I’ve turned off background app refresh and I’m not a heavy user. I mostly use WhatsApp, Instagram, and Spotify, and I’m on WiFi most of the time. I also follow the 20-80 charging method.
Am I missing something or is this normal?
You’re using about 60% of your battery, which matches what the battery usage graph would show. Based on your activity, this seems about right for using just over half of the battery.
I don’t understand why people charge only to 80% and then expect their battery to last all day. That extra 20% makes a big difference.
@Olin
I’ve tried charging to 100% as well, and it only gives me about one extra hour. I’m doing the 80-20 to save battery health.
What’s the best screen-on time I should expect? I want to make sure there’s nothing wrong with my phone.
@Pacey
I got mine a few weeks ago and my cycle count is at 14. I don’t limit charging or anything except using optimized charging. I’m getting about 6 hours and 20 minutes of screen-on time.
Your phone seems fine. If you’re not using the full battery, your screen-on time will naturally be lower.
@Pacey
If you’re only using 80% of your battery, it’s no surprise your phone doesn’t last as long as it could.
Charge it to 100%. After two or three years, you’ll only save around 3-4% of battery health by stopping at 80%.
Rory said:
Charge it to 100%. After two or three years, you’ll only save around 3-4% of battery health by stopping at 80%.
I’ll start charging to 100%. Just curious, how much screen-on time are you getting?
Upgrade to iOS 18.2.1 if you haven’t already. It fixed everything for me.
Jael said:
Upgrade to iOS 18.2.1 if you haven’t already. It fixed everything for me.
I’m already on 18.2.1. How much screen-on time are you getting?
Jael said:
Upgrade to iOS 18.2.1 if you haven’t already. It fixed everything for me.
I’m already on 18.2.1. How much screen-on time are you getting?
I’m on the Pro Max, and during my vacation over the winter break, I averaged 8-10 hours of screen-on time.
@Mal
Wow, that’s great! Shouldn’t the regular Pro be getting at least 5-6 hours?
Pacey said:
@Mal
Wow, that’s great! Shouldn’t the regular Pro be getting at least 5-6 hours?
The smaller Pro should get at least 7-8 hours in my opinion since it has a bigger battery than last year’s model. If you just got the phone, give it time to calibrate everything. Also, during my trip, I had cellular data off and used WiFi most of the time, which helped a lot.
@Mal
That makes sense. My phone is three months old, and the 3-4 hours of screen-on time is driving me crazy. I’m considering contacting Apple. Before I do, is there anything else I can try?
Pacey said:
@Mal
That makes sense. My phone is three months old, and the 3-4 hours of screen-on time is driving me crazy. I’m considering contacting Apple. Before I do, is there anything else I can try?
Make sure background app refresh is off, and check that not too many apps are using location tracking. If you have WiFi available, use it instead of cellular data since that drains the battery faster. But I’m curious—what do you use your phone for that makes it drain so quickly?
@Mal
I’ve already done all that. I mostly use it for WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube, and I’m usually on WiFi.
Pacey said:
@Mal
That makes sense. My phone is three months old, and the 3-4 hours of screen-on time is driving me crazy. I’m considering contacting Apple. Before I do, is there anything else I can try?
Apple will probably tell you to restore the phone and set it up as new without a backup.
I’m using the Pro Max and getting about 12.5 hours. I’ve been watching tons of YouTube videos (some in 1080p, others in 4K) and browsing for hours on this forum and Safari. This is on a 90% charge limit.
If I charged to 100%, I could probably squeeze out another hour or two. When I was on iOS 18.1, I got 11.5 hours, but iOS 18.2 added an extra hour for me.