Purchased a refurbished 2016 SE, in settings battery health is 100% but whenever I download anything like apps or podcasts the battery drains really fast, like 4-5% per app download. Is this normal? Or should I return the device?
Purchased a refurbished 2016 SE, in settings battery health is 100% but whenever I download anything like apps or podcasts the battery drains really fast, like 4-5% per app download. Is this normal? Or should I return the device?
That looks very normal. The 2016 iPhone SE does not have good battery life, even if your battery is in good condition, that’s just how it is unfortunately. It is using a 14nm CPU which is outdated and not very power efficient, plus the battery capacity is 1624 mAh. I notice the battery life is worse when there’s heavy WiFi activity (such as downloading apps via WiFi). Streaming audio and video isn’t too bad in comparison (especially if you stream at lower quality).
It’s also possible that the iPhone software has not been fully optimized, you may need to wait a few weeks before the iOS system will optimize itself (it’ll know what apps/services you use the most and prioritize those apps while putting the rest to sleep). This process can take a few days or weeks.
Also the battery software might not be calibrate. It needs to go through at least 3 full charging cycles (100% to 0% 3 times). There are iPhone battery recalibration instructions which you can look up, but the quick instructions:
Apple’s battery software is sometimes not very good (the battery percentage goes up or down when you restart or turn on/off the iPhone). So you may need to recalibrate the battery. This issue is more likely to happen after a battery was recently replaced, the software was updated, or if the iPhone hasn’t been used in a long time.
The problem with buying used phones, it’s the same as buying a used car… You’ll never know what was done to the phone or what may have been repaired. It might be possible that the battery was replaced with a generic aftermarket battery which shows the battery health at 100% but the actual battery life isn’t really good. You can ask the seller for details on the phone and if they used an aftermarket battery or genuine battery. Since it’s a 2016 iPhone model, it’s very likely the battery was replaced as it’s an old phone and there’s no way it could still have 100% battery health unless the battery was replaced.