How to Fix iOS 17 Battery Drain

If you run into iOS 17 battery life problems on your iPhone, there are some steps you should take before contacting customer service.

iPhone users are reporting a variety of iOS 17-related problems. One issue on the list is abnormal battery drain, a common problem that pops up after every time Apple releases new iOS software.

Some battery drain issues might be hardware-related, but many others are related to Apple’s operating system. In some cases, it’s an app causing the issue.

If you recently installed an iOS 17 update on your iPhone, you’ll want to give the software a few days to settle in. Your phone needs to re-index files which can cause short-term battery drain.

If your iPhone is still getting awful battery life after several days on the firmware, you might be thinking about a move back to older software. That may be an option, but you should try and fix the issue so you can keep your iPhone on the latest firmware.

Fixing iOS 17 battery life issues can be tricky, but we’ve got some solutions that have worked for us, and many other iPhone users, in the past.

Restart Your iPhone

If you start noticing abnormal drain after installing iOS 17 on your iPhone, we recommend restarting your phone before doing anything else.

Power your iPhone down, wait for a minute, and then power it back on. A quick reboot can have a tremendous impact on your device’s performance so this is definitely the first thing to try.

Update Your iPhone

Apple will periodically release new iOS 17 software. Point updates (iOS 17 x.x.x) are usually focused on fixing bugs while milestone upgrades (iOS 17 x.x) typically deliver a mix of features and fixes.

The company might not call out battery life fixes in an iOS 17 update’s change log, but new software always has the potential to solve battery life issues.

If a new software update is available, dig into feedback about its performance and then decide if it’s worth installing.

For more about the latest version of iOS 17, check out our guide.

Check Your Apps

Apps have a tendency to start acting up after Apple releases new software so there’s a chance one of your apps is the source of the problems.

Checking app performance is pretty straightforward on iOS 17 and it should only take you a few minutes to find the app, or apps, causing trouble. Here’s how you do it:

• Go to the Settings app
• Select Battery
• Head into the Battery Usage tool.

This tool will show you the apps draining your battery and when they’re doing so. If you use an app on your phone a lot, it will obviously drain more battery than an app you never use. So if you see something out of the ordinary, you’ll want to investigate further.

If you see one or more of your apps eating up an abnormal amount of battery, try deleting the app from your device and see if that improves your iPhone’s performance.

If the app is an essential one, we recommend downloading the latest updates. If that doesn’t help, and you really need to the app to get through your day, you might need to downgrade back to the previous version of iOS 17.

Turn Down Screen Brightness

If you constantly have your iPhone’s screen at maximum brightness, it will drain the battery. To avoid this, you should enable Auto-Brightness to help prevent battery drain.

• Go into the Settings app
• Tap Accessibility
• Tap Display & Text Size
• Make sure Auto-Brightness is toggled on

Turn Off Keyboard Haptics

Like iOS 16, iOS 17 allows you to enable haptic feedback for the iPhone’s keyboard.

Unfortunately, Apple says turning on keyboard haptics might affect the battery life of your iPhone. If you don’t need keyboard haptics enabled, you should turn it off.

• Open up the Settings app
• Go to Sounds & Haptics
• Tap Keyboard Feedback
• Toggle Haptic to off

Reset All Settings

You can also try resetting your iPhone’s settings.

Before you do this, note that it will cause your device to forget known Wi-Fi networks (and Bluetooth connections) so make sure you have your passwords handy before you tap reset.

Here’s how to reset all of your iPhone’s settings:

• Go to Settings
• Go to General
• Scroll and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone
• Tap Reset
• Tap Reset All Settings and enter your passcode if one is enabled

Once the process is complete, you’ll need to reconnect your iPhone to your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices.

Downgrade

If you can’t find a fix for your problem and/or don’t want to wait for the next version of iOS 17, you can try downgrading back to older software.

Your downgrade options will change over time and downgrading may not be available as Apple stops signing on older iOS 17 software.

For more on the iOS downgrade, take a look at our walkthrough.

Buy a Battery Case

If you can’t seem to shake your battery life issues and you don’t want to take your phone in and/or replace it, buying a battery case could help.

This can also help if you own an older iPhone and your device’s maximum battery capacity has degraded.

Install iOS 17.4.1 for Better Security

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If security is important to you, think about installing Apple's iOS 17.4.1 update right away. The iOS 17.4.1 update includes security patches, but Apple hasn't revealed them yet. It's probably waiting until it releases additional software for Mac and other devices.  The update's patches will help keep your device and its data protected from harm. And that makes it an important upgrade. If you missed iOS 17.4 and older software, you'll get the security patches from updates you missed when you upgrade to iOS 17.4.1. iOS 17.4 had four security patches on board.  The update also delivered quantum security protection for iMessage. The company says the upgrade gives iMessage "the strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world."  The iOS 17.3 update brought 15 new security patches to iPhone. The software also added Stolen Device Protection to iPhone. It increases the security of your iPhone and Apple ID by requiring Face ID or Touch ID to gain access to passwords, make purchases in Safari, and more. This is useful if someone gets access to your iPhone and its passcode.  iOS 17.2 delivered 10 new security patches to iPhone. If you wish to find out more, you can head on over to Apple's security site for the details. iOS 17.2 also included iMessage Contact Key Verification which improves the security of iMessage. The company also fixed an exploit that let the Flipper Zero multi-tool lock up iPhones. iOS 17.1.2 had two security patches on board. Both were related to WebKit. If you want to learn more, you can do so right here. iOS 17.1 brought 18 security fixes to iPhone. It addressed issues within Weather, Status Bar, WebKit, and more.  iOS 17.0.3 brought two patches for two security issues Apple identified within the software. If you want to read about the patches, head here. iOS 17.0.1 delivered three important patches to iPhone. If you're interested in the exact nature of these improvements, you can read about them over on Apple's security website. As for iOS 17 itself, it brought 40+ new security patches with it. A staggering number to say the least. If you want to learn more about them, head over to Apple.  In addition to those patches, iOS 17 brings some additional enhancements to privacy and security including improvements to Communication Safety beyond Messages. It now includes content sent by AirDrop, Contact Posters in the Phone app, FaceTime, and the systemwide photo picker. You now have an option to blur out sensitive photos and videos before you choose to view them. There's also an expanded Lockdown Mode which will help protect you against cyber attacks. Apple's also improved sharing permissions and you now have more control over what you share with the apps on your device.  The company also notes that starting in iOS 17, Voice Memos encrypts the titles of recordings stored in iCloud, in addition to the recordings themselves. If you skipped older versions of iOS, you'll get the security patches from those updates with your iOS 17.4.1 update as well.

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