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iOS 8 How-to: Monitor & track your battery usage

Battery life phil schiller

Have you ever wondered how much of your battery is being used? Or have you ever wondered why sometimes when you use certain apps your battery dramatically drains? New in the iOS 8 Settings application is the ability to track battery usage per each app you have installed on your device. This method is very similar to tracking your cellular data usage.

In iOS 7, it shows you how much you used the battery and how long the battery was on standby since the last full charge, but it did not define or describe how that was effected. To monitor and track your battery usage in iOS 8, first go into Settings.

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Then tap on General and then Usage.

With iOS 8, by default the Battery Percentage is turned off. I recommend turning it on, as it will immediately give you a better representation of what your battery life is as opposed to the picture of the battery.

Tapping on Battery Usage, will first display the Time Since Last Full Charge. This information was available in iOS 7. It shows you your Usage, how long you have actually been engaged with the device using the display and it will show you Standby, how long the device has been idle and not been used.

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If you scroll down further, there are suggestions to increase your battery usage. One suggestion would be to reduce the brightness of your disply. Personally, I have my devices set to maximum brightness. I want to be able to fully enjoy the Retina HD display on my iPhone 6 and not strain my eyes.  In regards to the screen, another suggestion would be to enable Auto Brightness which will adjust the display’s brightness automatically based off your surroundings. Another suggestion it might display is to turn Wi-Fi on. When you use Wi-Fi to access data, it uses less battery power than a cellular network connection.

Also, you will see a list of the apps and see how much the app used the battery. This information can help you determine if you are constantly using certain apps or it could be due to background activity. You can view battery usage in the Last 24 Hours, or in the Last 7 Days.

There are several different reasons why apps will use a lot of the battery:

  1. The app is being constantly used by you. In my example above, that is precisely the case with Tweetbot.
  2. The app is being used in the background. It could be downloading content, uploading content, using location services or streaming audio. In my example, the Mail app is downloading new emails in the background.
  3. The app is being used in an area with poor cellular service. When this happens, it puts more work on the battery and drains it quickly. If this happens, the Phone app will be listed and it will list low signal.
  4. The app is not working properly. For example the app can be constantly crashing. Or the app you barely use, but yet it is at the top of the list.
  5. The app is using AirPlay. The app is streaming audio to AirPlay speakers, or video to an Apple TV.

When using this tool, a usage percentage is a percentage of the battery that is being used. For example, if your iPhone has 80% battery but it lists that Music has used 50%, that means Music used 10% of your battery’s power. This tool should be used occasionally. I would recommend checking it when you think there are issues with the battery because it is draining faster than usual, which would then give you insight on how to fix any apps that are draining the battery.

 

 

 

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Comments

  1. Computer_Whiz123 - 9 years ago

    This could be useful..,

  2. David Eissel - 9 years ago

    The list should show the CPU-time per “time actively used”. So you could track battery drain, because of real usage or due to background activity. With that you could even quantify, which app is worse, so App-devs would have competition.

  3. tijeladeacai - 9 years ago

    Wow…something Android has for years.
    Apple is a follower now.

    • standardpull - 9 years ago

      The new iOS “Battery Usage” feature is significantly better and more useful than the Android feature.

      The iOS “Battery Usage” function rolls up all expenses related to the user’s applications: CPU, GPU, “disk” R/W, network, GPS, display, sound, and more. The iOS feature rolls up the of all application demands, including OS system calls, to give a perspective into the costs related to each and every application.

      In contrast, the Android “Battery Use” function is a “ps” kind of CPU Time benchmark – with an added feature to display the load of things like the screen and the radios. All these numbers are converted into rough battery percentages. Android’s facility cannot roll up all of the resource costs of running an app, so the major line items are things like “40% screen” and “35% Operating System” and and “15% User Interface” and then something like 2% for each of the apps.

      Since Android apps spend the vast majority of their time making OS system calls and driving the interface, it is almost always impossible to determine which app is putting the most load onto the battery. Android hides this utilization information by lumping it all together, but it is the lion’s share of Android battery exhaustion.

      Android’s function is very much like the “ps” function that Unix has had for the last several decades with a tiny bit of added information. Android’s “Battery Use” is nearly identical to numerous apps available in the iPhone app store since 2008. iOS8’s Battery Usage feature is much better.

    • sparklehedgehog - 9 years ago

      So android isn’t following apple by going 64 bit next year then?! There are loads of things they both have to add to each system to improve that the other doesn’t currently have but that’s the beauty of competition.

