Staff are commenting that battery is draining like CRAZY on iPad after last night's Field Maps update. Any tips on how to adjust this?
How do we go back to FM 25.1.0 on our iPads while this gets resolved??
I'm also noticing this on Android. Performance of maps and layers in them is significantly slower too. It seems like the device is either far less cpu efficient working with the layers after the update or maybe Field Maps is now downloading and processing far more data from the layers than it was before. Either way, we are not happy at all with the update and tickets have been submitted.
Hi, thank you both for reporting and chiming in on this. Can you provide some context around the workflows being done in Field Maps on an average day? Is the app mostly in the foreground or background? Have you also noticed heavy usage reported in the OS Battery app in the Settings? Any other context can help the team investigate this further. Thank you!
We have a mix of use cases, but in most people open the app to locate things in the map layers and navigate to them. Sometimes they will view popups and info or edit certain layers. I'd say mostly foreground usage. I never really check battery usage before in the OS settings but I just checked this morning on Android and Field Maps is showing 37% of my total battery usage today (phone down to 68% total), screen time 1 hr 8 min and background 4 min. This does seem quite high, although most of my usage was signing in and out and opening and closing apps many times testing sign in issues and app performance issues.
It is very obvious when using the app that overall map performance is much slower. I'd be happy to jump on a call if you want. I do already have a ticket open as well.
Battery is reportedly draining 10% every 15 minutes, with no settings changed (display brightness, etc) since yesterday. Also reported is that averaging 5 GPS locations per point feature is taking much longer than it did in Field Maps 25.1.0.
This is reported from someone walking slowly, scrolling to view past data, and collecting a new feature every 20 minutes or so. Battery went from 100% to 50% in less than 2 hours. We saw it drop from 67% to 57% in 15 minutes.
Are you also noticing that layers and map features take much longer to load and draw when using online maps? I'm wondering if the two are related?
I'm not sure. My iPad blessedly did not update and all our other iPads are in the field until this afternoon. I made a bandaid solution map for folks stripped of some of our Arcade expressions, so they are all able to work for now.
I hope ESRI can get Apple Store to allow them to fast track release a Field Maps Classic version for those of us who want to roll back to 25.1.0. I understand Apple does not allow roll backs on iOS, so I'm just trying to think of creative workarounds!
Hi @ColinLawrence, I'm not familiar with the OS Battery app in the settings. Can you clarify what to check?
Our workflow is online and involves walking slowly, recording new features about every 20 minutes, viewing popups for view-only layers as needed (probably every 15 minutes), streaming Esri's default background imagery, and using My Tracks with Battery Optimization toggled off so that we get higher accuracy tracks. We use Arrow 100 external GPS and iPads with up to date iOS.
Chiming in here to say my users are experiencing the issue. Typical usage, open Field Maps, tap on point, tap on link in popup to go to S123, fill out survey, put phone in pocket. Phone is dying very quickly doing something they've been doing daily for almost 6 years
Yep, to clarify - Tap the iOS Settings app > select "Battery" . This will present graphs and tables for the "Last 24 hour" and "10 days". Its similar steps on Android. I find the the iOS version to be a little less granular. I ran a test on my iPhone Xr (iOS 18.6.1) for the last 2 hours. 1 hour was using 25.1 and the second hour using 25.2 and the battery usage was almost identical. My battery only dropped 1% over the 2 hour period. I did the following on both apps:1. Toggled off battery optimization for Location Sharing
2. Toggled on location sharing "until switched off"
3. Opened a map with editable layers and made a couple of edits, then opened a few popups
4. Backgrounded the app for 30 minutes and let Location Sharing continue to run
5. Brought to the foreground and collected another feature
6. Backgrounded the app for 30 more minutes, then opened the app and turned off Location Sharing
7. I then installed 25.2 and ran the same test.
Unfortunately I ran the test in the middle of an hour, so the bars dont represent each app independently but the smaller bars on 1 & 3pm do and they are almost identical. I probably need to test on a larger scale, but wanted to provide this insight first. I will keep monitoring this thread.
Its good you started a Support ticket and others should do so as well so we can track the impact. The majority of usage being in the foreground can impact the battery life of course, but if this is the same type of usage from 25.1 then that wouldnt explain it. Are you doing Location Sharing or Streaming or any other "persistent" collections?
Thanks for testing this as you were able during an office day, @ColinLawrence ! By foregrounded and backgrounded, do you mean actually using and viewing Field Maps, as opposed to having the app actively running in the background (not as the visible app on top) on your device? When we use Field Maps we are doing nothing but mapping, for 4-6 hours, so it is always foregrounded (if I understand the terms). We are using the map the entire time to navigate, look at pop-ups of features collected in the past, and create new features when relevant.
Field Maps is the only app we have running in the field.
