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Latest iOS update doesn’t fix iPhone battery drain

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iOS update does not deliver promised iPhone battery improvement
iPhone battery life doesn't improve under iOS 16.4.1, as had been hoped.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Testing shows that the recently released iOS 16.4.1 does not fix an iPhone battery problem introduced by its predecessor.

This wasn’t the usual small change in battery life that’s usual with updates. Many iPhone models saw significant drops with iOS 16.4. And the latest version isn’t a fix.

iOS 16.4 takes big chunk out of iPhone battery life

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iOS update does not deliver promised iPhone battery improvement
iOS 16.4 appears to be draining iPhones much faster than previous versions.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

A week after the release of iOS 16.4, tests show that the new version significantly reduces the battery lives of a wide variety of iPhone models.

This has happened in the past for iOS releases and later updates have fixed the battery drain.

Find out what’s killing your iPhone battery

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R.I.P. iPhone, 8 AM to 6:30 PM
R.I.P. iPhone, who died tragically just a few hours before the end of the day.
Image: Jonatan Svensson Glad/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

iPhone battery dying faster than you’d like? You can see exactly what’s using up your iPhone battery in the Settings app. It will show you which apps use more power than others, what services run in the background, and what drains your battery most over the course of the week.

If you suspect your phone doesn’t last as long as it used to, or notice that it’s charging very slowly, this will help you diagnose the problem.

Keep reading to find out whether you should quit all your iPhone apps when you’re done using them (you shouldn’t) and how you can keep apps and email from running in the background.

Get the most battery life out of your MacBook

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Get the most battery life out of your Mac.
Get the most battery life out of your Mac.
Image: Apple

How do you kill that which cannot die? The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro boast industry-leading battery life. In the PC world, the high power consumption of Intel processors means you generally must choose between battery life and performance.

The latest MacBooks use Apple’s own custom chips, cut from the same cloth as the iPhone and iPad chips Apple has been designing since 2010 (and, in a roundabout way, the one they made for the Apple Newton in 1994). This is what powers them to last all day at full speed.

If you want to take your M1 Max MacBook Pro to the coffee shop to get work done, and you leave your power cable at home — even if you’re editing 8K ProRes video streams in Final Cut Pro — you still might be ordering lunch and staying through dinner. How could one possibly need more battery life, and how do you get it?

iOS update fails to deliver promised iPhone battery improvement

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iOS update does not deliver promised iPhone battery improvement
While some iPhone models saw an increase in battery life with iOS 15.4.1, most did not.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Benchmark testing of nine different iPhone models shows that less than half of them experienced any improvement to battery life from the recent iOS 15.4.1 update, despite Apple describing that as a major feature of the new version. More of the handsets saw a decrease instead.

On the devices affected, the drop in battery life is generally small, but it’s nevertheless likely to leave some iPhone users holding off on the update. Which is unfortunate, as iOS 15.4.1 also closes a security hole that Apple says has been actively exploited.

iPhone 13 battery life improvements come at the cost of increased weight

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iPhone 13 battery improvements come at the cost of increased weight
The iPhone 13 is heavier than its predecessor. But that’s because of a larger battery.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

The good news for buyers of the iPhone 13 series is that all four handsets promise significantly longer battery lives. The downside is that the change required putting in bulkier batteries that add to the weight and thickness.

Still, the increases are fairly marginal for an improvement that’s near the top of so many iPhone users’ wish lists.

Early iPhone 12 and 12 Pro battery tests suggest 5G comes at a cost

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Tim Cook seems really excited about 5G. Should you be?
Tim Cook seems really excited about 5G. Should you be?
Photo: Apple

The new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro bring 5G to Apple’s smartphones for the first time. But it comes at a cost to your battery.

In the first published battery tests, Tom’s Guide tested the new iPhones on both 4G and 5G, running both on the same screen brightness and loading up new sites every 30 seconds until they ran out of battery. Their conclusion? That 5G usage has a pretty major impact on battery life.

iOS 13 eats away at battery life, but iOS 14 offers hope

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iOS 13 battery life eroded. But iOS 14 offers better.
Reversing a trend, iOS 14 battery life could be noticeably longer than iOS 13.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Tests done on a range of iPhone models running the just-released iOS 13.6 reveal that it slightly reduces the battery life of all these handsets when compared to the previous version. And, generally speaking, that has held true for the last six iOS 13 updates.

But there’s good news. Tests with an early iOS 14 beta showed this upcoming version brings a significant increase to battery life.