(When I typed the subject for this topic, the forum software suggested my topic is similar to How much battery life does No Cellular Coverage consume for your iPhone?. When I clicked on Reply for that topic, the forum software said that topic is stale and asked if I really wanted to revive it. Sigh.)
I’m in England, using an eSIM on my iPhone SE (2nd Gen). Back home, I would typically charge my phone to 80% and unplug it; the next morning, it would be down to 65% and I would repeat. Here, I charge to 100% and it’s down to 40% eight hours later. Battery Usage by App reports that No Cell Coverage is using 92 to 95% of the battery. Voice & Data is 4G. Low Data Mode is enabled. I rarely use a map app. For that matter, I rarely use the phone at all.
Personal Hotspot is on, but rarely used. My USA line is active with Wi-Fi calling enabled over cellular data, but I’ve only made one phone call (3 minutes) on that line (and none on the UK number). When I look at the cell strength, which I rarely do, it is usually two bars.
Any ideas on what switch I should flip to reduce the battery drain?
If you’re posting something that legitimately contributes to that topic’s discussion, by all means go and revive it. There’s no prohibition. The warning is just to make sure you really mean it, since it is an old discussion.
That having been said, what you wrote here sounds like a new, but related topic.
That sounds like you’ve already got some battery problems. You shouldn’t be losing 15% of your battery sitting idle and locked for 8 hours. You may want to contact Apple to get a new battery installed. According to Apple’s web page a battery replacement for an SE 2 is $70, including parts, labor and a warranty. A reasonable price, IMO.
Yeah, that sounds like the same thing @ace was describing. I am, however, surprised that you’re seeing no coverage. If you have a UK SIM, you should be connecting to something.
Unless your hotel’s construction is such that it’s blocking cellular signals altogether. In which case, I would suggest you either take @silbey’s advice (use Airplane mode) or just leave the phone on the charger overnight and trust the iOS battery management firmware to do the right thing.
And definitely look into getting a new battery when you get home.
I’d suggest either disabling the US SIM (if it’s an eSIM) or remove it from the phone (if it’s a physical SIM) and see if that’s the SIM thats causing the error; see if that reduces the battery drain. Having a poor signal forces the phone to increase the power to the antennas in order to maintain a connection.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. In the morning, I charge to about 80%, then unplug for the day and night. Next morning, I charge to about 80%. The 15% drop is over 23+ hours, not 8.
That’s not it. In the hotel, I see two bars. Outside the hotel, I usually see two bars. I have no explanation. But that’s for the UK eSIM. As far as I can tell, the high No Cell Coverage usage is due to the US SIM. (See the next paragraph.)
It’s a SIM, and I don’t know if I have a SIM tool with me. This morning, I turned off the US line (slid “Turn On This Line” to off) and the battery lasted much longer. I had thought that because I had Data Roaming turned off, the SIM wouldn’t be hunting, but apparently it is seeking (and not finding) a non-roaming tower. I had the line enabled so I could use Wi-Fi calling to home; I suppose I’ll turn the line on when I expect to make a call and leave it off otherwise. Thanks for pointing me to a solution. Is there any way to tell the phone not to use Cellular Data on the US line but still leave Wi-Fi calling enabled?
Wi-Fi calling should work just fine with cellular data turned off. Basically it’s supposed to use WiFi to connect to the carrier’s network for voice calling (and I think SMS/MMS/RCS messaging.)
In the past I’ve always been able to use a paper clip as a SIM removal tool. Funny, even though my phone is eSIM only now, I still carry a SIM removal tool with me when I travel. I made a traveler very happy on the bus from Manchester to Liverpool a couple of years ago when I was able to loan her mine. That said: disabling the SIM is probably better!
On my phone, Settings / Cellular / Cellular Data lets me choose which SIM provides data services.
Interesting. This must be a quirk of dual-SIM operation.
A few years ago, I took a vacation overseas and didn’t get a foreign SIM. I just disabled data roaming and chose to not accept incoming calls when not using a Wi-Fi connection (which was fine, because our tour bus and hotels had Wi-Fi). The phone connected with 2-4 bars to whatever the local service provider was. My battery behavior was normal, since it found and connected to local towers with my SIM.
OP here. In case it means something to someone, I’m in southern France, the iPhone is configured as described in the first post, and the problem has decreased. “No Cell Coverage” had 38% of the battery usage in whatever time period is reported, the US line is enabled, and the battery level at the end of the day is around 50% even though the phone’s days are longer and I’m using a map app more than in England. As far as I can tell, the phone did not get along with the UK eSIM in the UK, but it’s happy in France.