My iPhone Battery Dies Quickly After iOS 13.3. Here’s The Fix!

Typically, the iPhone battery could last up to 10-11 hours with normal usage. If you noticed that your iPhone battery charge is draining faster than normal, then that could be a problem that needs prompt solution. Highlighted below are a number of helpful battery-saving tips and troubleshooting methods that will help address iPhone battery dies quickly problem after iOS 13.3 update. Read on to learn what causes your iPhone battery to run out faster and what measures should be done to preserve your phone’s battery life.

What causes your iPhone battery to drain faster than usual?

When your iPhone battery dies quickly, there can only be two possibilities. It could be that the battery is depreciating or something in the system is draining much power than usual. In order to fix the problem, you will need to look into both the hardware and software aspects of your device. Since ruling out hardware-related factors typically requires help from an iPhone technician, we’ll work on the software aspect first. To give you some inputs on which factors to rule out, I mapped out the most common culprits and they are as follow:

• Bad updates. You probably heard about people complaining about battery draining issue after installing new updates. In fact, rapid battery drain is listed among the most common post-update problems faced by owners of different iPhones. Apparently in this case, the problem is inflicted by some software bugs. Often times, Apple addressed this problem by rolling out follow-up update containing a dedicated fix patch. Consider this as the main cause of the problem if your phone started to experience rapid battery drain after installing new update.
• Rogue apps. Apps that aren’t stable are prone to becoming rogue apps at any instance. When apps start to act up, adverse symptoms begin to transpire including battery drain. Apps that aren’t up-to-date are usually the ones that are misbehaving especially when a new iOS version is installed. Some apps tend to keep running in the background, which eventually causing the processor to keep working. That therefore leads to constant power consumption.
• Misconfigured settings. The way you configure your iPhone settings particularly on the iPhone display, notifications, location services, wireless services and other battery-consuming iOS features are also among the attributes that could yield to rapid battery draining on your iPhone. And because of this, it is but recommended to optimize and adjust these settings in a way that reduces power consumption.

Generally, these are the main factors that you need to look into and rule out when resolving the iPhone battery dies quickly issue.

ALSO READ: How to fix an Apple iPhone XR that cannot access App Store after iOS 12.2 update

General troubleshooting methods to deal with iPhone battery dies quickly issue

Try these troubleshooting procedures to rule out software-related factors that might have triggered your iPhone battery to die so fast. These are generic solutions and the outlined steps are also applicable to any iPhone variants.

First solution. Reboot your iPhone.

If this is the first time you noticed that your iPhone battery is draining so fast, restarting the phone will likely fix it. In this case, the symptom may be just triggered by some random app glitches that are usually addressed by performing a soft reset or forced restart on your iPhone.

1. Soft Reset iPhone.

A soft reset in new iPhones like the iphone x or later models is carried out with these steps:

1. Press and hold the Side button and either Volume button until the Power off slider appears.
2. Drag the slider to power off your iPhone completely.
3. Then after 30 seconds, press the Side button again to turn your iPhone back on.

On the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or earlier versions, a soft reset is done this way:

1. Press and hold the Top or Side button until the Power off slider appears.
2. Drag the slider to power off the phone completely.
3. After about 30 seconds, press and hold the Top or Side button again to turn the phone back on.

Allow the phone to finish rebooting and then try and see if that solves the problem.

1. Force Restart iPhone.

On new iPhones like iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or later variants, a forced restart is done with these steps:

1. Press and release the Volume Up button.
2. Then press and release the Volume Down button.
3. Finally, press and hold the Side button and then release it when the Apple logo appears.

On the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, it is done this way:

• Press and hold the Volume Down button and the Power (Sleep/Wake) button simultaneously and then release both buttons with the Apple logo appears.

Earlier versions of iPhones like the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 6, SE and 5s on the other hand, are forced restart this way:

• Press and hold both the Power (Sleep/Wake) button and the Home button for a few seconds and then release both buttons when the Apple logo is displayed on the screen.

Both these restart methods are effective solutions to minor software issues including battery issues inflicted by a glitching app or minor system bug. None of them affects the information saved on your iPhone’s internal memory thus, you won’t lose any important files afterwards.

Second solution: Manage your apps to fix iPhone battery dies quickly issue.

As explicated earlier, rogue apps are among the common culprits. That said, you need to rule them out too. One of the most effective ways to fix rogue apps is to update them. Like iOS updates, app updates also integrate fix patches that are programmed to get rid of certain bugs that caused the app to become erratic or unstable.

