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Bug IOS Iphone Software Upgrades Apple News

iOS 6.1 Leads To Battery Life Drain, Overheating For iPhone Users 266

An anonymous reader writes "We have started seeing an increase in iPhone issues related to battery life and overheating. All of them seem to be related to users upgrading their devices to iOS 6.1. Furthermore, Vodafone UK today began sending out text messages to iPhone 4S owners on its network, warning them not to upgrade to iOS 6.1 due to issues with 3G performance. The text reads, 'If you've not already downloaded iOS 6.1 for your iPhone 4s, please hold off for the next version while Apple fixes 3G performance issues. Thanks.'"
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iOS 6.1 Leads To Battery Life Drain, Overheating For iPhone Users

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  • My phone is too full to run the upgrade. I guess I am just good.

  • It seems background audio from Safari and other browsers is broken as well.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by BasilBrush ( 643681 )

      It seems background audio from Safari and other browsers is broken as well.

      Not broken. Prevented. Thank god. Web pages what play background audio are the spawn of satan.

      Audio that you choose to play still works perfectly of course.

  • by Jarik C-Bol ( 894741 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @01:40PM (#42844679)
    And this is why I refuse to install system updates for at least a month after they are released. Let some other poor sod brick their phone with an obscure bug, and get the fixed update once they finish the croudsourcing beta test.
    • by _xeno_ ( 155264 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @03:12PM (#42845331) Homepage Journal

      Except last I checked, iOS 6.1 contains security fixes, a few of which are not related to blocking jailbreaking.

      So your choices are apparently "useful battery life" or "able to browse webpages safely." Sounds about normal for Apple, since this isn't the first upgrade that completely killed battery life for most users.

    • by yusing ( 216625 )

      Right-o! This is wisdom for all X.0 (and X.Y.0) OS releases (and most app releases) I've ever known. Waiting long enough to hear about what early-adopters experience is right for most of us. (Same situation in the case of the new KDE4.10 release which is crashing on some DE's)

    • Well, since this seems to be the place for lots of anecdotal evidence... I've been running 6.1 since the first beta with no issues.

  • No problem here (Score:5, Informative)

    by DJ Particle ( 1442247 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @01:46PM (#42844725) Homepage
    iOS 6.1 - iPhone 4S - no issues. Don't know where TFA is getting this from.
    • Re:No problem here (Score:5, Informative)

      by grqb ( 410789 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @01:50PM (#42844751) Homepage Journal

      Same here

    • by iMouse ( 963104 )

      Have a friend with a 4s and iOS 6.0.x that has some kind of background process keeping the phone from going into standby. The standby and usage timers are the same and the phone only gets about 8 hours of use.

      I'm wondering if some misbehaving apps or mail/sync configurations are keeping the phone awake. Something in the iOS 6.1 update could be causing a similar problem for some of those who update.

      Both my iPhone 4 and wife's 4s seem to be relatively normal since the 6.1 update.

      • Re:No problem here (Score:5, Informative)

        by TrancePhreak ( 576593 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @03:54PM (#42845611)
        I've read about a problem like this. It was a bug in the handling of exchange servers for the built in mail app. Removing and re-adding the exchange account seemed to fix it. The bug will randomly reappear at times and there is no known cause.
      • Re:No problem here (Score:5, Informative)

        by Serenissima ( 1210562 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @04:19PM (#42845761)
        I used to work at an Apple Store. I was never a tech, so take this with a grain of salt. It's PROBABLY not related to the system update but more than likely something bad on the phone itself. If you see the usage and standby meters the same like you do, you're right, something is hung up in the background. The best thing to do is to make sure you have a backup and restore the phone. If there's something hanging in the background for a while, you'll start to notice your phone acting funny. Like the battery life problem. Left alone for long enough and you'll start getting corrupted data into the phone because of it which will make your phone act really strange. Apps constantly crashing to the point of unusability, it can become unresponsive on certain parts of the screen, etc. And that corrupted data can eventually get copied into the backup file - meaning that any restore from the backup will bring that problem right back.

        To Back Up - First copy all photos and videos from the phone to the computer. They will fill up your iCloud space really fast. Then look for Apps that hold documents. Most apps are really just portals to websites so they contain little to no data. However, for apps that contain files, make sure you have those files backed up somewhere. Then backup the phone to either iCloud or by plugging it into iTunes. Plug it into iTunes in either case and also right-click on the phone and hit Transfer Purchases. That will transfer any apps, music, movies, etc that are not currently on the computer from the phone.

        So easiest to hardest steps after backing up all data:
        1: Reset All Settings: Go to Settings>General>Reset All Content and Settings. Then restore from backup. This can kill a lot of problems and takes maybe 15 minutes. However, if the problem is deep in the system...
        2: Restore from Backup: Plug the phone into iTunes and do a System Restore. This will do a clean install and will clear a lot more problems. Then restore from backup. Now, if the problem persists, your backup is more than likely corrupted so...
        3: Restore the Phone: Do the same process as above but do not restore from the backup. You can re-sync to iCloud for contacts and re-sync apps from the computer (or re-download them). Essentially you're starting with a fresh system and just copying the apps back over. You'll lose your app data, so maybe some high scores in some games, nothing too bad. However, if the problem persists even after doing this...
        4: DFU Restore: Look up how to do this online. If none of the above have fixed it, there's some bad juju on your phone. A DFU will reinstall the system AND the firmware. Just to be on the safe side, I would advise not restoring from backup. If your phone was borked enough that it needed a DFU restore, don't take the chance of putting stuff back on there. Just copy the apps back.

