iPhone 13 battery drain overnight? 15 Ways to fix it (2024)

7 Min Read

Is your iphone 13 battery draining overnight? In this article, i’m going to tell you exactly why your iPhone 13 battery drains overnight and exactly how to fix it.

It’s quite frustrating if your iPhone 13 battery drain overnight. While a battery drain between 5% and 10% is acceptable, anything above that range should be considered severe.

Why does iPhone 13 battery drain overnight?

There are many reasons why your iPhone 13 battery drain overnight. Did you leave WiFi, Bluetooth, and mobile data enabled? And do you have background app refreshed enabled? And location services enabled? Do you have your photos automatically syncing to iCloud? And do you have a lot of apps that sends notifications and push updates (like social media apps)? There is some standby battery drain from the iPhone network which is something you can’t avoid, but the rest of the battery drain is likely from all the other stuff going on in your iPhone. Check out these tips and tricks to fix iPhone 13 idle battery drain issues.

15 Tips to fix iPhone 13 overnight battery drain issue

The following are some of the ways you can fix your iPhone 13 battery that drains overnight. Note: information in this article applies to iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

1. Turn off your Mobile Data

One of the main things that can cause iPhone 13 battery drain problem is your mobile data. Usually, iPhones use more batteries if you use higher networks like 4G or 5G compared to 3G or 2G. The new iPhone 13 series are all 5G powered, so while the phone is not being used overnight, the data aspect might be burning into the battery. If you can, turn the data off before sleeping and check if the problem persists. That way, your iPhone won’t constantly use up the battery just to sustain this feature even when you’re not using it. If a secure Wi-Fi network is available, log into it rather than using your cellular data plan. While that may also use your battery, it won’t be as strong as using mobile data. Go to Settings > Cellular and turn of the switch next to Cellular Data.

2. Turn off your Bluetooth

Similar to mobile data, Bluetooth can drain your iPhone 13 battery when it’s turned on. You can try disconnecting any devices you might have connected, like headphones, or turn Bluetooth off altogether. Otherwise, it will continue to use up your battery even when you’re not even using it. Go to Settings > Bluetooth and turn of the toggle.

3. Dim Your iPhone Screen If Your iPhone 13 battery drains overnight

The brighter your screen is, the more battery power it’s using. So if you’re able to turn the brightness down, it will also help conserve energy. This will help not only your iPhone 13’s battery life but your eyes as well. You can manually adjust brightness levels in Settings > Display & Brightness, by using the the slider bar. A slider is also accessible via the Control Center; press lightly on the brightness icon and move the slider up or down.

4. Try Night Shift Mode.

Not a lot of people use this feature, but it just might become useful for those who are trying to save some battery overnight. The iPhone’s Night Shift Mode automatically changes the colors of your iPhone screen to use warmer tones after sunset. This not only helps you to save some power but also your eyes.

5. Turn on Low Power Mode.

Apple has also designed a specific feature to help users save on power when necessary. This feature is called the Low Power Mode. It came with iOS 9. Turn on this feature to get a few more hours of battery life. However, do note that it comes with a price. For one, your iPhone’s performance won’t be as fast as it normally is. In addition, it also disables some features that typically use a lot of battery juice. Low Power Mode will automatically kick in when the battery falls below 20%, but you can also activate it manually to keep your phone going for longer (though it will only work if your phone’s battery is below 80%). Head over to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode and toggle it on. When activated, the battery icon in the top-right corner will turn yellow.

6. iPhone 13 battery drain overnight? Disable Location Services

Location Services is another sneaky feature that could explain why your iPhone 13 is losing charge overnight. Lots of different apps want to know and use your location for various legitimately useful reasons, but most of them don’t need to track your location while you are sleeping. Turn off location services completely via Settings > Privacy > Location Services and your phone will stop feeding location data to these services.

This, however, will make a number of useful apps stop working. Your weather app won’t know where you are for the latest forecast, and you won’t be able to ask Google for directions based on your current location. Apple allows you to customize how most apps use location data: Never, While Using the App, or Always. Select While Using the App for Google Maps, for example, and the app will only ping your location when you open it, not in the background, draining battery.

