YouTube hammers out battery drain problem with iPhone app in latest update

The iOS YouTube app update issued on Monday rectifies the dramatic battery drain that manifested not only when the app was actively being used to watch videos, but when it was idle in the background as well.

The release notes for version 12.45 of the YouTube app are very short, claiming to only fix the battery drain issue. AppleInsider has confirmed that the app update does fix the severe drain issue — but reminds users that video watching can still be power-intensive.

YouTube declared that it would fix the problem on Nov. 13 after a bevy of user complaints. Other accounts of the problem noted devices heatingwhile using the app — but this wasn't universal.

Drain rates varied, though one person claimed that their iPhone X lost 20 percent of its battery in just 30 minutes.

Users could side-step the issue before the update by viewing the content within Safari. Users of the YouTube Kids app seemed to be unaffected by the problem.

The iPhone and iPad YouTube app is free, requires iOS 9.0 or newer, and is a 196MB download.

45 Comments

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

About 6 years ago

Why does YouTube need to run in the background? Since this is Google I have to wonder if they work bugs into their apps when new iPhones are released just so it looks like Apple has made a mistake so they can get high-end customers to consider Android-based devices.

slurpy 5388 comments · 15 Years

And yet, when for example the iPhone 8/X were being reviewed, the "battery life" scores took a hit probably because of this- and of course it was all on Apple, not Google. What shitty, shoddy coding. I think Apple should surface notifications for apps that eat up so much battery life in the background, just like they do for location stuff.

neilm 1000 comments · 16 Years

Is there any reason for a dedicated YouTube app when the site can be viewed in any browser?

flydog 1140 comments · 14 Years

Soli said:

Why does YouTube need to run in the background? Since this is Google I have to wonder if they work bugs into their apps when new iPhones are released just so it looks like Apple has made a mistake so they can get high-end customers to consider Android-based devices.

Picture in picture works with the app in the background. If you don't like it, disable it in Settings.

flydog said:

Soli said:

Why does YouTube need to run in the background? Since this is Google I have to wonder if they work bugs into their apps when new iPhones are released just so it looks like Apple has made a mistake so they can get high-end customers to consider Android-based devices.

Picture in picture works with the app in the background. If you don't like it, disable it in Settings.

1) Having the video being over all other content but still being registered as "background" is interesting.

2) Disabling it isn't an issue for me since I've never had the YouTube app installed except back when it was part of iOS. I would simply use the browser, as @neilm suggests.