
iPhone update leaves users furious due to battery drain issue - becewumuy
http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/iphone-update-leaves-users-furious-due-to-battery-drain-issue/news-story/f13e2c3cdc1b9e40b6b9daaeb33dc65a
======
cyberferret
I'm experiencing this. Since upgrading to 10, my iPhone 6 has gone from being
needing to be charged every 1.5 days to at least 3 times a day minimum. It
also runs extremely hot a lot of the time, regardless of how many or what apps
are running in the background.

No difference if I completely power off and reboot the phone. Usually within a
few minutes of restart, it starts running hot and the battery indicator will
almost visibly run down without me doing anything on the phone itself (and
with all background apps shut off).

The phone's "Battery Usage" list is useless, as it shows things like Mail
being used for 3 minutes, and using 25% of the battery power since last
charge. Varying apps are listed as huge battery sucks even when I don't think
they are (Calculator anybody?!?) At this very moment, it is saying that Apple
Remote took 26% of the battery charge, Messages took 11% and the Home & Lock
Screen took 9% since last charge - about 30 minutes ago!

Things that I _expect_ to suck up the battery, like the Moves app, says only
2%.

I've even plugged my phone into my PC and gone into XCode to check the logs to
see if anything is standing out, but nothing in the logs point to a particular
app or process chewing battery time.

Immensely frustrating. Another dev friend of mine has said that the iOS 10.2
beta has fixed most of his problems, so I may download that from our developer
account and see if it works.

EDIT: Just thought I would point out that I have done a full factory reset on
the phone and restored from iTunes backup twice now, with no improvement at
all.

~~~
jeffwass
I also had major battery issues after updating my 6+ a couple weeks ago, but
somehow they've resolved now.

I'm not sure why or how things got better. At first I could see the battery
power dropping in almost real time. Using safari for a few mins would bring me
from 90% to 80%! (Eg - more than 1% drop per minute).

I then disallowed almost all apps permission to refresh in the background. But
that didn't really help much.

I also noticed the phone seeming warmer than usual. But I wasn't sure if I was
imagining that, being biased by the quickly-depleting battery.

Agreed that the battery usage tool isn't very helpful. I think it just shows
which apps were used by % of time in foreground, not by multitasked
allocation. Eg, this was dominated by Safari and mail for me.

I also let the phone completely discharge a couple times and recharge fully.
Some people say this can help condition the battery, though I'm not sure how
much truth to that for these batteries.

But after a few days things just went "back to normal", and I went back to
getting a fully day's use of charge. I haven't changed my permissions back, so
most apps remain without background execution priveledges. I haven't noticed
any limitations to my productivity with this change.

FYI - I basically charge my phone daily, overnight when I go to sleep. I'm
usually around 20-30% when I plug it in for the night.

~~~
cyberferret
Glad to hear you got yours back to normal. When it first started happening
after I upgraded, I read up on it, and a lot of reports said to expect
degraded battery for the first few days at least while the email app caught up
and reindexed all mailboxes and iCloud did a fresh backup of up of the
existing data. I have about 6 email accounts on my iPhone each with gigabytes
of data, so I happily put up with the heat and battery issues for a while.

But nearly two months later, the problem continues unabated. The heat is a
real worry as it is too uncomfortable to have in my pocket anymore (the metal
edges become almost too hot to touch), and I am wary of charging it when I am
not nearby to monitor for any problems (oddly - it doesn't seem to heat up so
much when charging, but I want to be 100% sure).

------
virtualritz
This is real. A friend of mine has this issue after updating her 6s. It
persists and Apple (Germany) support repeatedly claims there is no problem.

[https://www.facebook.com/maria.stepanova.1986/posts/10209132...](https://www.facebook.com/maria.stepanova.1986/posts/10209132716528564)

P.S.: On that note: Apple support in Germany is severely lacking, compared to
the US.

I had a display issue with my brand new (company support contract covered)
MBP's screen in 2014. the left 25% of it went into becoming colorful pixel
stripes.

I was on a business trip in CA when it happened. The Apple store in Carlsbad,
CA, was happy to replace the screen for free. But it would take two weeks.

As I had to fly back to Berlin, Germany, a week later, I booked an appointment
in the Apple flagship store on Ku'damm there instead (2 weeks waiting time!).

I was 5mins late (finding a place to park there is difficult). They told me my
appointment had ceased and I needed to book another one. I complained but no
avail. So I did book another.

Another two weeks later I finally could show them my screen. They told me I
had caused this and I needed to buy a new screen.

Oh yeah, they were arrogant too.

