Using iOS 14 to diagnose battery drain

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  • Is your battery worn?

    Is your battery worn?

    Your first port of call should be the Battery Health page (System > Battery > Battery Health). Here Maximum Capacity should be above 80 percent, and you should have Optimized Battery Charging enabled. If Maximum Capacity is less than 80 percent, or you have a message under Peak Performance Capability about unexpected shutdowns, then there's a problem with the battery and you need it looked at.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • How fast is your battery discharging?

    How fast is your battery discharging?

    Next, take a look at what's shown on the Battery screen (System > Battery). The charts here is very useful, and shows a lot of information. First, we'll look at the Battery Level chart. Look at the slope of the discharge chart. The steeper this line, the faster the discharge.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • Did you charge your iPhone?

    Did you charge your iPhone?

    It will also show you when your iPhone is charging up (green lightning symbol and hatched green lines).

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • Is Optimized Battery Charging working?

    Is Optimized Battery Charging working?

    It will also show if Optimized Battery Charging is working because you'll see the charge level go up to 80 percent and then flatline until the morning.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • When was Low Power Mode on?

    When was Low Power Mode on?

    Times when your iPhone is in Low Power Mode will be shown in yellow.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • Activity

    Activity

    Underneath Battery Level is Activity. This chart shows you what's consuming the battery, both apps running on-screen (shown ion dark blue), and in the background (light blue).

    Below that you also see which apps are running. 

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • Tap to reveal more

    Tap to reveal more

    You can tap on the bars to get the activity for that period.

    Here I'm noticing a couple of apps that use Bluetooth -- Tile and datAshur BT -- doing a lot of background activity while on charge.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • High background usage

    High background usage

    This high background usage continues for several hours.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • Bug or feature?

    Bug or feature?

    But the activity tails off once the iPhone is off charge, so this is not going to be draining the battery, and may be a feature of Bluetooth apps. Or might be a Bluetooth bug in iOS 14.

    If this was happening when the iPhone was no on charge, this could be a serious battery drain issue.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • Background usage should usually be low

    Background usage should usually be low

    Unless you have an app specifically designed to run in the background (such as a music player when the screen is off) then background usage should normally be low.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • 10-day overview

    10-day overview

    You can also get a breakdown of usage over the past 10 days by tapping on Last 10 Days.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • How long were apps running?

    How long were apps running?

    You can also switch between battery usage as a percentage and time by tapping Activity/Show battery Usage. This tells you how long apps were running, along with a breakdown of on-screen and background time.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

  • Kill rogue apps!

    Kill rogue apps!

    If you find an app that's running wild in the background you can either delete it or, better still, prevent it from running in the background by going to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and temporarily turning it off by flipping the switch on it. Note that this might cause the app to not work properly.

    Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

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How to find if apps are draining your battery, or you need a new battery fitted in your iPhone.

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Is your battery worn?

Your first port of call should be the Battery Health page (System > Battery > Battery Health). Here Maximum Capacity should be above 80 percent, and you should have Optimized Battery Charging enabled. If Maximum Capacity is less than 80 percent, or you have a message under Peak Performance Capability about unexpected shutdowns, then there's a problem with the battery and you need it looked at.

Caption by: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

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