iPhone 6s and Apple Watch 2 Battery Usage

[Ratsima]

iPhone 6s iOS 12.3
Battery Maximum Capacity 92%
Battery Replaced by Apple 02/2018

Apple Watch 2 Watch OS 5.2
Purchased 09/2017

The other day, as a matter of routine, I put my iPhone into low power mode as soon as I woke up. Why? Because otherwise it will need a recharge long before day’s end.

When I left the house at about 7:00 AM, both the watch and phone were at 100%. I started the Strava activity tracking app on the watch and set out for a morning of bike riding. I stopped many times; to eat, for a coffee, to explore on foot, etc. during the ride I only used the phone to take a dozen photos and two 15 second videos. I consulted Google Maps exactly once. A couple of messages to and from my wife. That’s it. No music. No phone calls

When I got home at 11:30 AM, the phone had 22% left and the watch 27%. Remember, this is a phone that lost almost 80% of its battery charge in 4½ hours while in Low Power Mode and with hardly any use.

When I checked the Battery condition, there were three significant App usages. Photos, Kindle and Camera-Audio (whatever that means). I hadn’t used Kindle since the day before and only checked the Photos app a couple of times to see if my photos were OK. Nothing else was significant.

Although this was an uncommonly bad day for both devices, it is not unusual for my phone to lose most of its battery charge in just a few hours. This morning I left the house at 9:00 AM with the phone still in the charger when I picked it up. I put the phone in low power mode. Thirty minutes later, when I reached the destination coffee shop, the phone was already down to 80% and was down to 70% by the time my cappuccino was delivered.

This just doesn’t seem right for a phone that has 92% battery capacity and which is in Low Power Mode most of the time.

Any ideas?

 

[chscag]

Hot humid tropical climates are really hard on batteries of all kinds. I suspect Apple replaced your battery in the 6s with one they had in stock for some time. Take the 6s back to Apple and tell them to replace the battery again. Maybe with some good luck, you'll get a fresh battery this time.

We have a 6s+ that we are about to give away to a friend (we have newer phones) and the battery in that iPhone still charges to 100% and will last the entire day of use. But the climate here in Texas is a lot different than where you are.

 

[Ratsima]

This is the hottest time of year in Thailand. When I finished this morning’s bike ride it was 33°C (92°F) with 53% humidity. That doesn’t seem outrageously hot or humid to me. Don’t you have weather like that in Texas?

I think something else is going on here.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

It is easy to confuse battery capacity with battery health. That 92% battery capacity only indicates that the maximum charge the battery is able to hold is 8% less than the designed capacity. It does not, however, indicate how well it will hold that charge.

Batteries are a consumable part of the phones and the current crop of batteries realistically have about a year to 1.5 years of life where they could serve you a large part of a day. What triggered me upgrading my 6S was very similar to what you are experiencing now. A full charged phone would drop about a precent or two as I was using it in the morning. Within about 30 mins I was down to 90% of charge and dropping, my noon the phone was almost dead while not being used.

Just like the tires of a car, you could replace the battery of the 6S and the new battery will once again function as it should and extend the life of your 6S if you wanted to stick with it as opposed to upgrade to the 8 or X.

 

[Ratsima]

How depressing....

 

[Ratsima]

Power Management Failure?

There’s more going on with his phone than just a worn battery. I don’t think anyone would seriously suggest replacing a battery that was able to charge to 92% of the design capacity and which Apple says "... is currently supporting peak performance."

On the bad day described above I had taken a screenshot of the Battery screen. When I checked the Battery condition again I noticed that the usage graph showed 45 minutes of usage between 10 and 11:00 AM. This is weird. At that time my phone was in my bike bag for the entire hour as I was peddling home. It wasn’t used by me at all.

(I thought this might be because I had "Raise to Wake" active. I have since turned it off, with no effect on battery usage.)

The next afternoon I was using the phone to read a Kindle book. By the time I finished reading, at about 5:00 PM, the battery was down to 32%. I decided to reboot the phone. After reboot I got a warning that less than 10% of the battery charge was remaining. The indicator showed only 1%. How could rebooting the phone cause he battery to drop from 32% to 1%? I decided to run out the battery, so I resumed reading the Kindle book. After 40 minutes it was still at 1%. I turned the phone off and then back on. Upon restart the battery had jumped up to 23%.

This morning my phone went from 100% to 82% in 20 minutes. As I was checking the battery percentage it quickly counted down from 82 to 78. At that point I did another reboot. After the restart the battery was up to 90%.

Clearly, something seriously wrong with the power management system on this phone.

I’m on holiday now. When I get back to my iMac I plan to do a factory reset of the phone and restore from an encrypted iTunes backup.

Any other ideas?

 

[ferrarr]

How are you quitting apps? Are you swiping them up? What brightness level do you use?

