Major battery drain on new iPad Pro 10.5

Question

Major battery drain on new iPad Pro 10.5

Hi there,

I just got a new 10.5" iPad Pro Wi-Fi; moved up to it from an iPad Mini 3 running iOS 10.3.3. Backed up the old iPad, updated the iPad Pro to the latest iOS as it was running an older version and then restored from backup.

I've been enjoying the new iPad tremendously but have noticed an annoyingly painful issue: major battery drain without using the iPad much. I went to bed with the iPad hovering around 85 percent and woke up to it at 51. Saw that Chrome was consuming the most battery from being in the background so I turned off the Background App refresh and started closing it whenever I wasn't using it - something I never had to do with the iPad Mini. It's currently sitting at 16 percent and I've been watching the battery drop rapidly whenever I'm actually using the device, which again isn't much use.

Any hints on what to do? I understand that the bigger device uses more power, but seeing the battery deplete at this rate seems a bit too much.

Thanks!

iPad Pro Wi-Fi, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Aug 29, 2017 6:16 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

rulesdontapply Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 10, 2017 6:01 AM in response to rulesdontapply

SOLUTION FOUND! Similar to @carlstep, after a visit to the store and a technical check, it turned out I had a faulty unit where some components dealing with the battery and charging were malfunctioning, so they remedied the situation by giving me a box-fresh replacement iPad and told me to test it out.

Here I am two days later following a restore from back-up and the battery consumption has been absolutely great. Drops one or two percent overnight, lasts all day and haven't charged it since I restored the device. All seems good now and this saga is OVER.

Thanks again, Diana and carlstep. Much appreciated!

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Answer 2

carlstep

Level 1

13 points

Sep 6, 2017 9:03 AM in response to rulesdontapply

I took the original iPad Pro back to the store. I was outside the return period by 2 days. I requested a replacement. store suggested they could replace with a refurbished unit. I told them this wasn't acceptable, if it wasn't for Apple Support requesting me to run diagnostics and tests, waiting for promised callbacks that never happened, trying to get through to extension numbers that turned out not to exist, I would have returned the product sooner. I was given a new unit. Got the unit home and restored and this unit works perfectly.

Can leave overnight and wakeup to 99%. It will charge to 100%. I can use the unit and get excellent battery life. The apps I have loaded are the same as the first iPad Pro unit.

I can only suggest that I DID have a faulty unit.

I hope you can get yours working properly soon.

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Answer 3

Sep 6, 2017 5:11 AM in response to rulesdontapply

Hi rulesdontapply. It does appear that you were using Safari for 31 minutes in the last 22 hours.

Tap on the clock icon to see any background usage time.

What iOS version are you using?

And note, for info, the reported Standby time is actually the total elapsed time since the last full charge. The label is incorrect.

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Answer 4

carlstep

Level 1

13 points

Sep 1, 2017 1:29 AM in response to rulesdontapply

I also have this problem. Had iPad Air 2 (128gb / wifi only) purchased the iPad Pro 10.5 (258gb / wifi only). Always run the most current iOS version and backup to mackbook pro every 2-3 days.

Bought direct from apple store, with 4 days noticed the performance of the battery wasn't as good as iPad Air 2. Sometimes the iPad Pro will drain 20-30% with out it even being on. Sometimes I can be on safari and see the power drain literally 1% every 2-3 minutes. Also have trouble charging to 100%, sometimes it will, sometimes wont. When it doesn't I have noticed that the supplied power brick is very hot to touch.

I've let it charge to nothing, took half a day to recharge to a point that I could switch it on again.

I have raised this with Apple Support, but have been told not enough people have complained and that I will have to live with it until they do. They also told me, I should only use apps that back up to a cloud service, because the back-up maybe corrupted and this could be the problem. I have been told that the apps may not be updated to handle the bigger resolution of the Pro and is causing a drain.

Have removed all apps and reset to factory settings, but have been told it could be a problem with restoring from backup.

I am genuinely disappointed that I bought the iPad Pro 10.5.

iPad Pro - Anything you can do, you can do better. (but just try to do it before the battery drains)

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Answer 5

Sep 6, 2017 4:08 AM in response to rulesdontapply

@carlstep -

You're having the EXACT issue I am - sorry you're in this unfortunate boat. It's a disaster and honestly, for a thousand dollar device, this is unexplainable and borderline insulting.

