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“Why is my iPhone battery suddenly draining so fast?” “What’s happening to my iPhone’s battery?” “Why does my iPhone battery die so fast?” You’d find many iPhone users asking these questions —and other similar queries— when their device’s battery gets depleted faster than usual. Something is wrong if your iPhone used to last for about 10 hours on a full charge (100%) but barely runs for 5 hours.
In this guide, we aggregate 10 effective solutions that’ll help fix battery drain issues on your iPhone.
Why Is My iPhone Battery Draining So Fast All of a Sudden?
Well, there are numerous reasons your iPhone’s battery is suddenly draining fast. It could be due to factors ranging from battery-hungry apps and widgets running in the background, excessive display brightness, superfluous usage of location services, outdated apps, etc. The issue could also be hardware-related, i.e., a faulty/degraded battery. Read the tips we’ve compiled in the subsequent section and follow the instructions keenly to restore your iPhone’s battery to maximum performance.
10 Tips to Fix iPhone Battery Draining So Fast All of a Sudden
As mentioned earlier, many factors contribute to the gradual deterioration of your iPhone’s battery. As such, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for all iPhones. However, at least one of the troubleshooting solutions below should fix your iPhone’s battery drainage problem.
1. Check Battery Usage
If you notice that your iPhone battery is draining fast all of a sudden, the first port of call should be to check the device’s battery usage. Your iPhone’s battery might be depleting faster than usual because you’re using the device twice as much — which is absolutely normal. There’s only one way to find out, though.
iOS sports a built-in battery monitoring tool that compiles (battery) usage information of apps and services on your iPhone. This tool presents your device’s battery consumption stats in hourly or daily reports. Here’s how to check your iPhone’s battery usage.
Step 1: Launch Settings and select Battery. Wait for the tool to populate the Battery Usage information.
Step 2: Navigate to the Last 10 Days tab.
This section presents detailed information about your iPhone’s battery usage for the last 10 days in a bar chart.
It might be hard to grasp this information, but here’s what you need to know: if the bar for each day is significantly taller than the previous, this means you’ve been using your device for more battery-demanding activities than usual. Hence, the increase in battery usage. This could just be why your iPhone battery is suddenly draining fast.
Proceed to the next section to learn what to do.
2. Check for Battery-Consuming Apps
You’ve discovered your iPhone’s battery usage is off the roof. So what’s the next step? Find out the apps responsible for the battery drain; you’d find this information in your iPhone’s Battery section (Settings > Battery).
In the ‘Last 24 Hours’ tab, scroll to the ‘Battery Usage By App’ section to reveal the apps that consumed the most battery in the last 24 hours. Go to the ‘Last 10 Days’ tab to see an overview of apps that used the most battery in the past 10 days, arranged in descending order.
When you tap a single bar, it displays the battery usage by app for that particular day. Now that you’ve found the battery-consuming app(s), you should close them, especially when they aren’t being used— we will talk more about that in the next section. You could also disable ‘Background App Refresh’ (see Tip #7) for the apps. That should also help to reduce battery consumption.
3. Close Unused Apps Running in the Background
Another reason your iPhone battery dies fast all of a sudden is that you leave apps running in the background, even when they aren’t being used. You should always close or force-quit apps when you are done using them.
On iPhones with Touch ID/Home Button:
Step 1: Double-click the home button to reveal the app switcher.
Step 2: Swipe right or left to locate active apps you aren’t using.
Step 3: Swipe up the app’s preview to close it and stop it from running in the background.
On iPhones with Face ID (i.e., without home button):
Step 1: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and release your finger when the app switcher is displayed.
Step 2: Swipe right or left to see the apps actively running on your device.
Step 3: To close an app, swipe its preview upward.
4. Update Apps
If your iPhone’s battery is draining fast, it could be due to app-related issues. An app might use more battery power than usual if:
- It contains some bugs.
- It isn’t optimized for your iPhone’s iOS version.
Luckily, app developers often roll out timely updates to fix these issues. Visit the App Store to update your apps and make sure they stay regularly updated. Launch the App Store and tap the profile icon at the top-right corner. Tap the Update All button to have all your apps update simultaneously.
Alternatively, tap the Update button next to the app to update them individually.
You could also automate the process by configuring your iPhone to update your apps immediately if there’s an update available in the App Store. Go to Settings > App Store and toggle on the Automatic Download options for Wi-Fi.
5. Remove Unwanted Widgets
Widgets provide quick and timely information from your apps at a glance, both on the home screen and lock screen. While they are cool and fancy, some widgets hurt your iPhone’s battery life because they require power to provide up-to-date information. In addition, some of these widgets (e.g., Smart Stack in iOS 14) constantly pull device data like time, location, and activity to display information. Again, this is cool, but it could be the reason why your iPhone battery dies all of a sudden.