For context and details, in case this is helpful: We're doing fine scale invasive plant monitoring in tricky terrain, so tracks, imagery, and past population locations + the attribute information in their pop-ups are essential for us while in the field. All of our data are necessarily vector data. We are using primarily referenced feature layers from our Enterprise geodatabase (11.3, PostgreSQL flex server), plus some Enterprise hosted feature layers. We use either Esri's default Imagery layer or, to enable offline work (which we have yet to do this season), the offline imagery service hosted by Esri (World Imagery for Export) with saved credentials. We use Arrow 100 external GPS and new iPads running the latest iOS which are managed by our IT folks via Apple Business Manager and InTune.
We are also having battery drain issues. We have a field team, a few of them turn off location services and just move the map manually. This worked on 25.1.0. now it gets stuck in an "aquiring position" loop and destroys the battery
Thanks for responding. I have a few questions:What device and OS version are you using? About how long to do you stay in Survery123 before returning to Field Maps? Roughly how many times a day would you perform this workflow (Field Maps to Survey123)? Are there any other workflows you are performing in Field Maps?Also please reach out to Support if you have not already.
It's a field worker. Android. Probably an Samsung S23. They used the Field Maps/S123 workflow 11 times between 11:38 and 1:20 and their battery diedI'm not interested in doing ESRI's bug fixing, beta testing, or field testing, this is on you to identify and fix the issue.
I think this "aquiring position" loop @JoshuaWyatt reported is potentially a good lead on what is draining battery for us, too. We had to toggle GPS Averaging off for our maps in Field Maps Designer b/c point averaging was taking almost 1 minute per GPS hit...so averaging 5 GPS points per point feature made it take ~3 minutes to record a single point feature. In 25.1.0, this took just seconds per hit, with the point location being averaged easily within under 20 seconds, I'd estimate.
I have to wonder if there is something different in how GPS is working in 25.2.0 that is draining battery.
I thought @JoshuaWyatt s comment was interesting as well, but the message "acquiring location" is a bit misleading as the app does not continue to try to acquire locations on its on if it initially fails. When you first open a map with Location services off, the app should tell you to turn them on, and if you dont it should not attempt again until this is resolved. In this scenario, the GPS icon/tool should be disabled.For what you mention about averaging, that is very strange especially given you are using an external GPS. Can you confirm if you are getting regular locations outside of Field Maps? Are you connecting directly or using as a mock provider? We should easily be able to get a location every second with that device. We may have exchanged emails in the past so feel free to reach out to me directly or DM me and we can discuss more. I am running further tests around the scenarios mentioned in this thread to see if I can reproduce what everyone is seeing.
Thank you, Colin. Battery drain was still abysmal today for folks. One iPad went down from 100 to 50% after 1.5 hours of work. Another went from 100 to 9% after 3 hours of work at the same location, same map, same workflow. So, we're still seeing the ~40% drain per hour. Our drain was 12% per hour with 25.1.0.
We are always using external GPS and we are always recording My Tracks.
The GPS Averaging slowness issue is not occurring for me today. I just emailed you about that. It sounds like this was not consistent among staff and could have just been a coincidence due to GPS issues that my coworker and I experienced yesterday. (His I-am-here blue dot in Field Maps was grey most of the day. I was testing indoors. I just got confirmation from 1 user that he did not have issues with GPS averaging yesterday. I haven't had a chance to ask anyone else yet.)
I did experience the Acquiring Location spin when I first started trying to do my testing outside the office. It may have just been my external GPS taking its time to acquire satellites and a position, since I'm in an area with buildings and such. I switched to internal and back to external a couple of times before I finally got a position with external. I'm not sure if this is normal or not since I don't normally do testing in an urban environment, and there is usually a bit of lag time between when I connect my iPad to external GPS and when I start mapping when I'm actually in the field.
My field staff is having the same problem. They said the batteries are draining quickly since the updates.
A tip for others suffering: A coworker found that working on our iPads with Low Power Mode turned on greatly reduces battery drain in Field Maps 25.2.0. (Keep Field Maps in the foreground for this workflow to prevent the problems noted elsewhere re. Low Power Mode.) My coworker found that turning on Guided Access mode AFTER turning on Low Power Mode allowed him to work without the screen turning black every 15 seconds (a feature of Low Power Mode). Here are the steps he shared for our iPad Pro tablets:
I see both app stores have updates in them, is there any news on if those updates resolve this issue?
Nope. We have an open ticket with Esri Support on this issue and received this notification by email on 10/8/25:
BUG-000179971 is currently being evaluated by ArcGIS product teams.Description: After updating to ArcGIS Field Maps 25.2.0 on iOS devices, excessive battery drain with routine workflows.During this review process, the product teams evaluate the customer impact, level of effort, and potential implementation timelines. There is no guarantee that this change will be implemented; however, the product team actively monitors it, and you will be notified of future updates.
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