phone battery drains when away from my Wi-Fi network.
By
honest nan, 13 February, 2026
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
last night, I took my phone to my friend’s house. I didn’t turn it on, but when I got home after about two hours, the battery had drained at least 10 percentage points. I’m wondering why this is. What should I turn off or on in settings? Thanks.
Hi Holger,
Thanks for the tip. I never thought of re-starting after an update. Did this now.
Yes. Long live cats! Maybe one day I'll have one my Shepherd will get along with!
This is something that unfortunately does happen, cellular data uses more power than Wi-Fi. There are many factors that come into play when you are not connected to Wi-Fi. The strength of your signal, and other factors! 5G especially takes up a lot of power. Also, if you happen to be in a location where cellular service is poor, it can also play a big factor as your phone is constantly searching for signal. I know that's a lot of information to throw out at you, but there are a lot of factors that go into play.
I will give you an example, I use Visible wireless, which uses the Verizon wireless network, there was an outage that caused me to have no service at work for a few days. My battery took a huge hit while I was at work for those particular days.
I am going through each step as I re-write this. These steps should work for everyone.
Setting up an Automation to disable/re-enable Wi-Fi as you come and go from your home location.
1. Open the Shortcuts application on iOS. Toward the bottom-middle of the screen is the Automations tab, double-tap that.
2. Swipe right on the next screen and double-tap on the New Automation button.
3. On this next screen there will be a list of 'scenarios' for lack of a better descriptor. You can start with 'Arrive' first, or 'Leave'. Let us start with 'Leave' for ease of understanding.
4. There are a few controls on this screen; first double-tap on location and enter your home address. Your address may or may not auto populate as you begin typing. once you have your address set, double-tap on the Done button. now swipe to the right and select, "Anytime", for time range, and, "Run immediately", so the automation will run without requiring you to grant permissions.
5. Double-tap on Next.
6. Swipe right on this screen until you find a, "New Blank Automation",button. This really should be labeled 'Actions', but whatever's clever. Double-tap on this button and the Actions screen will be displayed. Note, I actually have to triple-tap it to make it work.
7. On this screen is a list of actions to finalize your automation. Swipe right to 'Controls', and double-tap. Then navigate by headings, swipe down once to land on the 'Connectivity' heading, and choose the Wi-Fi option.
8. By default this action will be set to turn Wi-Fi on. However, focus on the action, "Turn, Wi-Fi, on", then swipe up or down, you will find an option to edit the state from on to off. Simply double-tap on that action rotor item to change its state.
9. Double-tap on the Done button and you are finished with this automation.
10. Create a new automation following the steps above, only for step 3, choose, "Arrive", and for step 7 you can just double-tap on the Done button after adding the Wi-Fi control.
You will have 2 automations here, one for leaving and one for arriving. I am sure these could be consolidated into one automation, but that is a headache and an unnecessary one at that.
Brian, I appreciate the step-by-step instructions. However, I can’t get past step three. I enter my home address and everything and hit next, and it takes me to a screen that shows a get started button and a create new shortcut button among others. I can’t get past that screen. I never see something that says action. What am I doing wrong?
After step three, there should be a button labeled, "New Blank Automation". You want to tap on that, then you'll be on the Actions screen. I have no idea why it's labeled the way it is, but that's the way things are. 🤷🏻♂️
I will have to rewrite the instructions above later, because it seems like there's a few extra steps that Google forgot to mention, but I will fix my above post to reflect the changes. Anyways, once you've added your location, and tapped on next, and then tapped on that, "New Blank Automation", button, you'll be in your Actions screen. I believe the one for Wi-Fi is under Connectivity, but I may have labeled that wrong. Anyways, just look through the actions, and you'll find it sooner or later.
Note, when you first find the Wi-Fi, it will be set to on by default. If you swipe up and down on that, Inside the action rotor will be an option to change it from on to off. Just a heads up for you.
Comments
honest nan
Did you connect to his WIFI? Long live cats.
Restart
Did you update to 26.3 and did you do a restart after? I tend to do a restart within 40 minutes of updating. Tend to help. Again Long live cats.
