iOS 10.1 Battery drain

"My phone is 1 year and 2 weeks old" That is soo close to warranty! Last night I had a Genius Bar appointment to confirm indeed that the battery is headed to a premature 1 year fail, now looking earlies, 10 months, 300-400 cycles. They did the in-house test and showed me on their iPad. 93.2%/ 127 cycles very similar to apps in pics below, which include two that you mentioned. Cannot explain what happened to yours. Another thing, doing the test I had to remove the iPhone from the case so they would inspect it. It was quite warm, and the Genius Bar technicain pointed at my 3mm Speck case "it is normal but that does not help." Consequently I will be drilling tiny holes to let the heat escape, and not bake it at 40-50C nonstop. Heat by itself that could, potentially explain degradation but am not sure. As for your test, perhaps reset/calibration (to make sure apps are getting good numbers) and in-store visual confirmation can confirm your numbers?

As I mentioned earlier, the Genius Bar confirmed that the App reported rates matched their numbers. I will be lucky if I get 10 months. More interesting, in the 5 minutes I awaited for the technician, I surfed. When I removed the phone from the case, I noticed it warm, really over 40C and Apple recommended 35C max temperature. The case is so thick I could never sense it. Below, my solution. I drew dots on the inside, and drilled guide holes with a 3/32. I then used a 9/64 from outside in to leave no burrs. The case was hard and surprisingly thick. In the end, the result is more impressive than I expected, and the phone is now cool. How is your PG experiment coming along?

Hey mschf, basically after yesterday's Apple GB certification, the phone plunged to 82% health at noon.. Commenced reading more on the iphone internal composition and did some research. By 2 PM did another special reset/reinstall with Apple developers (will not say more on this); to my expectation, for the first time since buying it, apps showed me the correct Max mAh, 1715 and not 1690, and it jumped back to 93%!! See pic, 3 hrs.. I eventually found some interesting answers online on a student’s lab work with Texas Instruments.

- He found out that 3d party baterries were not just bad, but reuse controllers from other gen phones. So a 3d party iP5 or iP6 battery would be fitted with an iP4 or iP5 controller. He found this over and over in every 3rd party batteries he tried in his lab. Am not surprised because one can buy these by the kilo after batteries get recycled. The UK Apple service center video seen days ago demonstrated as well fake batteries with re-used controllers.

- iPhones 6 and 6S shared a very similar controller. Potentially, common headache source if there is an issue.

- The firmware is factory based. I have no idea if the iOS can update it individually for so many variations.

- The iPhone SE contains a totally different controller than all. No surprise, and coincidence, no one here with SE?

After watching my erratic iOS 9 data until the recent iOS 10 experiments, I assess my issue being a bad controller, sn27546-A5 /6.01 chip (controller). Or, to borrow Alexa's analogy, bad hardware with potentially incompatible software BH +GE+G/BS=BB, all on the same battery. Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and fails to report or control battery life, controller is my primary issue.

I made available my iPhone to Sr Apple support for further testing, and in my case am convinced that the issue started in manufacturing. With any luck, I would have it replaced as defective in a few weeks, 5th/6th month! The argument for Apple making its own batteries is, IMO, is stronger than ever.

sooooo, for all those, who still have problems with premature shutdowns, and want to read something new, more informative, and not the same old record again, and again. In the last 1-2 weeks things happened, first of allmy son was born, then had some tight deadlines at my work as a software-developer (just to have you updated, i saw, it is mandatory to share some family-life, just marginally, to let others feel less, even if nobody cares). I was also not curious about some people privatizing the topic to themselves, reacting to everything, even not in englsih (i don't know, is it not against the forum-rules?), acting like an Apple-worker (no, not a speculation, just a metaphore).

But staying at the topic: meanwhile i was also trying to have some experiments with my i5S.

What i managed to reach: updated to 10.2.1 and always "overcharged" my phone by few hours more after reaching 100% of battery, it was like some kind of pervert hope of having some success of "teaching" the battery its bounds. Well, after few times the shutdowns started at a bit lower chargement state, compared to previous 20-27% last time i got it at 15%, and now it shut down at 8% with quite a good standby and usage time. I'd say, it is not bad for a previous "faulty battery" and "broken logicboard" type of hipocritical speculations.

