The iPhone has been a bit lazy as of late. In fact, many users are unhappy with their device’s battery life.
Since the introduction of iOS 18.1, and especially after the update to iOS 18.2, complaints about rapidly draining batteries have been raining down. For many iPhone users, it seems like battery life is suddenly several hours shorter. While they haven’t changed their usage.
One Reddit user even shared that before the update his iPhone lasted effortlessly for 22 hours with 30 percent battery left, but after the update that dropped to just 20 hours with only 20 percent left. Hugely frustrating, especially if you just got a brand new iPhone 16. What’s going wrong here, and more importantly, how can you fix the problem?
Why your iPhone drains faster after update
The culprit appears to be Apple Intelligence, a feature introduced with iOS 18.1 and given even more features in 18.2. It sounds impressive: smart visual controls, an AI-powered photo library and even integration with ChatGPT. But all those technological gadgets come at a price, and you pay it with your battery.
The strange thing is that many people complain about battery problems while barely using Apple Intelligence. Probably the feature stays active in the background, indexing photos, for example. Even if you haven’t asked for it at all.
Holding on tightly (Image: Unsplash)
Fortunately, there is a simple way to solve the problem for now. By turning off Apple Intelligence, you can often improve your battery life immediately. To do this, open the Settings app on your iPhone, go to the menu for Apple Intelligence and Siri, and turn the feature off. Once you’ve done that, you’ll find that your battery behaves as you used to.
No sight of improvements yet
Unfortunately, this is not the final solution. It seems Apple is still working on a solution. Indeed, even the first beta of iOS 18.3 does not seem to fully address the problem.
Until then, you can try other tricks, such as limiting background activity or disabling location features, but these are temporary fixes. Some users also report that restarting the phone regularly can sometimes yield improvement.
In addition to these, there are other tips that can help you boost your iPhone’s battery. Wondering what we’re talking about? You can read it in the article below:
