Some iOS 13 users are reporting that the battery died abnormally after upgrading from iOS 12. Battery life issues can be difficult to fix, but there are some steps you should take before contacting customer service.
One of the issues plaguing iOS 13 users is faster-than-normal battery drain. Battery life issues are pretty common, especially after new iOS releases, so the complaints shouldn’t come as such a surprise.
Some of the issues may be hardware related, but others are likely software related. In most cases, it is likely a malicious app or bad habits that are causing the problems.
If you’re dealing with terrible battery drain, your first thought might be to downgrade to an older version of iOS 13. This is definitely an option. However, you should try to fix the problems yourself before downgrading.
This guide will let you fix for bad iOS 13 battery life. These fixes have worked for us in the past and there’s a good chance they’ll fix your issues within minutes.
Restart your phone
The first thing you will want to do is restart your iPhone. Turn it off, wait a minute, and then turn it back on. Most of the time, this will do the trick.
Update Your Phone
If your device is having problems and a new version of iOS 13 is available, try updating to the latest version.
Apple probably won’t report any battery life fixes in an update’s changelog, but there’s always a chance that new software will do wonders for your device.
Before installing a new version of iOS 13, be sure to read reviews and review feedback on the update’s performance on your device.
Control Your Apps
If restarting doesn’t work and there are no updates available, check your apps.
Apps, especially third-party apps, sometimes come into play after a new iOS operating system is released, and there’s a very good chance that one of your apps is running out of battery.
Checking app performance is easy and you can spot a rogue app in minutes. Here’s how to do this:
This tool will show you the apps that are consuming your iPhone’s battery life and when they do so. If you use an app a lot, it will obviously drain your device’s battery. However, if you notice that an app you rarely use is draining your battery life, you’ll want to take a closer look.
If you see an app that you rarely use, draining your battery life, try updating the app to the latest version. App developers are busy deploying iOS 13 support updates, and an update could restore order.
If it still works, try deleting the app and see if that returns to normal.
reset all settings
If your apps aren’t the source of the problem, try resetting all your settings. This will restore your settings to factory defaults (so make sure you have your Wi-Fi passwords handy), but it may eliminate your battery life issues. It has worked for us in the past.
Here’s how to reset your iPhone’s settings:
Use Screen Time
iOS 13’s Screen Time feature can help save battery while eliminating bad habits.
Screen Time provides a set of controls that can help you keep your addictive behavior in check. If you’re not using your apps on your phone, you won’t be chewing up your battery life.
This feature allows you to set limits on how long you can use a particular app on a given day. If you approach the threshold, it will give you a warning.
You can also set these alerts for kids and link them to a ScreenTime Allowance. This allows you to set limits on games but keep important apps available.
Use Low Power Mode
iOS 13’s Low Power Mode helps save battery life by turning off services (Hey Siri, automatic downloads and mail fetch) that can drain your battery.
You can turn Low Power Mode on or off at any time, and your device will also prompt you to turn it on when it reaches 20% battery level.
Add Low Power Mode to your Control Center if you haven’t already. Control Center is the menu that opens from the top right corner of the screen when you swipe up from the bottom or if you’re using a newer iPhone model. Here’s how to do this:
The next time you open Control Center on your phone, you will see a battery icon. Tap this to enable or disable Low Power Mode.
You can also turn on Low Power Mode from Settings. Here’s how to do this:
Turn On Optimized Battery Charge
iOS 13 brings a new feature called “Optimized Battery Charging” to help reduce battery aging.
This feature learns from your daily charging routine and waits for your device to be up to 100% charged until you need to use your phone.
In doing so, it will prevent your battery from sitting at maximum capacity and can extend the overall life of your iPhone’s battery.
To turn it on, go to General > Battery > Battery Health and turn Optimized Battery Charging on.
Disable Widgets
If you’re not using widgets, try disabling them and see if your battery life improves. Here’s how to disable widgets in iOS 13:
You should now see a list of your apps and services on this screen. These are your widgets and you may notice some of them active. To disable a widget:
We recommend disabling widgets that you never use at first. (In some cases it could be all.) If you still find that the battery is dead, return to this screen and review them one by one or disable them all.
You can always turn your widgets back on if you discover that they are not part of the problem.
Turn off Lift to Wake
iOS’ Raise to Wake is useful, but turning it off can help save battery.
If your iPhone’s screen doesn’t need to turn on automatically when you pick it up, go to the Settings app > Display & Brightness and turn off Raise to Wake.
Disable Vibrations
If your phone vibrates every time you receive a message or call and you don’t need it, try turning off the vibrations. Turning them off helps your device use less power.
To turn off your iPhone’s 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”.
Use Wi-Fi Instead of Cellular
Using your iPhone while connected to a cellular network can drain the battery. If you have a Wi-Fi network near you, connect to it. It can help you save battery.
Stop Background Refresh
Apple’s Background App Refresh feature refreshes apps in the background to show you the latest data when you open them. This is a useful feature, but it can also drain battery life. If you don’t need it, try turning it off.
To disable the feature, you need to:
Also, if you don’t want to go through your apps one by one, you can turn them off completely.
Turn Off Fitness Tracking
Your iPhone has a motion coprocessor that monitors your steps and other movements. If you’re using your phone for fitness-related activities, you’ll probably want to keep this feature turned on. If you don’t, try turning it off and see if that helps improve battery life.
To do this 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. If you don’t notice any gains, you can always turn everything back on.
Turn Off Assistive Touch
If you are currently using Assistive touch Your iPhone may be one of the culprits. Turning it off can help your device save power.
If you don’t want or need Assistive Touch enabled on your phone, try turning it off. Here’s how to do this:
downgrade
If you can’t fix the problem on your own, can’t wait for the next iOS update, and can’t or don’t want to contact Apple customer service, you can try rolling back to a previous version of iOS 13. (if it is possible).
If you don’t know how to downgrade an iPhone, have a look at our step-by-step guides.
Install iOS 14 Beta
If you’re desperate, you can try porting your iPhone to Apple’s iOS 14 beta. For more information on how to do this, see our guide.
Restore As New
You can also try restoring your device from a backup on your computer or via iCloud.
If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can try restoring the device as new. You can do this through Finder, iTunes, or iCloud.
Buy Battery Case or Battery Bank
If you’re ready to spend some money, consider investing in a battery case or battery bank.
If you don’t know where to start, take a look at our list of the best iPhone XS cases, best iPhone X cases, and best iPhone 8 cases. They are good starting points.
We usually recommend going with a mophie battery caseHowever Apple’s official battery cases It is a very solid first-party alternative.
If you don’t want to use a large battery case with your iPhone, consider investing in a battery bank for emergencies.
Battery banks are small portable power sources that can charge your iPhone multiple times. For example, RAVPower battery pack It can provide six full iPhone charges before you need to charge it.
There are many options out there, but RAVPower is Mophie’s power station and Anker Powercore 2010 a few of our favourites.
The last update is 2022-02-10. This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to read our disclosure policy for more details. Images via Amazon API