It is unattainable to not discover how dangerous my iPhone’s battery life has develop into since upgrading to iOS 18; it solely acquired progressively worse with iOS 18.1 and 18.2. It is the uncommon day that my battery continues to be above 40% by lunchtime, and energy banks have develop into fixed companions in my life.
The scenario was dangerous (evening or day), battery consumption was a lot increased than something I bear in mind, and even Low Energy Mode did not provide a lot reduction.
It was time to analyze the issue.
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Nevertheless, I wasn’t optimistic about discovering an answer or perhaps a workaround. Just lately, the one treatment for such points has been to attend for Apple to patch the issue. However provided that I’ve watched this problem go from dangerous to worse over the previous few months, I am not holding my breath.
So I made a decision to analyze. For any battery drain problem, the primary place I at all times look is underneath the Battery display screen in Settings. This part is a treasure trove of data, not solely associated to the battery but in addition to the apps which can be working and consuming energy. Two charts are displayed right here: Battery Degree, which exhibits how the cost stage adjustments at 15-minute intervals; and Exercise, which makes use of a bar chart as an instance which apps have been energetic and utilizing battery energy in hourly intervals. You may faucet on the bars for a deeper dive into what’s been occurring in your iPhone throughout that interval.
However apart from elevated utilization by Dwelling & Lock Display (mainly, any exercise on the lock display screen, akin to notifications or widgets) there was nothing out of the abnormal. I did attempt disabling the iPhone’s always-on show — the setting to do that is underneath Settings > Show & Brightness > All the time On Show — however to no avail.
The issue continued.
After a bit extra investigating, testing, tweaking settings, and lots of frustration, I discovered the wrongdoer: Apple Intelligence. With Apple Intelligence enabled (the setting might be discovered underneath Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri), I discovered it unattainable to make it by a day with out recharging. Nevertheless, with it disabled, my battery life returned to its former ranges.
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And here is the kicker: I wasn’t even utilizing Apple Intelligence. I had enabled it for testing functions, but it surely form of fell by the wayside as I moved on to different issues. I discovered Apple Intelligence somewhat underwhelming, however I did not anticipate it to empty the battery so considerably when it wasn’t actively in use.
Evidently this problem is not restricted to my {hardware}, as I’ve come throughout loads of related reviews. Furthermore, it would not seem like restricted to the iPhone; Apple Intelligence is also being blamed by some for extreme battery consumption on MacBooks.
I discover the impact repeatable — on my iPhones and, to a lesser extent. my iPads. Flip Apple Intelligence on, battery life drops like a stone; flip it off, and issues return to regular.
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It is as dependable as clockwork. This tweak additionally seems to reign within the extreme battery consumption I used to be seeing on the iOS 18.3 beta.
In the event you’re discovering battery life to be particularly poor since making the bounce to iOS 18, and you’ve got enabled the Apple Intelligence characteristic, it may very well be your wrongdoer. I say “may” as a result of this may very well be a type of “mileage will differ” conditions. Nevertheless, in the event you’re not discovering Apple Intelligence to be all that helpful, you don’t have anything to lose by turning it off.
