20+ Ways to fix iOS 17 beta battery drain issue on iPhone

10 Min Read

Are you experiencing unexpected battery drain on your iPhone after installing iOS 17 beta? There are a number of quick and easy ways to fix the problem. In this article, I’ll show you some potential fixes for bad iOS 17 beta battery life.

Many beta testers are reporting excessive battery drain after downloading and installing the iOS 17 beta claiming that their iPhones are no longer lasting as long as they used to before downloading and installing the iOS 17 beta. If you start noticing abnormal battery drain after installing the iOS 17 beta, and you don’t want to downgrade to iOS 16, there are some fixes that could fix the problem.

In this article, we’ve rounded up some simple tips and hacks tha will help you fix iOS 17 beta battery drain problem.

Use These Nifty Tips to Fix iOS 17 beta Battery Drain Issue on iPhone

1. Restart Your iPhone

If you start noticing excessive battery drain while running the iOS 17 beta, we recommend restarting your iPhone. Follow the steps below:

  1. Go to settings.
  2. Choose general.
  3. Tap shut down.
  4. Drag the power off slider from left to right.

If a simple restart doesn’t fix the iOS 17 beta battery drain issue, perform a Force Restart. Force restarting your device can clear errors and fix iOS 17 battery drain issue. To do this, follow the steps below:

  1. press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
  2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
  3. Press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo on the screen.
  4. Release the Side button.

2. Lower iPhone Screen Brightness

If you’re in a bright room or direct sun, you probably can’t help but have screen brightness turned all the way up, but if you don’t need a super bright display, dimming it down can save iOS 17 beta battery life.

Brightness can be controlled through the Control Center on the iPhone using the brightness toggle or through the Display & Brightness section of the Settings app. It’s a good idea to turn on the auto-brightness setting to make sure your screen isn’t overly bright in darker rooms by default, but some manual adjustment may be necessary in brighter rooms and in the sun.

3. Delete battery-draining apps

Both inbuilt and third-party iOS apps are prone to acting up on iOS beta software and there’s a good chance one they’re the source of your problems.

Your iPhone has a built-in tool that lets you uncover exactly which apps are draining your battery life.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Battery, and then wait for the page to load.
  3. Tap on the ‘Last 10 Days’ option, which reveals battery usage for different apps from the past week-and-a-half.

If you scroll down, you can see the apps that have used the majority of your battery life, in percentage form.

So if an app has 20% next to it, that means it hoovered up a fifth of all battery life used in the past 10 days.

You can also toggle it to show the listed items by activity – keeping them ordered by battery usage.

So if you’ve spent very little time on an app but it’s high on the list for usage, that means it’s a battery killer.

This section also splits up the time that the app was running in the background.

Watch out for apps that use lots of battery and rack up lots of background usage time – they’re particularly bad for your battery life.

4. Turn off Location Services

Location Services is another notorious power-hungry feature that requires better management. Otherwise, it can cause unexpected battery drain on your iOS 17 device. To me, the best way to handle GPS tracking is to allow only specific apps to use your location data, and that too on your own conditions. Moreover, make sure to let apps access your location only when you are using the app or every single time location access is required.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iOS 17 device.
  2. Navigate to Privacy & Security.
  3. Tap Location Services. Now, you can choose to turn off location services altogether or select the preferred setting for each app selectively, depending on your needs.

5. Disable unnecessary push notifications

In addition to push email, which automatically notifies you of new email messages as they arrive, iPhone support push notifications, which allow apps to provide new information, sound alarms, display reminders, and more, instantly. Push notifications can be very convenient—they’re part of what makes a iPhone great—but every notification uses a bit of energy, as it requires your phone to wake up for a few seconds, including turning on the screen, to show you a message and give you a chance to act on it. If you get a lot of notifications, that energy use can add up.4

Determining exactly how much energy notifications use is difficult—in our testing, receiving a few dozen notifications over the course of an hour didn’t noticeably affect battery usage—but Apple recommend disabling notifications as a way to conserve battery power. If a particular app or service (say, Twitter or your email client) is constantly producing notifications, consider disabling notifications for that app.

  1. Go to “Settings”.
  2. Tap on “Notifications,”
  3. tap the app name, and disable “Allow Notifications” (or switch to a less-intrusive form of notifications, such as a Badge App Icon).

As a bonus, fewer push notifications means fewer interruptions in your day and less time spent using your iPhone (which, of course, also helps your battery last longer).

