iPhone SE (2016) New iphone SE owners: help on standby battery drain fresh out of the box

[HitBit]

And with a new phone, new problems arise. It's impossible to activate Touch ID. An error occurs and I can't even have the opportunity to register my fingerprint.

And a very suspicious and weird thing: the phone comes preinstalled with Garageband, Pages, Imovie, Keynote, Numbers, iTunes U, Clips and the Apple Store App. None of these appeared on the previous SE.

 

[laptech]

And with a new phone, new problems arise. It's impossible to activate Touch ID. An error occurs and I can't even have the opportunity to register my fingerprint.

And a very suspicious and weird thing: the phone comes preinstalled with Garageband, Pages, Imovie, Keynote, Numbers, iTunes U, Clips and the Apple Store App. None of these appeared on the previous SE.

It's obviously a 'used' phone that has not be set back to factory default. Another trip to the store is in order by the looks of things.

But i do have to ask, given the problems that you been having, why did you not do a quick check of the phone before you left the store?. Me, personally i would have found a spot in the store to sit down, go through the phone to see if everything was OK before i left. It just mind boggles me that people will leave the store and check the phone when they are at home. People..STOP DOING THIS!!!.

 

[HitBit]

It's obviously a 'used' phone that has not be set back to factory default. Another trip to the store is in order by the looks of things.

But i do have to ask, given the problems that you been having, why did you not do a quick check of the phone before you left the store?. Me, personally i would have found a spot in the store to sit down, go through the phone to see if everything was OK before i left. It just mind boggles me that people will leave the store and check the phone when they are at home. People..STOP DOING THIS!!!.

Yes, I have scheduled a fourth trip to the store tomorrow. In the meantime, the telephone support has run a remote test and it has return a hardware error of the touch id.

At least, after testing the battery for 8 hours, the draining is half the one of the other phone: 4% loss on that 8 hours frame. That is absolutely ok for me.

You know what, you are 100% right. I should have checked the new one on the spot. And if they have lied to me, telling me that the phone was a completely new one and not a refurb, now that is outrageous.

 

[HitBit]

And... a third phone is on the way. They haven't bothered to try a dfu restoration or a software update (it's running on ios 12.1) of the phone to see if those actions resolved the issue.

 

[laptech]

And... a third phone is on the way. They haven't bothered to try a dfu restoration or a software update (it's running on ios 12.1) of the phone to see if those actions resolved the issue.

If it is being sent to the store for pick up, request that they test it first. If they try and fob you off saying it's not needed then stand your ground, request to see the manager, explain the issues you've had with the other phones and request that this one be tested by their techs before it leaves the shop.

Oh and even if they do relent and test it, make sure you check it over yourself before you leave the store.

 

[d123]

LOL, not going to happen, with any phone, sans putting it in airplane mode.

You sound very sure of yourself.

Tuesday 8pm until Wednesday 2pm

 

[HitBit]

If it is being sent to the store for pick up, request that they test it first. If they try and fob you off saying it's not needed then stand your ground, request to see the manager, explain the issues you've had with the other phones and request that this one be tested by their techs before it leaves the shop.

Oh and even if they do relent and test it, make sure you check it over yourself before you leave the store.

Yes, the phone is going to be sent to the store so I will for sure request to be tested before I leave the store. Right now, i'm starting to think if another solution would be to stop going back and forth to the Apple Store and keep the actual device, despite the fact that the touch id doesn't work, as it's not an essential feature and I can make use of the passcode to secure the phone. The battery draining is ok on this one, the screen has no issues... I don't know, maybe i'm just fed up of the situation.

Oh, and by the way, I told the genius about my suspicions on all the apps that should not be there. He first said that all ios devices come with those apps built-in. I said no, and showed him this link from the Apple Support site (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207880) where none of them are listed and reminded him that my previous SE was free of them out of the box. Then, he changed his argument and said that, at some point during the initial setting of the phone, the apps downloaded automatically (false again). He assured me that the phone was new (no refurb) because, despite the SE been discontinued months ago, they keep producing them (and others like the 4S, 5...) in order to have replacements available.

