I love iPadOS. It’s made the entire iPad experience better with lots of multitasking features, desktop-class web browsing, better built-in file management, and more. But just like with everything new, it’s not without problems. And one such gray area is battery life.
Over the past few months, I’ve had serious battery drain issues on iPadOS, sometimes for no apparent reason. But thankfully, using the various fixes I’ve listed below helped me to some extent in preventing this issue from getting out of control. If you’re also having trouble with your iPad’s battery life, let’s get started.
Fly:
1. Restart iPad
Since the iPadOS betas, I’ve been restarting my iPad whenever it shows signs of serious battery drain to be a strong fix, at least for a few hours. A reboot clears the iPadOS cache and puts an end to possibly rogue processes in the background that are getting out of control.
To restart your iPad, start by momentarily pressing and holding the Power button (or the Power button and Volume buttons on iPad models with Face ID functionality). Swipe on the Swipe to Close Prompt that appears.
Once your iPad is completely shut down, press and hold the Power button again to restart it.
2. Force Quit Apps
At times, iPadOS has trouble dealing with certain apps and negatively impacts battery life. I’ve also had issues with overheating when this happens.
In such cases, force quitting the troublesome app works as a temporary fix. To do this, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the app switcher.
Then just swipe up on the app card to force it out of memory. Try reopening the app – it probably won’t drain the battery like it did before.
3. Update Apps
Not all apps are optimized to run properly on iPadOS. That means certain apps will drive the iPad crazy with battery usage. While force quitting and restarting troublesome apps can help to a certain extent, you won’t be able to keep it up forever.
That’s why it’s important to update your apps regularly. Better still, turn on automatic app updates. They contain loads of bug fixes and not only fix battery life related issues but also take care of other issues.
If a particular app hasn’t received updates for a long time, be sure to contact that app developer to force an update from that app developer.
4. Update iPadOS
You should update iPadOS when a new update pops up. iPadOS is still a new operating system (despite its deep roots in iOS), which means Apple has made a ton of improvements and bug fixes with every incremental update. I’ve had better battery life after each update so don’t skip those.
To update iPadOS, go to iPad Settings, tap General, then Software Update. If you see a new update, tap Download and Install.
5. Disable Background Apps
Many apps on your iPad refresh in the background so you can access up-to-date data without any delays. While this is convenient, background apps consume more power and invite disaster on an unstable operating system like iPadOS beta.
If you’re experiencing battery drain issues even with minimal activity, consider disabling unwanted apps from running in the background.
To do this, go to the iPad Settings app, tap General, tap Background App Refresh, then turn off the buttons next to any apps you want to prevent from running in the background.
6. Manage Location Services
Location services are another cause of battery draining fast. This is not limited to iPadOS, either.
To prevent this from becoming an issue, go to the Settings app, tap Privacy, tap Locations, then turn off location services for unwanted apps.
You can also enable apps to use location services. I would only recommend this as long as you are actively using them – this helps prevent certain apps (like Apple Maps or Google Maps) from becoming unusable without location services.
7. Enable Wi-Fi Assist
Do you use cellular data a lot on your iPad? If you’re in an area with poor cellular connectivity, you’ll have battery life issues as the cellular antenna on your iPad has to work overtime to establish a proper connection.
To avoid this, you can automatically instruct your iPad to use Wi-Fi (if available) when the connection is poor. Open the Settings app on your iPad, tap Cellular, then turn on the switch next to Wi-Fi Assist.
8. Reset iPad
There is always the possibility that certain misconfigured settings are the root cause behind battery drain issues on your iPad. If iPadOS is causing serious battery drain issues even after applying the fixes above, you should consider resetting the settings on your iPad.
However, resetting settings will completely return all settings on your iPad to their defaults, including network related settings. For more details, check our iPhone reset guide before you get started.
To reset the settings on your iPad, open the Settings app, tap General, tap Reset, then Reset All Settings.
9. Check Battery Health
You can also use various tools to check the health of your iPad’s battery. After all, you might be experiencing battery draining issues on iPadOS due to corrupted battery.
There are a handful of free software programs for both Mac and Windows that you can use to easily check the status of your iPad’s battery. I recommend CoconutBattery (Mac) or iMazing (Windows and Mac). In the meantime, take a look at our guide to checking an iPad’s Battery Health.
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While I didn’t initially encounter battery drain issues like I had with iPadOS (these betas were terrible), it’s still an issue. We hope that Apple will fully patch iPadOS to prevent such issues in the next few months, but app developers should also do their due diligence. So keep an eye out for updates and install them as they become available.
Next: You can also use general battery saving tips to increase your iPad’s battery life. Click the link below.
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