The most significant cosmetic change on iOS 16 is a more customizable Lock Screen. With widgets, users get information at a glance, without needing to go past the Lock Screen. Weather widgets are numerous and include temperature, conditions, and even UV index and Air Quality. However, some users report that the Lock Screen Weather widget is draining the battery on iOS 16. And most would seldom sacrifice battery longevity for a widget.
If that’s the case with you, too, check the instructions we provided below.
Why does the Weather app drain my battery?
The thing with the Weather widget on Lock Screen is that, at the moment, it can’t use a custom location of your choice. It requires Location Services. Likely the reason why you see a spike in battery usage. For it to work seamlessly and update weather changes, you need to have Location Services enabled at all times, unlike the Home Screen Weather widget.
So, that’s the main reason why the Lock Screen Weather widget (or multiple widgets) keeps draining the battery. Another possible reason is the Live Weather Wallpaper which will display the current weather in the background. Pair Weather Live Wallpaper with a constant widget refresh and the battery life will suffer.
What to do about it? The best advice is to wait for future updates where Apple will address the background drainage. Now, if the Weather app keeps draining the battery even without Lock Screen or Home Screen widgets, you can uninstall the app and install it again. Just navigate to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Weather. Once there, tap Delete App. Install the app again from App Store and check for improvements.
Also, we suggest disabling Critical Alerts and Time Sensitive Notifications. Some users report that this reduced the battery usage of the Weather app. You can do that in Settings > Weather > Notifications.
With that said, we can conclude this article. We might need to wait until Apple sorts out the novel widgets introduced with iOS 16 and reduce background battery usage. Thank you for reading, feel free to reach out to us in the comments section below to share your thoughts or questions.
FAQ
Do widgets drain battery on iPhone?
Widgets on the Lock Screen or Home Screen refresh frequently to get new data. Whether that's a Photos, Fitness, or Weather widget -- they are active in the background and update frequently. In my experience, widgets are not a grave battery consumer, but that might not be the case for you. Navigate to Settings > Battery and you can simply identify if a certain widget uses more battery than usual.