If you get a lot of notifications but have reasons (or just a predilection) to keep them coming, consider disabling notification vibrations instead. Every time your phone vibrates, it uses energy to move a little motor in the phone; over dozens or hundreds of notifications, that power drain adds up. You can disable all vibrations by following the steps below:

  1. Go to “Settings”.
  2. Tap “Accessibility”.
  3. Select “Touch”.
  4. Choose “Vibration.”

Alternatively, you can go to “Settings” then “Sounds & Haptics” and tap individual items under “Sounds and Vibration Patterns” to disable vibrations for each.

6. Always choose Wi-Fi over cellular

Many people, and even Apple, claim that using Wi-Fi for wireless data consumes less battery than using a cellular signal, so you should use Wi-Fi whenever you can. However, our testing found that this isn’t always the case. For example, when we tested in a location where both Wi-Fi and LTE signals were strong, on an iPhone an hour of browsing over Wi-Fi used roughly the same amount of battery power as an hour using LTE.

Where you will see differences is in areas where LTE coverage is poor. As we explain above, your phone uses significantly more power when trying to find and connect to a weak signal. So if you’re in a location where the Wi-Fi signal is bad, but you have a good cellular signal—so your phone is regularly switching between the two—disabling Wi-Fi and forcing your phone to use just cellular data will likely conserve battery power. Conversely, if your phone is struggling to get a good cellular signal, try finding an accessible Wi-Fi network (at a coffee shop or restaurant, for example) to use instead.

You’ll see the biggest impact of using cellular data when your phone has to switch between cellular towers in a continual search for a good signal. That said, in situations where you’re roaming on cellular data, you likely won’t have the option to use Wi-Fi (unless, for example, you’re on a train that offers Wi-Fi), so your only real option there is not to use cellular data at all—which might be inconvenient but will conserve a lot of battery power.

7. Install the Latest iOS 17 Beta

Apple will periodically release new iOS 17 beta software. While the company may not call out battery life fixes in the change log, new beta software always has the potential to help alleviate these problems.

If your iPhone is running old iOS 17 beta software, try moving to the latest update.

8. Stop ‘quitting’ your apps constantly

Closing iPhone apps constantly is a waste of time – and could actually hurt your handset.

Apple says you shouldn’t bother unless an app has frozen.

“When your recently used apps appear, the apps aren’t open, but they’re in standby mode to help you navigate and multitask,” Apple explained.

Part of the problem is that it’s tempting to think apps in your “carousel” are running.

But they’re actually frozen by your iPhone, so they don’t drain resources while you do other things.

Having to restart apps completely after being swiped away sucks up more battery life.

Also, the more strain you put on your battery, the faster it will degrade over time. That app will also take longer to restart.

It’s like loading a TV from standby, versus having the telly reboot completely.

9. Adjust Auto-Lock and Turn Off Raise to Wake

If you are still experiencing iOS 17 beta battery drain issue, it’s a good idea to set the Auto-Lock on the display as low as you can tolerate, which will cause the iPhone’s display to turn off after a short period of inactivity.

You can choose ranges from 30 seconds to never, but the lower end of the spectrum will help preserve battery life by cutting the display when it’s not needed.

Furthermore, if you really want to save iOS 17 beta battery, turning off Raise to Wake can help. You can access these Settings by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap Display & Brightness.

10. Use Dark Mode

Even though some users might naturally prefer a darker interface, it does help to fix the iOS 17 beta battery drain issue. This is due to the fact that the display will only light up pixels on the screen that are needed, the rest of them would remain off unless required. You can enable it by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Choose Display & Brightness.
  3. Choose the Dark option.

11. Enable Low Power Mode

Ever since Low Power Mode arrived back in iOS 9 (2015), I have been using it to extend the battery life on my iPhone. What makes this power-saving feature so effective is the ability to automatically reduce background activity such as mail fetch and downloads to preserve battery life. So, make sure to take advantage of this feature to maximize the battery life on your iOS 17 device.

To enable this feature, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap Battery.
  3. Turn on the toggle for Low Power Mode.

Do note that iOS 17 automatically disables Low Power Mode when the battery gets sufficiently charged (over 80%). As it’s temporary and only remains active until the next proper charge, you will need to manually enable it every time you wish to prolong the battery life.

To make this task hassle-free, you can add the Low Power Mode icon to the Control Center by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap Control Center.
  3. Locate ‘Low Power Mode’ under the ‘More Controls’ section and tap the “+” button next to it.

Moving forward, you can enable or disable Low Power Mode from Control Center on your iPhone.

