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iOS 12.4 Battery Life

  • Better

    Votes: 17 25.8%
  • Same

    Votes: 31 47.0%
  • Worse

    Votes: 18 27.3%

  • Total voters
    66

theapplehead

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 17, 2018
782
929
North Carolina
Here we go again. After a little over 24 hours since the release of iOS 12.4, I’m curious to see how everyone’s battery is holding up. Would you say your battery life is better, worse, or the same after updating?
 

deanzaZZR

macrumors newbie
Jul 13, 2018
5
3
South Bay, CA
Here we go again. After a little over 24 hours since the release of iOS 12.4, I’m curious to see how everyone’s battery is holding up. Would you say your battery life is better, worse, or the same after updating?

Much worse. Like night and day worse. This is on a refurbished 7+ that I purchased in January. I'm new to iPhones and battery performance was exceptional until this "update".
 
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George Dawes

Suspended
Jul 17, 2014
2,980
4,331
=VH=
My 8 plus loses 50 % every night , it’s due to photos and background processes

Any way to stop this happening ?
 

Hal~9000

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2014
2,152
2,082
iOS 12.4 battery life has been great for me on my 7+. Of course I did a clean install and set it up as new with the usual battery saving settings:
  • No background app refresh
  • No push accounts, only manual
  • Location only allowed for maps, apple workouts, and find my iPhone.
My 8 plus loses 50 % every night , it’s due to photos and background processes

Any way to stop this happening ?

Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh -> “Off”.
 
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jrdatrackstar1223

macrumors regular
Oct 31, 2017
215
98
Brownsburg, IN
iOS 12.4 battery life has been great for me on my 7+. Of course I did a clean install and set it up as new with the usual battery saving settings:
  • No background app refresh
  • No push accounts, only manual
  • Location only allowed for maps, apple workouts, and find my iPhone.


Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh -> “Off”.

Curious, what was your battery prior to 12.4? I keep hearing so many people say it is better than 12.3.1 but it is really about the same for me.
 
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Hal~9000

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2014
2,152
2,082
Curious, what was your battery prior to 12.4? I keep hearing so many people say it is better than 12.3.1 but it is really about the same for me.

Battery life was good for me on 12.3.1 as well :) I mean 12.4 feels a tiny bit better... but it’s close and could just be in my head or from the clean install getting rid of some junk?

As long as you do always do a clean install say via iTunes or ‘erase all content and settings’, set up as new and not from a backup, give yourself a few days for your newly updated device to index its files, and do the 3 tricks I outlined above (background app refresh off, push accounts set to manual, and location services limited to certain ones) you should never have any issues.

I must admit I don’t really worry about battery declines when updating to different versions within a major iOS version (say from 12.1 -> 12.2 or 12.3.1 -> 12.4 etc). I’m a lot more cautious though when going from one major iOS version to a new major version (say 12.4 -> 13), but even then I make sure to install the new one as soon as it’s released and start testing it right away so that if battery life does decline a lot I can roll my phone back via IPSW restore through iTunes, which Apple allows for the first few weeks following a major iOS release.
 
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Hal~9000

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2014
2,152
2,082
Btw for anyone curious the battery life effects of installing a new iOS update on your device, I highly recommend checking out iAppleBytes channel on Youtube. He is one of the only ones out there that actually shows you the battery run down tests minute by minute (speed up though so it doesn't take hours to view) and makes sure all the phones have the same settings / brightness / etc. Other Youtube channels simply give their opinion and you aren't sure if they really tested things the same way across all devices.

Here's the video he just posted of iOS 12.4 battery test, he highly recommends it!

 

Marinier

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2017
49
16
Ukraine, Kharkiv city
Guys, I am on iOS 12.0 on my iPhone 8 Plus since the end of 2018. Everything works just fine, but I sometimes guess if I should update to 12.4 or stay with my 12.0. It’s a kind of important decision because I most likely will not update to iOS 13 to avoid serious performance and battery decrease. This is why it is up to now to ,are a decision within last few updates that may come after 12.4 and before 13 release.
 

theapplehead

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 17, 2018
782
929
North Carolina
Guys, I am on iOS 12.0 on my iPhone 8 Plus since the end of 2018. Everything works just fine, but I sometimes guess if I should update to 12.4 or stay with my 12.0. It’s a kind of important decision because I most likely will not update to iOS 13 to avoid serious performance and battery decrease. This is why it is up to now to ,are a decision within last few updates that may come after 12.4 and before 13 release.
I would upgrade to 12.4 if I were you. It is arguably the most stable release of iOS 12 and also brings with it a bunch of handy new features as well as security enhancements. I think it is totally worth it.
 

*~Kim~*

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2013
1,068
389
UK
I think I would go with 12.4 over 12.0. Aren’t there some apps requiring 9.3.5 rather than 9.0, if I recall correctly? So on that basis 12.4 might get you more app support than 12.0.

I plan to update my Mini 5 eventually as I’m not a lover of iPad OS so far, but I’ll wait to see if there is a .1 or anything like that.
 
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TheIntruder

macrumors 68000
Jul 2, 2008
1,701
1,195
12.4 has been good, if not a bit better than 12.3.1 for my XS, and the latter didn't differ much from 12.1.2 that my phone shipped with.

But the bigger thing with 12.4 is that it patches five of six security vulnerabilities that require no user interaction, and can be exploited through iMessage. Now that they've been published, they're ripe for exploit.

The sixth hasn't been completely fixed in 12.4, so we'll see whether there's a 12.4.1 or it will wait for 13.0.
 

minimo3

macrumors 6502a
Oct 18, 2010
810
975
C733F7A6-99D6-4B1A-93A2-8B389134B9B7.jpeg
Battery life on 12.4 is fantastic. I can get up to 1.5 hours screen on time before it dies (7 month old battery with 96% health)
 
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Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
I have noticed that when I update with iTunes, the iOS is more stable due to the fact that it is a full download of the iOS rather than the patch you would get from updating your iOS OTA.

Makes sense,, i would try this as well if a erase all content & settings doesn't fix.
 
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Marinier

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2017
49
16
Ukraine, Kharkiv city
View attachment 851550
Battery life on 12.4 is fantastic. I can get up to 1.5 hours screen on time before it dies (7 month old battery with 96% health)

What iPhone model is this? 1,5 hours looks like a joke. I have recently updated my iPad Pro 10.5 12.1>12.4, and the battery life became significantly better. 2,5 hours of YouTube + Safari ate 25% of charge only. On 12.1 it was 50%. But I still do not update my iPhone 8 Plus. Still not sure if the battery behavior will be the same.
 

internetrando

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2018
682
499
Texas
Mine has been just as good, if not better.

I only do updates on iTunes and I have yet to have any major issues with the software. It’s anecdotal, but I think that most issues could be avoided by doing updates this way.
 

*~Kim~*

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2013
1,068
389
UK
Mine has been just as good, if not better.

I only do updates on iTunes and I have yet to have any major issues with the software. It’s anecdotal, but I think that most issues could be avoided by doing updates this way.

Yes, I do the same. It’s a bit of a pain though and made me restart mid update download last time, which is why I might wait for a .1 so there isn’t another update in a short space of time.
 
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