Level 1

8 points

Is iOS 18.5 causing battery drain on my iPhone 15 Pro Max?

Is anyone out there seeing a bigger drain on their battery life with the latest update? My iphone15 pro mac with 87% max cap is draining alot quicker in the last two weeks. Always on display is off, autolock 1 minute, i don't watch a lot of videos. Its struggling to last a long day. Background app refresh off.... it's not the old get them to upgrade so screw up the battery life with an ios update trick again?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: IOS18.5 battery life drain

iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Jun 9, 2025 6:50 AM

Top-ranking reply

Zachyy

Level 6

13,548 points

Posted on Jun 9, 2025 8:48 AM

Not just iOS 18.5, but about all updates cause this phenomenon. Your iPhone has to re-index all of your data after the update which evidently will work harder and cause the iPhone to drain more battery. Re-indexing is sorting all of your data and content on your iPhone. But your iPhone's battery health should not drop due to an update, it's likely that the update which is causing your iPhone to drain more battery temporarily, will make you charge more often and drop the health. But it won't necessarily be a whole percent drop, it can be a fraction of a drop as battery health will round down any tenth.

When the tasks are complete which usually takes 36-72 hours, but can take longer if you have more data and spend less time on the charge and on a strong Wi-Fi connection.

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26 replies

sitka88

Level 1

13 points

Jul 6, 2025 6:41 AM in response to Zachyy

While this can describe the routine issue for any major iOS upgrade, it doesn’t address the actual issue that’s occurred with iOS 18. If you look around and read user experiences, you’ll see that this is a larger issue with the iOS, and it lasts more than a day or two. It isn’t resolved by waiting for it to index, or turning off / adjusting the battery-draining activities (that were turned on with as part of the iOS “upgrade”. I have a 13 Pro, and my phone’s battery is still draining crazy fast. It’s the iOS.

ravenby

Level 1

23 points

Jun 29, 2025 11:24 AM in response to Smacrae1

all versions of iOS after 18.3 greatly reduced battery life. things got really bad on ios 18.5. I don't want to use such a device. it feels like any update breaks the iphone. there is no desire to install updates. It's like you're not fixing and fixing bugs, but adding new ones. everything is very bad so far. I'm thinking of changing the entire apple ecosystem to competitors (for the first time since 2007.

Jun 29, 2025 1:43 PM in response to Smacrae1

Yes, some iPhone 15 Pro Max users (including some of my friends and family) have reported increased battery drain after updating to iOS 18.5. While this can be a common occurrence after any major update, with apps and the system needing time to adjust, some users have experienced a noticeable and persistent drain. It's also not just this update, a lot of Apple's updates cause this noticeable problem.

Smacrae1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 9, 2025 9:12 AM in response to Mac Jim ID

I haven't seen meta on the top 10, but maybe its google as Chrome is (10%), isnt it always easier to blame someone else. The home lock screen is 9%, mail is 8%. When can i expect it to settle down, its almost been a month?

Smacrae1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 12, 2025 9:34 AM in response to Mac Jim ID

Thanks for all your replies the forced restart hasn’t fixed it. Anyway why in this day and age does it need that? I think there is a problem with 18 I suppose Apple will stick their head in the sand and ignore it until they figure out a fix. 33% in sunny England waking up at 7am a day mostly in the office and 5.33pm not heavy use expect to be in the 20s or lower before an early night… not acceptable battery life for a big phone with. Big battery. Maybe time to sell the stock.

Jun 29, 2025 12:42 PM in response to Smacrae1

Smacrae1 wrote:

Ok now with a new battery and a parking ticket as it took 2 hours instead of 1 hour. Hopefully this will last the day now. When’s the next iOS release due this one is a battery eater?

This is a user to user only forum. All we can tell you is the next iOS update will be released when Apple releases one.

Smacrae1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 9, 2025 9:07 AM in response to Zachyy

It was updated mid May and we are now the 9th of June... thats alot of indexing so Im sorry that explanation does work.

Smacrae1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 12, 2025 11:24 AM in response to Smacrae1

Not sure what this is going to tell you down to 19% at 7.16 pm and don’t blame it on someone else other than Apple. A full reset really?

Smacrae1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 13, 2025 12:35 PM in response to Smacrae1

It’s all gone quiet over there. I’m not sure that translates but in case you’re not getting it this is an Apple iOS problem. When can we expect a new release?

Smacrae1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 29, 2025 12:17 PM in response to Smacrae1

Ok now with a new battery and a parking ticket as it took 2 hours instead of 1 hour. Hopefully this will last the day now. When’s the next iOS release due this one is a battery eater?

Smacrae1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 29, 2025 1:03 PM in response to lobsterghost1

I’ve done a forced restart it doesn’t work. It’s this iOS, new battery let’s see how it does. There should be new excuses it should easily last a long day.

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Is iOS 18.5 causing battery drain on my iPhone 15 Pro Max?