Are you finding that your iPhone's battery life isn't anywhere near as good as it was with iOS 10? You're not alone.

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Every time Apple releases a new version of iOS, there never a shortage of people complaining that their battery life has gone from great to terrible. Sometimes this is just down to the iPhone or iPad needing a few charge/recharge cycles to recalibrate the battery charging mechanism and for things like Spotlight to finish indexing all the files on the device, other times it's a bug in iOS or an app that's sucking at the battery.

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It seems that iOS 11 has a problem that's seriously affecting battery life.

Within hours of the release of iOS 11, the internet was awash with battery complaints. Because it can take a couple of recharge cycles for the calibration to settle down, I generally ignore these early reports, but we're now almost two weeks on from release, and despite seeing iOS 11.0.1 being released, battery life continues to be a big problem for many users.

There's also data to support the idea that there's a problem with iOS 11. Wandera published data based on a subset of 50,000 moderate to heavy iPhone and iPad users in its network running iOS 10 and iOS 11 to compare the average battery decay rate over the three days. The results show that iOS 11 is hammering battery life much harder than iOS 10 did.

iOS 11 battery life is terrible

Wandera

So what can you do? Well, there's quite a lot of tweaks you can do to eke more minutes out of your battery (see below), and you can keep a charger or powerbank handy to charge up your iPhone of iPad during the day. But beyond that, we're all going to have to wait for Apple to push out a patch to address the problem (early indications suggest that iOS 11.1, which has been released to beta testers, goes some way to improve battery life).

How to improve your iPhone or iPad battery life with iOS 11

See also:

• How to get your iPhone or iPad ready for iOS 11
• iOS essential skills everyone should know
• Why I'm skipping the iPhone X
• Inside Apple's new A11 Bionic processor
• How the iPhone 8 will change Android
• Big changes ahead for iPhone 8 owners
• How to test chargers and power banks to make sure they don't blow up your expensive smartphone

PREVIOUS AND RELATED COVERAGE

iOS 11.0.1 update causes havoc for some iPhone and iPad users

The latest update for iOS 11 adds crashes, laggy performance, and frame drops to the already rocky release.

Although I generally concur with the above regarding battery and performance improvements under iOS 12 there is an issue being reported with respect to cellular and/or data failure following applying the last couple of updates for a “few” devices.

If you do a search you will find half a dozen threads discussing the issue, not many I admit but for those affected it appears a hard one to resolve at the moment. From what I’ve read it started with 12.1.2 which had two releases for some devices (16C101 and 16C104) and I don’t believe 12.1.3 has completely sorted it out yet.

It doesn’t seem specific to any model so the link is uncertain at this time (from the user’s perspective anyway) and even a full Restore as New (or DFU Restore) doesn’t necessarily resolve.

Saying all the above, I’ve updated my X through every version of 12 (even the two 12.1.2’s) and it’s now on 12.1.3 with no issues at all, but I always update through iTunes (just my preference).

Terrible battery life is again front and centre for iPhone and iPad owners after upgrading to iOS 11.2.1 with some devices lasting just minutes in a full charge. It’s a mess and the sooner Apple gets off this iOS 11 rush-and-release strategy the better.

Here are just a few examples of the problems users are posting on the social media and Apple’s official Support Communities forum:

“When the device is in idle with display off, there is no battery drain and as soon as you turn the display on and unlock the device without running any applications not even in background the battery percentage decreases 5% in less than 2 minutes this continues till the phone is dead with 0% battery within an hour.” -

“@AppleSupport Seven Hells iOS 11.2.1 is HORRID on my battery. Worse than 11.1. WTAF? I have a 6S with a replaced battery a year ago that was going from 50% - 0% in 5min. I'm a true iKoolaid drinker - but please fix this!” - source

“just upgraded my 6S Plus to iOS 11.2.1 and got the worst ever battery performance: within 30 minutes, from 70% down to 10%” -

“Ios 11.2.1 is really Bad.... It drains my battery a lot.... in minutes if I fully charge [my] phone it drops to 50%” -

“@AppleSupport, better fix the battery life in the ios 11.2.1 !! , it's draining as I type. using an iPhone 6s Plus” - source

“@AppleSupport After updating 11.2.1 battery is draining much faster. Any suggestions? iPhone 7 128 GB” - source

“Dear @Apple @AppleSupport. Please stop making new iOS that drains the battery life. My iPhone 6s battery is becoming a challenge again with 11.2.1” - source

“I want to downgrade my IOS from 11.2.1 to ios 10 please help @AppleSupport After ios 11 battery has started to drain at lightening speed.” - source

“@AppleSupport iOS 11.2.1 has gotten so much worst with battery life on my iPhone 6S” - source

“So, I updated my iPad Pro to IOS 11.2.1 and the battery drains in minutes. Anyone else? @AppleSupport” - source

“This new iOS killed my battery, not only of the iPhone but all my Apple things too” - source

“@AppleSupport iOS 11.2.1…damn! Terrible battery life on

iPhone6S . Any normal usage drains battery by 5-10% at a time. I’ve had to charge my phone several times today.

Help

fail

battery

Apple” - source

“@AppleSupport Upgraded to 11.2.1 on my iPhone 6s and battery life is abhorrent. Today alone it’s down 30% in two hours. No issues prior to the update from 11.1.1. Please fix !” - source

While battery life problems continue to be by far the number one issue with iOS 11.2.1 (and iOS 11 in general), there are multiple additional problems including , , disconnected and multitasking errors.

One iPhone 7 owner tweeted me a video on the latter issue showing a glitch which blacks out all the app cards in the multitasking view. He enquired: “Maybe 11.2.2 coming soon?”, one look at Apple’s rate of iOS 11 releases and I’d suggest that’s inevitable.

The bigger question, however, remains battery life. Given how long these battery issues have persisted for so many, I wonder whether this is something Apple can eventually address or whether it will degenerate into the iOS 10 farce where users were simply told they needed new iPhone batteries. Some iPhone users managed to get free replacements, others did not.

Which iOS is best for battery?

Top 8 iPhone with the Best Battery Life in India.

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iPhone 14 | Battery Life: Up to 20 hours..

Is iOS 16 bad for iPhone 11 battery?

These improvements come at a cost: iOS 16 can take a serious toll on your iPhone's battery life. What sets apart iOS 16 from many other Apple annual updates is that it affects nearly every aspect of your iPhone experience, from the lock screen to privacy and security to keyboard haptics.

Does iOS version affect battery life?

It's normal to experience a drop even quite a significant drop in battery life following the installation of an iOS update. iPhones need to carry out a number of tasks in the background in the aftermath of an update.

How good is iPhone 11 battery?

The iPhone 11 lasts one hour longer than the iPhone XR. Video playback up to 17 hours, video playback (streamed) up to 10 hours, and audio playback up to 65 hours.