You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

tsipo Author

Level 1

27 points

iOS 11.4 battery = disaster! Handoff is culprit?

Hi, I have iPhone 6s, my battery life has been reduced by ~50% with iOS 11.4! Without any change in my usage pattern.

My battery health is 96% (device is just 6+ months old). I used to get from 100% down to a single digit in a day+ (30-35 hours) with iOS 11.3.1, now it takes 15-16 hours! And my daily usage pattern hasn't changed a bit. It started immediately after installing 11.4 two days ago (official version, I do not install betas).

I suspect handoff between iPhone and my Mac is the main culprit. Today took my phone off the charger in the morning at 100%. After 11 hours at work and commute (no handoff there) I was at 65%-70% when I got home. After 2 hours at home, working mainly on my Mac (very little on the phone itself), I was down to 50%. After 3 more hours (again, barely touching the phone), down to 7%. What is that???!!!

I am sorry, but this is a huge FAIL. This software "upgrade" has downgraded my battery life by 50% or so. It is unacceptable. Give me back iOS 11.3.x!

iPhone 6s, iOS 11.4

Posted on May 31, 2018 10:24 PM

Top-ranking reply

tsipo Author

Level 1

27 points

Posted on Jun 1, 2018 8:36 PM

Update: I disabled handoff on both my iPhone and my Mac, to no avail. I have come to the following conclusion: when you are where Apple decides as home, iOS 11.4 drains your battery like crazy. What they do it for I do not know, but it's outrageous.

Here are my measurements today:

In 9:30 hours when I was commuting (cell network only) and at work (cell data and wifi), my battery dropped from 100% to 76%. Reasonable.
Came back home (cell data and wifi) for 1 hour exactly, battery went down from 76% to 57%.
Went out for 2:30 hours, battery went down from 57% to 52%.
Came back home, closed ALL apps (including mail and messages) on the iPhone. in 1:30 hours battery dropped from 52% to 32%!

This says enough. When Apple identifies you are at home, they take the liberty to drain your battery even when the phone is supposed to be DOING NOTHING. Again: no apps are running, handoff is disabled on both the phone and the mac.

This is for Apple:

Report to the public what the new iOS is doing all this time when the phone is not supposed to do anything!
I consider returning my iPhone for a refund. I got is 6+ months ago, and then you degrade its performance by 50% (in my case) with your shiny new version of iOS. I think I have a case.

I have macs for the last 13 years or so, and iPhones for the last 6 years. I consider whether I should continue this relationship.

View in context

Similar questions

36 replies

Jun 12, 2018 10:59 AM in response to Martinsbt

++++ iOS 11.4 Battery drain problem SOLVED ++++

Here is the easy fix that worked perfect for me on my iPhone 6s. The battery drain issue is related to wi-fi on the 5Ghz band. You can either stop connecting to the 5G band manually (by forgetting your network and thus the password) or just select non 5G networks. The best solution though is to reset your iPhone network settings by : Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

You will need to select your wi-fi networks again and enter the password one time.

After doing the Network Setting reset yesterday evening, my phone battery drain is back to normal on both 2.4G and 5G wi-fi connections. Others have reported similar results. Try it !!!

Jun 20, 2018 10:24 AM in response to deggie

i tried all the suggestions above and much more, without success.

Wifi: Off

Cellular data: Off

Bluetooth: Off

Location Services: Off

Handoff: Off

Background App Refresh: Off

Siri: Off

Network settings : Reset

Low Power Mode: Always On

The most used app in the past 2 days: Safari 38% (24 min on display)

I tested ios 12, changed my old battery with a new one, full reset and testing, full reset and backup from icloud, no difference.

Jul 18, 2018 1:39 PM in response to tsipo

Hi, I have iPhone 6s, my battery life has been reduced by ~50% with iOS 11.4

! Without any change in my usage pattern.

I am sorry, but this is a huge FAIL. This software "upgrade" has downgraded my battery life by 50% or so. It is unacceptable. Give me back iOS 11.3.x!

I have the same problems, I like iphone 6s like hardware, but I start to hate softwere : so what I need to keep with me all time power station? I start to used LG G5 its work one day and half. Android stay better like IOS . its shame developers from Apple. Sallary and price its big, but quality and results are cheap

deggie

Level 10

167,363 points

Jul 18, 2018 4:58 PM in response to kristianfromchisinau

iOS 7.0 is probably one of the most hated changes that appeared here and it was initially hard on my battery.

Something is impacting your battery, go to Settings > Battery and see which processes/apps are consuming most of your battery.

And Apple isn't here.

Aug 7, 2018 10:25 AM in response to LACAllen

I think you may be on to something. I just installed a bunch of smarthome apps and to get all of the functionality, I had to add my address to the apps and my contact profile. Since then battery has been draining like crazy. I took the phone in and was told the battery was fine. I've done all the little tips and tricks to extend battery life and nothing has helped. I just deleted my address info in the phone. Curious if that will make a difference.

Aug 17, 2018 11:35 AM in response to bacb

So you basically had to make your device close to useless to save the battery. I did the same thing. I looked at all of the analyticis, competely reset it (to factory settings), turned everything off and the problem is still there.

The battery status on my iPad says it’s 100%. When I unplug it,it shuts down. It has to be plugged in to start. Apple told me to take it in.