It can be again due to anything, overcharging, raising of the inroom temperature by 1°C, some fixes in iOS 10.2.1, but these also could be speculations. In my layman opinion (opinion != speculation) this is still some kind of iOS-bug, which decalibrates the battery-meter, i suspect this especially after reading some similar articles of Apple admitting such a bug in some previous iOS-versions (as a software-developer i'd say i have rights to say that, if some battery-engineers have right to state battery-failures, 'aight?). A link (because people here love to read bullsh@t, and only one, because i don't have time to sit here and type in the same cr@p to each and everyone, in every hour, in at least 500 characters):

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/18/apple-admits-iphone-6s-and-6s -plus-battery-meters-misleading

For rest of the stories just type in Google (sic, blasphemy): apple admitting battery-meter

So all, who has quite a new battery, before falling to any kind of battery-changing propaganda, try these above for some days, and let me know, how's it going.

PS: this is an information, not a question, please, answer or react only, if that helped you too. Thanks! Have fun!

I'd like to congratulate you for your son's birth, I am sure he is a pretty sleepy head now.

I found the rest you wrote laughable or not believable.This forum is for interaction, and the exchange of technical bits, not your condescending poker or lay speculations. If Beilsarious speaks several languages, and gets an angry french speaker to navigate support and resolve his issue, good for him. He did it brilliantly, convinging Alan that he is real, had lived in his city and showed him how to resolve the issue, free of charge. It's more than others can do frankly.

Hipocritical is what you just did. You insult people just for not agreeing with your iOS 10 blame, and knowing tons more than you, and bring us iOS9 answers.. Speculating with a january 2016 article on an iOS 9 meter bug! 😮 OMG you beat to death this 10 thing and then hyperlink to 9, maybe you think finally get their having the same architecture?

I'd like now to call the bs in your reply, with true answers. Ever wondered how come Beisarious knows exactly his cycle count? Professional metering software, available to experts or students only. iOS 10 removed it from apps. That's how I also know what ticks inside any battery, or that the iOS has nothing to do with it. Your powers is controlled exclusively by a factory controlled fuel gauge. "Battery fuel gauges are the unsung hero of the battery world. There’s more to it than just measuring the voltage on the battery terminals. These little chips are microcontrollers (tiny computers, essentially) that sit inside the battery pack and keep tabs on the battery’s performance for the life of that battery pack."

I'm attaching sample pics on how one truly knows as opposed to speculation, inside the computer brains of a controller. This is why I don't believe you know software at all or you would have come with similar approaches, not speculations. This is the only way to tell if anything changed inside, or if there is a recurring theme amongst specific hardware and software version. You are welcome to wonder why they update the firmware version at the factory, that's another story. Or that you cannot roll out a hundred million update variations for all these gauges. If you still do not understand that the HDQ bus regulates your battery, not your iOS, and one can easily verify if it changed after the upgrade, then no one can possibly inform you. Not me, not science, no one.

I've also travelled nearly 22000 miles last year, almost got the free lounge year. I've changed my phone time zones, I never had an issue. It's far more of a bet you have a ticker issue inside with the actual clock, the gauge.

Agree fully that it is not iOS related, or even 10 for that matter. I am curious, your 6, with iOS 9, how many cycles? It matters quite a bit before drawing conclusions.

1) Today's Li Ion batteries are used differently than prev generations. The older phones had a fraction of the mAh demand vs current ones, which now exceed the computing power of many PC's years ago. Just the screens place a high demand. It is not just high demand, but you also get mAh spikes, which cause fractures inside the Li Ion materials and internal shorts (Goodenough 2017). J Goodenough, at 94 yrs, is working towards tripling the energy density inside batteries and removing internal shorting. Another issue is when only a few millions phones were made per year, and one top supplier could provide a QC reliable controller (e.g. Texas Instruments), the likelihood of issues was far less. We are now at 500 million mobiles produced a year. Take the Nokia 3200, still used in poor countries. The low demand on its batteries are the reasons why they will not experience weird shutdowns, too low of a demand to damage it quickly. But, pass a 2nd year, even those Nokias are delivering far less life than originally, especially in hot climates.