 

[trfc54]

Yes, the phone is going to be sent to the store so I will for sure request to be tested before I leave the store. Right now, i'm starting to think if another solution would be to stop going back and forth to the Apple Store and keep the actual device, despite the fact that the touch id doesn't work, as it's not an essential feature and I can make use of the passcode to secure the phone. The battery draining is ok on this one, the screen has no issues... I don't know, maybe i'm just fed up of the situation.

Oh, and by the way, I told the genius about my suspicions on all the apps that should not be there. He first said that all ios devices come with those apps built-in. I said no, and showed him this link from the Apple Support site (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207880) where none of them are listed and reminded him that my previous SE was free of them out of the box. Then, he changed his argument and said that, at some point during the initial setting of the phone, the apps downloaded automatically (false again). He assured me that the phone was new (no refurb) because, despite the SE been discontinued months ago, they keep producing them (and others like the 4S, 5...) in order to have replacements available.

Had to laugh out loud at this part .

 

[laptech]

Yes, the phone is going to be sent to the store so I will for sure request to be tested before I leave the store. Right now, i'm starting to think if another solution would be to stop going back and forth to the Apple Store and keep the actual device, despite the fact that the touch id doesn't work, as it's not an essential feature and I can make use of the passcode to secure the phone. The battery draining is ok on this one, the screen has no issues... I don't know, maybe i'm just fed up of the situation.

Oh, and by the way, I told the genius about my suspicions on all the apps that should not be there. He first said that all ios devices come with those apps built-in. I said no, and showed him this link from the Apple Support site (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207880) where none of them are listed and reminded him that my previous SE was free of them out of the box. Then, he changed his argument and said that, at some point during the initial setting of the phone, the apps downloaded automatically (false again). He assured me that the phone was new (no refurb) because, despite the SE been discontinued months ago, they keep producing them (and others like the 4S, 5...) in order to have replacements available.

If your thinking like that then make sure you do not hand over the phone prior to being given the new one. If they say you need to give them your current phone before they hand over the new one, again stand your ground and explain you will hand it over ONLY when your happy the replacement meets your own tests. If the member of staff refuses to allow this to happen then again ask to see the manager and explain your reasons. If they still refuse then you have two choices 1) leave the store with your current phone or 2) risk handing over your current workable phone for a risky replacement.

The reason i say this is because once you hand over your current phone, all your bargaining power goes out the window because you will be forced to accept the replacement. At least doing it your way you can say 'no, not happy with this replacement, i will keep hold of my current phone'.

 

[HitBit]

If your thinking like that then make sure you do not hand over the phone prior to being given the new one. If they say you need to give them your current phone before they hand over the new one, again stand your ground and explain you will hand it over ONLY when your happy the replacement meets your own tests. If the member of staff refuses to allow this to happen then again ask to see the manager and explain your reasons. If they still refuse then you have two choices 1) leave the store with your current phone or 2) risk handing over your current workable phone for a risky replacement.

The reason i say this is because once you hand over your current phone, all your bargaining power goes out the window because you will be forced to accept the replacement. At least doing it your way you can say 'no, not happy with this replacement, i will keep hold of my current phone'.

Ok, thank you very much for the advice. I think I will do so.

 

[Johnny365]

Entertaining thread. Will it ever end? Stay tuned! Where’s my popcorn?!
[doublepost=1549569066][/doublepost]

You sound very sure of yourself.

Tuesday 8pm until Wednesday 2pm

Show me the apps you have running and background refresh settings, number of notifications that are received in that span of time, etc. a lot of variables that differ from phone user to phone user.

 

[d123]

Show me the apps you have running and background refresh settings, number of notifications that are received in that span of time, etc. a lot of variables that differ from phone user to phone user.

None of which is relevant to the topic of this thread.

help on standby battery drain fresh out of the box

The thread isn’t about settings, background usage or notifications. The complaint is standby drain fresh out of the box.

 

[Johnny365]

The only way we know that it is a factory reset/new boot up is on his/her word. That’s why I asked what the other persons info was to see if there is any correlation in settings for standby. App refreshing using more data, push notifications, Bluetooth, WiFi, mobile data active at once, you name it!

