Some iOS 13 users are reporting abnormal battery drain after moving from up from iOS 12. Battery life issues can be tricky to fix, but there are some steps you should take before getting in contact with customer service.

One of the issues plaguing iOS 13 users is faster-than-normal battery drain. Battery life issues are extremely common, particularly after new iOS releases, so the complaints don’t come as much of a surprise.

Some of the issues might be related to hardware, but many others are probably related to software. In a lot of cases, it’s probably a rogue app or bad habits causing the issues.

If you’re dealing with terrible battery drain, your first thought might be to downgrade to an older version of iOS 13. That’s certainly an option. That said, before you downgrade, you should try and alleviate the issues on your own.

This guide will take you through fixes for bad iOS 13 battery life. These fixes have worked for us in the past and there’s a good chance they’ll get your issues sorted in a matter of minutes.

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Successfully passed a full diagnostic test which ensures like-new functionality and removal of any prior-user personal information.

Tested for battery health and guaranteed to have a minimum battery capacity of 80%.

Restart Your Phone

The first thing you’ll want to do is restart your iPhone. Power it down, wait for a minute, and then power it back on. Often times, this will do the trick.

Update Your Phone

If your device is struggling, and there’s a new version of iOS 13 available, try updating to the latest version.

Apple probably won’t call out any battery life fixes in an update’s change log, but there’s always a chance new software does wonders for your device.

Before you install a new version of iOS 13, make sure you read reviews and dig into feedback about the update’s performance on your device.

Check Out Your Apps

If a restart doesn’t work and there isn’t an update available, check your applications.

Apps, particularly third-party applications, will sometimes act up after a new iOS operating system is released and there’s a very good chance it’s one of your apps causing the battery drain issues.

Checking app performance is easy and you might be able to single out a rogue app in a matter of minutes. Here’s how to do that:

Go to the Settings app.

Select Battery.

Head into the Battery Usage tool.

This tool will show you the apps eating up your iPhone’s battery life and when they’re doing so. If you’re using an app a lot, it will obviously drain your device’s battery. However, if you notice that an app you rarely use is eating up battery life, you’ll want to take a closer look.

If you see an app you rarely use chewing up battery life, try updating the application to the latest version. App developers are busy rolling out iOS 13 support updates and an update could restore order.

If it’s still acting up, try deleting the app and see if that returns things to normal.

Reset All Settings

If your apps aren’t the root of the issue, try resetting all of your settings. This will restore your settings to their factory defaults (so make sure you have your Wi-Fi passwords handy), but it could iron out your battery life issues. It has worked for us in the past.

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

Go to Settings.

Tap General.

Tap Reset.

Tap Reset All Settings.

Enter your passcode if you have one enabled.

Use Screen Time

iOS 13’s Screen Time feature could help you conserve battery while also eliminating bad habits.

Screen Time provides you with a set of controls that can help keep your addictive behavior in check. If you aren’t on your phone using your apps, you won’t be chewing through your battery life.

The feature lets you set limits on how long you can use a particular app on a given day. If you approach the threshold, it’ll give you a warning.

You can also set these alerts for kids and link them to a ScreenTime Allowance. This allows you to set limits on games, but keep important apps available.

Use Low Power Mode

iOS 13’s Low Power Mode helps you conserve battery life by shutting off services (Hey Siri, automatic downloads, and mail fetch) that could drain your battery.

You can turn Low Power Mode on and off any time you want and your device 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 from the bottom or, if you’re using a newer iPhone model, from the top right of the screen. Here’s how to do that:

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 phone you’ll see a battery icon. Tap it to enable or disable Low Power Mode.

You can also turn Low Power Mode on via your Settings. Here’s how to do this:

Go to Settings.

Tap Battery.

Tap Low Power Mode.

Toggle it On.

Turn On Optimized Battery Charging

iOS 13 brings a new feature called “Optimized Battery Charging” which will help reduce battery aging.

The feature learns from your daily charging routine and waits to finish charging your device to 100% until you need to use your phone.

In doing so, it will prevent your battery from sitting at maximum capacity and could extend the overall life of your iPhone’s battery.

In order to turn it on, head into General > Battery > Battery Health and toggle Optimized Battery Charging on.

