Some Tips to Fix The Latest Bad iOS 12 Battery Life

Some iOS 12 users are reporting abnormal battery drain after installing the update. Fortunately, most battery issues can be solved in minutes.

Apple’s iOS 12 update went through a lengthy beta, but problems have slipped through the cracks into the final release. One problem iPhone and iPad users are complaining about is bad battery life where the device appears to be losing its power faster than it normally does.

There’s a chance some people are dealing with a bad battery, but there’s a very good chance bad habits or rogue apps are the ones to blame.

If you’re dealing with horrendous battery life your first instinct might be to downgrade to iOS 11 or make an appointment to see an Apple Genius at your local Apple Store. Those are certainly options, but you’ll want to try and fix your issues before you go that far.

This guide to fixing bad iOS 12 battery life on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch will provide you fixes we and many others have discovered and used over the years. It also contains some strategies you should use to prevent battery life issues from happening again.

Some of these steps can be done in seconds, others might take you a lot longer. All of them have the potential to fix your bad iOS 12 battery life.

Restart Your Device

If you start noticing bad battery life after installing iOS 12 the first thing you’ll want to do is restart the device. Power it down, wait 20-30 seconds, and then power it back on and check to see if performance has improved.

Update Your Phone

Apple will release iOS 12 update’s throughout the year. If you’re struggling, you’ll want to think about upgrading your device.

Apple almost never touts battery life improvements in iOS change logs, but there’s always a chance the new software straightens your performance out.

Make sure you read reviews and dig into feedback before you install a new version of iOS 12.

Downgrade to iOS 11

For a limited time Apple will allow you to downgrade your device to iOS 11.4.1. If your phone or tablet getting good mileage out of the previous update, downgrading might be worth it.

Use Screen Time

iOS 12 comes with a new Screen Time feature that could help you conserve battery while eliminating bad habits.

Screen Time provides you with a new set of controls that can help keep your smartphone addictive behavior in check. If you aren’t on your phone as much you won’t be chewing up your battery.

The feature lets you set limits on how long you can use a particular app on a given day. If you approach that threshold, it’ll give you a warning.

You can also set these alerts for kids and link this to a ScreenTime Allowance. This allows you to set limits on games, but keep important apps for schoolwork available.

Use Low Power Mode

iOS 12’s Low Power Mode can help you conserve battery life by shutting off services that could drain your battery. These include Hey Siri, automatic downloads, and mail fetch.

You can turn Low Power Mode on and off any time, but your device will prompt you to turn it on whenever your phone reaches 20% battery.

We highly recommend adding Low Power Mode to your device’s Control Center. Control Center is the menu that pops up when you swipe up from the bottom or, if you’re using an iPhone X, from the top right of the screen.

In order to do that you need to head to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls and tap the green plus sign next to Low Power Mode. The next time you open Control Center you’ll see a battery icon. Tap that on and off to enable or disable Low Power Mode.

You can also turn Low Power Mode on via your Settings. Go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode > and toggle it On.

Use Wi-Fi Instead of LTE

Using your device while it’s connected to a cellular network (LTE, 4G) can chew through battery. That’s why you’ll want to connect your device to Wi-Fi whenever you can. Using Wi-FI uses less power which means more battery.

Check & Monitor Your Apps

Apps like Facebook are known resource hogs. Apps also can go berserk after Apple releases a new version of iOS so there’s a chance one or more of your apps is the culprit behind your sudden battery drain.

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to head into your Settings to check out the apps draining your battery life the most. This could help you single out the app, or apps, causing your issues.

Head into your Settings > Battery and take a look at the Battery Usage tool. It will show you the apps doing the most damage to your device’s battery.

If you notice an app draining a ton of battery in the background, try deleting the app to see if your battery life improves. You can always re-install the app if you determine it’s not the source of the problem.

If you’d prefer to keep the app, try installing the latest bug fix update to see if that helps. Developers are rolling out iOS 12 support updates so a quick update could take care of your issues.

Disable Vibrations

If your device vibrates every time you receive a phone call or a message you should try turning vibrations off. These alerts can be useful, but they make the hardware inside your phone work and this type of work requires power.

To shut off vibrations go to Settings > Sounds and toggle Vibrate on Ring and Vibrate on Silent off. You’ll also need to go into each individual Sound and Vibration and make sure Vibration (located at the top of the screen) is set to none.

Manage Your Display

Your device’s display can be a battery killer if it’s not managed correctly.

The sensors inside your iPhone or iPad will adjust the screen automatically in certain lighting environments. Sometimes these sensors work as intended. Sometimes they don’t. If your screen is bright for no reason, your phone could be draining power at a faster rate.

Try manually adjusting your display to suit your lighting conditions. To do this, you’ll need to turn Auto Brightness off in your device’s Settings.

Go into Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Auto-Brightness > Off. Once you’ve shut it off, you’ll need to manually adjust your screen brightness. You can do that from Control Center or via the Settings app.

Disable Raise to Wake

Raise to Wake is handy, but turning it off could help you save a few battery percentage points.

If you don’t need your screen to automatically turn on whenever you pickup your device, go into the Settings app > Display & Brightness and turn the Raise to Wake function off.

Kill Background Refresh

Apple’s Background App Refresh feature does exactly what its name implies: It refreshes apps in the background in order to show you the latest data when you open them up.

A lot of people love the feature, but it can be a resource hog. If you don’t know think you need it, try turning it off. It could help you save battery.

To disable it, you’ll need to go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh > and turn it off for any applications you don’t use.

You can also turn Background App Refresh off completely if you don’t want to go through your list of apps one by one.

Turn Off Fitness Tracking

Your iPhone features a motion co-processor that can track your steps and other activities. If you’re using your phone to help stay in shape you’ll want to keep this feature on because it can be useful. If you don’t use your phone to track your fitness you should try turning the feature off.

Head into your Settings app and tap on Privacy. From there, select Motion & Fitness and toggle the Fitness Tracking function off.  You might also want to toggle off any apps listed below Fitness Tracking in the menu.

Use Airplane Mode

If you start noticing rapid battery drain, you should turn on Airplane Mode.

Airplane Mode, which can be accessed via the Settings app or Control Center, kills all of your connections including Wi-Fi, Cellular Data, and Bluetooth.

If you’re in an area with bad service, your phone is probably working hard to get a signal. When your phone is working hard, your battery is probably draining.

In cases like this, turn on Airplane Mode until you’re back in an area with good service.

Turn Off Assistive Touch

If you’re using Assistive Touch on your device there’s a chance it’s the reason your battery is draining abnormally.

If you don’t need Assistive Touch active on your device, try turning it off. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > AssistiveTouch, and toggle it off.

Reset All Settings

Resetting your device’s settings could have a positive impact on your battery life.

In order to reset your settings you need to go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings and then enter your passcode if you have one enabled.

This process could take a few seconds to complete and it will restore your settings to their factory defaults so make sure you have your Wi-Fi passwords handy. It will cause your device to forget known connections.

Restore as New

If you’ve owned your device for awhile, you might try restoring the device from a backup. Or, if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can try restoring the device as new. You can do this via iTunes or iCloud.