If your new iPad Pro 2026 is running out of juice way faster than you expected, it can be pretty frustrating. The M4 chip is powerful, but sometimes that power gets used by things you don't even notice. Let's start with the most common culprit and work our way through the settings.
Check Battery Health and Usage
Before you change a bunch of settings, it's smart to see what's actually using your power. Head to Settings > Battery. Here, you can see your battery usage over the last 24 hours or 10 days.
Look for any apps that seem to be using a surprisingly high percentage. A graphic design app or a game making heavy use of the M4's GPU might be expected, but a simple note-taking app shouldn't be at the top. This screen tells you if an app is draining battery in the background, which is a common issue.
While you're there, tap on Battery Health. This model is new, so it should show 100% capacity. If it's already significantly lower, it might indicate a hardware issue, but that's very unlikely on a brand-new device.
Manage Display and Motion Settings
The stunning ProMotion display is a battery hog if left unchecked. A great first step is to go to Settings > Display & Brightness and lower the brightness slider. Even a small reduction can make a big difference over a full day.
Next, tap Auto-Lock and set it to 2 minutes or even 30 seconds if you can. This ensures the screen turns off quickly when you're not using it. Also, consider toggling off ProMotion if you don't need the super-smooth 120Hz scrolling for every task. You can set it to limit the frame rate.
Finally, enable Dark Mode from this same settings page. On the iPad Pro's OLED screen, displaying black pixels actually turns them off, which saves a meaningful amount of power, especially at higher brightness levels.
Control Background Activity
Background App Refresh allows apps to update content even when you're not using them. To manage this, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. You can turn it off entirely or just for specific apps that don't need live updates.
Location Services are another major drain. Navigate to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Review the list and set apps to "While Using the App" or "Never" instead of "Always," unless it's absolutely necessary for the app to function.
For your email, change how often it checks for new messages. Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data. Turning off "Push" and setting a fetch schedule like "Hourly" or "Manually" stops your iPad from constantly waking up to check servers.
Disable Unnecessary Features and Connections
If you're not using them, turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. You can do this quickly from Control Center. When these radios are on, your iPad is constantly searching for networks and devices, which uses power. The same goes for Cellular Data on cellular models.
Siri's "Listen for 'Hey Siri'" feature means the microphone is always listening. If you don't use voice commands often, turn it off in Settings > Siri & Search. This can save a small but consistent amount of battery.
Review your widgets on the Home Screen and Today View. Each widget that provides live information (like weather or stock tickers) requires periodic updates. Remove any widgets you don't actively use by long-pressing them and selecting "Remove Widget."
Update Software and Perform a Reset
Software bugs can sometimes cause abnormal battery drain. Always make sure your iPad is running the latest version of iPadOS. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check for and install any available updates. Apple often includes battery performance improvements in these updates.
If you've tried everything and the drain persists, a software glitch might be the cause. You can try a force restart first. Quickly press and release the Volume Up button, then quickly press and release the Volume Down button, then press and hold the Power button until you see the Apple logo.
As a last resort, you can reset all settings. This won't erase your data, but it will reset Wi-Fi passwords, wallpaper, and preferences. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Reset, then choose Reset All Settings. After it reboots, you'll need to reconfigure your settings, but it can clear out any corrupt preferences causing battery issues.