        All in all, they're very easy steps to do and when all is said and done, you can have your phone back up and running in about 30 min with any of the above steps. Hope it helps, Cheers!
        • Except that "transfer purchases" doesn't actually work, I've done that before every reinstall/upgrade and without fail, I get a message after the process saying at least 5 apps couldn't be found to be restored, and I've had to re-download them from the (cr)app store.

          Am I clicking "transfer purchases" wrong? ;)
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) *

          The best thing to do is to make sure you have a backup and restore the phone.

          How we used to LOL when the fix to all computer problems was "close the window and open it again". Apparently that has now evolved to "wipe all data and restore to factory settings". Progress indeed.

    • by Zadaz ( 950521 )

      Also no problems with 4S and 6.1.

      I wonder if some of these 'problems' are from the same people who refuse to believe that iTunes shuffle is random.

      I know why /. posts these articles, to get lots of comments. All the comments are between fanbois and trolls. Which adds nothing to nothing.

      • Also no problems with 4S and 6.1.

        I wonder if some of these 'problems' are from the same people who refuse to believe that iTunes shuffle is random.

        It's not that it isn't random, it's that it doesn't work like most people would expect. Even Apple will tell you that shuffle doesn't pick the next song at random. When you first turn on shuffle, it creates a shuffled playlist and uses that forever unless you turn off shuffle and turn it back on. So every time you play song X, it's always followed by song Y. In some ways it makes sense, but after listening though a few times, it's easy to notice that its not really picking the next song at random.

        http://www [cultofmac.com]

        • Isn't this how shuffle always works? It works like that on my Rockboxed device, on my N900... heck, I'd say that's the "expected" way of doing it.

          • On my Sandisk Sansa player, each time the shuffled playlist completes, it reshuffles the list. If I go back and forward in the list, I'll hear the same sequence until I run off the far end, then it randomizes them again.

            The only time I hear the same song twice in a row is if it was at the end of the shuffled list and then at the start of the new list. 1 in 1392!2 chance of that.

          • I haven't paid enough attention to see if that's how it works on my N900. Some times it seems like it does, and other times it doesn't.

            I think my ideal for shuffle would be to reshuffle the playlist after you've gone through every song once, maybe with a check that the last 10% of the previous run through the list aren't in the first 10% of the new run.
    • by DarrylM ( 170047 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @02:33PM (#42845055) Homepage

      Ditto. My 4S has had no problems with iOS 6.1. In fact, my battery life seems better than it was before.

    • I upgraded my 4S as soon as 6.1 came out and had no problems... until yesterday when my phone seems to drain it's battery like charge is going out of style.
    • Dear DJ Particle

      We thank you for using your single datapoint to prove that iOS6.1 is in fact fine and that other people are using it wrong.

      If you are contacted by any member of the media asking for specific details of your phone such as the build number in the OS, serial number, network provider, apps installed, PCB revisions or any other details just kindly remind them that all Apple products are 100% identical and there's certainly no customisations that providers can do such as disabling tethering, SIM l

  • by hduff ( 570443 )

    The most recent update on my HTC increased my battery life significantly.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09, 2013 @01:49PM (#42844743)

    It's a feature to keep user's hands warm during the cold winter months, which will be turned off in a future release when the seasons change.

    - Apple PR

  • by AmazingRuss ( 555076 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @02:12PM (#42844903)

    ...to keep from fucking things up all the time.

  • I remember hearing battery problems for practically every iOS version from 5.0 onwards.
    http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/16/ios-5-battery-life-fix-tips/ [osxdaily.com]
    http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/12/ios-6-0-2-suspected-of-draining-batteries/ [arstechnica.com]
    What gives?

  • by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @02:19PM (#42844959) Homepage

    One of the strong points of iPhone is the fact that it is very manufacturer supported. It is *THE BEST* menufacturer supported consumer device out there. I don't care what you cheer for or what you bought, I think there's simply no denying Apple's iPhone is at the top in this category. They get updates. They get fixes. The carrier does not and cannot get in the way. (Though in the early days with AT&T demanding Apple disable tethering and all that kinda sucked.) After saying all this, you would think I'm another Appe fanboy. I'm not. I'm not any kind of fan boy, but I choose Android over all others and choose carrier independence by going with unlocked, rooted and custom ROM'd phones. So all that out of the way, what am I talking about cutting both ways?

    Well, this: Apple pushes updates to the whole OS -- kernel, apps and all, to all users and all [selected] phones. "The experience" is pretty important to Apple and that it should be consistent is a high priority to them. I think their rate of updates appear to be okay but their all-or-nothing thing is a problem in that problems like these occur and from what I understand, going back to a previous version is not done... not casually anyway and requires jailbreaking maybe?

