New iPad mini 4 just over 3 hour battery life?

Question

New iPad mini 4 just over 3 hour battery life?

Hi,

My son has just used his savings to upgrade his iPad mini 1 to an iPad mini 4 as he was getting frustrated with a lot of his games no longer working due to iOS 11 not being supported. We would have gone for a 3 (that’s what I have) but couldn’t find it for love nor money, so the 4 it was.

We have always had specific rules in place regarding charging, in order to keep battery life as it should be. These are:

1) No charging until battery drops below 10%

2) No playing with it on charge

3) Once on charge, it stays on charge until it reaches 100%

Pretty straightforward and on the whole the kids are pretty good at following these rules. Imagine my surprise then when I realised how quickly the new iPad was runnning out. Today was particularly bad - so I had a look at the information and saw that the time since last charge was around 3 hours 15 mins in use and 6 hours or so on standby. Nowhere remotely near the 10 hours boasted by Apple!

I have just been through the settings changing the brightness, removing notifications and location services where not needed, deleting apps unused, etc. The only things he has been using it for are playing ROBLOX and watching You Tube Kids.

The iPad was bought brand new from Amazon but a third party seller. It is the 256gb version if that makes difference, it was in the proper box and all sealed up as expected.

Does anyone think we may just be unlucky and have a “duff” battery? Or is this typical of the iPad mini 4? Any suggestions for improving battery life would be appreciated so that I can get it lasting longer for him - I should not be having to charge it anywhere near as often as I am for him!

Many thanks in advance. Chelle.

Edit: I forgot to say, he’s running the most up to date version of iOS.

Posted on Nov 11, 2017 3:18 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,357 points

Nov 11, 2017 3:33 PM in response to Mummychelle79

First, your rules for charging are not necessary. You can charge the device as long as you want whenever you wish, or have the time, etc. Waiting until the device is at 10% is not necessary as the battery cycles are counted as the 100% charges. I charge mine whenever I have time, or before I'm going to be using it for an extended period of time. I also plug it in when we are going to be doing FaceTime calls in the family, to help keep it up.

As far as the usage is concerned, it would matter what kind of work/game they are doing on the device, as graphics intensive gaming can use more power. You can have the battery analyzed by starting a support ticket with Apple, and they can send you an email to the iPad and you run a link on the email and it will analyze the battery and send you a report. Or, if you are close to an Apple Store, you can make a Genius Bar appointment and they can do the battery test in the store. They will explain your options from there.

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Answer 2

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,357 points

Nov 12, 2017 1:13 AM in response to Mummychelle79

Oh my, don't tell him he is wrong! Just let him know that the batteries used in the iOS devices have changed and improved. They are lithium-ion batteries now, and charging and maintenance are different.

You can all take a look at this support document regarding battery usage, About the battery usage on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support and then this one regarding maximizing battery life. Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

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Answer 3

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,357 points

Nov 11, 2017 3:40 PM in response to Mummychelle79

That battery method was necessary with the older model batteries, especially laptop batteries, but is not necessary for iOS devices with lithium iON batteries. As a matter of fact, getting the device too low can cause damage to the batteries. They are much different than what they were. I agree that the battery shouldn't be bad, but again, it has to do with the type of usage.

You can start your support request here. Contact Apple Support You can check your warranty by putting your serial number in here. Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support

I could only wish I lived that close to an Apple Store. my closest one is well over an hour and a half away.

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Answer 4

MichelPM

Level 10

81,547 points

Nov 11, 2017 3:40 PM in response to Mummychelle79

Make sure the iPad Mini 4 has plenty of free data storage space and maintains, an absolute minimum of 2.5 to 3 GBs.

Also, try turning OFF Background App Refresh for those apps you do not need data needing constant updating from the either internal updating or updating from Internet/Web sources, if not needed.

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Answer 5

Nov 11, 2017 3:33 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thank you for the reply. My husband is the one who put the rules in place - and to be fair it has kept the iPad mini 1’s batteries lasting for ages for years, compared to say my laptop that I used to always run off the power and basically killed the battery. It’s my understanding that if you don’t allow the battery to get as close as possible to running out, the battery ‘learns’ that that amount is a full charge and basically forgets about the rest of it! It’s like taking it off charge early, after a while it starts to believe that is where 100% is now and you will start to find your battery lasts less long. Given he has a science background, I wasn’t going to argue with him as it certainly seems logical based upon what I have seen with phones etc over the last few years!

I’ll see about raising a ticket with Apple - he’s only had it for 2 weeks so I really didn’t think it should be so short, but you never know these days as battery life always seems to get worse in exchange for lighter, faster it just more powerful! We don’t live anywhere near an Apple shop (I think the closest is about 30 miles away so I don’t fancy a 60 mike round trip just for getting this tested). Any idea where/how I raise a ticket with them please? I’ve never had to do that before!

Thank you for your reply and help.

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Answer 6

Nov 11, 2017 3:46 PM in response to MichelPM

Thank you - background refresh was one of the things I just went through turning off actually (found an article with some ideas I hadn’t heard before).

There’s tons and tons of free memory on there as he’s only got on it what was on his old 16gb Mini but he now has a 256gb version (as it was cheaper than the one half the size?!).

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Answer 7

Nov 11, 2017 3:48 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thanks - I didn’t know that about the batteries, I’ll tell my other half (but he really does not like to be told that he’s wrong about something and I can guarantee he’ll still say that they don’t need to charge it that often etc anyway! He’s very stubborn!

I’ll check out the warranty - I really hope I’m not going to find that the seller actually bought it she’s shl and it’s out of warranty..... fingers firmly crossed!

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Answer 8

Nov 12, 2017 1:16 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Good plan! Thank you! That will certainly (well hopefully) save his delicate ego and therefore prevent a row!

I appreciate the links you provided as well.

I’m running a test on the iPad today with the amended settings and if it doesn’t make enough of a difference I will raise a ticket with Apple and hope to get it resolved!

Thank you for your help.

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Answer 9

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

236,357 points

Nov 12, 2017 6:58 AM in response to Mummychelle79

You're welcome. Enjoy the iPad Mini 4. I know that I enjoy mine.

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Answer 10

Nov 12, 2017 8:53 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thanks, I’m sure he will! I love my Mini 3 - can’t beat iPads as far as I’m concerned!

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