Is it setup as a new iPhone or from a backup? What iOS version? What is the signal strength of their data connection? Fringe area ?

 

[d123]

The only way we know that it is a factory reset/new boot up is on his/her word.

What a strange comment. Why would you not believe the OP? It’s quite insulting to insinuate they are lying, to what purpose would they make a thread and then lie about what they have done?

Their post is quite clear.

Since day one and the first full charge out of the box, the phone loses, invariably, 1% of battery charge per hour on standby. That is even without a sim inserted (with one inside it's even more), no push notifications, no background app refresh, no icloud drive or any kind of icloud service active, no active location services, no Apple Music... Summarizing: no nothing. Zero active use of the iphone or any third apps instaled.

Answers should be given on what the OP asks, not on what some suspicious person making spurious allegations wants the thread to be about, surely?

 

[Johnny365]

Whoops I was replying to the wrong thread! Oh my!

 

[HitBit]

Ok, so let me summarize the goals I wanted to achieve when I oppened this thread:

- First of all I came here looking for other people who had recently acquired the same device as me (iphone se) to compare battery behaviors with similar set ups and then, with their help, be able to conclude if my phone was acting normal or not.

- Second: That all the info gathered here, coming from my own experience and the one from other members, can provide help in the future to others who seek an answer to a similar problem.

As of now, these are my conclusions based on facts, not opinions or feelings:

- a 1% per hour battery draining on standby (or more) in a situation where no known battery eating features are enabled (I listed them on my first post) nor setup from a backup have been made can't be considered normal. Why? Because:

- Others, like the kind members Wandering Wastrel and Laptrech do not suffer from this draining on their devices even with the phone fully working (with a sim inserted) and some features enabled.

- Two different geniuses (this one is for you trfc54!) have confirmed that such behavior does not meet Apple's specifications (Apple states until 10 days of standby time), so they first updated the phone from ios 11.4 to ios 12.1.2 with no positive result, then they proceeded to change the battery and, finally, to provide me with a new phone.

- The new phone (despite the problem with the touch id not working), with the same setup as the original one, and even with the sim inserted (a phone always drains more juice trying to strengthen the signal) and some apps like whatsapp installed and working, shows a battery drain on standby half the one of the first one. That is a consistently 0,5% per hour, matching the numbers contributed by Wandering Wastrel and Laptrech.

Finally, what i'm going to do know is to update the phone to the recent ios 12.1.4, before leaving it at the Apple Store to receive the third SE, to see if this update screws the battery in some way. And that is something i'm going to do solely to help others that may be afraid to update to the last ios and see their batteries performance degrade. I will post the results.

Hopa that this clarifies all.

 

[Loosey101]

Couple things bugging me about this thread.

1) The battery drain on iOS 12 with an SE is normal. The people saying it’s abnormal must be seeing something I’m not. I purchased a new SE and upgraded to iOS 12, first thing I noticed was battery drain. While iOS 12 runs smooth on the SE, you’re sacrificing a little bit of battery for a new os. Plain and simple, a new phone is not going to change that.

2) To the guy going nuts over the pre-installed apps, you just spent an hour arguing with and Apple sales associate and they were right. When is the last time you set up a new iPhone? ALL new iPhones come with garage band, keynote, pages, etc. installed. Every.single.iphone. Has these apps when setting up the iPhone as new.

 

[HitBit]

Couple things bugging me about this thread.

1) The battery drain on iOS 12 with an SE is normal. The people saying it’s abnormal must be seeing something I’m not. I purchased a new SE and upgraded to iOS 12, first thing I noticed was battery drain. While iOS 12 runs smooth on the SE, you’re sacrificing a little bit of battery for a new os. Plain and simple, a new phone is not going to change that.

2) To the guy going nuts over the pre-installed apps, you just spent an hour arguing with and Apple sales associate and they were right. When is the last time you set up a new iPhone? ALL new iPhones come with garage band, keynote, pages, etc. installed. Every.single.iphone. Has these apps when setting up the iPhone as new.

