iPhone Owners Complain That iOS Update Drains Batteries Unexpectedly

Image courtesy of William Hook

A week after Apple admitted that some iPhone 6S batteries weren’t woking properly and agreed to fix the power source for free, the company’s latest iOS update has been found to unexpectedly drain device batteries in a matter of seconds. 

PCMag reports that while iOS update 10.1.1 promises “stability improvements and bug fixes,” some customers claim that downloading and installing the software has led their devices’ batteries to malfunctioning, either by losing power suddenly or displaying incorrect battery percentage readout.

In some cases, Apple iPhone 6 and 5S owners report that their devices are unable to last a full day without additional charging, while others say their phones have died despite showing 30% to 50% battery left.

“After my iPhone 7 Plus upgraded to iOS 10.1.1 yesterday, I found the power consumption seems to became faster, the power endurance [lasts] half of the time as before,” one owner wrote on an Apple forum.

Another owner says that updating to the new system not only drained the device’s battery, but stopped it from connecting to Bluetooth and, at times, froze the phone.

PCMag reports that other users have reported going to bed with a phone that showed 80% battery life and then waking up to a dead phone.

When the owner plugged in the phone, it flashed 30% battery charge within a few seconds. When the phone reached a 100% charge and was unplugged it dramatically dropped to 50% as soon as the phone was unlocked.

Although the issues could be linked to Apple’s other recent faulty batteries, Mashable suggests it could be tied to errant apps that drain batteries or over-heating of the phone’s battery.

Mashable reports that many of the users reporting the issues were part of Apple’s open beta program that provides updates early. The program is now offering a 10.2 update, however, some users say the update hasn’t helped.

We’ve reached out to Apple for more information on the issue, we’ll update this post when we hear back.

iOS 10.1.1 Is Draining iPhone Batteries [PCMag]
iPhone users complain about 10.1.1 battery issues [Mashable]

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