IOS software
Swipe away your touchscreen troubles and rekindle your love of Apple’s mobile devices Poor battery life after upgrading
QSince I upgraded my iPad Pro to iPadOS 15, its battery life has been much poorer. Is this a bug, or is its battery past its best?
AThis isn’t uncommon after installing any update to an iPhone or iPad, and is usually fixed simply by shutting it down, leaving it a minute or two, then starting it up again.
If that doesn’t restore its battery life, you’ll need to spend a bit more time using Settings > Battery to get to the bottom of the problem. Until recently, it was often recommended that you tried a full charge-discharge cycle to ‘recondition’ your battery, but although you can still try that, with more recent batteries and their management it’s no longer thought to achieve much.
What’s more likely to bring a solution is to watch the list of apps which are using up your battery the most. Following an update to iPadOS/iOS, their settings sometimes get changed, or bugs in an app may lead to excessive energy use. Over a few days, watch the apps at the top of the list, and check their settings, whether they’re now getting your location all the time instead of only when active, and their notifications. While you’re doing this, make the most of battery power by shutting your device down instead of leaving it to sleep for longer periods such as overnight, and regularly recharge it fully before letting it run on battery power alone. If none of this helps, and it’s more than a couple of years old, battery replacement might be the best option. Apple will test the battery, and if out of warranty or AppleCare+ charge £99 to swap it for a new one.