It’s inconceivable not to note how much my iPhone’s battery life has deteriorated since updating to iOS 18; with iOS 18.1 and 18.2 it was getting worse. It’s a rare day when my battery continues to be above 40% at lunchtime, and power banks have grow to be constant companions in my life.
The situation was bad (day and night), battery consumption was much higher than anything I remember, and even the low power mode didn’t provide much relief.
It’s time to analyze the problem.
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However, I wasn’t optimistic about finding an answer or perhaps a workaround. Recently, the only treatment for such problems was to attend for Apple to patch the problem. But considering I’ve watched this problem worsen and worse over the past few months, I’m not holding my breath.
So I decided to analyze. If I have any battery drain issues, the very first thing I at all times check is the Battery screen in Settings. This section is a treasure trove of knowledge, not only related to the battery, but in addition the applications running and consuming power. Two graphs are displayed here: Battery Level, which shows how the charge level changes at 15-minute intervals; and Activity, which uses a bar chart for example which apps were lively and using up battery power on an hourly basis. You can click on the bars to take a deeper have a look at what was happening in your iPhone during this era.
But aside from increased use of the home screen and lock screen (principally any activity on the lock screen, equivalent to notifications or widgets), there was nothing out of the strange. I’ve tried turning off the iPhone’s always-on display – the setting to do that is in Settings > Display & Brightness > Always-On Display – but to no avail.
The problem still persevered.
After much research, testing, tweaking, and far frustration, I found the wrongdoer: Apple Intelligence. After turning on Apple Intelligence (the setting might be present in Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri), I couldn’t go a day without charging. However, after turning it off, battery life returned to its previous level.
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And here’s the hit: I didn’t even use Apple Intelligence. I enabled this selection for testing purposes, but abandoned it when I moved on to other things. I found Apple Intelligence moderately disappointing, but I didn’t expect it to empty the battery so significantly when not actively in use.
It seems that this problem isn’t limited to my hardware as I have encountered plenty of similar reports. What’s more, this does not appear to be limited to the iPhone; Some people also blame Apple Intelligence excessive battery consumption in MacBooks.
I find the effect repeatable – on my iPhones and, to a lesser extent. my iPads. Turn on Apple Intelligence, battery life drops like a rock; turn it off and all the pieces will return to normal.
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It is reliable like clockwork. This improvement also appears to have an effect on the excessive battery drain I saw in the iOS 18.3 beta.
If you have been finding that your battery life is especially low since upgrading to iOS 18 and you have turned on Apple Intelligence, this could possibly be the cause. I say “maybe” because this may increasingly be one in every of those situations where your mileage may vary. However, should you don’t think Apple Intelligence is that useful, you’ve got nothing to lose by turning it off.