Great tip!
Hi Holger,
Thanks for the tip. I never thought of re-starting after an update. Did this now.
Yes. Long live cats! Maybe one day I'll have one my Shepherd will get along with!
Battery drain when not on Wi-Fi
This is something that unfortunately does happen, cellular data uses more power than Wi-Fi. There are many factors that come into play when you are not connected to Wi-Fi. The strength of your signal, and other factors! 5G especially takes up a lot of power. Also, if you happen to be in a location where cellular service is poor, it can also play a big factor as your phone is constantly searching for signal. I know that's a lot of information to throw out at you, but there are a lot of factors that go into play.
I will give you an example, I use Visible wireless, which uses the Verizon wireless network, there was an outage that caused me to have no service at work for a few days. My battery took a huge hit while I was at work for those particular days.
Listen to Geovanni
When you leave your home WiFi turn off WiFi or it will constantly search for the signal and eat your battery.
Try setting up an automation
*Update*
I am going through each step as I re-write this. These steps should work for everyone.
Setting up an Automation to disable/re-enable Wi-Fi as you come and go from your home location.
1. Open the Shortcuts application on iOS. Toward the bottom-middle of the screen is the Automations tab, double-tap that.
2. Swipe right on the next screen and double-tap on the New Automation button.
3. On this next screen there will be a list of 'scenarios' for lack of a better descriptor. You can start with 'Arrive' first, or 'Leave'. Let us start with 'Leave' for ease of understanding.
4. There are a few controls on this screen; first double-tap on location and enter your home address. Your address may or may not auto populate as you begin typing. once you have your address set, double-tap on the Done button. now swipe to the right and select, "Anytime", for time range, and, "Run immediately", so the automation will run without requiring you to grant permissions.
5. Double-tap on Next.
6. Swipe right on this screen until you find a, "New Blank Automation",button. This really should be labeled 'Actions', but whatever's clever. Double-tap on this button and the Actions screen will be displayed. Note, I actually have to triple-tap it to make it work.
7. On this screen is a list of actions to finalize your automation. Swipe right to 'Controls', and double-tap. Then navigate by headings, swipe down once to land on the 'Connectivity' heading, and choose the Wi-Fi option.
8. By default this action will be set to turn Wi-Fi on. However, focus on the action, "Turn, Wi-Fi, on", then swipe up or down, you will find an option to edit the state from on to off. Simply double-tap on that action rotor item to change its state.
9. Double-tap on the Done button and you are finished with this automation.
10. Create a new automation following the steps above, only for step 3, choose, "Arrive", and for step 7 you can just double-tap on the Done button after adding the Wi-Fi control.
You will have 2 automations here, one for leaving and one for arriving. I am sure these could be consolidated into one automation, but that is a headache and an unnecessary one at that.
Enjoy. 😀
Setting up an automation is not working.
Brian, I appreciate the step-by-step instructions. However, I can’t get past step three. I enter my home address and everything and hit next, and it takes me to a screen that shows a get started button and a create new shortcut button among others. I can’t get past that screen. I never see something that says action. What am I doing wrong?
honest nan
After step three, there should be a button labeled, "New Blank Automation". You want to tap on that, then you'll be on the Actions screen. I have no idea why it's labeled the way it is, but that's the way things are. 🤷🏻♂️
I will have to rewrite the instructions above later, because it seems like there's a few extra steps that Google forgot to mention, but I will fix my above post to reflect the changes. Anyways, once you've added your location, and tapped on next, and then tapped on that, "New Blank Automation", button, you'll be in your Actions screen. I believe the one for Wi-Fi is under Connectivity, but I may have labeled that wrong. Anyways, just look through the actions, and you'll find it sooner or later.
Note, when you first find the Wi-Fi, it will be set to on by default. If you swipe up and down on that, Inside the action rotor will be an option to change it from on to off. Just a heads up for you.
HTH. 🙂
Updated my instructions above
I re-wrote my step-by-step instructions for creating this automation. Hope it works out for anyone interested.