1) The battery drain on my SE was exactly the same under ios 11.4 and 12.1.2.

2) The guy going nuts over the pre-installed apps was me, the thread starter. And no, the iphones doesn't come with those apps installed. My brand new iphone SE from january didn't came with them after setting it up as new. And if you not believe me, at least believe Apple when, in this document (dated september 17, 2018) from their support site, they list all the built-in apps on devices with ios 12 and later: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207880

 

[d123]

1) The battery drain on my SE was exactly the same under ios 11.4 and 12.1.2.

I am also not seeing any extra battery drain on the SE with iOS 12.

Some users seem to enjoy making up ‘facts’ to suit their opinions.

 

[HitBit]

Update: Finally, the third iphone SE works as expected in every way. The same battery drain on standby as the previous one (0.5% per hour) and no hardware problems like touch id not working. So, the only phone that has shown an anomalous battery behaviour has been the first one, even with a battery change.

Regarding the update to ios 12.1.4, it didn't impact the battery consumption in any way.

Thank you all for the help and for posting in this thread.
[doublepost=1549966152][/doublepost]

Couple things bugging me about this thread.

1) The battery drain on iOS 12 with an SE is normal. The people saying it’s abnormal must be seeing something I’m not. I purchased a new SE and upgraded to iOS 12, first thing I noticed was battery drain. While iOS 12 runs smooth on the SE, you’re sacrificing a little bit of battery for a new os. Plain and simple, a new phone is not going to change that.

2) To the guy going nuts over the pre-installed apps, you just spent an hour arguing with and Apple sales associate and they were right. When is the last time you set up a new iPhone? ALL new iPhones come with garage band, keynote, pages, etc. installed. Every.single.iphone. Has these apps when setting up the iPhone as new.

Credit where credit's due: although my first iphone SE didn't came with any iWork or iLife apps, the two replacements did, as well as the brand new XR that my friend has acquired this weekend. I don't understand why the first SE didn't include these apps, unlike the others, and why the document from the Apple support site indicates something different. My apologies to Loosey101 on this topic.

 

[maverick28]

So, on my appointment at the genius bar today, they have exchange my iphone SE for a brand new one.

Have they given you a new iPhone SE or a different model? --OK, upon reviewing the whole thread this is an irrelevant question.

After reading this thread I'm scared AF because I ordered mine on eBay as "brand-new" in the original box and with all accompanying stuff and waiting for it to arrive. Damn! What if those 400 euros been flushed down the toilet? Begs question why it had being sold. What if it's defective? Per description comes with Apple warranty but who knows. Disheartening.

 

[HitBit]

Have they given you a new iPhone SE or a different model? --OK, upon reviewing the whole thread this is an irrelevant question.

After reading this thread I'm scared AF because I ordered mine on eBay as "brand-new" in the original box and with all accompanying stuff and waiting for it to arrive. Damn! What if those 400 euros been flushed down the toilet? Begs question why it had being sold. What if it's defective? Per description comes with Apple warranty but who knows. Disheartening.

Don't panic too soon. Probably everything is going to be ok. And if the warranty is valid, then you will have the peace of mind that Apple is going to take care of your device if something doesn't work as it should.

 

[maverick28]

OK, I'm returning with some observations of mine after not a single full day of using iPhone SE 128 GB. Applying a screenshot (the second one) of the batter preferences with, presumably, "detailed" breakdown of power consumption. For starters, the phone IMEI checked on https://iunlocker.net. I'm not sure about the legitimacy of the site but it returned the following data:

This appears to be OK and matches the model and the support status I've been informed of by the seller. I think the phone was in a very light use because the box was unsealed and it has iLife/iWork apps installed. Not sure how bad is that and what to think. Other than that - perfect condition.

Now on to the main topic. Here's the screenshot of the power consumption statistics after 1 h 10 min of the reported active usage:

I enabled location services,iCloud, kept iCloud Drive, Siri disabled. I refrained from updating it to 12.1.4. I also turned on Power Saving. I set the brightness to 40-50% as well as Night Mode and Do Not Disturb. I charged it to the hilt, used a bit (opened apps, tested the behavior), let it slip to 99% before I went to bed.