If there's something we still haven't figured out in Europe (vs the US) it's
great customer service.

~~~
hocuspocus
On the other hand, Google's customer service is great in Europe (and the
warranty lasts 2 years instead of 1 everywhere else).

I never understood how people are happy to pay premium prices and possibly an
AppleCare when you still have to book appointments weeks in advance and go to
a store in person.

~~~
zbrox
Warranty is 2 years minimum in all of EU. If anybody says otherwise (plenty of
sales and customer support people will try to convince you it's 1 year) show
them this:
[http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guar...](http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-
returns/index_en.htm)

To quote - "Under EU rules you always have the right to a minimum 2-year
guarantee at no cost.

This 2-year guarantee is your minimum right. National rules in your country
may give you extra protection: however, any deviation from EU rules must
always be in the consumer's best interest."

This is also on Apple's customer support pages when you check if you're still
in warranty. It says that local rules apply when you're out of Apple's limited
1 year warranty.

~~~
gambiting
People keep misunderstanding what this 2-year warranty is. It's not a blanket
2-year warranty where if your product develops a fault the manufacturer has to
fix it - it's a warranty against _manufacturing_ defects and manufacturing
defects only. And the onus of showing that something is a manufacturing defect
is on the customer, sadly. So if you bought a macbook, and 1.5 years into the
ownership the screen dies, apple is under no obligation to fix it, unless you
can prove that it died because of a manufacturing defect.

To directly quote from the article you posted:

"But, after 6 months in most EU countries you need to prove that the defect
already existed on receipt of the goods, for example, by showing that it is
due to the poor quality of the materials used."

~~~
zbrox
True. When it comes to parts that don't usually die on their own without
visual problems (like a cracked screen) this is not such a big problem.
Usually it comes down to convincing whoever is behind that desk and being firm
and calm about it. That's my experience at least.

------
kevinyank
I had this exact issue on my iPhone 6s back in July/August, prior to the
release of iOS 10. Upgrading to iOS 10 didn’t help.

I took my phone into an Authorised Service Provider, who ran a diagnostic and
said there was nothing wrong, but that the symptoms I described matched up
with a software issue that had been acknowledged by Apple. Apple’s
documentation on the issue, they said, indicates that resetting the phone to
factory defaults will resolve the issue, but if you then restore a backup
affected by the issue, the problem returns. The Authorised Service Provider
advised me my best bet was to either wait for Apple to fix the issue, or take
my phone into an Apple Store.

After waiting a few more weeks, I took my phone into an Apple Store. The Apple
Genius that helped me confirmed the Authorised Service Provider’s take: that
the issue was an acknowledged software bug. The Genius commented that he was
surprised it hadn’t been fixed yet, because Apple had acknowledged the bug
quite some time ago.

The Genius offered to replace my phone under warranty, noting that it might
not fix the issue, but that was all he could do for me. I accepted the
replacement, and thankfully the issue has not recurred with the new phone,
even though I restored my backup from my old phone to it.

My spouse, whose phone was bought at the same time, was also affected by this
issue, and was also able to obtain a replacement from our local Genius Bar.
The problem has not recurred for her new phone either.

~~~
robmcm
I suspect this is a hardware (firmware) issue, I've had it, along with
numerous other people and a replacement followed by an iCloud backup has
always fixed the problem.

It's not normal battery drain, nothing could cause the battery to jump from
30% to 0% instantly. It wouldn't explain the percentage jumps when plugging
back in, or how usage in the cold causes shutoff when under 50%.

I fear Apple knows there is a defect in millions of 6/6s devices and they are
hoping they can ride it out though natural phone attrition.

~~~
batguano
I have same problem with iPhone 7 and iOS 10.1.1

Just started yesterday. My phone gets hot (not Samsung fire hot, but pretty
warm) when the battery level is plunging, which suggests that something is
actually chewing up wattage. At least in my case.

~~~
robmcm
I have no doubt there are battery issues that can be software (I remember IMAP
issues back in the iOS4 days), but I think there is clearly a distinction
between software bug battery drain issues (hot phone, slow consistent drop in
charge) and this sudden shut down issue, battery percentage jumping by 10%/20%
up and down when connected to a charger.

------
amake
I've experienced this too on my iPhone 6s Plus (sudden shutdown at ~20%
battery, immediate recovery upon being plugged in), but now I'm confused;
apparently there is a related hardware issue that Apple knows about and is
offering replacements for:

[https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6s-unexpectedshutdown/](https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6s-unexpectedshutdown/)

~~~
sambe
I've experienced power-down issues but only since 10.1. I no longer see a
serial number list in the article (likely was between the dates mentioned).

The strange thing is that my partner has seen the same issue on an iPhone 5
since 10.1.