Follow the below steps to remove widgets on your iPhone’s home screen and lock screen.
Remove the Widget from Home Screen
Step 1: Tap and hold the unused or unwanted widget.
Step 2: Select Remove Widget and tap Remove on the confirmation prompt.
Remove the Widget from the Lock Screen
iPhones have a ‘Today View’ widget that displays information from your most-used apps at a glance. Disabling this widget from appearing on the lock screen can save you a great deal of battery life, particularly when you aren’t using your phone. Here’s how to get it done.
Step 1: Go to Settings, select ‘Face ID & Passcode,’ and enter your iPhone passcode.
Step 2: Scroll to the Allow Access When Locked section and toggle off Today View.
6. Use Location Services When Required
Your iPhone consumes a lot more battery power when pulling location information. Now, imagine having numerous apps constantly using location services. Your iPhone’s battery is bound to drain faster; that’s a no-brainer.
Go to your iPhone’s Location Services menu and examine the apps using location information. A good battery-saving practice is to grant apps location access only when they are being used.
Step 1: Go to Settings and select Privacy.
Step 2: Next, tap Location Services.
Step 3: Tap an app to configure its location permissions. Set the location access to ‘While Using the App.’ If the app has no business using your phone’s location, select Never to revoke its location access.
7. Turn Off Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh lets an application constantly check for new content and updates even when you aren’t using the app. Having this feature enabled could be the reason why your iPhone battery dies fast all of a sudden. Follow the steps below to disable Background App Refresh.
Step 1: Launch the Settings menu and select General.
Step 2: Select ‘Background App Refresh.’
Step 3: Tap ‘Background App Refresh.’
Step 4: Select Off.
8. Enable Low Power Mode
Low Power Mode lets your iPhone last for longer hours by limiting the frequency of certain battery-draining activities. When enabled, Low Power Mode reduces background activities, dims screen brightness, disables some app notifications, and more. You can enable Low Power Mode by clicking the battery icon in the Control Center. Alternatively, go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode.
9. Repair iOS System
Some iOS-related issues could also cause your iPhone’s battery to drain faster than expected. If you’ve tried all the troubleshooting solutions listed above, but the device’s battery is still draining fast, you should try repairing iOS. Tenorshare ReiBoot is a brilliant iOS repair tool that offers a one-click solution to repairing over 150 iOS system errors without any data loss.
Simply plug your iPhone into your Mac or Windows PC and let Tenorshare ReiBoot do its magic. It’ll detect and fix any iOS-related issue causing your iPhone battery to die fast all of a sudden. Follow the steps below to learn how to use Tenorshare ReiBoot to fix iOS system problems. But first, install the software on your computer; the program is lightweight (weighs 7.9MB on Mac and 14MB on Windows) and installation is quick.
Step 1: Launch Tenorshare ReiBoot and connect the iPhone to your computer using an authentic lightning USB cable. Wait for the app to recognize your device and proceed.
Step 2: Tap ‘Repair Operating System (Fix All iOS Problems).’
Step 3: Tap the Fix Now button at the bottom-right corner to proceed.
Step 4: Click Fix Now to proceed.
Step 5: To repair your device, Tenorshare ReiBoot will download the iPhone’s firmware package to your computer. Don’t worry, this won’t ruin anything on your device. Tap Download to proceed.
This might take a couple of minutes.
Note: You can use your iPhone during firmware download but do not disconnect it from your computer.
Step 6: Click the Start Repair button to commence the system repair.
Also Read: Tenorshare ReiBoot Review
10. Replace Battery
Your iPhone battery may die fast all of a sudden because the battery is degraded and needs to be replaced. But how do you know for sure that you have a faulty battery? By using the Battery Health tool. On iPhones running iOS 11.3 or newer, you can check your device’s battery quality. Here’s how.
Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. The Maximum Capacity (in %) is your iPhone’s battery health.
As a rule of thumb, you might need to replace your iPhone battery if the maximum capacity reading is way below 80%. At this percentage, the battery will no longer deliver peak performance and significantly drain faster than normal. If your iPhone is less than a year old and still covered under warranty, Apple will replace the degraded/defective battery for free. Otherwise, you’d have to pay a service charge to replace it.
Conclusion
In addition to the above troubleshooting solutions, we also recommend reducing your iPhone’s display brightness to a level that won’t affect visibility. Likewise, disabling ‘Raise to Wake’ could also help reduce battery drain. Go to Settings > ‘Display & Brightness’ and toggle off ‘Raise to Wake.’ Do let us know if any of the tips in this guide were helpful.
