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Q: How to investigate battery drain issue on iPhone?

I'm investigating a battery drain issue. I previously thought it's the hardware but now I'm actually more leaning towards a software issue. However, I'm struggling to find out the root cause.

 

Here is the history in (very short) bullet points:

  • started experiencing this around mid April
  • did some investigation, didn't find anything
  • went to an Apple store for diagnosis - battery ok, phone was resetted, and recovered from iTunes backup
  • issue seemed better at first but after a few days it was clear it wasn't ->  opened case with Apple -> phone was resetted and recovered from iCloud backup
  • battery drain was not fixed -> phone has been replaced by Apple
  • same issue on new phone after restoring from iCloud backup
  • thus, I went through the pain and reset the new phone again, starting as a new fresh device (including my watch, also started from scratch)
  • issue was fixed for a while but since yesterday I have the battery drain again

 

There are a few confusing observations

  • no new app has been installed in the last few days when the drain reappeared on the new phone
  • no new app had been installed back in April then the drain first appeared on the old phone
  • no change in setup was done in the last few days
  • no change in setup was done back in April then the drain first appeared
  • monitoring the battery statistics on the phone, it seems that
    • active time is fare higher than I actually used the device
      • it does not match the standby time, though
    • the sum of times of the visible apps does not add up to the actual active time
      • where is the other 5+ hours spent? is it in the system?
  • the phone is pretty warm when I pull it out of my pocket - even though I haven't used it for two hours.

 

What I tried so far:

  • reset, restore and update from iTunes backup
  • reset, restore and update from iCloud backup
  • new device
  • dozens of restarts of phone and watch
  • disabling push for everything in mail, contacts and calendar
  • disabling background activity for most apps

 

 

Given the observations in the battery statistics, I'm wondering if it's some system service that is draining the battery.

 

I am suspecting it's the watch. Thus, next thing I'll try is unpairing them then going without my watch for a while.

 

This is the setup:

  • iPhone 6s (iOS 9.3.2)
  • Watch (watchOS 2.2.1)
  • One Exchange account with mail, calendar and contacts (Google Apps Active Sync. provisioned via device management Airwatch MDM)
  • One Gmail account with mail, calendar and contacts (personal)
  • iCloud photos, Safari and find my phone (drive disabled due to device management profile)

 

Any help is appreciated!

 

 

IMG_0032.jpgIMG_0033.jpg

iPhone 6s, iOS 9.3.2, null

Posted on Jun 15, 2016 10:16 AM

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Q: How to investigate battery drain issue on iPhone?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Dakul,

    Dakul Dakul Jun 15, 2016 2:02 PM in response to eclipseguru
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 15, 2016 2:02 PM in response to eclipseguru

    No need to unpair the watch - just disable bluetooth on the phone, should work just as well.

     

    Have you checked your widgets on the today menu? I found that not all of them actually shows up on the battery page, even i i know i have forced them to refresh during the day for instance.

  • by tonicool,

    tonicool tonicool Jun 15, 2016 3:22 PM in response to eclipseguru
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 15, 2016 3:22 PM in response to eclipseguru

    Hi hab genau dasselbe Problem. Hab auch schon ein Ersatzgerät bekommen, aber keine Besserung. Freitag soll im Apple Store der Akku getauscht werden, wobei ich nicht wirklich glaube, das das Problem damit behoben ist. Weiß nicht mehr weiter.

  • by eclipseguru,

    eclipseguru eclipseguru Jun 16, 2016 7:12 AM in response to tonicool
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 16, 2016 7:12 AM in response to tonicool

    Hast du zufällig auch ein Corporate Profile (Device Management) drauf bzw. einen Exchange Account?

  • by eclipseguru,

    eclipseguru eclipseguru Jun 16, 2016 7:15 AM in response to Dakul
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 16, 2016 7:15 AM in response to Dakul

    Thanks! I disabled bluetooth and it does not seem to help. 20% power lost in only two hours.