------
TuringNYC
Same exact issue here. Bigger mistake on my part -- upgrading before a long
international business trip. To make it worse, Uber has also released a series
of updates recently on iOS (four updates in four weeks?) -- made traveling
very complex because of application instability.

Lesson Learned: put off system/app upgrades until after travel, stick with the
tried and true.

I'm used to this for work (e.g., always perform upgrade on Friday afternoon
after close-of-business) but it is a new phenomenon to apply my work practices
to my personal phone!

------
UVB-76
iPhone 6 here. Have experienced exactly this issue since upgrading to iOS 10
(and 10.1)

The battery will drain extremely fast (typically lasts about half a day, with
light usage), and will randomly and suddenly die when reporting 20, 30, or
even 50 percent remaining.

The unpredictability of when the phone will completely die makes this problem
particularly frustrating.

Connecting a charger cable results in it immediately reporting 20/30/50
percent battery again.

Have already had a Genius bar appointment to resolve. The 'Geniuses' ran the
usual battery diagnostics, and said the battery was close to their 80%
threshold, but were adamant a full restore would resolve the issue. They were
rude and dismissive, and point-blank refused to replace the battery, or
handset.

I did a software restore, and lo and behold, still have the issue.

------
christoph
I got an iPhone 7 basically on launch day and had terrible battery issues up
until last week, when I decided I had had enough and went into the Apple store
and got quite animated until they finally agreed to swap the handset for a new
one. Since then I've had no problems. Things I tried multiple times in
different ways:

Reset all settings

Run battery to flat and then charge to 100%

Restore entirely from backup

Look at running processes with Instruments (normally MediaAnalysisD was
pinning the CPU even when in standby)

Switching basically everything off (background refresh, mobile data, etc.)

Nothing made any difference at all.

The battery was draining at roughly 1% every 8 minutes, even when it was in
flight safe mode. In use, I would be at 20% battery by the end of the day,
whereas my old 6 would normally be at 60-70%.

There is definitely something going on that Apple can't work out, even when
they run diagnostics on the handset.

Their solution in store was for me to format the phone and run it with nothing
installed, etc. for a couple of days. I basically expressed clearly how this
wasn't an option for me after having paid so much money for a device that I'm
reliant on for business communications and eventually they gave in and swapped
the device, since then it's been a night and day difference. I get to the end
of a day on 75%.

------
zimpenfish
I was experiencing this earlier in the year but it didn't go away after
factory resets and a downgrade to iOS 9.2. Which made me suspect iCloud Photos
(with "originals in iCloud" setting) since taking photos would reliably
trigger "warm phone", especially in low connectivity areas. A suspicion which
was heightened when the same phone in my Mother's hands (no iCloud Photos) was
perfectly well behaved battery-wise.

------
Junior7272
Yes! Ever since this latest 10.1.1 update running the smallest app with cause
this new "overheating issue" on the iPhone 6+, battery drains to 70% within
30-40 minutes. NEVER happened prior to this update. I'm barely getting 5 hours
life out of this phone now, % is showing random numbers as well..it may even
turn off and reset after it hits 45%! AND the battery is pretty new - replaced
in late September after it started to bulge...$$ out of my own pocket to take
care of that issue (Had to be replaced ASAP fearing it blowing up) Stopping in
the Apple store this weekend was a complete waste of time, it was beyond
packed due to the timing of the wonderful Holiday Season [sarcasm]. No one
there could help me.

------
adorable
iPhone 6 user here. Same issue for me, battery seems to drain much faster now
and levels can suddenly drop from 10-20 to 0.

ÉDIT: as I was typing the comment, the level actually dropped from 22 to 1!!
About to go dark :)

------
jrnichols
I have generally _not_ had this issue. Most of my battery drain issues seem to
be related to the awfully bloated Facebook app and then Photos in the
background doing its thing. The battery life issue happened for maybe 2 days
after 10.x was released. But the girlfriend's iPhone 6s has dropped from 20%
to 5% pretty fast, though. Only difference is that hers is on Verizon and I'm
on AT&T. Hers was also identified by the Genius Bar as being eligible for a
battery replacement.

------
sibartlett
I had battery issues since upgrading to iOS 10.1 - turned out the phone was
constantly using GPS.

How I fixed it: Settings > Privacy > Location Services, and review which apps
are constantly using GPS.

------
Cochise21
I'm experiencing the same battery drain in my 5. I plugged into pc to save
photos and another update was detected. I was going to backup so I could do a
Firmware reset as Apple Store tech suggested. I can't tell if battery improved
yet but the other problem from 10 update seems to have corrected, reduced
sensitivity to touch. Touch sensitivity is improved noticeably. Hope battery
is too.

