iOS 18.2 was killing my iPhone's battery until I turned off this feature

It’s impossible not to notice how bad my iPhone’s battery life has become since upgrading to iOS 18; it only got progressively worse with iOS 18.1 and 18.2. It’s the rare day that my battery is still above 40% by lunchtime, and power banks have become constant companions in my life. 

The situation was bad (night or day), battery consumption was much higher than anything I remember, and even Low Power Mode didn’t offer much relief.

It was time to investigate the problem.

Also: iOS 18.2 update triggers eruption of iPhone battery life complaints – what to know

However, I wasn’t optimistic about finding a solution or even a workaround. Recently, the only remedy for such issues has been to wait for Apple to patch the problem. But given that I’ve watched this issue go from bad to worse over the past few months, I’m not holding my breath.

So I decided to investigate. For any battery drain issue, the first place I always look is under the Battery screen in Settings. This section is a treasure trove of information, not only related to the battery but also to the apps that are running and consuming power. Two charts are displayed here: Battery Level, which shows how the charge level changes at 15-minute intervals; and Activity, which uses a bar chart to illustrate which apps have been active and using battery power in hourly intervals. You can tap on the bars for a deeper dive into what’s been happening on your iPhone during that period.

But other than elevated usage by Home & Lock Screen (basically, any activity on the lock screen, such as notifications or widgets) there was nothing out of the ordinary. I did try disabling the iPhone’s always-on display — the setting to do this is under Settings > Display & Brightness > Always On Display — but to no avail.

The problem persisted.

After a bit more investigating, testing, tweaking settings, and a lot of frustration, I found the culprit: Apple Intelligence. With Apple Intelligence enabled (the setting can be found under Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri), I found it impossible to make it through a day without recharging. However, with it disabled, my battery life returned to its former levels.

Also: iOS 18.2 with Apple AI is available for iPhone. How to download it (and which models support it)

And here’s the kicker: I wasn’t even using Apple Intelligence. I had enabled it for testing purposes, but it sort of fell by the wayside as I moved on to other things. I found Apple Intelligence rather underwhelming, but I didn’t expect it to drain the battery so significantly when it wasn’t actively in use.

It seems that this issue isn’t limited to my hardware, as I’ve come across plenty of similar reports. Moreover, it doesn’t appear to be restricted to the iPhone; Apple Intelligence also is being blamed by some for excessive battery consumption on MacBooks.

I find the effect repeatable — on my iPhones and, to a lesser extent. my iPads. Turn Apple Intelligence on, battery life drops like a stone; turn it off, and things go back to normal. 

Also: What is AI? Everything to know about artificial intelligence

It’s as reliable as clockwork. This tweak also appears to reign in the excessive battery consumption I was seeing on the iOS 18.3 beta.

If you’re finding battery life to be especially poor since making the jump to iOS 18, and you’ve enabled the Apple Intelligence feature, it could be your culprit. I say “could” because this could be one of those “mileage will vary” situations. However, if you’re not finding Apple Intelligence to be all that useful, you have nothing to lose by turning it off.