2) Artificial metering should be there to maximize phone life, not reduce it. Ideally it only kicks in if a battery becomes unstable. The recommendations I provided to Apple have been that instead of metering and causing confusion, best if it identifies irregular amperage and simply notifies she/he that the battery is defective. Am confident it is coming anyway.

3) Have yet to see any evidence of programmed obsolescence, and similar issue occur in non Apple brands as well. There are iPhone 5s out there running iOS 10. Your 6 is nearly x4 more powerful than a 5. However, any phone out there with, for example, an old or marginal battery, will underperform. Amperage changes impact electronic performance. CPU gets less power, it maybe irregular, so does NAND etc and the phone seems to act odd.

What there is plenty of evidence around is that social media fusion demand, and the new HTML 5 based web, are increasing exponentially and exceeding mobile release cycles. Take any of these apps: Facebook, Whattsup, iMessage, Snapchat, Pokemon Go, TV News, and Twitter, and the phone now acts as a fusion platform for 24/7 delivery. Some became very rich with Snapchat's recent IPO, but a year ago many never heard of it. What this means is that your iPhone was designed 3-4 years ago, released two years ago, and running on Just Now high demand processes. Even NAV and Google Maps have changed, it is now navigation, orientation, search, points of interests and traffic conditions in one app. Was not as such 4 years ago, we had to pay for similar features.

Take Internet browsing and Safari- not only has content changed to deliver more video feeds per page, but we now get tons of those active media cookies, inside each page we load. Even on my iPhone. On a PC or my Mac I use two ad blockers. Not so easy on mobile browsers.

In other words, if you change your iPhone 6 battery- through a Genius Bar, do a clean install, and use the phone with above things in mind, it should work very closely to the day you bought it.

Below, J Goodenough, recently making headlines with his new battery projects. We will all see them sooner rather than later.

Adrian,

Without getting into an app debate- not all are created equal, some are rubbish and get removed from the Apple store. Can you answer me why do you ever rely on battery apps which are just a commercial selling platform?

To give you an example - just tried them now for my reply- according :

- Battery Monster my 6S 113 cycles, 1715/1715 100mAh

- Mr Battery, by Xiaoxin Chen, 113 cycles, 1635/1690mAh 94% (and while charging, up to 97%) .

- Battery percentage, Hien Mai, 113 cycles, 1599/1635mAg

of course both are rubbish and just deleted them all. And did not try the paid ones, they will vary as widely. And confused App users iPhone 6s have battery 1690 mAh)the 6s is NOT a 1690 but a 1715mAh... these Apps do not work and have 0, a big ZERO access to the battery MC - and only the Apple diagnostics have. Not sure what else i can do but recommend you enjoy your phone, rapid charge when near 30% whenever you can do so, and enjoy it.

Also, these gadgets, have seen them with a +/- 3% variance for hundred plus cycles. e.g. 103% then 97 and 100, and only after 150plus cycles may someone notice a downward trend. So you 1% by rubbish apps means nothing.

This is very different than Macs, where the battery MC info is available to the OS and any 3d party App...Why do macs have it (be it Sierra just removed the time counter as the new MBPs gets bad rap for poor battery life) and not iPhones? These are questions for the two very different divisions, iPhone vs Mac Div.

Ok so your 2 year forecast.. Considering that 6/6S7 have bigger screens, and some pretty heavy Apps demands, power demand could easily shorten life much more vs iPhone 4 5 and 5S. 2 years as you got from the previous one is pretty awesome. Batteries are just consumables.

Off Topic for Bellisarius.

Just got a gift from Grandma of an iPad pro for the kids.

No Apple Care on it yet, but I haven't given it to them.

Just loading Art and Educational apps.

Any recommendation of what to get Apple Care wise?

I know B&H has 2 year plans for 99 bucks.

Any other recommendations by you? Extra year?

Thanks

They are financially similar. The only reason I would recommend the Apple one at http://www.apple.com/support/products/ipad.html is because it stays in their system, even when you call for phone support, as a 2 yr warranty. iPad is 90$ Cad or 70 USD with Apple Care in Canada.