Awoke after 6 h to discover the charge at 91% (or 94% - can't remember but my heart speaks in favor of the former number). As I resumed playing with settings and apps, messaging my contacts, I noticed I had left plenty of apps open because the way multitasking works is not pretty obvious in iOS so I had to waste my time finding out how to use it. I also noted the staggering 1% loss per half an hour of usage. I then quitted these apps except of Messages. The percentage on the screenshot is by the time I closed other apps and also disabled Location Tracking while using the phone. What is striking about these statistics is that Messages contributes most to the draining. I feel unrest. How do you do without the most actively used app? That's insane.
[doublepost=1550770432][/doublepost]To add, I had an Android old Xperia V and can state with certainty that the battery drain occurred at slower pace when brand new.

As of now which is 1 h since my original post the battery is at 84%

 

[HitBit]

OK, I'm returning with some observations of mine after not a single full day of using iPhone SE 128 GB. Applying a screenshot (the second one) of the batter preferences with, presumably, "detailed" breakdown of power consumption. For starters, the phone IMEI checked on https://iunlocker.net. I'm not sure about the legitimacy of the site but it returned the following data:

View attachment 822902
This appears to be OK and matches the model and the support status I've been informed of by the seller. I think the phone was in a very light use because the box was unsealed and it has iLife/iWork apps installed. Not sure how bad is that and what to think. Other than that - perfect condition.

Now on to the main topic. Here's the screenshot of the power consumption statistics after 1 h 10 min of the reported active usage:

View attachment 822906

I enabled location services,iCloud, kept iCloud Drive, Siri disabled. I refrained from updating it to 12.1.4. I also turned on Power Saving. I set the brightness to 40-50% as well as Night Mode and Do Not Disturb. I charged it to the hilt, used a bit (opened apps, tested the behavior), let it slip to 99% before I went to bed.

Awoke after 6 h to discover the charge at 91% (or 94% - can't remember but my heart speaks in favor of the former number). As I resumed playing with settings and apps, messaging my contacts, I noticed I had left plenty apps open because the way multitasking works is not pretty obvious in iOS so I had to waste my time finding out how to use it. I also noted the staggering 1% loss per half an hour of usage. I then quitted these apps except of Messages. The percentage on the screenshot is by the time I closed other apps and also disabled Location Tracking while using the phone. What is striking about these statistics is that Messages contributes most to the draining. I feel unrest. How do you do without the most actively used app? That's insane.
[doublepost=1550770432][/doublepost]To add, I had an Android old Xperia V and can state with certainty that the battery drain occurred at slower pace when brand new.

As of now which is 1 of my original post the battery is at 84%

The best way to check that everything is ok regarding the coverage of the iphone, date of purchase, etc., is visiting https://mysupport.apple.com/.

As I have been able to verify, iLife&iWork apps come pre-installed on iphones and other ios devices.

Regarding the performance of your iphone (battery consumption), it's pretty difficult to say something as of now because:

- you are on your first day of usage
- not even a full battery cycle has been completed (the battery needs to settle down)
- you have used your phone with Low Power Mode activated
- you have not used auto brightness, which is more battery friendly

Keeping all of this in mind, I would say that everything seems normal to me, except the 1% loss per half an hour of use. That is amazing! (except if it's the draining from 100% to 99%. Then it would be normal).

 

[maverick28]

Here's latest results: 2nd charging cycle. 1st one was discharged completely (intentional decision). This time charged to the maximum, left in a sleep mode. Activated after 5 h to 97%. As I started using it (Messages, apps such as Twitterrific, Tweetlogix, System Preferences, Mail, no internet browsing whatsoever) it began dropping the charge at 1% per several minutes and fell down to 84% before putting it to sleep after 1 hour of usage. I woke it up after some time, the % still where I left it but nevertheless it's supposed to withstand more intensive load - I'm not streaming games, TV shows or using it on heavy YT HD 4K videos! Heading to the nearest AARS.