Users complain of battery drain in iOS 13.5.1

By Stephen Warwick
published

iPhone X battery percentage
iPhone X battery percentage (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Users are seeing battery drain issues on iOS.
  • Specifically in iOS 13.5.1, Apple's latest software update.
  • The issue has picked up a lot of steam in Apple's support forums.

Users seem to be experiencing severe battery drain issues in the latest iteration of iOS, 13.5.1.

As reported by ZDNet:

Have you noticed that since installing iOS 13.5.1 that you need to charge up your iPhone's battery more often? You might have even noticed that the iPhone is feeling warm -- or even hot -- even when it's not doing anything.Yes, it seems like this release suffers from yet another battery drain issue...

The report mentions iOS 13.5.1 specifically, noting issues of batteries draining faster than usual, an iPhone heating up, and a higher-than-usual 'Screen Off' activity reading (more than an hour) in the Battery Settings report.

Apple's own support forums are actually littered with complaints of battery drain (opens in new tab) in iOS 13.5 as well. One thread in particular (opens in new tab) has gained significant traction, with users noticing high background activity.

The usual fixes, such as disabling Background App Refresh might help alleviate the problem. Thankfully, Apple seems to have fixed the issue in iOS 13.6, which beta users report is much-improved on the current version.

As the report notes, the 13.5.1 update was released to fix both the Unc0ver jailbreak, but not several issues users had been complaining of including bugs, MP4 playback not working, and more.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9

5 Comments
  • Yes, this has been happening to my 11 Pro Max, along with touchscreen lag.
  • I’m using the iOS 14 beta and have no battery problems or lag
  • The iOS 14 Beta and iOS 13.5.1 are two very different beasts, plus these problems don't appear to exist in the iOS 13.6 Beta so the fixes were probably pushed to 13.6 and 14
  • I'm having this problem as well. My 11 Pro Max has been getting hot and battery has been draining.
  • Not sure if this a common thing. I have notice that when I pick up my iphone 11 Pro Max from the charger that the screen would not turn on when I was looking at my phone neither did touching home button woke up my iphone 11 pro max. Ironically when I put it back on the charger for a split second then took it off then my screen went back on when I picked it up looking at it. Not sure if this ios13.5.1 bug or what. If anyone experiance this were there screen just stays off when they pick up there iphone please let me know.