Disable Widgets

If you don’t use widgets, try disabling them and see if battery life improves. Here’s how to disable widgets on iOS 13:

Swipe to the right while you’re on your device’s home screen.

Scroll all the way to bottom of your widgets and select Edit.

On this screen you should now see a list of your apps and services. These are your widgets and you might notice that some of them are active. To deactivate a widget:

Tap the red circle with the white line.

Tap Remove.

At first we recommend disabling the widgets you never use. (In some cases, that might be all of them.) If you still notice weird battery drain, return to this screen and go through them one-by-one or disable them all.

You can always turn your widgets back on if you discover they aren’t part of the issue.

Turn Off Raise to Wake

iOS’ Raise to Wake feature is handy, but turning it off could help you conserve battery.

If you don’t need your iPhone’s screen to automatically turn on whenever you pickup it up, go into the Settings app > Display & Brightness and turn the Raise to Wake function off.

Disable Vibrations

If your phone vibrates every time you get a message or phone call, and you don’t need it to, try turning the vibrations off. Turning them off will help your device use less power.

To turn off your iPhone’s vibrations:

Go to Settings.

Tap Sounds.

Toggle Vibrate on Ring and Vibrate on Silent off.

You also need to go into each individual Sound and Vibration and make sure Vibration (which is located at the top of the screen) is set to “None”.

Use Wi-Fi Instead of Cellular

Using your iPhone while it’s connected to a cellular network can eat up battery. If you have a Wi-Fi network in your vicinity, connect to it. It could help you save battery.

Stop Background Refresh

Apple’s Background App Refresh refreshes apps in the background in order to show you the latest data when you open them. It’s a useful feature, but it can also eat away at battery life. If you don’t need it, try turning it off.

To disable the feature, you’ll need to:

Go to Settings.

Tap General.

Tap Background App Refresh.

Turn it off for any applications you don’t use.

You can also turn it completely off if you don’t want to go through your apps one at a time.

Turn Off Fitness Tracking

Your iPhone features a motion co-processor that tracks your steps and other movements. If you use your phone for fitness-related activities, you’ll probably want to keep this feature on. If you don’t, try turning it off and see if that helps your battery life recover.

To do this, head into your Settings app and tap on Privacy. From there, select Motion & Fitness and toggle the Fitness Tracking function off.

You might also want to toggle off apps listed below Fitness Tracking in the menu. If you don’t notice any gains, you can always turn everything back on.

Turn Off Assistive Touch

If you’re currently using Assistive Touch on your iPhone, it might be one of the culprits. Turning it off might help your device conserve power.

If you don’t want or need Assistive Touch active on your phone, try turning it off. Here’s how to do this:

Go to Settings.

Tap General.

Tap Accessibility.

Tap AssistiveTouch.

Toggle it to Off.

Downgrade

If you can’t fix the issue yourself, can’t wait for the next iOS update, and can’t or don’t want to get in touch with Apple customer service, you can try downgrading back to a previous version of iOS 13 (if available).

If you don’t know how to downgrade an iPhone, take a look at our walkthrough.

Install the iOS 14 Beta

If you’re desperate, you could try moving your iPhone to Apple’s iOS 14 beta. For more on how to do that, take a look at our guide.

Restore as New

You also might try restoring your device from a backup from your computer or via iCloud.

If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can try restoring the device as new. You can do this via Finder, iTunes, or iCloud.

Buy a Battery Case or Battery Bank

If you’re willing to spend some cash, think about investing in a battery case or battery bank.

If you don’t know where to start, have a look at our lists of the best iPhone XS cases, best iPhone X cases and best iPhone 8 cases. They’re good starting points.

We typically recommend going with a Mophie battery case, but Apple’s official battery cases are a very solid first-party alternative.

If you don’t want to use a bulky battery case with your iPhone, think about investing in a battery bank for emergencies.

Battery banks are small, portable power sources that can charge your iPhone multiple times. For instance, the RAVPower battery pack can provide six full iPhone charges before you need to charge it.

There are a lot of options out there, but the RAVPower, Mophie’s powerstation and the Anker Powercore 20100 are a few of our favorites.

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Last update on 2020-09-20. This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to read our disclosure policy for more details. Images via Amazon API