5 ms·

iPhone update leaves users furious due to battery drain issue

79 points by becewumuy 10y ago

geromek 10y ago
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.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- itazula 10y ago
  Me too, iPhone 5 / iOS 10.1.1. No discernible issue.
adorable 10y ago
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 :)
amake 10y ago
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/
- jsmeaton 10y ago
  Took mine in yesterday and have scheduled a replacement part. My phone was in the batch mentioned in the article (bought release day). A friend of mine had the same issue and had his battery replaced by a third party but didn't solve the issue. He's just got his scheduled for a replacement too. He tried a factory restore but it didn't fix the issue (mentioned upthread).
- sambe 10y ago
  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.
kevinyank 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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 10y ago
    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.
heisenbit 10y ago
Observed this yesterday the first time on my iPhone 6. From 20% to 1% in 5 min. When plugged in up to 25%.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
malinens 10y ago
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..
- robmcm 10y ago
  Less prone to usage degradation and environmental conditions.
- josh2600 10y ago
  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.
- mikhailt 10y ago
  Batteries are not predictable, they degrade based on the chemistry stored within it, they lose charges based on usage, temperature, and so on. You may have a great battery life in the warm climate but go where it is cold, your battery life takes a hit, it's the same device but the battery reacts to the temp much faster (which degrades it) and you're charging it more often, which degrades it even further. SoC chips are far more predictable because they don't degrade as much as batteries do, they're more "solid"/"fixed". That's not to say they don't have issues, companies do have yield issues and defects but they're caught at the very beginning, not later. That's unlike batteries because their issues are often caught later after they're out of the factories, it's why Samsung was surprised. They wouldn't be stupid to sell bad batteries to destroy all of the momentum they had going. Apple tends to have more technology in their batteries to ensure they don't overheat, charge consistently and so on but that doesn't actually resolve all of the chemistry issues. When you have an unpredictable part, you're bound to have unpredictable issues with software. In this case, it's not the battery that's giving Apple issues, it's the combination of software and battery. Apple is just at the point where everything is so complex that it is virtually impossible to fix them quickly and to get it right the first time. However, Apple can and needs to step up and offer free battery replacements, stop with these BS programs they have for iPhone 6/6S now.
pawadu 10y ago
This bring backs memories from my Nexus days... Who knows, maybe Apple has decided to include Google Play Services in ios 10.1 ;)
- NTripleOne 10y ago
  Nah, that would provide too much freedom to ios users. :^)
  - sjwright 10y ago
    And too much freedom to malware authors.
    - pawadu 10y ago
      Because it allows you to install apps outside the official market? Using the same analogy would you consider OSX full of malware?
      - NTripleOne 10y ago
        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 10y ago
        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)
virtualritz 10y ago
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/10209132716528564 https://www.facebook.com/maria.stepanova.1986/posts/10209132... 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.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- iaskwhy 10y ago
  This has been my experience in two of their stores in London. One of them even decided not to cover a defective product for free 1.5y after I've bought it in an EU country which gave me 2y warranty. I had to fly to that country to have it immediately replaced, for free. This one was really awkward since they have it on the system, they know when and where I bought it and under which terms and still decided not to help me. In my experience it's by far the worst customer support I ever had.
- hocuspocus 10y ago
  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.
cyberferret 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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.
GreaterFool 10y ago
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!
tiemand 10y ago
I've been having these issues in the past week or so. I thought it was just my battery that was dying!
darkseas 10y ago
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.
zimpenfish 10y ago
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.
amatix 10y ago
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)
christoph 10y ago
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%.
TuringNYC 10y ago
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!
mnw21cam 10y ago
Warning - auto-playing video on that page, with sound.
throwanem 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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.
wvh 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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...
UVB-76 10y ago
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.
cornholeconnie 10y ago
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.
sjm 10y ago
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 10y ago
  Which apps use facial recognition? And is there a way to turn it off?
  - manicdee 10y ago
    Photos and Do not store photos on the iOS device.
    - cauterized 10y ago
      Wait, if you store your photos locally there's no way to disable facial recognition on them?
      - manicdee 10y ago
        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.
- zbrox 10y ago
  The facial recognition runs only while connected to power.
- lorenzhs 10y ago
  Nope: "For both iOS and macOS, the new Photos scans quietly for objects and scenes, but because facial recognition is more computationally (and thus battery) intensive, both OSes let you know that face-interpretation only occurs when iOS devices and Mac laptops are plugged in and have sufficient charge. In iOS, it can happen in the background while the device is plugged in." http://www.macworld.com/article/3092715/photography/hands-on-with-the-new-photos-features-in-macos-sierra-and-ios-10.html http://www.macworld.com/article/3092715/photography/hands-on...
sibartlett 10y ago
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.
Junior7272 10y ago
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.
jrnichols 10y ago
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.
Cochise21 10y ago
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.

