Some iOS 12 users are reporting excessive battery drain after installing Apple’s latest firmware. Fortunately, most battery problems can be fixed within minutes.
iOS 12 users have been complaining about an issue that is causing their device to lose power faster than usual. While some people deal with bad hardware, most problems are caused by bad habits or rogue apps.
If you’re dealing with terrible battery life, your instincts may urge you to make an appointment to see an Apple Genius at your local Apple Store. It’s definitely an option, but you’ll want to try and fix your problems before you go that far.
This guide to bad iOS 12 battery life on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch will provide you with fixes that we and many others have discovered and used over the years. It also includes some strategies you should use to prevent battery life issues from happening again.
Some of these steps can be done in seconds, while others can take much longer. All of them have the potential to solve your problems.
Restart your device
If you start noticing bad battery life after installing iOS 12, the first thing you’ll want to do is reboot the device. Turn it off, wait 20-30 seconds and then turn it back on and check if the performance improves.
Update Your Phone
If you’re struggling, consider upgrading your device to the latest version of iOS 12.
Apple hardly mentions battery life improvements in their iOS change logs, but there’s always a chance for new software to fix your performance.
Before installing a new version of iOS 12, be sure to read reviews and review feedback.
If you’re using an iPhone 6s or newer and are still using iOS 12, you should consider upgrading to iOS 14. iOS 14 comes with a number of performance enhancements and can do wonders to your phone’s performance.
downgrade
For a limited time, Apple will allow you to downgrade your device to the previous iOS version. Downgrade is worth a try if your phone or tablet is getting a good distance from the previous update.
For more information on downgrading, please check our guide.
Use Screen Time
iOS 12 comes with a Screen Time feature that can help you save battery while eliminating bad habits.
Screen Time provides a new set of controls that can help you keep your smartphone’s addictive behavior in check. If you’re not that much on your phone, you won’t have chewed up your battery.
This feature allows you to set limits on how long you can use a particular app on a given day. If you approach this threshold, it will give you a warning.
You can also set these alerts for kids and link it to a ScreenTime Allowance. This allows you to set limits on games but keep essential apps available for schoolwork.
Use Low Power Mode
iOS 12’s Low Power Mode can help conserve battery life by turning off services that can drain your battery. These include Hey Siri, automatic downloads, and mail fetching.
You can turn Low Power Mode on or off at any time, but your device will prompt you to turn it on when your phone reaches 20%.
We highly recommend adding Low Power Mode to your device’s Control Center. Control Center is the menu that pops up when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
To do this you need to:
The next time you open Control Center, you will see a battery icon. Tap it to enable or disable Low Power Mode and turn it off.
You can also turn on Low Power Mode from Settings. To do this:
Use Wi-Fi Instead of LTE
Using your device while connected to a cellular network (LTE, 4G) may drain the battery. Therefore, you will want to connect your device to Wi-Fi whenever possible. Using Wi-Fi uses less power, which means more battery.
Control and Monitor Your Applications
Apps like Facebook are known resource hogs. Apps can also go crazy after Apple releases a new version of iOS; so there is a chance that one or more of the culprits behind your sudden battery drain is your app.
If you haven’t already, you’ll want to go to your Settings to check the apps that are consuming the most battery life. This can help you identify the app or apps that are causing your problems.
Go to your Settings, tap Battery and take a look at the Battery Usage tool. It will show you the apps that are causing the most damage to your device’s battery.
If you notice an app consuming a lot of battery in the background, try deleting the app to see if your battery life improves. If you determine that this is not the source of the problem, you can always reinstall the application.
If you prefer to keep the app, try installing the latest bug fix update to see if it helps. Developers are rolling out iOS 12 support updates so a quick update can fix your issues.
Disable Vibrations
If your device vibrates every time you receive a phone call or message, you should try turning off the vibrations. These warnings can be helpful, but they keep the hardware inside your phone working and this kind of work requires power.
To turn off vibrations:
You also need to go into each Sound and Vibration and make sure that Vibrate (located at the top of the screen) is set to none.
Manage Your Screen
Your device’s screen can kill the battery if not managed properly.
Sensors inside your iPhone or iPad will automatically adjust the display for certain lighting environments. Sometimes these sensors work as intended. Sometimes they don’t. If your screen is bright for no reason, your phone may be consuming power faster.
Try manually adjusting your display to suit your lighting conditions. To do this, you need to turn off Auto-Brightness in your device’s Settings:
You have to manually adjust your screen brightness after turning it off. You can do this from the Control Center or via the Settings app.
Disable Raise to Wake
Raise to Wake is useful, but turning it off can help save a few points in battery percentage.
If your screen doesn’t need to turn on automatically when you pick up your device, go to the Settings app > Display & Brightness and turn off Raise to Wake.
Kill Background Refresh
Apple’s Background App Refresh feature does exactly what the name suggests: It refreshes apps in the background to show you the latest data when you open them.
Many people love this feature, but it can be a resource hog. If you don’t know, try turning it off if you think you need it. It can help you save battery.
To disable it you need to:
You can also turn off Background App Refresh entirely if you don’t want to go through your list of apps one by one.
Turn Off Fitness Tracking
Your iPhone has a motion coprocessor that can track your steps and other activities. If you’re using your phone to help you stay fit, you’ll want to keep this feature turned on as it can be useful. If you are not using your phone to monitor your fitness, you should try turning the feature off.
Go to your settings Tap on app and Privacy. From there select Movement & Fitness and turn off the Fitness Tracking function. You may also want to disable the apps listed under Fitness Tracking in the menu.
Use Airplane Mode
If you start noticing that the battery is draining fast, you should turn on Airplane Mode.
Accessible via the Settings app or Control Center, Airplane Mode cuts off all your connections, including Wi-Fi, Cellular Data, and Bluetooth.
If you’re in a poorly serviced area, your phone is probably working too hard to get a signal. When your phone works hard, your battery will probably drain.
In such cases, turn on Airplane Mode until you return to a well-served area.
Turn Off Assistive Touch
if you are using Assistive touch On your device, this may be the reason why your battery is draining abnormally.
If you don’t need Assistive Touch enabled on your device, try turning it off. Here’s how to do this:
reset all settings
Resetting your device’s settings can have a positive effect on your battery life.
To reset your settings, you need to:
This process may take a few seconds to complete and will restore your settings to factory defaults, so make sure you have your Wi-Fi passwords handy. Causes your device to forget known connections.
Restore As New
If you have had your device for a while, you can try restoring the device from a backup. Or if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can try restoring the device as new. You can do this through Finder, iTunes, or iCloud.
Last updated 2022-02-06. This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to read our disclosure policy for more details. Images via Amazon API