With 3d party warranty providers they take time to examine, ship the item or determine how to do it. Also you do have the 2.5 hr journey to an Apple store. But if BB or B&H just take it off your hands, might be equally good.

Have any of you provided Apple feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback/? It is the actual way to contact Apple. I did ref iOS 10.

If not, you can repeat post here but it does not constitute feedback.

"Same problem here - iPhone 6 dies with 36% battery as soon as it gets slightly chilled in temperatures well above freezing, anything below about 8C."

JTTM, I am curious; first, have you submitted feedback to Apple? http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

And what happened last winter, have you frequently used, charged or discharged your phone below 10C?

"Also how do you explain the erratic and what seems to be inaccurate battery gauge?" I fully agree with you that a new iOS is no reason to go running to buy a new battery. Fortunately, based on what we know so far, the majority, vast majority of those whom upgraded have no issues.

Reference battery gauge, you already conceded that a lot of it is battery-relative, built on. You can direct that question to Apple, and I already posted the Apple feedback link. Very important, that is the main venue for actual iPhone feedback, not the forum. http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

As you heard, Apple is moving towards its own Battery Division. They may be best to answer as to why they created one, why the new diagnostic tools, whether or not health indicators actually work. The answers Battery University provides, updated as recently as weeks ago, give you the industrial standard and reality. What works, what does not, etc. Why health tests are not accurate as to a battery being defective or not.

I did not design Pokemon Go, but, if I were users, I would give poor app feedback and write to Apple complaining about it.

There is a reason why I avoid smartphone drain, it just bricks the batteries pretty fast. But I do not hold any iOS responsible, as I am well aware that just apps can do it in a days. Base iOS have the least amount of drain possible. Add PG and you went 600x % base iOS mAh demand...

"maybe going back to an older software version?" You cannot go to a prior iOS library image..

"Or the battery is now screwed forever?" Unknown if yours is. However, any Li-Ion health goes down, never up. They are expected to last 300-500 cycles. Demand/drain relative, this can be 300 or even less. Just electrical engineering fact. Again, no idea where yours is- diagnostics might give you a clue. And if it goes bad, the good news, it goes bad very fat (it is an exponential curve, with 60-30% vertical plunge degradation in weeks). Again, no idea if it is your case.

If it's a software issue, why not come up with an update or something like it? - http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Do you think it could be, instead, an actual problem that needs battery replacement? One way only to check. Let's say your health reads below 90%, and dropping, weekly one battery swap will give you answers (as it did for 6-8 people that changed battery or iPhones and problem is gone). if it does not work, you can be reimbursed. If it does work, then your answer is there. However, if your battery stays steady over 90% for weeks, as it should, then no need to rush it and wait for an update, be it very inconvenient to drag a charger everywhere.

~Belisarius~ wrote:

Again, i know no one with shutting down 10.2 or high drain, not even the girl's 800+ cycles iphone 5.

Keep looking, there are many complaints and many threads on 10.2 issues. Mine is a 10.2 issue in fact and shutting Siri off has helped. Siri used 85% of my battery over 24 hours on standby when I wasn't even using Siri. I was losing 10% per hour, and my battery is fine now that i turned Siri off.

Ios 10.2 draining battery FAST!

an 2, 2017 4:13 PM in response to paikinator

New Battery Update 1:

Got a new Battery this afternoon.

Only took and hour.

Charged it to 99%

My daughter used it for 40 minutes and it used just 3%.

She has been using her phone for another 40 minutes and the battery is down to 93%

Greeting Paikinator, how is the replacement battery holding up?

I have a iphone 6 purchased oct 2015. I rang apple initially December 5th, diagnostic on battery was fine so told to wait a month for software update. Waited then rang again the other day diagnostic wouldn't send for some reason so they wanted the phone back. They sent me a box so I sent it back and I just received this on email : -

Your product arrived at our repair center, but our technicians weren't able to process your repair request. We’re sending the product to you along with a letter that provides more information. If you have questions about the letter, feel free to Contact Apple Support to review your options. Be sure to use the same Repair ID. We apologize for any inconvenience.