IOS 9.2 Rapid Battery Drain Issue

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Level 1

40 points

IOS 9.2 Rapid Battery Drain Issue

Since upgrading to iOS 9.2, my battery has been running warm and draining fast!

It seems to drain a percentage point every 30 seconds. I went to the Apple Store and they claimed they haven't heard anything about a 9.2 battery issue yet. When I was at the store it was at 99% and went down to 62% in about 10 minutes - no apps running in background. The manager did a wireless diagnostic on my phone, and told me that a couple of apps I had was using battery but nothing substantial. She mentioned that the opersting system Bluetooth app was crashing constantly and could be the culprit. Manager told me they could replace my phone but if I did a restore of my current phone, the problem would continue since she thought it was a software issue rather than a hardware issue. I'm still having the issue and still waiting for Apple to fix this. It is clearly an issue with 9.2 as other people have begun posting the same types of problems. Also the phone is considerably warm to the touch. I have never had a battery issue prior to the upgrade, and have never had an issue using location services either.

Posted on Dec 11, 2015 6:24 PM

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Answer 1

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Paul Squyres Author

Level 1

40 points

Dec 13, 2015 12:26 PM in response to Paul Squyres

After reading several other posts for possible fixes. I have done the following and I am NOT experiencing the rapid battery drain anymore, so problem seems to be resolved. Albeit, it isn't an ideal solution, it seems to have fixed the issue:

1. Perform an encrypted backup in iTunes of the phone. NOTE: If you perform an encrypted backup all of your health data (IE: Apple Watch data, exercises, heart rate, etc.), and passwords are maintained. If you do not check encrypted when performing a backup, then all of that information is lost. You will have to renter passwords everywhere (IE: safari, email, apple id, etc.)

2. Turn off Find My iPhone on your phone in :Settings, iCloud, Find My iPhone

3. Errase all Content and Settings on your phone in: Settings, General, Reset, Erase All Content and Settings

4. Once your phone reboots as a new iPhone, following the steps on your phone by connecting to a wireless network, enter your apple ID and password, then select Restore from Backup from iTunes.

5. Connect your phone to your computer and either start iTunes or it will automatically start when your phone is connected.

6. In iTunes, select restore from backup (your latest one should be selected). If prompted, enter the password you entered when making the encrypted backup.

7. After a while, depending on how much content it has to restore, you should have a duplicate of your original phone back. You will have to enter your Apple ID, reset up Touch ID fingerprints, and Apple pay credit cards. All of your apps will be downloading in the background, which for me, is going to take a while as I have less than 1MBPS out in the country. All of your apps and folders would be maintained in the restore.

As I stated, this is not an ideal solution, but it seems to be working for me. It is going to take a while to restore all of my apps though, as my internet connection and cellular connection are SLOW......

Hope those steps help anyone who is having this frustrating issue.

Good luck!

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Answer 2

Dec 12, 2015 9:20 AM in response to Paul Squyres

I am having the same issue and hope that a permanent solution is found soon.

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Answer 3

Dec 12, 2015 11:07 AM in response to Paul Squyres

Thanks Paul, I have tried this so hopefully it works!

It is absolutely dreadful how this has not been tested adequately, it makes the iphone useless within a couple of hours.

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Answer 4

Paul Squyres Author

Level 1

40 points

Dec 12, 2015 2:22 PM in response to Afcjonwood

You are welcome!

I'm in the software business, and I understand how complicated code can get, but I totally agree, it should have been tested more thoroughly before being released.

What makes it frustrating is the fact that I traveled all the way to the Apple Store (45 miles) and basically was told "Good luck with that! It's your fault because you installed this app which appears to be using the battery, and look at all of those location aware settings you have on - which by the way, iOS defaults to active". Before the 9.2 update my iPhone was working perfectly.

Apple does a good job of training their employees to smile, nod their heads, and listen to customer's issues, which, by the way, appears so rehearsed and fake, which ascorbates the issue. And, because this problem is so widespread now and the fact that Apple does not even acknowledge it, is really upsetting - just like the issue with screen burn on the first retina MacBook Pro I purchased. I went through 4 replacements and finally decided to downgrade to the regular screen - still, no acknowledgment that screen burn on the retina screens is an issue!

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Answer 5

eugklng

Level 1

0 points

Dec 12, 2015 9:49 PM in response to Paul Squyres

Hi Paul,

I got the same issue as well. I've tried the reset settings without the delete all and the battery still drains rapidly. I suspect this might be caused by some apps that are misbehaving after the update. If after a full delete and restore helps, then likely the misbehaving app had to be removed and reinstalled to solve the misbehaviour. I am in the midst of trying the full delete and restore and lets see how it goes...

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Answer 6

Dec 13, 2015 12:24 AM in response to eugklng

Looking at the Pre and Post battery levels it looks like safari is causing the problem IMO. It must be running in the background as the % of battery was very high.

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Answer 7

Banjo72

Level 1

10 points

Dec 13, 2015 1:53 AM in response to Paul Squyres

I have the same issue, my battery percentage was dropping down every 30 seconds. I tried switching the phone off and on but I just got the empty battery symbol when I tried to switch it back on, even thou the battery was at 37% when I switched it off. When I did connect it to a charger and switched it on the battery percentage was 10% but then leaped to 57%. 10 minutes later it was on 88% so I think there may be some sort of glitch as I have just recently updated to iOS 9.2

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Answer 8

Caouic

Level 1

0 points

Dec 13, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Paul Squyres

Hi,

Same issue since update my iPhone 5, 5s and my iPad Air 2 to IOS 9.2.

Battery life drops fast.

