Apple has issued an official statement to AllThingsD saying it is aware of a battery life bug in iOS 5 that causes users’ battery performance to drastically decrease when running iOS 5 on a range of devices. An iOS 5 update will be issued in the coming weeks to fix the bug.
“A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD. “We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.”
Apple did not elaborate on any other specifics regarding the bug.
Many users have reported a decrease in battery life when running iOS 5.0, with most of the complaints coming from new iPhone 4S owners. Multiple tips for saving battery life have been circulating on the internet, including toggling off time zone support in Location Services and turning off Bluetooth.
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
20 responses to “Apple Confirms iOS 5 Battery Bug And Promises Update “In A Few Weeks””
very weird
I’ll bet it’s more than just a “small number of users” or Apple wouldn’t be bothering to attempt a fix.
What’s weird is I just talked with an Apple Rep who said they didn’t know of anything going on with a battery issue…
my battery life is phenomenal on my 4S. use your phone more wisely.
you’re lucky. I barely make it to 5pm after unplugging the phone in the morning with 100% charge. That is after sending a few sms, email and light browsing, not even playing games!. I have turned off most of the locations services, bluetooth, notifications, Siri etc. If I have to turn off more things then I would just buy a nokia.
I bought the Apple 4 in July. I updated my phone yesterday. Took it off charge this morning at 8:30, at 12:30pm I have 20% charge that’s 4 hours with hardly Any use at all.
It’s now dead and have to recharge after 1 phone call!
I had the 4S battery issue real bad, but I fixed it very easily by draining my phone and fully recharging it a few times. There may be a small software glitch, but my guess is that they did not fully charge the phones at the factory and so the batteries were not fully activated. If you bought a new phone, drain your battery ASAP and fully recharge it…. Your phone may say 100% power, but only half of your battery may be activated, so leave it plugged in for a few hours after it reaches 100%.
The first day my 4S wouldn’t last more than 5-6 hours without dying. Since resetting my battery, I have only charged my phone once in the last week. It has been over 4 days since my last charge and my phone just reached 16%, and I haven’t turned off any push notifications or turned anything off in settings! Apple may be releasing an update soon, but my guess is that the results will be minimal…
I can fully attest that all I had to do was drain my phone a few times, and my battery life is now better than my iPhone 4 running on 4.3
my 4s lasted about 6-8 hours with normal use when i bought it. i drained and fully charged the battery a few times the next day and now my phone lasts over 4 days on a single charge with normal use.
try to power cycle your phone a few times (apple suggests you do it once a month anyway) by fully draining it, and then charge it, and keep charging it for a few hours after it reaches 100%. Let your phone run out of charge the next time you use it, let it power itself down, and then fully recharge it again — you might miss a phone call or two, but your battery will love you for it.
my guess is that the factory workers cut corners and did not fully charge the batteries — this simple fix did wonders for my 4S
From personal experience with the iPhone 4 I can safely attest that the issue is software based, and at least in my case the culprit seems to be the locations services feature, specifically when used with the reminders app.
When enabled I’ve seen the feature eat away battery far in excess of 10% per hour! along with rather excessive overheating of the device!