It is not possible to not discover how dangerous my iPhone’s battery life has turn out to be since upgrading to iOS 18; it solely received progressively worse with iOS 18.1 and 18.2. It is the uncommon day that my battery remains to be above 40% by lunchtime, and energy banks have turn out to be fixed companions in my life.
The scenario was dangerous (evening or day), battery consumption was a lot larger than something I bear in mind, and even Low Energy Mode did not supply a lot reduction.
It was time to research the issue.
Nevertheless, I wasn’t optimistic about discovering an answer or perhaps a workaround. Lately, the one treatment for such points has been to attend for Apple to patch the issue. However on condition that I’ve watched this subject go from dangerous to worse over the previous few months, I am not holding my breath.
So I made a decision to research. For any battery drain subject, the primary place I all the time look is beneath the Battery display in Settings. This part is a treasure trove of knowledge, not solely associated to the battery but additionally to the apps which might be operating and consuming energy. Two charts are displayed right here: Battery Degree, which reveals how the cost degree modifications at 15-minute intervals; and Exercise, which makes use of a bar chart as an example which apps have been lively 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 Residence & Lock Display screen (mainly, any exercise on the lock display, similar to notifications or widgets) there was nothing out of the atypical. I did strive disabling the iPhone’s always-on show — the setting to do that is beneath Settings > Show & Brightness > At all times On Show — however to no avail.
The issue continued.
After a bit extra investigating, testing, tweaking settings, and a whole lot of frustration, I discovered the perpetrator: Apple Intelligence. With Apple Intelligence enabled (the setting will be discovered beneath Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri), I discovered it not possible to make it by a day with out recharging. Nevertheless, with it disabled, my battery life returned to its former ranges.
And here is the kicker: I wasn’t even utilizing Apple Intelligence. I had enabled it for testing functions, nevertheless it form of fell by the wayside as I moved on to different issues. I discovered Apple Intelligence relatively underwhelming, however I did not anticipate it to empty the battery so considerably when it wasn’t actively in use.
It appears that evidently this subject is not restricted to my {hardware}, as I’ve come throughout loads of related reviews. Furthermore, it would not look 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.
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 soar to iOS 18, and you have enabled the Apple Intelligence characteristic, it may very well be your perpetrator. I say “may” as a result of this may very well be a type of “mileage will range” conditions. Nevertheless, should you’re not discovering Apple Intelligence to be all that helpful, you don’t have anything to lose by turning it off.
