iPhone SE (2016) Anybody else’s SE1 battery draining abnormally during standby?

[subjonas]

This abnormal draining started happening first on my main SE1. I figured the battery was just deteriorating so a couple months ago I switched over to my new backup SE1. Restored my main SE1 to it (running iOS 14), and initially it was great. Then over a few weeks I noticed the drainage during standby happening on the backup SE1 as well. I particularly notice it overnight. I estimate it drains 7% per hour. I even killed all the apps before I went to sleep but no change. As of today, according to coconut battery it has 100% battery health.

Maybe I have some misbehaving apps or settings or something, but first I want to see if anyone else with decent battery health on their SE1 is experiencing the same thing. Or if anyone has other ideas. Is it possible that iOS is only made for larger batteries now?

A little more info on my backup SE1– I bought it brand new maybe a year ago but haven’t used it other than charging it every so often to keep it at around 50% charge.

 

[now i see it]

I think iOS 14 is still doing stuff in the background that it shouldn't be doing - like building the "For You" album in the photos app when not plugged in

 

[subjonas]

I think iOS 14 is still doing stuff in the background that it shouldn't be doing - like building the "For You" album in the photos app when not plugged in

But if that’s happening then it should affect other phones too, right? Unless the For You feature was somehow designed to be energy efficient only with newer chips.

 

[JPSaltzman]

Here's my personal, on-going frustration with the mysterious draining of my SE (1), even with brand-new batteries installed within the past year. It was initially posted in another forum here:

I have two SEs (1st generation). I've had new batteries put in both within the past year.

And yet, ever since I made the grandoise mistake of upgrading to iOS13, the battery life just keeps getting worse, not better, with each OS release and update. I'm on 14.4.whatever, and I hardly use the phone at all. Maybe 1 or 2 phone calls (15 minutes maximum), and some text messages, but, really, not much.

Yet somehow the "Flashlight" (only accessible through the Control Center and the Photo App) is using 70% of my battery throughout any given day. I have turned it on then off (no change), I've restarted the phone, I've reset and even restored my 2nd SE.

It's just getting ridiculous. I really did have decent battery life until I was forced into the iOS13 upgrade; Apple would not let me download the 12.x security updates; only on older devices.

I still think it's a racket. Especially when there is no "Flashlight" app to delete.

Later, this suggestion was offered:

Are Flash Alerts turned on in Accessibility > Audio Visual ?

Once I waded through all the various settings and more settings buried deep, deep, deep within, I discovered that indeed it was turned on! And I didn't even know this "feature" existed!

Considering how Apple has continued to poorly document, let alone explain, any feature in any of their built-in apps in their own iOS, I'm not surprised. I sill wish someone would write a book ("Take Control of Camera App on Your iPhone", anyone? --hint-hint) to explain just what all the little icons at the top and bottom of the screen actually mean.

 

[na1577]

I've noticed this with my SE as well. The battery health is still at 100% but it loses half of its charge overnight.

 

[subjonas]

Here's my personal, on-going frustration with the mysterious draining of my SE (1), even with brand-new batteries installed within the past year. It was initially posted in another forum here:


Later, this suggestion was offered:



Once I waded through all the various settings and more settings buried deep, deep, deep within, I discovered that indeed it was turned on! And I didn't even know this "feature" existed!

Considering how Apple has continued to poorly document, let alone explain, any feature in any of their built-in apps in their own iOS, I'm not surprised. I sill wish someone would write a book ("Take Control of Camera App on Your iPhone", anyone? --hint-hint) to explain just what all the little icons at the top and bottom of the screen actually mean.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Unfortunately the flash isn’t the culprit for me, but glad you got your issue sorted. Strange that flash alerts was on without you knowing. Is your battery life decent now?

I didn’t even think to look at my battery usage report until now, but unfortunately it’s not very revealing. Safari is the highest at 31%, then random apps at around 10% or less, which all looks about how it should.

 

[subjonas]

I've noticed this with my SE as well. The battery health is still at 100% but it loses half of its charge overnight.

Yeah about the same for me. Do you know when this started happening for you? I think it was sometime in iOS 14 for me. If I’m not the only one, then I’m thinking it has something to do with an iOS update, unless we have the same app that’s causing it.

 

[na1577]

Yeah about the same for me. Do you know when this started happening for you? I think it was sometime in iOS 14 for me. If I’m not the only one, then I’m thinking it has something to do with an iOS update, unless we have the same app that’s causing it.

Your situation sounds identical to mine. I bought it during the clearance sale and I've kept it as a secondary phone that I use from time to time. When it's not being used frequently, it is left powered off with a 50-60% charge. I have a second SE on iOS 11 that still has great battery life with full battery health.

I stayed on iOS 13.7 for a while and then upgraded when 14.4 came out. I went to bed with a 60% charge and I left it unplugged then the next morning it was completely dead. I checked the battery graph because I thought it was an unexpected shutdown but it had steadily declined overnight. I don't have many apps on it and none of them appear in the battery log as using significant power. It has done this consistently since the upgrade so I'm guessing iOS 14 is the culprit, unfortunately.

 

[deevey]

So I'm guessing iOS 14 is the culprit, unfortunately.

Simple way to check would be erase the phone completely, install nothing additional, and turn off iCloud sync and see if it still discharges like that overnight.

I'd guess if it still does, that the battery takes enough mAh during charge (enabling devices to show 100% health) but not enough voltage to power the device properly anymore e.g. dropping to 3.7v too fast.

this has happened me on a number of set of 18650 batteries, where they'll take the same charge as always (2100mAh) but the voltage curve changes dramatically over time, dropping from full charge @ 4.2V to below 3.7V far faster.

I'm just taking a guess that Apple might use charge capacity on the older phones as a guide to the battery health, which might explain 100% not reflecting the true health status.

 

[subjonas]

Your situation sounds identical to mine. I bought it during the clearance sale and I've kept it as a secondary phone that I use from time to time. When it's not being used frequently, it is left powered off with a 50-60% charge. I have a second SE on iOS 11 that still has great battery life with full battery health.

I stayed on iOS 13.7 for a while and then upgraded when 14.4 came out. I went to bed with a 60% charge and I left it unplugged then the next morning it was completely dead. I checked the battery graph because I thought it was an unexpected shutdown but it had steadily declined overnight. I don't have many apps on it and none of them appear in the battery log as using significant power. It has done this consistently since the upgrade so I'm guessing iOS 14 is the culprit, unfortunately.

That does sound identical to my situation.
The weird thing is I don’t think it’s totally consistent. Most nights it will drain something like 50% and die by morning. But I have noticed during at least one recent night that it drained much less, maybe by 10% or 15%. And I don’t know if during the day it’s draining as fast. Lately things have been too hectic, but I really need to pay close attention to my battery and figure out the pattern. I may eventually try wiping the phone as deevey suggested.

 

[Wando64]

I had a similar problem with my 2020 SE.
After trying everything else, I have followed a suggestion to reset the network settings.
Battery now is just amazing. I lose about 5% overnight and from a full charge at 9am I end up with about 60% still available around midnight.