iPhone 11 pro max burning thru battery

[Hmoore]

I have an iPhone 11 pro max that I just migrated to public mobile.  I mistakenly thought it supported 5g and bought the 5g plan.  Now my battery is depleting very quickly.  I'm at 35% after 8 hours when I used to go more than a day.  Battery health is 92%.  Could being on the 5g plan be the issue?  No games are installed and only light texting and browsing.  Background apps are set to not refresh. 

Any ideas?

[Hmoore]

Brand new iPhone 15.  Doing the same thing.  Maybe a bit worse.  15% drop in 40mins.  Probably run through this plan for this month and find another carrier.

[Hmoore]

Battery burn is still at about 10% per hour. Not sure what to do next. Here is a recap if anybody can offer any further ideas.

iphone 11 max. iOS version 17.7.2. Radio only supports 4G

Battery burn is very bad. Approximately 10% per hour. By lunch under 50% remaining. Battery health is 92%. Two days ago when was still on Virgin/Bell, Battery lasted easily 2 days.

Only do texting and light browsing. No games or other apps. As a reference, my usage on PM in the 2 days I have had it is 128Mb. So you can see there is not a lot of activity.

Originally purchased the 5G plan and bought a PM SIM card. Started experiencing battery burn immediately. Probably 12-13% per hour at least. So switched plan to be 4G (yes, bought another plan) to see if that would help. Only slightly moderate improvement. Now it is probably 9%

Set phone to Low Data Mode. Still the same issues.

Made sure that 4G/LTE is selected.

Telus coverage in the area has 5G+ everywhere in the Belleville area.

Not really sure what to do next other than go back to Virgin/Bell because this is not sustainable....

[Hmoore]

Yeah, I figured out that this phone didn't support 5g this morning.  I had thought it did and that only the standard iPhone 11 and 11 pro did 4g only.   I think I will upgrade to iOS 17.7.2 just to try to eliminate any OS causes.  

[slusagm]

always upgrade the iOS for better features and performance, maybe better battery life

but even with iOS upgrade, you still wan't get 5G, your iPhone 11 simply has no 5G

[Hmoore]

I restarted too just in case I hadn't restarted since it all went live when I switched to PM last night. 

[Hmoore]

I just checked and I am on iOS 16.6.1. I don't want to go to iOS 18 but maybe should go to 17.7.2?

[slusagm]

the info above were both wrong., not apply to your case.  You have an iPhone 11, there is no 5G there

to save power, use Low power mode on iPhone

Although you have a 5G plan but without 5G on your phone, you will still enjoy higher than 4G plan speed, your top speed will still be 250Mbps, or close to it,  using 4G LTE

[Hmoore]

I only have LTE and 3G as options. LTE was already checked.  

[hTideGnow]

hi @Hmoore 

not to change your plan, but change network mode

Open Settings
Select Cellular or Mobile Data
Select Cellular Data Options or Mobile Data Options
Select Voice & Data
Choose your desired network mode (select 4G or LTE to save battery)

[Chalupa_Batman]

Check below. Updated it again.

[Hmoore]

Thanks!  Do you mean go into the settings on the phone or settings in the public mobile app to change my plan?

[Chalupa_Batman]

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@Hmoore wrote:

I have an iPhone 11 pro max that I just migrated to public mobile.  I mistakenly thought it supported 5g and bought the 5g plan.  Now my battery is depleting very quickly.  I'm at 35% after 8 hours when I used to go more than a day.  Battery health is 92%.  Could being on the 5g plan be the issue?  No games are installed and only light texting and browsing.  Background apps are set to not refresh. 

Any ideas?

---

Hey @Hmoore 

Yes, 5G requires more power because more radio bands are active, more signal processing is done, more work is put onto the processor and memory. So 5G drains battery charge faster

You can however go into your settings and switch it to 4G LTE.

Go to settings, choose Cellular Data options, Voice and Data, choose 4G LTE. Never hurts to do a reboot after making changes to the system settings.