I updated phone to IOS 18.6 yesterday and the phone is now hot to the touch and battery went from full charge to 5% in about 5 hours. I have turned it off twice for several minutes but problem still exists.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: phone was updated to 18.6 and now there is a battery problem. Phone overheating a quickly draining battery.
iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 18
Let it finish indexing the files from the update you performed yesterday. We see these same posts after every update and the phone will be warm and battery usage will increase while these background processes continue. Your phone will have to be on and it is best to have it plugged into power while it continues processing the update. Give it a couple more days. I would also recommend the Force Restart.
You should be charging your phone all night, every night, and use Optimized Charging.
Let it finish indexing the files from the update you performed yesterday. We see these same posts after every update and the phone will be warm and battery usage will increase while these background processes continue. Your phone will have to be on and it is best to have it plugged into power while it continues processing the update. Give it a couple more days. I would also recommend the Force Restart.
You should be charging your phone all night, every night, and use Optimized Charging.
This can happen right after a major update，iOS 18.6 may run background processes like re-indexing, which can cause overheating and faster drain. It usually settles within 1–2 days. If your battery health is above 85%, it’s best to stay on iOS 18.6 since it includes important fixes. You can also check Apple’s official guidance here:
If the battery in your iPhone drains too quickly – Apple Support: https://support.apple.com/HT208387
iPhone battery and performance – Apple Support: https://support.apple.com/HT208387
Aphrodite8721 wrote:
I am honestly frustrated. After I updated to IOS 18.6 my phone has become useless. It looses 10% battery every 20% minutes while in use and I have to charge it 4 times a day. Honestly if they don’t fix it I will be requesting a refund from Apple. That’s how bad it is. And it is an IPhone 16 Pro max , which had great battery life so far !
After any update, it is recommended to do a Force Restart for housecleaning and wait a couple of days for the background processes to finish indexing files. We see the same reports after EVERY update for the increased battery usage and the phone being warm while the files are being indexed, and after it has finished, the reports go away. If it has been longer than 3 days since the update, then you may certainly have a stuck process and the Force Restart will resolve that issue.
If something went wrong with the update and you had to restart the iPhone before it was able to finish, the update may have been corrupted, and you would need to do a Factory Reset using a computer where you can then restore your iCloud backup so there will be no loss of data. If you took your phone to Apple for service, this is a basic step that they would also perform for that condition.
Badwolfff wrote:
I haven't seen where you have posted the Battery Health and the green battery graph with the previous 24 hour option selected, including at least the top 5 apps showing the apps consuming the battery at Settings > Battery? That is what is needed if you are interested in seeing what is causing the battery drain.
Of course the same posts are seen after every update and you can find them after iOS 13,14,15,16,17,18 (and every point update in between) for about a week, then they suddenly go away after the indexing has been completed. This produces both heat and battery drain and makes no difference if you have Airplane mode turned on or off. Be prepared, with iOS 26 being released today, there will also be those same posts for the next week. The cycle continues.
I would assume you have had the battery replaced once already on an iPhone 13, and if not it is very likely that the Battery Health is close to needing replaced when it drops below 80%. Always do this at Apple or Authorized Apple Seller as there is no support for an unauthorized repair and that has been the source of many problems, both with a device purchased as new and a used purchase where the repair history is unknown.
Calicu10 wrote:
98% I don’t think this is the problem. It all happens after the 18.6.1 update
Now that the battery questions are out of the way, yes after an update file indexing will be performed in the background along with object detection algorithms on your photos. This causes increased battery usage and it will even feel warmer than usual until that background processing has finished. Also, iOS 18.6.2 was released today, it does not note any bug fixes, but there are security improvements noted in the release notes. If you really think the issue is related to iOS 18.6.1 and your battery health is not under 80%, and has not been replaced by an unauthorized service provider, then you should apply that update.
ravinthi wrote:
yes, with ios 18.6.2 battery only stay 3 hrs only ipone se3
You do see the same post after the update to iOS 17, iOS 18, iOS 18.6 (this post), iOS 18.6.1, iOS 18.6.2, etc. The truth is that every update will see indexing immediately after the update up to a week that increases battery usage and generates heat until that has completed.