I try to turn off localisation and bluetooth. it helps a lot.

I hope Apple fix this issue soon.

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Answer 9

Banjo72

Level 1

10 points

Dec 13, 2015 5:05 AM in response to Paul Squyres

My usage has not changed, I always close down any apps I'm not using and only use location services/Bluetooth etc when needed. Checked battery use and there is nothing out of the ordinary there. I really do think it's an issue with this update rather than a battery or app issue

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Answer 10

Paul Squyres Author

Level 1

40 points

Dec 13, 2015 10:12 AM in response to Caouic

The steps above on erasing content and and all settings has fixed the battery drain issue for me. I updated my iPad mini 4 and it is experiencing the same battery drain problem. I'll follow those steps for my iPad and hopefully will fix it too. As of today, my iPhone's battery usage is back to where it was prior to the iOS 9.2 upgrade and that is with all location services on, Bluetooth on, etc.

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Answer 11

Paul Squyres Author

Level 1

40 points

Dec 13, 2015 10:13 AM in response to Afcjonwood

Mine was the lock screen, then safari, then the phone app. I have no idea what was causing it and really don't have the time to troubleshoot. The reset and erase all content, steps I listed above in this tread, solved my problem.

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Answer 12

Dec 13, 2015 3:53 PM in response to Paul Squyres

I have an Ipad 4 (32G) wifi and just updated to 9.2 yesterday. Starting yesterday evening I noticed the battery level was dropping, even while charging and decided to turn off and charge over night and this was after powercycling etc. This afternoon I noticed that the Ipad is not charging quickly or remotely as fast as it was prior. Off charger I can literally watch the battery drop every minute or less. BT is turned off, brightness is lowest setting, just wifi and it drops significantly so I decided to search and see if others were having this problem and sad to see that there are many, many, threads about the issues. Apple needs to address this now, this resetting and wiping clean is unacceptable, who has time to backup and wipe out everything ? Besides, the Ipad is no where near 100% to be able to backup and reset even if I wanted to. This is ridiculous. Apple, please fix this issue now.

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Answer 13

ron-NZCS

Level 1

4 points

Dec 13, 2015 4:49 PM in response to Paul Squyres

Hi I also up graded my new iPhone 6S to 9.2 over the weekend and now my battery is being drained rapidly similar to others above. Took my phone to Spark Bus hub, they checked a few things, but said if there is a problem Apple will develop a fix some time soon, and would I like to buy a battery pack for $50? Over night charging usually takes the battery to 100%, however, last night it only when to 85% over 9 hrs of charging.

We have followed a lll the usual battery saving tasks such as turning the brightness down, turning off 4G turning battery saver on etc.

APPLE you guys need to address this issue smartly as I can't afford to be without at this time of year.

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Answer 14

Dec 13, 2015 5:56 PM in response to Banjo72

Banjo72 wrote:

My usage has not changed, I always close down any apps I'm not using and only use location services/Bluetooth etc when needed. Checked battery use and there is nothing out of the ordinary there. I really do think it's an issue with this update rather than a battery or app issue

There have been posts like yours after every update for 8 1/2 years. And every time the poster is certain it's because the update was defective, whether it was 9.2, 9.1, 9.0, 8.4...all the way back to 2.0. It isn't the iOS version; it is some app that didn't respond well to the iOS update. The 2nd post in the thread is an excellent way to resolve the problem if you don't want to go through all of your apps to determine which one is misbehaving.

There is no reason to close down apps that you are not using; if you are not using them they are suspended and not using power. And closing them down can actually increase battery drain (see http://www.howtogeek.com/204552/no-closing-background-apps-on-your-iphone-or-ipa d-wont-make-it-faster/). I currently have 97 apps showing when I double-press the HOME button, and my battery life and performance are just dandy. There's also no point in turning off Bluetooth, because it uses negligible power. And if you turn off Location Services, Find my iPhone will not work. Like Bluetooth, Location services uses very little power. Turning off both may give you an extra 10 minutes of battery life on a charge, if that much.

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Answer 15

Dec 14, 2015 3:19 AM in response to ron-NZCS

ron-NZCS wrote:

Hi I also up graded my new iPhone 6S to 9.2 over the weekend and now my battery is being drained rapidly similar to others above. Took my phone to Spark Bus hub, they checked a few things, but said if there is a problem Apple will develop a fix some time soon, and would I like to buy a battery pack for $50? Over night charging usually takes the battery to 100%, however, last night it only when to 85% over 9 hrs of charging.

We have followed a lll the usual battery saving tasks such as turning the brightness down, turning off 4G turning battery saver on etc.

APPLE you guys need to address this issue smartly as I can't afford to be without at this time of year.

Apple is not here. The will not hear you in this user-to-user forum. And this is not a generic problem with 9.2; if it was there would be many thousands of posts about it already. It's a problem with your phone. If you have an Apple store visit it. If you don't call Apple; you have 3 months of free phone support (2 years if you purchased appleCare+)

Most of the battery saving tasks that are posted are myths. They don't do anything useful. Brightness perhaps, if you play games extensively. Other that they are a waste of time. 4G is so much faster than 3G that in the end it uses less power, even though it uses more during data transfers, but they are shorter.

If you charge for over 3 hours using the wall adapter and it does not go to 100% either you have a hardware problem with the phone, wall adapter or cable, or your battery gauge needs to be recalibrated:

Charge for 4 hours
Run the battery down until the phone shuts off
If it shuts off above 1% charge it for a minute only, then continue running the battery down. Repeat until it makes it to 1% before shutting off
Charge it to 100% again

If the battery is not defective this should fix it.

And see my other post.

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