Apple

How to Fix iPhone 15 Battery Life Problems

Published

2 months ago

02/06/2024

If you run into fast battery drain on your iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max, there are some steps you should take before getting in touch with Apple support.

We haven’t seen widespread complaints about iPhone 15 battery life yet, but some users are saying their phone’s battery is draining faster than it should be.

iPhone battery life issues are common, particularly after Apple releases new iOS software. 5G can also drain batteries faster than LTE so complaints about battery drain aren’t surprising to see.

If you start noticing severe battery drain on your iPhone 15 you’ll obviously want to try and fix the problem immediately. In this guide we’ll take you through some fixes that might help you fix it.

Table of Contents

These are fixes that have worked for us over the years and they might help you solve your battery issues in minutes and avoid a conversation with customer service.

Restart Your iPhone 15

If your iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro’s battery starts draining quicker than you think it should be, we always recommend a quick restart before doing anything else.

Power your iPhone down, wait a minute, and power it back on. If it’s still draining quickly, move on to the other steps below.

Update Your iPhone 15

Apple will periodically push new iOS 17 software updates for the iPhone 15 series. Point updates (iOS x.x.x) are typically focused on fixing bugs while milestone upgrades (iOS x.x) usually provide 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 firmware always has the potential to help alleviate battery drain issues.

For more about the latest version of iOS 17, take a look at our guide.

Turn Off 5G

The iPhone 15 series supports 5G connectivity and, again, it could drain your phone’s battery much faster than LTE. If you don’t need to use 5G or you don’t need to use it all the time, head into your iPhone 15’s settings.

There are a few 5G settings you’ll want to commit to your memory bank. To find these, you’ll want to head into the Settings app, then Cellular, then Cellular Data Options, then Voice & Data.

Here you’ll notice three options:

5G On
5G Auto
LTE

5G On means your iPhone 15 will use 5G whenever it’s available, even if it could suck up your phone’s battery life.

The 5G Auto option only uses 5G only when it won’t significantly drain your phone’s battery. 5G Auto is the default and the option most people should select.

Check Your Apps

Apps can sometimes have a negative impact on your phone’s battery life and you’ll want to investigate them if your battery is draining rapidly.

Checking app performance is extremely easy on the iPhone 15 series. Here’s how to do it:

Head into your Settings app
Select Battery
Scroll down to the Battery Usage tool

This battery usage tool shows you the apps draining your phone’s battery and when they’re doing so.

If you use an application a lot, it will obviously drain more battery than an app you never use. If you see an app you rarely use sucking up a ton of power, you’ll want to investigate further.

If that’s the case, try deleting the app from your device and see if your device’s battery life improves. If the app is essential to your day-to-day, we recommend downloading the latest update from the App Store.

If that doesn’t help, you might need to downgrade back to a previous version of iOS 17 if the option is available.

Use Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode helps conserve battery life by shutting off services that could drain your battery.

You can turn Low Power Mode on and off whenever you want. Your iPhone will also prompt you to turn it on whenever it reaches 20% battery.

If you haven’t done so already, add Low Power Mode to your Control Center. Control Center is the menu that pops up when you swipe up in from the top right of the screen. Here’s how you add it:

Head to Settings
Tap Control Center
Tap Customize Controls
Tap the green plus sign next to Low Power Mode

The next time you open up Control Center on your device you’ll notice a battery icon. Tap it to enable, or disable, Low Power Mode on your device.

You can also turn Low Power Mode on via your Settings:

Go into the Settings app
Tap Battery
Tap Low Power Mode
Toggle it On

Use Auto-Lock

If you start noticing “Home & Lock Screen” using up your iPhone 15’s battery, it might be a good idea to auto-lock your phone’s display. We recommend setting it at 30 seconds to help conserve battery.

Here’s how to do that:

Go the Settings app
Tap Display & Brightness
Under Auto-Lock, set it to 30 Seconds

Turn Off Live Voicemail

Live Voicemail gives you a real-time readout of a voicemail being left on your iPhone. This can be useful, but it will show up on your phone’s lock screen which can be a detriment to your device’s battery life. If you don’t need the feature, shut it off.

Go to the Settings app
Tap Phone
Tap Live Voicemail
Toggle it off

Turn Down Screen Brightness

If you constantly have your phone’s display at maximum brightness, it’ll drain the battery. We recommend enabling Auto-Brightness on your iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro to help prevent battery drain. Here’s how to do this:

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

Turn Off Always-On Display

Always-On Display is a useful feature, but it has the potential to drain your phone’s battery life.

The feature is on by default, but if you don’t need it, you might try turning it off to see if your phone’s battery life improves. Here’s how to do that:

Go to Settings
Tap on Display & Brightness
Scroll down to Always On and turn Always-On display off or on

Manage Location Services

We recommend getting a handle on apps utilizing location services because it can help extend your iPhone 15’s battery life.

In order to do this, follow these steps:

Go into the Settings app
Tap Privacy & Security
Tap Location Services

Here you will find apps taking advantage of location services. Location services uses cellular data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS to determine your approximate location.

You can turn it off completely by toggling it off at the very top of the screen or you can go down your list of apps and decide which apps deserve permission.

In particular, look for apps that are set to “Always” because these are likely the apps putting the biggest strain on your iPhone 15’s battery.

Turn Off Live Activities

Live Activities is a feature that keeps a notification on your iPhone 15’s lock screen or Dynamic Island. These notifications can be useful, but they can also drain your phone’s battery. If you don’t need Live Activities, try turning them off.

Open up the Settings app
Tap Face ID & Passcode
Enter your passcode
Scroll down and toggle Live Activities off

You can also turn Live Activities off on an app-by-app basis. Head into the Settings app, scroll down to your apps, and find the Live Activities toggle.

You can always toggle them back on if you want a notification or if you don’t see any changes to your iPhone 15’s battery life.

Reset All Settings

If all else fails, try resetting all of your iPhone 15’s settings.

Before you do this, note that it will cause your device to forget known Wi-Fi networks so make sure you have your passwords stored away somewhere.

Head into the Settings app
Tap General
Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone
Tap Reset
Tap Reset All Settings
Enter your passcode if you have one enabled

Once the process is complete, you’ll need to reconnect your iPhone 15 to your Wi-Fi network(s) and Bluetooth devices.

Downgrade iOS

If you can’t find a fix for your issue, and/or you don’t want to wait for Apple’s next iOS 17 update, you can try downgrading your iPhone 15’s software if the option is available.

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

4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 17.4.1 & 11 Reasons You Should

Install iOS 17.4.1 for Better Security

1 / 15

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.