One of the highlights of the iPhone 16 is its longer runtime. However, numerous owners of Apple’s latest iPhones are reporting significant battery drain issues.
Most users report “horrible standby battery life,” with their iPhones losing most of their charge when idle.
iPhone 16 users are not happy with its battery life
Thanks to a more efficient 3nm A18/Pro chip and bigger batteries, Apple claims its newest Pro iPhones last longer than ever. Apple’s official numbers also state that the regular iPhone 16 provides a longer runtime than its predecessor. Given these bold claims, new iPhone 16 owners expected their new iPhone to last longer in daily use. But, to their frustration, that’s not the case.
iPhone 16 users have flooded MacRumors forums, Reddit, and Apple’s support forums with complaints about excessive idle standby battery drain.
“Has anyone noticed their 16 pro max battery draining quicker than it should? Got the phone on launch day, under Settings>Battery it mentioned some updates running in the background may affect battery and thermal performance so I waited. Now that the message is gone, I still notice the battery draining quicker than usual,” complains HeartsbanCut on Apple’s support forums.
Excessive idle battery drain a cause for concern
Other iPhone 16 users also chimed in with their experience, complaining about the same thing. Almost everyone noticed that their new iPhone drains excess battery when idle.
“Any1 else noticing that you cant go a full day without charging? My brand new iphone 16 pro will charge to 85% at night and not even using it for 1 and a half hours each day and it is empty at the end. Feels strange to me. AOD is on but no wallpaper, almost always face down on desk. No background tasks are on, no permanent location. Any tips?” said user /JocGrave on Reddit.
Some users report noticing the excessive idle battery drain after installing iOS 18.0.1, while others have been facing the issue since iOS 18 itself.
The excessive idle battery drain on the new iPhones could be due to an underlying bug in the OS. If that’s the case, you’ll have to wait until Apple gets around to squashing it with a future update. Alternatively, you can try installing the latest iOS 18.1 beta on your iPhone to see if it improves battery life.