------
sjm
This is probably due to the new face recognition stuff which runs in the
background in iOS 10 and Sierra. I think I had similar issues for the first
couple days as it does an initial run through your library, but I haven't had
any issues since. Same with Sierra.

This would line up with other's comments on it magically fixing itself after a
few days.

~~~
cauterized
Which apps use facial recognition? And is there a way to turn it off?

~~~
manicdee
Photos

and

Do not store photos on the iOS device.

~~~
cauterized
Wait, if you store your photos locally there's no way to disable facial
recognition on them?

~~~
manicdee
That is what I am led to believe. Once you take a photo on the iOS 10 device
it will attempt to perform face recognition.

What I am not sure of is whether iOS will attempt face recognition on photos
transferred to it from another source.

------
wvh
These sort of issues are becoming more and more a reason to switch to more
open alternatives, where you have at least sufficient access to the system and
a fighting chance to mess with some tools to debug and perhaps solve the issue
yourself.

~~~
GFischer
Android world isn't that much better.

For example, the Sony M5 has a very unpredictable glitch - it did have a
"workaround" (unlike this iPhone bug) but which significantly degraded
usability - it was to to resort to 3G WCMDA network, 2G GSM GPRS/EDGE. I'm
glad I didn't get it (free off contract)

[http://www.manilashaker.com/fix-auto-shutdown-sony-
xperia-m5...](http://www.manilashaker.com/fix-auto-shutdown-sony-xperia-m5/)

------
throwanem
Has anyone seen this issue on an iPhone SE? Mine's been bugging me to update
to iOS 10 for a while now, and I was planning to do so in the next week or
two, but now I'm not so sure that's a good idea...

~~~
memco
Well, I have felt like my battery has drained a lot more quickly, but until
today thought it might just be my imagination. Will be monitoring my SE a lot
closer. Personally, I'd recommend against updating until 10.2 is out for a
week or two.

------
malinens
Looks like batteries are the most difficult to manage for phone manufacturers
but I don't understand why. Mobile chipsets are thousand time more advanced
technology but they work much more stable..

~~~
josh2600
It's much harder for a processor to catch fire even in abject failure because
processors don't contain fuel cells like batteries do. Battery tech is
inherently more dangerous because of the larger electrical and chemical forces
at play.

------
cornholeconnie
Lovely website. Auto playing junk on mobile, and spyware like pop ups! Awesome
stuff! Guess I'll just guess what the article said from the comments here.

------
mnw21cam
Warning - auto-playing video on that page, with sound.

------
darkseas
Just one extra datum, there gas been _normal_ battery use on my iPhone 7 since
the update, though I don't think it has ever dropped as low as 30%, despite a
fair bit of Bluetooth headphone use.

------
amatix
iOS 10 issue I've had, haven't heard of many others with it? When you answer
incoming calls if it hasn't been rebooted in a few days -- the call timer
ticks but no audio happens. Press the keypad/speaker/etc buttons a few times
and the phone locks up and requires a hard-reboot. Hangup button seems to work
if you do it within a few seconds, otherwise the phone locks up.

Anyone else have this happen? (Carrier: EE in the UK)

------
tiemand
I've been having these issues in the past week or so. I thought it was just my
battery that was dying!

------
heisenbit
Observed this yesterday the first time on my iPhone 6. From 20% to 1% in 5
min. When plugged in up to 25%.

------
geromek
iPhone 5 user here with iOS 10.1.1 . I haven't noticed the issue, just the
understandable decay of my 4 year-old battery that lasts less than it used to
be.

~~~
itazula
Me too, iPhone 5 / iOS 10.1.1. No discernible issue.

------
pawadu
This bring backs memories from my Nexus days...

Who knows, maybe Apple has decided to include Google Play Services in ios 10.1
;)

~~~
NTripleOne
Nah, that would provide too much freedom to ios users. :^)

~~~
sjwright
And too much freedom to malware authors.

~~~
pawadu
Because it allows you to install apps outside the official market? Using the
same analogy would you consider OSX full of malware?

~~~
NTripleOne
Given how apple treats ios users, I'm genuinely surprised they haven't turned
osx into much of the same kind of walled garden - especially after this whole
macbook pro debacle, what with apple showing how much they care about their
professional clientele.

~~~
pawadu
Believe me, they tried. There was a minor riot among developers and many
decided to stay out of the App Store

(not for any ideals mind you, but because of limitations of the store sandbox)

------
GreaterFool
This is the same treatment my iPhone 4 got after few updates. I suppose it's a
standard way for Apple to deprecate old hardware. Those phones won't sell
themselves!

