I got the iOS 18.1 update a week ago and ever since my phone dies in less than 8 hours even though I barely use it. I've had low power mode turned on since day one but it's still the same. Is this normal or is it happening to other people too? What can I do?
Quite a few people report battery issues after major updates, so you're not alone. Try force-closing apps you use less frequently - go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and check which ones are consuming the most data, a lot of times they're running in the background without you realizing it. Also check Settings > Battery > Battery Health to rule out that the battery is degraded (though with an iPhone 15 it's pretty rare). If none of that works, force a restart by holding the volume buttons and the side button until the power-off slider appears - sometimes updates leave weird processes running that a restart clears out.
What's happening to you isn't exactly normal, though it is pretty common after major updates. The problem is that a lot of people assume Low Power Mode fixes everything, when really iOS keeps indexing and syncing data in the background for the first few days after an update. Before you start force-closing apps, try leaving your phone connected to WiFi overnight without using it, so it can finish those Spotlight indexing processes that drain the battery like crazy. If it's still draining fast after that, then yeah, think about doing a backup and restoring it, because there might be something else broken with your system installation.
After a big update like that, the first thing I'd do is check which apps are using the most battery. Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage and see what's at the top. Sometimes apps keep running in the background without you noticing, or iOS is still indexing files. In my case I recently noticed an app I barely used was constantly draining battery just because it had location permissions turned on all the time.
Low Power Mode helps but it's not a magic fix, especially if the problem runs deeper. What you should definitely do is restart your phone completely, not just turn it off and back on - hold down the volume button and the side button until the slider shows up, or go to Settings and force restart from there. Sometimes after an update weird processes are left running in the background.
If it's still the same over the next few days, consider doing a reset of your network settings (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Reset > Reset Network Settings). You won't lose any of your data but sometimes it fixes these weird battery drain issues. If nothing works, it's probably something deeper with that specific iOS version and you should check if there's a minor update available.
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