Some iOS 16 Users Complain About Slow Spotlight Search and Battery Drain

It's been nine days since Apple released iOS 16 to the public, bringing major changes to the Lock Screen, Messages, Maps, and more. In the days following the release, some users have encountered several issues on their iPhones, ranging from slow system performance to battery drain.

In the past few days, iPhone 14 Pro users have shared specific bugs related to Apple's latest high-end iPhones, including camera shaking, iMessage and FaceTime activation issues, and more. There are other issues, though, impacting the broader group of iOS 16 users, and we've aggregated two issues based on user reports below.

Abnormal Battery Drain

After a major iOS update, it's normal for your iPhone to deplete battery life faster as it conducts indexing and background tasks; however, some users across Twitter, the MacRumors Forums (1, 2), and Reddit (1,2) are reporting excessive battery drain days after the update.

Wow, iOS 16 is buggy. Completely wrecked my battery life on my 13 Pro. Now I have a 14 Pro and all seemed well, was getting great battery life, and now have had horrible battery life today. Like estimated 4.5-5 hours of SOT. And now, out of nowhere, my phone started getting really hot. What is going on??? Apple please fix this mess.

Other users are reporting an improvement in battery life compared to iOS 15, so the overall experience is rather mixed. Apple has recently acknowledged that enabling haptic feedback for the keyboard in iOS 16 may deplete battery life, so users experiencing battery drain could try turning that off if they have it enabled. If you're still experiencing battery issues, see our explainer.

Slow Spotlight Search

A more prominent issue facing iOS 16 users is slow performance in Spotlight search. Users are reporting that Spotlight sometimes takes up to 10 seconds to load results on iOS 16 and sometimes doesn't load at all. Users on multiple Reddit (1,2) and MacRumors forum threads (1,2) are sharing their experiences:

I have the same issue. Before iOS 15.6 search was instant, but when I updated to iOS 15.6 it became very slow, taking more than 5 seconds for anything to show up while searching. I was hoping that iOS 16 would fix the issue, but it is just as slow. I even erased the phone and restored it from an iCloud backup, hoping it will fix it. It didn't.
So Apple, please fix this problem in the next update. It's super annoying and I don't want to lose all the network settings because of this.

I use search on the phone to quickly pull up apps I have hidden or are several screens away. When I pull down and type to search, it takes sometimes 10+ seconds for apps to begin to appear in the search. They used to be almost instantaneous. Example, if I start typing M-A-P, Apple Maps, Google Maps, etc. come up as a result. Is anyone else noticing this massive slowdown?

For this specific bug, multiple users have said that resetting all settings significantly improved the performance of Spotlight search, but an official solution and/or bug fix has not been issued by Apple.

New iOS 16 Update Coming Next Week

Apple has confirmed that it's aware of some of the issues being experienced by users, including camera shaking on the latest iPhone 14 Pro, and has promised an iOS 16 update next week. The update, most likely to be iOS 16.0.2, will include a fix for camera issues, an annoying copy and paste prompt, and iMessage and ‌FaceTime‌ activation. The update could also address other issues being felt by users, such as including battery drain and slow Spotlight search.