Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

IOS 9.2.1 battery drain

I have a I phone 5 that I just recently updated to 9.2.1

Ever since the update, my battery life is horrible, I hardly use the phone all day, but my battery gets depleted rapidly

Has anyone else experienced this after 9.2.1?

iPhone 5, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Jan 27, 2016 4:39 PM

Reply
19 replies

Jan 31, 2016 10:04 AM in response to william27615

ios 9.2.1 update ~battery drain ~battery dying fast
I got my iphone 5s pretty much when it hit the shelves, never having an issue with battery life before in fact, my battery always kept great charge. Until this update!!
-During update I was never asked to back anything up or sign in or out of icloud, update was pretty fast!
-After update I unlocked my phone and checked a few apps, my screen froze up in facebook, not over thinking the situation I put my phone on charge over night.
- Following morning after unplugging my iphone I noticed my battery percent was in the 30’s, I just assumed the plug wasn’t connected correctly and thought no more about it. Until I was using my phone and noticed literally each second my battery was dropping and also feeling extremely hot to the touch. I removed my cover to help cool my phone down, decided to leave the battery die completely and then charge it to 100% thinking this might help.
-I googled the ios 9.2.1update and issues surrounding this, hmmm! noticed I wasn’t alone, reading all the tips and hints of conserving battery life, turn this off and turn that off, **** just turn everything off while you’re at it. Yes I gave it a go, turning off location, turning off all background refresh, pretty much everything in my settings that could be turned off I turned off, including signing out of my icloud as it was constantly upgrading with a spinning wheel, felt this may be causing the most of my battery drain and over-heating. After all this, with a full 100% battery I was sure all be ok, I was wrong, in fact the complete opposite, I lost 60% battery in 20 minutes, the only app I had open was my settings. Of course I was extremely annoyed, why after paying 599 for an iphone should I be stuck with a dying shell just because of an update. (I would suggest if anyone has this same issue, just leave your settings alone, turning everything off will not fix this issue, perhaps turn toggle on in low battery mode, if you want to try the following as it sorted my battery and over-heating)

Make sure your itunes on you computer is up to date.
2. Connect iphone to itunes via USB. Leave phone connected for a while and make sure it is charging while connected, I had the bolt of lightning on my screen but no charge (here I had to reboot my iphone as my computer would not charge it, as you will need a healthy enough battery for a back-up, place fingers on both sleep and home button together for 30seconds) try keeping phone on low power mode!
3. Click on iphone (summary) in itunes... (second section) Back up to this computer. I also clicked on back up my apps!
4. Once complete restore iphone(first section) (to factory settings) you will be prompted are you sure, and click on I agree etc etc. Seriously this took a lifetime (7 hours approx) as itunes had to download the software to restore the iphone. This seems to be normal and time tends to vary.
5. After the lifetime passed by and the software is downloaded I had to click on restore my iphone again, this time it restored taking a further 30-40 mins, once complete, you now have a new iphone and set up begins.
6. Iphone should restart with HELLO and ask for wifi settings.. Follow on screen instructions, hit continue when prompted in itunes, here it will ask you if you want to set up as NEW or Back up to the last back up, which you done earlier. Click on this option and allow phone to sync. Should take some time. All set up complete and battery at 100% all my apps had to re-install, this process is extremely slow, would probably be much faster too download all the apps from scratch IMO!

Anyway I hope this helps, it is a lengthy process but defiantly worth it.

Good luck.

Jan 31, 2016 10:10 AM in response to william27615

Yes, I have a 5S and noticed my battery had dropped 30% within an hour doing nothing but texting, as I set out specifically to conserve battery knowing I would be away from a charger for a while. I also turned my backlights way down, and wifi and BT off.


my Touch ID also failed completely this morning for some reason. After resetting my iPhone with the sleep/power & home combo, all of my previously stored fingerprints are gone, and every attempt to set it up again fails.

Jan 31, 2016 11:50 AM in response to hhealy007

thanks. Everything is current on my MacBook. I just did a Backup and restore to my iPhone. The result was the same from the Hello screen. Touch ID doesn't allow me to set up With an error. Battery was quite warm after charging during the update. But it did seem to charge. Testing it now in the Dock.


ill try a complete factory reset, and then a restore from my last backup after I confirm its not a hardware issue. You did a factory reset of 9.2.1 install? Not an earlier version?

Jan 31, 2016 12:36 PM in response to Woodwyn

All the issues I had with my iPhone came with the update iOS 9.2.1.; once completing the full restore via iTunes I backed up to the latest back up which was the same iOS 9.2.1 ( had no other option) and all is working smoothly. I had to set up my Touch ID once setup was complete.

I had no issues with my Touch ID before the restore just battery drainage and overheating also freezing screen. It did take 7+ hours to sort it all out though.

Jan 31, 2016 2:00 PM in response to hhealy007

I went through the same "restore to factory settings" process and it seems to have solved the battery drain problem that was triggered by the 9.2.1 update. I spent quite a bit of time with Apple Support Chat and then on the phone and ultimately it was their advice to restore to factory settings Like others on this thread it took a long time but it seems to have solved the problem.

Feb 1, 2016 12:43 PM in response to hhealy007

Well I managed to downgrade and reinstall iOS 9.2 while Apple is still signing it. But to no avail, my Touch ID is still unable to be set up. I haven't had a chance to try a clean install with a new setup as I needed my iPhone today, but I may try again tonight since Apple may stop signing 9.2 any day now.


What I can tell you is reverting to a clean install of 9.2, with a backup of my iPhone from Saturday morning before I upgraded to 9.2.1, is that my battery is being sucked dry. I walked into my office with the battery fully charged 100% this morning at 9:30AM. I have not touched my iPhone for 3 hours ,and the battery level is currently at 70%!!


I've got 2 bars and LTE showing in my office, which is the way it is almost every day prior to this upgrade, and with similar light days where I'm not using my phone, I might walk out of my office 12 hours later with over 70% remaining.


This is totally unbelievable. I'm trying to get my Touch ID functional again, but the battery drain will be my top priority following that. Apple support recommended taking it to the Apple Store so they could run a diagnosis on it, since it's out of warranty and would otherwise cost over half the retail cost to get repaired. Whatever the outcome of that, I'll discuss the battery drain with them as well.

IOS 9.2.1 battery drain

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.