1. Update third-party apps.

Often times, third-party apps or apps that you’ve downloaded from the App Store are usually the culprits. If you haven’t set these apps to auto-update, you need to update them manually. So here’s what you should do then:

1. Go to the Home screen then tap on App Store. Doing so will launch the Apple Store application.
2. From the App Store main screen, scroll down to the bottom section and then tap on Updates. A new screen containing a list of apps with pending updates be displayed.
3. To update individual apps, tap the Update button next to the name of the application.
4. To update multiple apps at once, tap the Update All button on the upper-right side of the screen. This button is only available if several app updates are available.

After updating your apps, reboot your iPhone to refresh its memory and to apply the recent changes to your apps.

1. Delete/remove bad apps from your iPhone.

If updating the apps did not resolve the iPhone battery dies quickly problem, remove or delete the bad apps from your iPhone instead. But before you do that, you need to determine which apps is draining your iPhone battery. The easiest way to check is by heading to your iPhone’s battery usage section. Here’s how to get there:

1. Tap Settings from your Home screen.
2. Tap Battery.
3. Go to the Battery Usage section.
4. Then tap on Last 24 Hours tab or Last 10 Days tab to view more details about battery usage by individual apps at certain period of time.

If you find any app that’s using much power than usual, uninstall or delete that app. To delete or uninstall app from your iPhone, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Home screen then find the app that you want to delete.
2. Once you find the app, touch and hold on the app icon until it jiggles.
3. Then tap the X on the upper-left of the icon to delete it.
4. If prompted, tap Delete to confirm that you want to delete or uninstall the app from your iPhone.

After deleting/uninstalling bad apps, tap anywhere on the vacant part of the Home screen to stop the apps from jiggling. Then restart/soft reset your iPhone to dump junk files and corrupt caches from the phone memory. After that, use your phone as to normal to verify if the iPhone battery dies quickly issue has been rectified. 

Third solution: Install new iOS update available.

Software bugs and system flaws that could not be addressed by a soft reset or forced restart can also be resolved by installing a firmware update on the phone. These updates not only offer new features but also embed patch codes to fix any existing system issues. To ensure that the update will finish installing, keep your iPhone connected to its charger while updating. This way you won’t fear of ending up having a corrupt system from power interruptions. Also make sure that your phone is connected to the Internet and has sufficient memory space to allocate the update file. Once you’re all set, follow these steps to check for new iOS update to install on your iPhone:

1. Go to the Home screen then tap on Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Software Update.

If a new iOS version is available, you should see an update notification containing the details of the new firmware version, its features and bug fixes. Read and review the information then follow the onscreen instructions to download and install the update on your iPhone.

After updating, reboot your iPhone to save the recent system changes and to refresh apps and system services.

Then use your phone as you normally do to test if the battery is still draining so fast or not anymore.

Fourth solution: Reset all settings on your phone.

Settings that aren’t properly configured may also be among the factors that contribute to an iPhone battery dies quickly problem. To rule this out, resetting all settings to their default values can help. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Tap Settings from the Home screen.
2. Select General.
3. Scroll down to and then tap on Reset.
4. Tap the option to Reset all settings. Doing so will erase all customized settings and then restores the original values and configuration.
5. Enter your device passcode to continue then confirm all settings reset when asked.

Your phone should restart by itself when the reset is finished. By then you can start enabling the features that you want to use again on your phone.

Performing this reset is usually recommended when dealing with post-update battery draining problem on your iPhone. Some updates tend to override settings and eventually mess up the device configuration.

Fifth solution: Erase your iPhone and restore its factory defaults.

If the previous reset doesn’t help and your iPhone battery is still draining so fast, you may have to resort to a factory reset. The problem you’re dealing with is likely due to some complex system errors that could not be rectified by the initial procedures. In this case, erasing the phone would be necessary so that you can set it up as new.

Before you proceed, create a backup of all your important files to iCloud or iTunes so you don’t lose them permanently. Note that a factory reset will also be wiped out all saved information on the internal memory. As soon as the backup is secured, you can proceed with the reset either through your iPhone settings or through iTunes. The faster way is through your iPhone settings. But since your iPhone battery dies so fast, you’ll need to connect your iPhone to the charger while resetting to prevent any possible interruptions in the later process. Once you’re ready, proceed to these steps:

1. Go to the Home screen then tap on Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Scroll down to and then tap on Reset.
4. Tap the option to Erase all content and settings.
5. Enter your device password to continue.
6. Then confirm full system reset when asked.

The phone will then instigate factory reset. Just follow the onscreen prompts until your iPhone reboots automatically. By then you can proceed with the initial setup process and set up your iPhone as new.

Alternatively, you can use iTunes to restore your iPhone from a previous backup on a computer. Just connect your iPhone to the computer using the original USB cable or Lightning cable then wait for your device to sync with iTunes. Once your iPhone appears in iTunes, follow the onscreen commands to reset your device.

