Very poor battery in iPhone SE 64gb

[WildSDI]

My 1 year old iPhone SE 64 Gb is running out of battery within half a day. By 1300, it goes into low power mode. Recharged till 1700, runs out by 2200. Initially it used to last the whole day. Infact when I was in Singapore, on Singtel, it used to last for 2 days. There are no new apps installed. Whatsapp uses about 28%, Home and lock screen uses 9%, I books 9%, Camera (Audio) 7%. All the rest use <5%. I am on 3G, wifi and Bluetooth all the time. I know that switching these off will improve my battery usage marginally, but I need them on. Will changing my network from BSNL to Airtel (in Bangalore) help?
I've also run the battery down till it switched off and then fully charged it, but to no avail. I use the original charger and cable always. I'm using a Speck case.
Can other users tell me how much their battery lasts?
Also the home button seems a bit hard. Is this normal with usage?

 

[Shiloh]

My 1 year old iPhone SE 64 Gb is running out of battery within half a day. By 1300, it goes into low power mode. Recharged till 1700, runs out by 2200. Initially it used to last the whole day. Infact when I was in Singapore, on Singtel, it used to last for 2 days. There are no new apps installed. Whatsapp uses about 28%, Home and lock screen uses 9%, I books 9%, Camera (Audio) 7%. All the rest use <5%. I am on 3G, wifi and Bluetooth all the time. I know that switching these off will improve my battery usage marginally, but I need them on. Will changing my network from BSNL to Airtel (in Bangalore) help?
I've also run the battery down till it switched off and then fully charged it, but to no avail. I use the original charger and cable always. I'm using a Speck case.
Can other users tell me how much their battery lasts?
Also the home button seems a bit hard. Is this normal with usage?

If I use my iPhone SE 64 gb for what is average for me (not as much as most probably but for my needs) it will last about 2.5 days. If I didn't use it at all but left it on using WiFi Calling or 4G LTE I think it would run a week. So about what it's advertised for I think. 3G will use more than 4G LTE. If your signal level is low, switching to a carrier that gives you a stronger signal will help significantly. Another important thing is to only allow the apps that really need it to use Background App Refresh. Then only allow apps to use location services "While Using The App". Very few apps need location services all the time. Unless you need it, keep Bluetooth off. WiFi uses less power than mobile data so use it when you can. 28% (Whatsapp) is a lot of power drain. Chat apps need Background App Refresh on to be able to receive calls, and I have several, but none use anything like that amount. Perhaps you are on Whatsapp a lot. Chat apps, when in use, are battery hogs. I avoid long chats using my iPhone for that reason. If you think your battery may be failing, get Battery Life from the app store. It will show you whether your battery is good and how good. I've had mine for nearly a year and it still says perfect. Reboot your iPhone now and then after you've installed several apps or had quite a few app updates. I do mine about once a month. Don't "kill" apps running in the background. They are frozen, not really running and killing them wastes power. Don't use "app killers" either. Modern mobile OSes (especially iOS) handle closed down apps better than you can and more efficiently. Use static "wallpaper" not dynamic. Colors don't matter because the SE uses a LCD display. Phones that do use OLED displays (it's coming to iPhone I hear, sadly) need a lot of black to save power used by the screen, but current iPhones are fine with any colors. There are probably more things but that's all I can think of for now. I'm a battery fanatic so I try to get all the "mileage" I can.

 

[ITGeek]

Caveat: I am no iThing expert. (Note my signature line.) So I can only comment in mobile device and rechargeable battery generalities.

You've rebooted the phone. You've established there've been no new apps. That 28% by Whatsapp seems a lot. Do you know if that's typical? As in has Whatsapp always been the average primary consumer of battery? I know you probably don't want to do this, but, I'd try turning off background on that for a day to see what happens.

But, if the consumers are all about where they used to be when your battery would last you two days, I'm going to guess maybe your battery has become prematurely tired.

What has been your charging regimen? Ideally you want to recharge a modern Li-Ion cell when it gets to about 70%, and certainly before it hits 40%. If you've been deep-discharging your battery to get those two-day run times, you may have worn it out before its time.

OTOH: Our local Apple-head at work told me, yesterday, Apple promises 1000 full charges of battery life. Somebody here said 500, I think. Either of those would be way more than a year's worth of full charges.

 

[zstairlessone]

Another thing to remember is that you have probably updated WhatsApp and it may (probably does) use more battery for new features and increased on-time/real-time information updates.

 

[brixtonboy]

Read on here a few days ago, an owner was having the same problems.
Sorry can't find the thread as usual, anyway he was advised to try, deleting Whatsapp and then reinstalling it.
I did the same on my iPhone 7 looking good so far, for me anyway. Might help you, who knows.

 

[WildSDI]

Tried battery life and it shows 8% wear. Is that normal in a 1 year old iphone?

 

[Shiloh]

Tried battery life and it shows 8% wear. Is that normal in a 1 year old iphone?

Seems a lot to me, unless you're a heavy user. I've had mine a year and it's still 100% of original capacity. Do you use yours a lot and/or use heavy drawing apps? I try to be careful. 8% won't get you warantee service though. Apple says it's good as long as it's still got 80%. Also, I look at app reviews and if anyone says it's a battery hog, it doesn't get on my iPhone.

Edit: However, I do not think that a reduction of only 8% would be enough to hardly notice. I am careful with mine, so perhaps an 8% reduction after a year is typical. I normally charge mine when it gets close to 20%. Apple says that's OK but charging it sooner is also fine.

 

[ITGeek]

Hmmm... My "new, open box" iPhone 6S, which looks to in fact be new, as it has not a sign of wear on it, showed 13%, then 18% wear.

I don't run Whatsapp, but, I do have GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth always enabled. I'm a light-to-moderate user. Last week, one day, I actually finished the workday with 89% battery remaining. I think it was down to 85% by the time I went to bed, five hours or so later, and 80% by morning, some seven hours later.

Over the couple weeks I've had it, the phone has usually ended-up at 70-75% by the end of the workday, and loses about 5% by bedtime.

 

[Ledsteplin]

After 6 months, you're going to notice a difference in the battery. One thing to consider are the big 3 battery users. Screen brightness, push notifications, and location services. Cut back where you can on those.

 

[WildSDI]

What I am keen on knowing is how much the network signal is the culprit in draining the battery?

 

[Russtopher]

After 6 months, you're going to notice a difference in the battery. One thing to consider are the big 3 battery users. Screen brightness, push notifications, and location services. Cut back where you can on those.

Push notifications?

 

[ITGeek]

Push notifications?

It's where the server "pushes" a notification to an app, as opposed to the app polling (asking) if there's anything new or whatever.

E.g.: The iOS Mail app automatically sets your iCloud email to push notifications.

For push notifications to work, the app has to stay in constant contact with the server.

 

[bear7962]

How are you showing battery wear? The only way I have ever done it is by having Apple run a diagnostic and asking them to check battery wear. Also.

 

[brixtonboy]

What I am keen on knowing is how much the network signal is the culprit in draining the battery?

As we all live in different areas etc do your own test, for example check the usage after in 5 hours.
Switch off wifi and mobile data and check it again after 5 hours, with both switched on.

 

[Russtopher]

How are you showing battery wear? The only way I have ever done it is by having Apple run a diagnostic and asking them to check battery wear. Also.

Battery Life app