UPDATE ON MY SITUATION:

I have since wiped and restored the iPad and barely used it over the last 24 hours. Battery drain is less than before, but after putting the device to sleep for the night at 76 percent, I woke up to it at 35 and it's now at 23. Here's a photo of its current status - does this look right to anyone?

Fun fact: I haven't even used Safari or anything at all - all I did to the iPad was lift the smart cover for a battery readout.

Apple? Experts? Any input?

rulesdontapply

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Answer 6

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Sep 6, 2017 4:17 AM in response to rulesdontapply

rulesdontapply wrote:

@carlstep -

You're having the EXACT issue I am - sorry you're in this unfortunate boat. It's a disaster and honestly, for a thousand dollar device, this is unexplainable and borderline insulting.

Do you think that Apple are picking on you to receive the 'insult'

Your picture would be better the right way around.

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Answer 7

Sep 6, 2017 5:26 AM in response to Diana.McCall

Hi Diana - good to hear from you again.

Tapping on the clock icon gave me what you see up in that photo - "31 min on screen" without any mention of background activity that one usually gets. Those 31 minutes were spent in the last 22 hours and not today when I took that picture.

The Standby time is correct because I removed the fully-charged iPad from the wall charger about that long ago; the total usage looks appropriate too but it doesn't seem to explain why the iPad is burning through the battery as quickly as it is.

Hope this gives some insight - thanks again!

rulesdontapply

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Answer 8

Sep 6, 2017 11:22 AM in response to carlstep

Excellent news! Glad it turned out to be a bad device and that you're now on the right track.

I'll call customer care tomorrow - I'm in Kuwait and purchased the device through the country's largest electronics store since we don't have an Apple Store. Wish me luck as I go through the channels and hopefully get the thing replaced and - more so - that this device too is just a lemon and happiness is another boxed iPad Pro away.

Thanks, @carlstep - enjoy your new iPad!

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Answer 9

Aug 29, 2017 11:05 AM in response to Diana.McCall

Called Apple Support and they remotely performed a diagnostics test on the device. Everything turned out ok, but the service advisor offered two bits of advice:

Since I restored the device from a backup in order to have my files and data from a previous iPad, there could be some internal software issue that is unnecessarily causing the battery to drain. The advisor suggested I back up the current iPad, restore it from new and download the backup again to start it over.
- OR - Since the device is new, he also suggested I give it a full charge and let it sit even when it reads as 100 percent, then use it as normal to let the battery calibrate.

I came home, powered it off and plugged it into a wall charger. Planning to leave it sitting overnight and will power it up in the morning to see how it performs.

Thanks again for your constant responses - really appreciate it. Will keep the thread tuned!

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Answer 10

Aug 29, 2017 6:39 AM in response to rulesdontapply

Hi. You should not need to close (force quit) Chrome when not using it.

Are you letting iPad sleep when not using the device?

What are the major battery users now?

How many hours usage are you seeing from full charge down to 10%, say? See Settings > Battery.

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Answer 11

Aug 29, 2017 7:16 AM in response to Diana.McCall

Thanks for the reply! I thought it was weird to need to close Chrome as I've never had to do that on any device.

The iPad is in a smart cover that I fold over the screen when not in use, so the depletion happens behind the cover. The major battery user is Chrome at 64 percent with a 'Background Activity' marker under it. Keep in mind the Background App Refresh is now off.

I've also charged the iPad to one hundred percent twice but the Time Since Last Full Charge shows dashes for both parameters.

Hope this helps - thanks again.

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Answer 12

Aug 29, 2017 7:26 AM in response to rulesdontapply

First, the times show dashes if you restart the device after charging. That would be any power off, not just sleep.

Since you have a smart cover, is Settings > Display & Brightness > Lock/Unlock enabled? If not, your device is not sleeping, as you expect. If you cannot enable Lock/Unlock with the cover in the open position, the cover may not be compatible. Try setting an Auto-Lock time, just to be safe.

In Settings > Battery, tap the clock icon to see the amount of time Chrome was running in the background. This seems odd to me, unless you left Chrome playing music or a video.

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Answer 13

Aug 29, 2017 7:36 AM in response to Diana.McCall

As of now, Chrome says 1.2 hours on screen, three minutes in the background and 63 percent major battery user. No music/video used at all on it. Also, I made sure that the Lock/Unlock is toggled on and ensured that the screen definitely sleeps when the cover folds over.

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Answer 14

Aug 29, 2017 10:32 AM in response to rulesdontapply

If your usage time is still dashes, those app times and percentages may be misleading, possibly since last restart? Best to wait until you can review a full power cycle, with all data available.

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