79 points by becewumuy 10y ago

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.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
itazula 10y ago
Me too, iPhone 5 / iOS 10.1.1. No discernible issue.

adorable 10y ago

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 :)

amake 10y ago

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/

jsmeaton 10y ago
Took mine in yesterday and have scheduled a replacement part. My phone was in the batch mentioned in the article (bought release day). A friend of mine had the same issue and had his battery replaced by a third party but didn't solve the issue. He's just got his scheduled for a replacement too. He tried a factory restore but it didn't fix the issue (mentioned upthread).
sambe 10y ago
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.

kevinyank 10y ago

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 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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.

heisenbit 10y ago

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

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

malinens 10y ago

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..

robmcm 10y ago
Less prone to usage degradation and environmental conditions.
josh2600 10y ago
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.
mikhailt 10y ago
Batteries are not predictable, they degrade based on the chemistry stored within it, they lose charges based on usage, temperature, and so on. You may have a great battery life in the warm climate but go where it is cold, your battery life takes a hit, it's the same device but the battery reacts to the temp much faster (which degrades it) and you're charging it more often, which degrades it even further. SoC chips are far more predictable because they don't degrade as much as batteries do, they're more "solid"/"fixed". That's not to say they don't have issues, companies do have yield issues and defects but they're caught at the very beginning, not later. That's unlike batteries because their issues are often caught later after they're out of the factories, it's why Samsung was surprised. They wouldn't be stupid to sell bad batteries to destroy all of the momentum they had going. Apple tends to have more technology in their batteries to ensure they don't overheat, charge consistently and so on but that doesn't actually resolve all of the chemistry issues. When you have an unpredictable part, you're bound to have unpredictable issues with software. In this case, it's not the battery that's giving Apple issues, it's the combination of software and battery. Apple is just at the point where everything is so complex that it is virtually impossible to fix them quickly and to get it right the first time. However, Apple can and needs to step up and offer free battery replacements, stop with these BS programs they have for iPhone 6/6S now.

pawadu 10y ago

This bring backs memories from my Nexus days... Who knows, maybe Apple has decided to include Google Play Services in ios 10.1 ;)

NTripleOne 10y ago
Nah, that would provide too much freedom to ios users. :^)
- sjwright 10y ago
  And too much freedom to malware authors.
  - pawadu 10y ago
    Because it allows you to install apps outside the official market? Using the same analogy would you consider OSX full of malware?
    - NTripleOne 10y ago
      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 10y ago
        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)

virtualritz 10y ago

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/10209132716528564 https://www.facebook.com/maria.stepanova.1986/posts/10209132... 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.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
iaskwhy 10y ago
This has been my experience in two of their stores in London. One of them even decided not to cover a defective product for free 1.5y after I've bought it in an EU country which gave me 2y warranty. I had to fly to that country to have it immediately replaced, for free. This one was really awkward since they have it on the system, they know when and where I bought it and under which terms and still decided not to help me. In my experience it's by far the worst customer support I ever had.
hocuspocus 10y ago
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.

cyberferret 10y ago

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 10y ago
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.

GreaterFool 10y ago

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!

tiemand 10y ago

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

darkseas 10y ago

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.

zimpenfish 10y ago

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.

amatix 10y ago

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)

christoph 10y ago

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%.

TuringNYC 10y ago

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!

mnw21cam 10y ago

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

throwanem 10y ago

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 10y ago
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.

wvh 10y ago

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 10y ago
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...

UVB-76 10y ago

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.

cornholeconnie 10y ago

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.

sjm 10y ago

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 10y ago
Which apps use facial recognition? And is there a way to turn it off?
- manicdee 10y ago
  Photos and Do not store photos on the iOS device.
  - cauterized 10y ago
    Wait, if you store your photos locally there's no way to disable facial recognition on them?
    - manicdee 10y ago
      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.
zbrox 10y ago
The facial recognition runs only while connected to power.
lorenzhs 10y ago
Nope: "For both iOS and macOS, the new Photos scans quietly for objects and scenes, but because facial recognition is more computationally (and thus battery) intensive, both OSes let you know that face-interpretation only occurs when iOS devices and Mac laptops are plugged in and have sufficient charge. In iOS, it can happen in the background while the device is plugged in." http://www.macworld.com/article/3092715/photography/hands-on-with-the-new-photos-features-in-macos-sierra-and-ios-10.html http://www.macworld.com/article/3092715/photography/hands-on...

sibartlett 10y ago

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.

Junior7272 10y ago

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.

jrnichols 10y ago

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.

Cochise21 10y ago

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.