PSA: If you’re experiencing excessive battery drain on iOS 11.4, it’s not just you

Chance Miller | Jul 8 2018 - 9:39 am PT

A growing number of iPhone users have taken to Apple’s support forums to complain of excessive battery drain since updating to iOS 11.4. Over 33 pages of complaints have piled up on Apple’s site, with users reporting varying levels of battery drain with iOS 11.4…

The primary issue seems to be standby battery life, with users reporting that their iPhone will drain an abnormal amount even when not being actively used. One user explains that this first started the day they updated to iOS 11.4:

My iPhone 6 was working perfectly fine until I updated to iOS 11.4 and ever since I did that my battery is draining rapidly even without me using it at all. I used to go a full day without charging it now it may last half a day.

I am just wondering if something got turned on with this new update that I have to turn off to save battery life. It is just weird I have not done anything other than update the iOS and now this happening.

Interestingly, one user says that the Settings app shows Personal Hotspot using nearly 50 percent of battery life, despite it never actually being turned on:

When I look at my battery performance, it shows that the personal hotspot on my phone is being used, though I have never turned it on. I have to keep charging my iPhone every 2-3 hours now.

At this point, it’s unclear what exactly is causing this issue, but it certainly appears to be becoming rather widespread with Apple yet to acknowledge it. Some users report that iOS 12 resolves their issues, but that of course won’t be released until this fall.

My iPhone 6s has the same issue after updated to iOS 11.4. I charged it up to 100%, rebooted it then let it stand by for 4 hours, the battery indicator dropped to 40%. It has been 3 days since I updated to iOS 11.4 and this issue happened every day.

Apple is also currently beta testing iOS 11.4.1, but it’s unclear at this point if that update resolves the issues. Are you experiencing excessive battery drain on iOS 11.4? Let us know down in the comments.