7. Turn off Background App Refresh feature

The Background App Refresh feature allows your apps to check for new content and update even when you’re not using them. This is intended to save you loading time when opening up apps, as the latest information should be ready and waiting after being refreshed in the background. However, allowing all your open apps to continually update and refresh in the background is a sure-fire way to drain your iPhone 13 battery as you sleep. To make sure that it doesn’t happen, you have to always remember to close the apps after finishing your task. If you can’t remember this, the next best thing to do is to turn off the Background App Refresh feature. Either that or just select which apps can use this feature and turn it off for the rest.

You can disable Background App Refresh completely or just for certain apps. Navigate to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Tap Background App Refresh up top to turn it off, or opt to have it happen only over Wi-Fi.

To disable on an app-by-app basis, return to the previous menu and find refresh-heavy apps, like email or social media platforms. Toggle them off. This shouldn’t have any effect on how the app works, but might take a moment longer to surface new information when you return to them.

8. Update to the latest versions of iOS apps

With so many apps constantly updating every so often, it gets tiring to update them every time. However, did you know that using an old version of an iOS app may actually use up more battery? This is because iOS app updates usually come with fixes and enhancements to make its performance work more efficiently. Sometimes, it also removes some features of the app that might be using up a lot of battery juice. Hence, it would be best to update your iOS apps frequently.

9. Update to the latest iOS software

The same can be said about your iPhone’s iOS software. Every time Apple launches an updated version of the iOS software, it often comes with significant changes and improvements. One of its usual upgrades is making the app run faster, smoother, and better. That means less lagging and more efficiency. In turn, this will use less of your iPhone’s battery life.

10. Delete unnecessary apps from your iPhone

You can also try deleting unnecessary apps from your iPhone. Admit it, there might be an app or two in there that you might’ve already forgotten that you have. Take a quick browse and remove those that you don’t use anymore. This will allow your iPhone to have a smoother performance and a battery life. Plus, you get extra memory space that you can use for more important data.

11. iPhone 13 battery drain overnight? Place your iPhone face-down

When your iPhone is facing up, the screen illuminates whenever you receive a notification. If you receive a lot of notifications, they could easily be part of why your iPhone 13 battery drains overnight, especially since notifications in iOS 15 are rich, meaning you can see conversations, images, and more directly from the Lock screen. Instead of letting the screen light up and drain iPhone battery life every time you get a notification, simply place your phone face-down when you sleep. Trust me, it works surprisingly well!

12. Tame iCloud

Apple’s iCloud Photos feature will send photos you take on your iPhone 13 to the cloud, so you can access them on other devices and the web. It’s a nice feature, especially if your phone is lost, stolen, or damaged. But yes, sending those photos to the cloud requires battery power. If you don’t want this to consume battery power while you’re asleep and want to take the risk, disable this via Settings > Photos > iCloud Photos.

13. Turn Off Automatic App Updates

It’s always a good idea to keep your apps and operating system up to date. Some updates can help apps run faster and smoother, decreasing the processing power needed to make them function. By default, the iPhone 13 supports automatic app updates, meaning if an app update arrives when you’re asleep, your phone will install it in the background so you’re always up to date. That process can drain battery, though, so go to Settings > App Store > App Updates and toggle it off.

14. Kill Active Listening

The iPhone 13 support hands-free Siri, meaning you can say “Hey, Siri” and ask a question without having to touch your iPhone. But that means the device is always awaiting your command and using up precious resources even when you are asleep. If you don’t use Siri that much, turning off active listening could fix iPhone 13 battery drain overnight issue. Navigate to Settings > Siri & Search, where you can disable ”Listen for ‘Hey Siri.’” Leave ”Press Side Button for Siri” enabled, to call Apple’s assistant with the push of a button.

15. Switch to Airplane Mode

When you’re asleep, put your iPhone 13 in Airplane Mode, which turns off all your phone’s wireless features. Calls and texts won’t come through, but you can still connect to Wi-Fi if necessary for iMessages and other tasks. The easiest way to do this is to look for the airplane icon in the Control Center and tap it. It’s also accessible in Settings; just toggle it on. You’ll know it’s activated by the airplane icon on the top right.

If none of these fixes work, then it might be high time for you to have your battery replaced. You can check your iPhone’s battery health to see how it is performing. From there, you can also view which apps are using most of your battery juice. If all of these steps do not help, consider making a genius bar appointment so an Apple technician can check the actual state of your iPhone’s battery.

Share This Article
Follow:
GeeksModo Staff is a team of iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch experts led by Moses Johnson. We're passionate about all things Apple!
Leave a comment