Iphone 6 Plus battery issues after update to ios 9.3.5

Question

Iphone 6 Plus battery issues after update to ios 9.3.5

Hi all,

I have an iphone 6 plus which has been awesome, no major issues (except a minor inconvenience of occasionally being non-responsive to touch which was fixed by simply locking and unlocking the screen), until yesterday (this has happened since I bought the phone and in retrospect, I probably should have had it replaced). I updated my phone to the latest ios (I believe it was ios 9.3.5) in the last week or so. Battery seemed to go down faster than usual, but I assumed this was just due to increased use or something.

This brings me to yesterday. For the first time, I experienced issues with the battery. It went from about 26%, suddenly down to 4% (after previously decreasing at a steady, reasonable rate). I saw this and quickly grabbed my charger, slightly confused, but didn't think much of it. I plugged it in and a minute later when I went to use the phone, it had jumped back up over 20%. So I disconnected it, not wanting to charge the battery unnecessarily and it went back to gradually decreasing again for a while, before dropping to 1% suddenly. Due to this, I plugged the phone in and got to backing up contacts and then backed up the phone out of concern.

Now, further details of the issue at hand... As it would seem, the phone connects to power, displays that it is charging, but sits at 1%. The phone was functional whilst plugged into power, but twice shut down after being disconnected for more than a couple of minutes. It seemed that the device could stay on when connected to a computer, but if power lost, required a connection to power outlet directly to power up again. Later tested the phone and it seemed to hold charge for at least half an hour sitting at 1%, even capable of using torch etc. I then connected back to power to leave for test today since this made it seem like it was holding charge, but wasn't displaying the percentage correctly.

Today.. I took the phone off charge and it lasted from 7:15am until 8:35am, including use for bluetooth, etc. Then it died. Comes up that it needs to be plugged in, now had it plugged into power socket directly for 45 minutes and still won't power on, but displays low battery without connect cord icon, suggesting the cord is providing power. Phone will not power back up.

Problem solving attempts.. Tried a reset (holding both main buttons for 10-20 seconds) to no success. Reset all settings. Tried 2 different genuine and compatible cords, used 2 different genuine apple power adapters, plugged into 2 different computers.

So basically, my guess has been that the battery is the issue but it seemed odd to me that I'd had no issues previously, then with the recent update and the way that at times, it holds charge. I don't really want to send it away not knowing what the problem is. I live in a rural area so can't attend an Apple store to ask for help. But if this isn't the battery, I have no interest in spending $500 on a service for a phone i paid over $1000 for outright. Very disappointed as this phone had restored my faith in apple products and I was just saying the night before this happened how happy I was with the phone and now this unfortunately.

If the phone will power up again or if I can get it to connect to my MacBook, I will try a full factory reset as a last resort.

Let me know if anyone can help or if there is anything more I need to provide. I tried to be as detailed as possible.

Kind regards,

Dominique

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9.3.5

Posted on Sep 5, 2016 4:49 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Sep 5, 2016 5:21 PM in response to Dominique-is-here

Get the app Battery Life, which will tell you the condition of the battery. Or take it to an Apple store where they can test it, or call Apple for hardware service and they can test it remotely.

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Answer 2

Sep 5, 2016 5:27 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Hi Lawrence,

Thank you for your reply. The phone won't even power on now so no chance of getting an app or doing anything that requires the phone to be on at all. 3 hours drive away from the nearest Apple approved store too unfortunately. Can't call anyone as my phone is now incapacitated...

Kind regards,

Dominique

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Answer 3

Sep 5, 2016 5:33 PM in response to Dominique-is-here

Inspect the lightning connector on the bottom of the phone with a bright light, and clean out an cruft in it with a non-metallic probe such as a toothpick. Then try to charge it again. Also try a different lightning cable and a different USB power source. You should be able to get the phone to work when connected to power even if the battery is drained. Connect your power source, then wait 15 minutes. Then hold the HOME and SLEEP buttons at the same time until something appears on the screen. If it's an Apple logo the phone should restart. If it shows connecting a cable to iTunes then do that.

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Answer 4

Sep 5, 2016 5:40 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Hi again Lawrence,

I have tried all of the above. The home and sleep button together do not seem to result in the Apple logo appearing, no matter how long I hold them for. It does seem to make the power low symbol go away and return but that's all. It shows that the phone is connecting to the power (as the connect cord symbol disappears). But the phone still won't power up and has been connected to power for almost 2 hours.

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Answer 5

Sep 5, 2016 5:44 PM in response to Dominique-is-here

Then it most likely needs a new battery.

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Answer 6

Sep 5, 2016 5:48 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

But if I send it away, will the battery be replaced and they check it's fixed or will it become an issue where if something else is the problem, I will be out of pocket even more money? And how does this happen? There was nothing wrong with it before the update.

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Answer 7

sthamman

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2016 1:50 AM in response to Dominique-is-here

I've got the same issue after the update... there seems to be something wrong with the update. The battery is dying so fast and the most used app shown as "Phone Low Signal"!!! It was work fine before the 9.3.5 update.

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Answer 8

Sep 8, 2016 3:20 AM in response to sthamman

I think it is to do with the update as mine was fine before and then just went downhill. But it does appear that it has ruined my battery somehow because after 3 hours of charging, the phone still powered up (only whilst connected to power source of course) and I got the app mentioned above and basically it says the battery needs replacement ASAP and that it is holding no charge as expected battery life times for doing anything listed are all 0 seconds.

Spoke to someone today who informed me that the same thing happened to their kid's phone after the update. I asked him to seek further information and she also informed us that since advertisement for the new iphone, etc and since new updates, all the kids at school with iphones have had issues too, with batteries playing up and acting in ways they're not supposed to.

My phone is still covered under Australian consumer law so I think I'm going to send it in to be assessed and hopefully will get it repaired for free or a replacement as this is not supposed to happen. Also, the fact that my phone has had issues with the touch screen occasionally not working since I purchased the phone should probably be addressed.

Wish me luck. Hope you find a solution for your phone.

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Answer 9

Teno

Level 1

4 points

Sep 8, 2016 8:22 AM in response to Dominique-is-here

Same issue for me. Tried all recommended steps to attempt to remedy the issue listed here without luck. downloaded battery life and it states battery is good,yet its draining very quickly. Very frustrating . Maybe Apple Tech could come on the thread and at least acknowledge that there is an issue!

Thanks Apple nice update.

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Answer 10

Sep 8, 2016 10:47 AM in response to Teno

Apple does not post here, and generally does not read posts. I can guarantee that the problem is not 9.3.5. If it were there would be tens of thousands of posts about it.

There have been somewhere between 40 and 50 updates in the past 9 years. After every single one of them a few people post a message that says in effect "Version x.y.z killed my battery life. It must be a bug in the release." It never has been the version (OK, it was for version 2.1 and 3.1.1 many years ago, and in each case there were over 10,000 posts within a week, at a time when there were only 5% of the number of iPhones in existence today). In the private forum that is accessible to members with over 8,000 points it's a standing joke: "Version x.y.z was just released. How long before the first "'The update killed my battery' post appears?"

Those people who report have a valid issue, but jumping to the conclusion that it must be the version simply delays fixing the problem. No matter how long you wait the problem will not go away on its own; you need to use logical troubleshooting to solve it. Starting with identifying the app that is draining the battery. Since iOS 8 that's easy; tap on settings/Battery.

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