So to put this into context, since I wrote my original post 30 minutes ago my battery (with my phone in sleep mode) has gone from 65% to 42% and Exchange has used over 50 MB of data.

I have received zero emails. I have sent zero emails. I have opened the Mail App. zero times. I have sent/received zero texts, sent/received zero phone calls, and have done nothing other than place my phone on the desk.

Yet somehow exchange has used 50 MB of data in 30 minutes and I've lost about 20% of my battery in that same time.

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Answer 10

Mar 9, 2016 11:30 AM in response to JDRusch

Did you already try to force restart the phone by holding the sleep and home button for about 10sec, until the Apple logo comes back again? You will not lose data by force restarting, but it can cure some glitches.

If this does not help, and since you are using an exchange account for mail, try to delete the mail account on your device, restart it and add the mail account back again.

Some users had this problem in the past, after upgrading the software. The mail account did not stop trying to connect to the mail server over and over again, using battery and data. Only deleting and setting it up again solved it for those users.

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Answer 11

JDRusch Author

Level 1

21 points

Mar 9, 2016 12:15 PM in response to Ingo2711

I have done each of these suggestions multiple times, but the issue persists.

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Answer 12

Mar 9, 2016 12:24 PM in response to JDRusch

To rule out a software issue, set it back to factory settings, without using the latest backup and test the mail app behavior.

Use iTunes to restore your iOS device to factory settings - Apple Support

If still no luck, visit an Authorized Apple Service Provider or Apple Store and let them test the phone.

iPhone - Contact Support - Apple Support

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Answer 13

Apr 3, 2017 6:54 PM in response to Jason Sieczkowski

Just in the time I wrote this the battery went from 40% to 5% and they did a battery test a few weeks ago when I was in store that said its not the battery. FIX THIS PROBLEM !!!!!!!!

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