If that doesn’t help either, restore your iPhone in recovery mode or DFU mode. Performing iOS restores in recovery or DFU mode is usually considered among the last options if nothing else works and that the iPhone battery started to drain faster after installing update.

Battery saving tips for your iPhone

Below are some helpful tips to reduce power consumption on your iPhone. You can apply any of these methods whenever there’s a need to extend your iPhone power.

1. Adjust screen brightness. Setting the iPhone screen to the brightest level consumes power, thus you have to consider adjusting or reducing the screen brightness.

• To do this, go to Settings-> Display & Brightness, then drag the slider to reduce the screen brightness of your phone.

Or you can also turn on Auto-brightness so that your iPhone will just automatically adjust the surrounding lights.

2. Turn off Location services. Many apps would want to know your location so that they can use it for different purposes. But allowing these apps to access your current location will also result to using up a lot of battery. If you don’t think your apps need to know your location, then you better disable this feature.

• To do this, go to Settings-> Privacy-> Location Services then select Never from the given options.

Or you can also enable Location Services only while using a certain app on your iPhone.

3. Turn off Raise to Wake. One of the iOS 10.3 features allows your iPhone screen to unlock when you move your device or walk with it swinging in your hand. If you do such gestures more often, then the screen is constantly turning on and so it will drain the battery faster.

• To turn off this feature, go to Settings-> Display & Brightness menu, then toggle the switch to turn off Raise to Wake.

4. Close all unused or background apps. Background apps are previously opened apps that are left running or suspended in the background. These apps are idle but still using up power because they continue to run in the background. Thus, these apps must be closed.

• To close/clear all background apps on an iPhone with physical Home button, double-press the Home button to bring up the Apps previews. Next, swipe up on the app card and then flick it up and off the screen.
• On an iPhone X or later iPhones, clearing out background apps is done by swiping up from the bottom of the Home screen and then pausing slightly in the middle of the screen. And to close the app, just swipe on the app’s preview.

5. Remove unnecessary screen widgets. Limiting the number of widgets on the Home screen also helps. Widgets let you have quick glimpse of the latest happenings and information around you. But all those widgets consume power to stay up to date. it’s not a good idea if your phone battery is draining so fast

• To remove unnecessary widgets, access the Today View from the Home screen by swiping right from the first Home screen. Then scroll to the bottom of the Today View screen and tap Edit. Next, tap the red circle next to the widget name that you want to remove. Tap Delete to continue. Finally, tap Done to finish the process.

Follow the same steps to remove the rest of the unwanted widgets from the Home screen.

6. Turn off Background App refresh. With this feature enabled, apps will automatically refresh in the background or continue to update even when they’re not in use. While this will save you loading time when running apps, it also drains your iPhone battery faster.

• To disable this feature, go to Settings-> General-> Background App Refresh then toggle the switch to OFF.

7. Turn on Reduce Motion. When enabled, this feature stops apps from using cool animated effects. A lot of power is required to run animated files, so you should also consider turning this feature on and use it to preserve the battery.

• To enable it, go to Settings-> General-> Accessibility-> Reduce Motion then tap to turn on the switch next to it.

8. Use Low Power Mode. As the name implies, your iPhone will operate in a low power state to extend its battery life. This feature is often used whenever there’s a need to use a phone that’s running low on power.

• To activate Low Power Mode on your iPhone, go to Settings-> Battery menu, then toggle the switch to turn Low Power Mode ON.

When your iPhone is in Low Power Mode, its functions are limited as some features aren’t working while in this state.

9. Turn on Airplane Mode. Enabling Airplane Mode in areas with poor reception/signal is also recommended. Doing so will stop your phone from constantly searching for a cell signal to use.

• To enable it, go to Settings-> Airplane mode menu then toggle the switch to turn it ON. Alternatively, you can access the Control Center then toggle the Airplane Mode icon from off to on.

Your iPhone’s wireless radios and relevant functions are then disabled, so you won’t have Wi-Fi internet access and cellular services are also unavailable. You can disable Airplane Mode again once you’re in an area with strong cell signal.

Is your iPhone battery still draining so fast?

The above solutions are usually good enough when dealing with rapid battery draining that’s attributed to software errors on an iPhone. If none of these methods solves the problem and that your iPhone battery is still draining so quickly, the next thing you should rule out are hardware-related issues. It’s possible that the battery or other relevant components have been damaged and therefore need some repair, if not, new replacement. If your iPhone is still new, then you should call your iPhone provider/carrier so you can avail for warranty. You can request for a new unit replacement or avail free service/iPhone repair.

I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix the problem with your device. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!