Recently, the iOS 14.4 update was just released that addresses some minor bugs and improves some camera features. While it’s not mentioned in Apple’s changelog, many iPhone users are reporting about having battery improvements on older iPhone models. So, does updating to iOS 14.4 actually help to improve the battery life? To save you the trouble, we’ve performed an iOS 14.4 battery drain test on older iPhones here.
A Few Things about iOS 14.4
You can now update to iOS 14.4 to your iPhone right now by going to Setting > General > Software Update. The new iOS will let you access new features like Smaller QR codes or fix all of the previous version issues. But, you need to make sure your iPhone is compatible with the new update first.
Here is the list of iOS 14.4 supported iPhone:
- iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, and iPhone SE (first generation)
- iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X
- iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR
- iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (second generation)
- iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 mini, and iPhone 12 Pro Max
Battery Drain Test on iOS 14.4
It’s worth mentioning that lots of iPhone owners have been complaining of unexplained battery drain on their device for a few months now. So, I decided to run the battery test 5 days after the iOS 14.4 release. Note that in this test, all of the iPhones were set to 25% display brightness with disabled auto-brightness. Plus, all devices share the same settings and are connected to the same access point.
After updating to iOS 14.4, the iPhone 11 lasted for 5 hours and 33 minutes in our Geekbench battery test. In comparison, this model only lasted for 5 hours and 7 minutes while running iOS 14.3 in the same test. So, there’s actually a noticeable improvement (about 21 minutes) in battery life here.
Similarly, the iPhone 8 also showed a 15 minutes battery life improvement when compared with the test on iOS 14.3. Meanwhile, we also witnessed the same result in the iPhone 7 battery life. And, unlike the original iPhone SE, the 2020 iPhone SE only had a minor jump (around a few minutes) in battery life in this battery drain test.
Unfortunately, we didn’t notice any significant change in the iPhone XR and iPhone 6S battery performance. But still, these test results are enough to satisfy us and most iPhone fans.
The Bottom Line
Even though we haven’t tested the battery life of the new iPhone 12, it is clear that all iPhones should see a noticeable increase in their battery life after updating to iOS 14.4. However, this improvement might not be immediately visible since iPhones can take a few days to settle down after installing a new iOS update. But, from this battery drain test, we are confident to recommend every user update their iPhone to iOS 14.4.
Have you noticed any improvement in battery life on your iPhone after updating to iOS 14.4? Or, do you think it worth updating to iOS 14.4 on older iPhones? Let us know about it in the comments!
Read more: How to Fix iPhone 12 Excessive Standby Battery Drain Issue
