Some iPhone Users Report Significant Battery Drain Due to Music App Background Activity in iOS 13.5.1 - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Some iPhone Users Report Significant Battery Drain Due to Music App Background Activity in iOS 13.5.1

apple music icon for ios 100594580 origA significant minority of iPhone users have taken to Apple's Support Communities and Reddit to report battery drain issues largely related to the Music app and high levels of background activity.

Hundreds of users, many running iOS 13.5.1 on devices both new and old, are experiencing rapid battery drain when the Music app is not in use. In some cases, the background activity occurs over several hours each day, even if the app has not been used for weeks or even at all.

User: Mojo06
I just purchased a new iPhone 11 a few days ago, and my battery is crashing so fast. I haven't even used the Apple Music App yet and it says that it has been running in the background for over 18 hours and has used 95% of my battery. My phone is also getting very hot from this. I am concerned this will kill my battery on my new phone.

User: Brianwpi
Phone is burning up. Switched off background app refresh. Restarted phone. Battery health 91%. iPhone X running iOS 13.5.1. Had to recharge several times during the day just to keep up. Help?

User: svphies
I'm having this exact same problem with my iPhone 11, recently updated to IOS 13.5.1. I never had Background App Refresh turned on and I haven't found any downloading song in the Music app. I might try to backup my phone to iTunes and do a reset later. I hope Apple fixes this issue soon.

While reports of the Music app draining battery in the background go back to April, there has been a rapid uptick in reports over the last week, suggesting Apple may have recently changed something on the server side which is causing the problem.

apple music battery drain
Below are some of the steps that users have taken to try to resolve the issue, but which appear to have a low rate of success.

  • Force quit the Music app.
  • Restart / Restore iPhone.
  • Delete Music app then reinstall it.
  • Turn off Automatic Downloads (Settings -> Music -> Automatic Downloads).
  • Disable background app refresh (Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh -> Disable Music).
  • Turn off Mobile Data (Settings -> Music -> Mobile Data).
  • Cancel all downloads in the Music Library.

Some users have resorted to deleting the Music app on their device, which brings the battery usage to an end. For those with Apple Music subscriptions, however, this isn't even a short-term solution, so we're bringing these reports to the attention of the wider community in the hope that it will prompt Apple to investigate.

Popular Stories

Apple iCloud Plus expansion hero

iCloud+ Now Includes Apple TV, Apple Arcade, and Curated Apple Music Stations in Over 100 Countries

Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries. In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....
apple music

Apple Music to Label AI-Generated Songs

Thursday August 20, 2026 4:41 pm PDT by
Apple sent emails to its music industry partners about the upcoming launch of a Made With AI label that Apple will apply to AI-generated content (via The Hollywood Reporter). Content tagged as being "materially generated using AI" will have a label visible to all Apple Music users. In March, Apple announced Transparency Tags, a system that lets music creators disclose when AI has been...
iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...

Top Rated Comments

81 months ago
It’s not only the Music app, since 13.5 a lot of apps suffer of constant background activity. You can check this subject ('https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251435983?answerId=253009672022&page=1') on Apple forum.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
81 months ago

Nah, it was 100% the music app.
Maybe for you. But if you check Apple’s forum, it’s far from the only one app with troubles.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
81 months ago

I don't know if this is related, I checked this background activity and on my phone it showed the KMB app (only relevant to users in HK) had 19hrs of background activity within the last day. Doesn't seem to affect the battery though, as it is just an app for bus schedules.
Yes, it’s related. The bug is for background activity in general, not only Music app.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ChpTrk Avatar
81 months ago

I’ll ask again and re-phrase. Does everyone with this issue subscribe to iTunes Match?
I use iTunes Match, and I have the issue.

I believe the assumptions about a server side issue are correct. I typically manually download a couple of playlists to my iPhone for offline listening. For the past couple of days I haven't been able to download the songs in any of my playlists. It looks like the phone starts to download a song, then fails and keeps retrying. I might be able to download a few songs, but the majority won't download. They don't time out and give an error or anything, the app just keeps trying to download them, which I think is where the background utilization/hot iPhone issue is happening.

My phone got so hot one day the flash wouldn't work until I was able to cool the device down.

It's now 10:00 AM. I unplugged my iPhone at 7:00 AM with 100% charge and haven't used it much today. I'm at 57% battery. I have a iPhone SE 2020.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Squuiid Avatar
81 months ago
A picture tells 1000 words. Didn't even use Apple Music. All 'Background Activity".
One more thing, as soon as this started happening, iTunes Match no longer works on my HomePods. I've tried so many things to try and fix, nothing.

Definitely a server side change Apple have made to their music backend to cause this IMO.


Attachment Image
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
itsmilo Avatar
81 months ago
significant minority?

Either way, one of the reasons i keep closing apps at least daily. MR can say what they want. Stuff like Instagram does seem to stay active longer than it should and since there is no indicator which apps are actually indeed still running, i will keep closing them (if not for being a habit)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)