 

[Ratsima]

How are you quitting apps? Are you swiping them up? What brightness level do you use?

I usually only quit an application if it is misbehaving. I have brightness set automatically. If I’m outside I have to turn it up. When I come inside it is automatically set to an appropriate level.

 

[Rod]

I would be quitting (swiping up) any app not in use and check what apps have background updates via 3g allowed. Your example of Kindle sounds like classic background use. I have almost all of mine set to only update when in use rather than all the time in the background.
The fact that both your watch and phone were both nearly exhausted would seem to indicate a lot of information transfer but again quitting apps and limiting their connectivity should help.
Coconut Battery is a free app you can use on your Mac computer to check the condition of your iPhone battery and keep a history of performance.
I have an iPhone 7 and Apple Watch 3 and I had similar issues initially but some fine tuning has improved things a lot.

 

[Ratsima]

But, I’m running in Low Power Mode so there should be almost no background updating at all.

And, for all but essential apps I have turned off background updating and have Location Services enabled only when using the app.

I have spent a long time trying to optimize battery usage on this phone. Even Low Power Mode doesn’t help.

I thin something else is at play here. I mean, why is the battery percentage indicator so out of whack?

Use Low Power Mode to save battery life on your iPhone - Apple Support

And, yes, I am a Coconut Battery user.

 

[Ratsima]

As for quitting apps to save battery:

Apple says iPhone battery life is not improved by closing apps - Business Insider

 

[Rod]

Well you seem to be doing all the right things so that only leaves the battery or the iPhone itself. It also seems that current iOS versions are less economical as far as power consumption. Almost as if Apple creates software that matches power ratings of the current model devices. My wife has a new iPhone XR which boasts the best battery life ever but it still only lasts a day because she has all the bells and whistles switched on. My iPhone 7 running iOS 12.2 only lasts about 2/3 of a day, whereas my watch can last for two days with average use.

 

[chscag]

It all depends on how you use your phone. My iPhone 8 easily last 2 days or more on a single charge - but I only use it for calls. Most of the time it's on standby. I thought that's what phones were for?

 

[Ratsima]

Yeah, I think I’m doing all the right things but it doesn’t seem to be working. I’m hoping someone more clever than I will have a better idea.

Of course it matters how you use or don’t use your phone. This morning my wife and I cycled to the beach for breakfast. When we left the house both her X and my 6s were at 100%. When we arrived 20 minutes later her X was still at 100% but my 6s, in Low Power Mode, was at 78%. Neither of us used our phones during the journey. Something very wrong here.

 

[Rod]

When you had your battery replaced was it a "genuine" Apple battery?


Sent from my iPhone using Mac-Forums

 

[Ratsima]

When you had your battery replaced was it a "genuine" Apple battery?

Yes, it was a genuine Apple battery installed by the Apple Authorized Service Provider, iCare: iCare | Studio7

Of course, I didn't actually see them install the battery, but they are the only authorized service provider in the province in which I live. I previously had a defective Apple Watch replaced by them as arranged by me through Apple support. So, while I can't possibly be sure about the battery, I am sure that they are the authorized service provider.

 

[Rod]

Ah, well I live in Bali, Indonesia so I can relate to that.

 

[chscag]

What I was getting at in an earlier post about the battery is that it may have been in their stock for quite awhile. The heat and humidity conditions in Korat are detrimental to batteries in general and if the battery was on the shelf for a length of time, it may have lost some of its capacity. We have very hot, dry conditions here in Texas during the Summer months but our Apple Stores maintain a fresh stock of parts including batteries. So there is less chance of getting one that is not up to par.

I imagine that Bali where Rod lives might also be subject to the same thing.

 

[pm-r]

I imagine that Bali where Rod lives might also be subject to the same thing.

Somehow, the recommendations for storing such batteries for decent shelf life by keeping them in a cool, moisture-free environment doesn't exactly fit my imagined description of the climate conditions in Thailand or other such similar areas. But maybe that's inaccurate because I have never been there.


- Patrick
======

 

[Ratsima]

What I was getting at in an earlier post about the battery is that it may have been in their stock for quite awhile. The heat and humidity conditions in Korat are detrimental to batteries in general and if the battery was on the shelf for a length of time, it may have lost some of its capacity. We have very hot, dry conditions here in Texas during the Summer months but our Apple Stores maintain a fresh stock of parts including batteries. So there is less chance of getting one that is not up to par.

I imagine that Bali where Rod lives might also be subject to the same thing.

I understand what you're saying, but:

• I just don't think this is a battery problem. I think it's a power management problem or something I've done that I can't figure out.
• If this climate were really that hard on batteries then there would be widespread complaints about it: FB, Line, Twitter, etc. That just isn't happening. In general, smart phone battery life doesn't seem to be significantly different here than anywhere else in the world.