12. Enable Reduce Motion of Interface

The Reduce Motion aspect of iOS has always proved to be quite helpful in saving the battery life of the iOS 17 beta. The option basically turns off animations and allows less strain to be applied to the battery life. If you don’t mind ditching the animation and the parallax effect of app icons, take advantage of this effective hack to improve the battery life of your iPhone. You can enable it by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap Accessibility.
  3. Choose Motion.
  4. Turn on Reduce Motion.

13. Disable Background App Refresh

The next thing to do when troubleshooting iOS 17 beta battery drain issue is to disable Background App Refresh. Background App Refresh can impact battery life, so turning it off can help make your battery last longer. To do that, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Select Background App Refresh.
  4. Turn off the background app refresh toggle.

14. Turn off Automatic Downloads and App Updates

The automatic downloads feature is designed to sync apps between all of your devices by downloading apps that were downloaded on one device on the other devices as well. So if you download an app on an iPad, for example, Automatic Download will also download the app on your iPhone and this can cause your iOS 17 beta battery to drain faster. You can turn this feature off by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap App Store.
  3. Toggle off Apps and App Updates.

You can also turn off automatic iOS updates if desired by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Select Software Update.
  4. Tap Automatic Updates.
  5. Tap the toggle to turn updates off.

15. Place iPhone Face Down

When you receive a message or any kind of notification on your iPhone, its display illuminates for a moment to alert you. This uses unnecessary energy, but there’s an easy way to prevent it.

When you’re not using your iPhone, place the handset face down. The device automatically detects this placement, and won’t light up the display when alerts are received, saving you some extra battery life.

16. Update Apps to Fix iOS 15 Battery Drain

Outdated apps are undoubtedly responsible for the battery drain problems. So, the sooner you update all apps, the better it is for your iPhone’s battery health. Follow the steps below:

  1. Open the App Store and ensure that the Today tab is selected.
  2. Tap on your profile icon at the top right.
  3. Scroll down and tap the Update All button to download the latest version of all apps at once.
  4. If you wish to update one app at a time, tap on the Update button next to a specific app.

We suggest you keep an eye out for a Spotify app update and download it instantly to fix the significant battery drain it’s causing on iOS 17 devices.

17. Turn Off Screen Time

Some users have reported success saving iOS 17 beta battery by turning off Screen Time, Apple’s personal usage monitoring feature. It’s not clear why this appears to affect battery life for some people, but if you don’t use Screen Time then there’s no harm in disabling it.

To do so, follow the steps below:

  1. Go into Settings.
  2. Tap Screen Time.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen, then select Turn Off Screen Time.

18. Turn Off Fitness Tracking

Your iPhone includes a motion coprocessor that detects changes in the accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, and compass, and uses theses changes to measure and track your movement, elevation change, or other fitness activity.

Despite the motion coprocessor’s energy efficiency, it still uses additional battery whenever you’re on the move. To disable it, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy & Security.
  3. Tap Motion & Fitness.
  4. Toggle the switch off next to Fitness Tracking.

19. Disable Auto-Playing Videos in Safari

For a distraction-free browsing experience, make sure to disable auto-playing videos in Safari on your iOS 17 device. Apart from preventing unnecessary videos from distracting my attention, it also plays a vital role in extending the battery life. So to put an end to the nuisance, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap Accessibility.
  3. Select Motion.
  4. Turn off the toggle next to Auto-Play Video Previews.

20. Erase Network Settings

Some users have reported that resetting their iPhone’s network settings can resolve iOS 17 beta battery drain issues, so this is definitely worth a try.

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
  4. Tap Reset Network Settings.

Non of your data will be lost, but you’ll be asked to re-enter your Wi-Fi passwords.

21. Reset All Settings

Another tip to help fix iOS 17 beta battery drain issue is to reset all settings. There is a possibility that the issue lies in the settings that you are not familiar with and hence, it would make sense to reset all of them. To do that, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
  4. Tap Reset.
  5. Choose Reset All Settings.

21. Downgrade Back to iOS 16

If you can’t find a manual fix and/or don’t want to wait for Apple’s next iOS 17 beta, you can downgrade back to iOS 16.

Tips to fix iOS 17 beta battery drain issue

So that’s how you can fix iOS 17 beta battery drain problem. By getting rid of power hungry apps as well as taking control of power-sucking features, you can resolve the rapid power consumption issues. Take these tips into account, and you will see the difference right away. By the way, do you know any other tips to fix iOS 17 beta battery drain problem? If so, let us know in the comments section below.

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GeeksModo Staff is a team of iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch experts led by Moses Johnson. We're passionate about all things Apple!
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