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iPad shows low battery when fully charged

For the last few months (which correlates to updating to IOS 10.x) if I let my iPad Mini fully charge, it will usually result in it displaying the low battery screen.


I believe that the iPad is expecting the battery to be operating within an expected voltage range. If the detected voltage is outside this range (high or low), it will default to indicating a low battery.


To support this theory, and as a workaround, I will perform a hard reset to draw power from the battery when the low battery screen comes on. After multiple attempts, the voltage will come down to a level where the iPad will reset and I'm good to go.


This is annoying, especially as I use the iPad for my morning alarm. If I forget to unplug the charge cable, it will go to low battery and the alarm won't go off. I suppose that gives me an occasional sleep in.


Is this something Apple is aware of that could be remedied in a future patch? Is there a fix for this issue?

iPad Mini Wi-Fi, iOS 10.3, -

Posted on Apr 27, 2017 7:52 PM

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Posted on Apr 19, 2018 10:51 AM

This problem is now at least 1 year old - anyone knows if Apple fixed it ?

This unreliability and instability issue makes the iPadPro and other iPads totally useless as a tool for business where you have to rely on it working all the time. Think about clinics and hospital settings for example...

This is my 7th ipad and will be my last unless there is a proper fix.

A real disappointment. Apple wake up!

59 replies

Dec 16, 2017 10:12 AM in response to YoungSC73

I have an iPad Mini 2 and if you fully charge it over night the next day you will get this symbol that the battery is 100% discharged and needs to be charged. If you spend lots of time rebooting it and put it in recovery mode and stuff at some point it will boot up again and everything is fine.


The my wife found how to avoid it is not fully charge it. Just charge it to 99% and stop and it will not be an issue.


It was such a pain I just bought her a new Mini 4 refurbished to avoid the issue and I took the Mini 2.


But this is no doubt a bug that could be fixed in software or hardware but apple is not providing any support and just told me to buy a new ipad.

Dec 29, 2017 6:20 AM in response to YoungSC73

I have this same problem with my iPad Air. It’s fully charged, I punplug it, use it for about an hour then the red batter drained icon appears. My iPad when I plug it back in is usually around 80%. As long as I keep it plugged in and use it, it’s good to go. I though my battery was going bad until I read these posts. Guess there’s no fix ☹ Is it possible that Apple did something to make us go buy a new iPad, like they did with the iPhones making the batteries slow down??

Jan 24, 2018 10:04 AM in response to Joe_Dawson

We were basically told the same thing!

We have the same bug with our iPad and our "solution" is the same, we try to only charge to 99%. If it hits the 100% mark we have no end of bother getting it working again.

I have placed a timer on the wall socket so it only charges for a hour at a time, which so far sort of works for us.

Our local Apple store said they would "repair" it for an unbelievable €660 ($820) - the iPad is just 18 months old! They weren't very helpful at all unfortunately for this problem (store in Frankfurt, Germany), rather disappointing.

Exactly what they would do they couldn't say, though (replace some hardware I guess or maybe just the battery).

I wonder whether it is worth just replacing the battery? I find the battery fairly low capacity and would like to have it connected all the time but can't do that now as it just switches off :-( It is such a pain!

Jan 24, 2018 10:36 AM in response to gardenchiq

I asked myself exactly that question, as all now know that Apple does indeed build in quite a bit of very unusual and customer unfriendly "logic" into their IOS (were there any apologies whatsoever from Apple that anyone knows of?)!

It could even be some related logic which has been badly programmed and somehow misinterprets 100% as 0%? Would be interesting to have more data as to when exactly this bug surfaces. Does anyone know if a battery replacement has worked for anyone with this "100%_battery_bug"?

Jan 29, 2018 9:43 AM in response to YoungSC73

Same issue. I called Apple and they did remote diagnostics indicating that it is a hardware issue (battery). I think warming the battery gives temporary life (should note that you don't need a hairdryer ...body warmth often does the trick), but mine continues to get worse. Taking it in for a battery replacement today. 90% that they will need to replace the glass as well (likely crack getting in), so looking at $150 total at my local fix it shop.

Feb 2, 2018 3:40 PM in response to cairny

I saw a comment from someone about the possibility that some bug might be treating 100% charge as 0%. Since then I have not allowed my iPad to reach 100% charge and have not had the problem. Just to test, I recharched to 100% and the problem returned until the iPad discharched a little.


Someone should let Apple look into this.

Feb 11, 2018 6:26 AM in response to YoungSC73

Not sure if your having this issue still or have resolved it. I read through posts and came upon someone with the same issue. My iPad mini will shut down on its own even when it’s not on the charger but it’s fully charged. It is getting more difficult to get it going. I used to plug it in to Mac and that worked a few times. So yesterday after having it plugged in to Mac for a long time and still nothing I read that is you use blow dryer to warm up the back of it it will then turn on. This is correct. For the last 2 days I put the back of it next to my space heater. It turns right on. This morning, I had to do it twice. I am calling geek squad today to find out if there are any fixes to this.

Feb 14, 2018 2:30 AM in response to YoungSC73

I get the same problem since Sunday.


The battery of my iPad Pro 12.9 (13 months old, iOS11.2.5) was nearly drained. After the battery was fully charged the battery indicator showed 1% capacity.


Now the iPad forces a full restart after exact 180 seconds, as long as the battery is fully charged. This means the iPad restarts 10-20 times every 3 minutes. After 20 restarts or so it shows the battery no longer as empty, but as fully charged.


In my opinion this is a bug in the firmware.


The Apple support made my the offer to change the iPad for a refurbished one for 550 € (660 $) plus 19% VAT.😮😠

Feb 22, 2018 12:50 AM in response to cairny

I have the same problem 22 Feb 2018 with my iPad Mini, running on latest version of IOS.

Battery suddenly shows red line dead, iPad goes to blank screen, and you eventually get it restarted after rebooting, when it shows a fully charged battery.

There should be better Apple advice on this.

I have yet to try a full factory restore, which seems to be the last option.

iPad shows low battery when fully charged

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