iOS 18.2 was killing my iPhone’s battery until I turned off this feature
It is inconceivable to not discover how unhealthy my iPhone’s battery life has change 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 remains to be above 40% by lunchtime, and energy banks have change into fixed companions in my life.
The state of affairs was unhealthy (night time or day), battery consumption was a lot increased than something I keep in mind, and even Low Energy Mode did not provide a lot reduction.
It was time to analyze the issue.
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Nonetheless, I wasn’t optimistic about discovering an answer or perhaps a workaround. Not too long ago, 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 unhealthy 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 below the Battery display 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 Stage, which exhibits how the cost stage adjustments at 15-minute intervals; and Exercise, which makes use of a bar chart for example which apps have been lively and utilizing battery energy in hourly intervals. You possibly can 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 House & Lock Display screen (principally, any exercise on the lock display, reminiscent of notifications or widgets) there was nothing out of the bizarre. I did strive disabling the iPhone’s always-on show — the setting to do that is below Settings > Show & Brightness > All the time On Show — however to no avail.
The issue endured.
After a bit extra investigating, testing, tweaking settings, and quite a lot of frustration, I discovered the wrongdoer: Apple Intelligence. With Apple Intelligence enabled (the setting could be discovered below Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri), I discovered it inconceivable to make it by means of a day with out recharging. Nonetheless, 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 quite underwhelming, however I did not count on it to empty the battery so considerably when it wasn’t actively in use.
It appears that evidently this problem is not restricted to my {hardware}, as I’ve come throughout plenty of similar reports. Furthermore, it does not look like restricted to the iPhone; Apple Intelligence is also being blamed by some for excessive 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.
Should you’re discovering battery life to be particularly poor since making the bounce to iOS 18, and you’ve got enabled the Apple Intelligence function, it may very well be your wrongdoer. I say “might” as a result of this may very well be a type of “mileage will differ” conditions. Nonetheless, if you happen to’re not discovering Apple Intelligence to be all that helpful, you don’t have anything to lose by turning it off.