For those that were interested in investigating further after that time, they found it was either their Battery Health or the apps that they were using. Social Media apps have notoriously been a problem with battery usage and some companies, such as Meta, update their apps as much as 10 times each month that go unnoticed by users, so they immediately come to the conclusion that it must have been the iOS update. Some of those app updates include bug fixes that also introduce new bugs that affect battery performance, and the cycle continues.
You also see that those posts go away after a while, many times because the indexing has been completed or the apps have finally been updated to fix their own battery performance problems. Apple does make it easy to identify what is consuming the battery, but you just need to use those tools. You will see posts from users showing Battery Settings to identify the problem and sometimes they will post when it has been fixed, but most don't.
Be prepared for the exact same posts when the next release becomes available shortly. Mark my words, you will see them. If you want to post your Battery Health and Battery Graph with the last 24 hours option selected, along with at least the top 5 apps consuming the battery at Settings > Battery Health, feel free to do so. That is how you solve a problem.
Perform a Forced Restart on the iPhone. This is tricky for some users, so please follow the instructions very carefully.
Force restart iPhone - Apple Support
If no luck after several tries, the problem is almost certainly hardware related.
Make an appointment at the Apple Store / Genius Bar or take the iPhone to an authorized Apple service shop. You can find a list of authorized shops in your area using this link:
Note......when you say that the iPhone is overheating, I am taking that to mean that you are actually seeing an on-screen message that the phone is overheating.....correct?
If you are not seeing an overheating message, the phone might feel hot, but it is not overheating.
I have the same issue on my 13 mini and watch series 7 (watchOS 11.6) as well. Battery massively drains overnight even if both of them are on airplane mode and both devices heats up quite a bit when charging (iPhone heats up when just using for while too when not charging), and no, I'm not getting an on-screen message that the device is overheating but it is quite hot to the touch. This did not happen in iOS 18.5 and watchOS 11.5.
That is not the topic of this thread. Do not threadjack here. Do a search of the first page or two of the iPhone forum and you will find multiple threads about this and how to revert to iOS 18.6. Good luck.
foxtrot_r3 wrote:
In my case, I updated my phone a week ago so I don’t think indexing is the problem. I tried force restart as well.
Post the screenshot at Settings > Battery that includes the green graph with the setting for the last 24 hours along with the top 5 apps consuming the battery.
In addition, for a 13 mini, what do you have for your Battery Health at Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging > Maximum Capacity?
When the Battery Health drops below 80%, then it is time for a new battery and you are only about a month away from that happening. The rate of drop you are seeing is expected when the Battery Health is sitting at 81%.
The cost of Battery Replacement is listed at $89 (US) here and make sure it is only done by Apple or Authorized Apple Service Provider.
iPhone Battery Replacement - Apple Support
Why are you only charging to 78% with a battery at 81% health? That relates to only 63% of a full new battery charge.
Charge limits to promote battery life are a bit of a myth. Use 100% charge (and replace the battery at 80% health.)
My phone updated two nights ago now. I put no thought into this until now. However my phone was just at 85% randomly shut down (will not turn back on unless I plug it in) and when it turned back on was at 11%. My phone has also been extremely laggy since the new update as well.
Has anyone also noticed an issue with the sound? For some reason also since the update my phones volume is not nearly as loud as it should be. I can have it all the way turned up and it’s at a normal volume level for me.
This is exactly me rn on my iphone 11 pro max. I just had the update 18.6.1 two days ago. Volume issues, phone shuts down randomly and gets easily charge. This didnt happen before i got the update help please
Battery drain and overheating after iOS 18.6 update on iPhone