    The power of the various versions of the iPhones vary. Android devices vary a LOT more. And as I look at the potential of the devices, it is easy to observe that the hardware has limits which shouldn't be exceeded. I've been pissed off at T-Mobile and Samsung for not updating my SGS2 soon enough or for long enough, but sometimes the argument that the hardware can't support the software is true. This Apple story rather reminds me of that fact.

    So it cuts when the device (iPhone or Android) doesn't get the updates users crave, but it also cuts when the updates kill the phone. I guess it's time for me (and anyone else who hasn't yet) to accept that my expensive phone(s) are to be considered short-term use devices with a life expenctancy of about a year... maybe a year and a half. (And certainly not the duration of the contracts that most people sign in order to get their new shiny.)

    Wouldn't it be nice if we could have a more PC like experience with our phones? By that I mean, choose our body/case, display, processor, RAM, storage, radios and all that? I know... too much to hope for. Still, to fight be able osolecence would be nice.

    • by foobsr ( 693224 )
      From your ID (erroneus) I infer that this must be a fine piece of sarcasm.

      CC.

    • Or, you could, for example, keep the perfectly functional operating system you had when you bought the machine. I know, you miss out on the latest shiny and you're vulnerable to some edge case security problem. But it still beeps and whistles like before.

      Apple SHOULD do a bit more testing on their upgrades and you'd think because they only have a couple of models of each phone you could manage that, but I guess it's harder than it looks.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09, 2013 @02:25PM (#42844997)

    I solved my 6.1 battery issues by deleting and recreating my two exchange email profile.

    Apparently this a common issue after iOS upgrades.

  • by foobsr ( 693224 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @02:26PM (#42844999) Homepage Journal
    Obviously, the release cycles have to be accelerated in order to avoid poor quality control, as faster cycling cycles will ensure that bugs will be found earlier.

    CC

  • by Laser_47 ( 234412 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @02:31PM (#42845037)

    Apparently if you update a calendar item on your iOS device, it tries to update Exchange and fails.

    It then retries continuously, chewing through battery life and log files: http://wmpoweruser.com/exchange-server-acting-up-blame-those-ios-6-1-users-then-ban-them/ [wmpoweruser.com].

    • by Spectre ( 1685 )

      Why would this problem be specific to phones, though? I'd guess the Exchange ActiveSync connector for e-mail, calendar, tasks, notes, contact syncing would be the same for iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch, all devices that have it available handling the sync to an Exchange server. Curious.

      I guess I've just been lucky, both my iPhone and iPad are using the Exchange ActiveSync for my work account and I haven't had a problem yet (I usually go 2-3 days between using a charger, so it would be very noticeable if I were

      • by Spectre ( 1685 )

        GP's linked article was written by a MS Windows Phone enthusiast, but it is describing a problem with all iOS6.1 devices. I'd expect this to be a pretty widely known problem by now ... I'll have to look into it further.

        As it is, it just seems like there would be a lot more reports of this issue if it were as bad as described. There must be an unusual set of conditions that trigger it, we have thousands of users with several hundred iOS devices used with our Exchange system, but no reports of issues yet. It

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09, 2013 @02:45PM (#42845151)

    Because the manufacturer of my 1 year old phone has decided that it isn't *worth* updating. No problem - I just installed Cyanogen mod and I'm good ... well, except that the camera isn't supported yet, and the battery life is 1/2 what I get on the manufacturer's ROM.

    Suddenly, overheating Apple phones don't look so bad - at least iPhone owners can be reasonably certain that Apple will actually release a fix, in a timely fashion.

  • My data connection drops, I have to toggle Roaming to get it back. I've never had roaming turned on and prefer it off but turning it on and then back off or simply turning it on brings back the data connection - for awhile. The screen also seems a bit dimmer and softer especially in dark conditions but I'm not seeing any issues with battery life or performance of 3G for phone calls. The data thing, THAT is a killer that needs to be fixed and hopefully without breaking the jailbreak that's out.

    I've done the

  • by sjames ( 1099 ) on Saturday February 09, 2013 @07:05PM (#42846791) Homepage Journal

    This is exactly why Apple must lock down your device for your own good. If you jailbreak, you might run unapproved software that could affect battery life or ecen overheat.....OH.......Never mind. Nothing to see here. Move along!

  • by addikt10 ( 461932 ) on Monday February 11, 2013 @01:56AM (#42856275)

    I've tried to recreate the issue, and so far I can't.
    iPhone 5 iOS 6.1, Exchange 2010
    I created an appointment - no abnormal increase in logs
    I invited someone internal - no abnormal increase in logs
    I was invited from an internal account, rejected one, accepted another - no abnormal increase in logs
    I was invited from an external account, rejected one, accepted another, also declined after accepting - no abnormal increase in logs

    For each of these, there was the expected 20 or so packets associated with the changes, and no ongoing network traffic.

    On the other hand, we had a client that had the runaway log issue last week - I'll be following up with him to find the iOS versions involved

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