     

    I did record energy logs and used the Instruments.app to import them. As suspected, the phone barely sleeps. It does sleep but only for very short moments. Also the energy consumption is usually high during that time (even though the screen is off). I also tried profiling CPU/activity. However, this did not bring up something.

  • by tonicool,

    tonicool tonicool Jun 16, 2016 7:36 AM in response to eclipseguru
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 16, 2016 7:36 AM in response to eclipseguru

    Beim ersten weiß ich nicht recht was du damit meinst. Und mit Exchange Konto meinst du sowas wie Outlook? hab zwar ein Outlook Konto als Email Adresse aber kein push sondern manuell laden eingestellt

  • by eclipseguru,

    eclipseguru eclipseguru Jun 19, 2016 11:48 PM in response to tonicool
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 19, 2016 11:48 PM in response to tonicool

    Ein "Corporate Profile" kommt meistens daher, wenn das iPhone ein Firmengerät ist, und über ein IT-System verwaltet wird. Dabei werden manchmal Vorgaben gemacht - wie bspw. Länge und Komplixität des Codes, iCloud erlaubt oder nicht, etc. Ich habe den Verdacht, dass es daran liegt.

  • by tonicool,

    tonicool tonicool Jun 20, 2016 1:53 AM in response to eclipseguru
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 20, 2016 1:53 AM in response to eclipseguru

    Ne sowas hab ich nicht

  • by raynor8,

    raynor8 raynor8 Jul 1, 2016 2:24 PM in response to eclipseguru
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 1, 2016 2:24 PM in response to eclipseguru

    It seems like I have the very same issue AND setup: iOS 9.3.2, watchOS 2.2.1, one exchange account and one gmail account, iCloud Photo Library. Usage time on the battery status is usually 6-8 hours per day, weather I use the phone or not. Other thing to note is that it seems that I have more or less the same issue on my iPad as well. Seems like it started with 9.3.1 or 9.3.2.

     

    Did you have any success tracking down the problem?

  • by eclipseguru,

    eclipseguru eclipseguru Jul 2, 2016 12:06 AM in response to raynor8
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jul 2, 2016 12:06 AM in response to raynor8

    No, not really. But I was able to mitigate the issue by disabling push for all accounts and switching them back to pull every hour. That really helped. The phone is now in standby more often and I have ~50% capacity left after a 12 hour day.

     

    The interesting observation was that it did not get immediately better. I disabled push and it got better and better over two-three days. It wasn't like a big jump when I disabled it.

  • by Briansyddall,

    Briansyddall Briansyddall Jul 2, 2016 12:12 AM in response to eclipseguru
    Level 6 (8,596 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jul 2, 2016 12:12 AM in response to eclipseguru

    Hi

    Turn off location for Safari also if you have apps refresh turn that off.

    Cheers

    Brian

  • by raynor8,

    raynor8 raynor8 Jul 2, 2016 12:36 AM in response to eclipseguru
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 2, 2016 12:36 AM in response to eclipseguru

    Thanks for the replies. I will try that. I've of course disabled push before but I probably switched it back on since it didn't seem to immediately get better. Will try to have it switched off for a couple of days.

     

    Just like you wrote earlier, it doesn't seem like the phone is sleeping that much at all. For example this morning I have 1:10 hr standby and 0:50 hr usage. A couple of days ago I connected the iPhone to Instruments on the Mac but all I could see was some system daemons like syncdefaultsd, mediaserverd, nsurlsessiond, locationd and cloudd using some CPU cycles here and there.

     

    Is "Usage" also back to normal for you?

  • by raynor8,

    raynor8 raynor8 Jul 8, 2016 5:58 AM in response to raynor8
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 8, 2016 5:58 AM in response to raynor8

    Small update here: still having problem with battery drain but it seems to be related to iCloud. Whenever I log out of iCloud on my phone the drain stops, when I logon it starts again, even if I disable every iCloud service (notes, calendar, find my iPhone).