      Stop being a tool

  4. iJonni - 9 years ago

    Two things.

    I would recommend keeping the battery percentage off. Too many people turn their screen on simply to check the battery percentage. That causes more battery drain. That’s why Home&Lock Screen are so high in your image examples. You’re constantly getting notifications and checking your own battery levels. Trust the OS. The image is usually sufficient. Until you get below 10%

    I would definitely never leave a device at maximum brightness. I really see no advantage to it other than blinding you in the dark, and helping in bright environments. Other than that it’s just eating away at your battery for no reason.

    Finally, it goes much further back than 2 days. I’m currently looking at 7 days in mine.
    Useful feature.

    • inquiblog - 9 years ago

      Yes, it’s 7 days unless you have used your new phone less than 7 days. I understand you, but please take into account that weekend articles are not made by experts.

      Trust me, go adjust all your good screens to maximun bright and all your good speakers to maximum volume, you will enjoy more than way! :)

      • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

        Yeah I’d enjoy my screen at maximum brightness in the dark while my eyes are burning out of my skull. One thing is for sure, APPLE NEEDS AN IOS DARK MODE. They really have their priorities all wrong by not having done dark mode in ios before OS X. There should be a dark/light mode button in control center, that’s just OBVIOUS.

      • niceasiamies - 9 years ago

        Ios has had reverse colors mode like forever. You can even put it to 3 x home button for convenience. I use is a lot, as it also helps reserve that battery a bit more.

  5. Charles Stanley - 9 years ago

    If you re yet to or still looking to purchase the iPhone 6 or plus you can buy them now on betastall.com, it ships fast from their side.

  6. Nycko Heimberg - 9 years ago

    There will be very big problems with widgets, the location will be used all the time.
    I am the only one to notice…..2h45mn use = 45 % of battery…
    I think that…. Apple lied on the autonomy….

  7. macmaniman - 9 years ago

    how exactly is the standby and idle timed calculated? do they add up, or is the standby time = standby + usage?

    for example if the usage is 5h and the sandby 10 is it a total of 15hours or is it 10 of witch the phones has been used for 5…

    can someone verify/clarify it?

  8. Wow. You don’t use your phone much.

    My Stats:
    Usage: 13 Hours, 49 Minutes
    Standby: 15 Hours, 55 Minutes.

    And I have a Pebble (don’t bother) to avoid taking my phone out of my pocket all the time.

    • Yeah. In 1d and 6h, using less than 3h is soooo low that I guess OP does not qualify as an Apple fan in my book.
      In fact, just achieving 1d, 6h without charging…

  9. Joe (@JozefC_) - 9 years ago

    Music via speakers kills a lot of batery on my retina mini, its just unbelievable.. Also when i had tweetbot on iOS8 it showed more drain than it should, so i deleted it ( exessive background tasks) .. But i have to say… divide tasks into your Apple devices, eg. Try to use more ipad at home when you have iphone or mac/pc for the sake of less lower battery drain…

  10. Diego Antón (@DACCG) - 9 years ago

    Battery life on my 4S with 8.0.2 is terrible! Anyway, I try to use my phone without worrying too much. Just need to be careful when I’m out for the whole day.

    Hey, there’s one thing I’ve spotted in this post: how did you manage to hide the carrier’s name in iOS 8? (Please refer to the first picture of “Battery usage” I’d love to do that in my phone!

    • standardpull - 9 years ago

      If the battery for your old 4S is done, you can get a new one at most mom & pop cell phone stores for under $20. It is a worthwhile investment for someone with an old phone.

      • Diego Antón (@DACCG) - 9 years ago

        Unfortunately my 4S is not that old. The one I’m currently using came from an Apple replacement back in April… iPhone 4S battery has never been its strongest feature to be honest. Furthermore, the next investment is highly unlikely to be a battery replacement.

        Anyone knows how to hide the carrier’s name on iOS 8?

  11. Freud Charles - 9 years ago

    *YAwn!!!* Android had it for years. AND many of our third party apps offered it.

    Step up your game Apple

  12. My iPad mini 2 dont show the battery ussage (time last full charge) can someone help me thanks

  13. Muhammad Sikandar Khalid - 9 years ago

    my new iphone 6 not giving me a good battery life it just give me 4 hour of usage and 22 hour of standby i switch off my all settings like motion and fitness background apps low my brightness and switch of my siri and other options also please sort out my problem i’m very thankful to you