Apple promised “bug fixes” with its most recent iOS 10.2.1 update, but it failed to fix an annoying issue that causes the iPhone to switch itself off with around 30 percent battery life remaining.
The bug has been around since Apple released iOS 10.1 last October, and it seems to be a problem for any iPhone except iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Users report that when their battery level reaches around 30 percent, the device decides it’s had enough and shuts itself down.
What’s strange is that in some cases, battery life will dive from 30 percent to 1 percent before the shutdown happens. When the phone is plugged into a charger, it comes back on almost instantly with 30 percent battery again.
iOS 10.2 actually made the problem worse, and a thread on Apple’s Support Communities forum now contains 125 pages of complaints from disgruntled users. All were hoping the issue would be fixed in iOS 10.2.1, but according to Forbes, it wasn’t.
“Throughout the testing of iOS 10.2.1 Apple declined to share any information about what the update contained, something that became a farce,” writes Gordon Kelly. “And know [sic] we know why because there is no attempt to fix the 30% bug in iOS 10.2.1.”
Apple hasn’t even acknowledged the problem yet (at least publicly), so we have no idea when a fix might come. It is already beta testing iOS 10.3, its next upgrade, but it’s currently unclear whether a patch will be included in that. And if it is, it’s likely to be 4-6 weeks away.
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
19 responses to “iOS 10.2.1 fails to fix annoying iPhone battery bug”
Two of our iPhone 6s’ have zero issues like this, but two iPhone 6+ do. That’s one reason I always wait on the “s” models. No guarantees, but they have seemed to fair better over the years for us. *having had all “s” models and some not.
This is one way it is possible to make a quite decent money per 30 days… You can Try it for yourself! After been without work for half a year, I started freelancing over this web-site and at this time i couldn’t be happier. After six months on my new project my regular monthly earnings are around 12k per month…>>FACEBOOK.COM/For-UK-US-Australia-Canada-and-New-Zealand-1241554745928856/app/208195102528120/
I don’t recall seeing it on the 2 of the 6 Plus, 5S and SE in my family
Of course it’s not “all”, but I’m just stating that overall, I have seen (and I support 1000’s of users) more reliable behaviors from the “s” series of iOS devices…
What’s the ratio of working to non-working from what you see since you deal with a lot of them.
My 6S have no problems or issues/
I solved this issue restoring my iPhone 6 with iOS 10.2.1, finally!!!
It’s getting very, very hard to like Apple after nonsense like this. They broke this 3 months ago, haven’t fixed it, haven’t even acknowledged it.
They work so hard on adding new emoji, and I couldn’t care less about some stupid “theatre mode”.
You broke the battery reporting/battery management code. Is it really that hard to fix it?
Arrogant, smug, cocky Apple – The New Microsoft.
Exactly. If I hadn’t fixed a bug in our system for 3 months I would be easily fired. Why are they having such a hard time with this?
This problem is due to the faulty battery issue that Apple owned up to recently. You should review the news surrounding this to see if your device is one that Apple immediately recognizes being in the affected group, and if not, go to the Apple Store and complain. I saw the very same symptoms, and when Apple admitted to the faulty batteries, I took mine in and got a free replacement.
I had this problem a month ago, right about the time my Apple Care for my iPhone 6 was about to run out. I contacted them and was able to persuade them to give me a new iPhone 6 after trouble-shooting the issue and providing convincing screenshots of the rapid drain/shut off. If you have no Apple Care, then I suspect you are SOL.
as someone else mentioned, early shutoff with a higher percentage being shown is usually a faulty battery – it could be made worse by software, or partially mitigated with software. Every time I’ve had this happen with various models – iPhone 3G, 4, and more recently the 6 (before iOS 10 came out) they were all replaced by Apple under AppleCare – if your phone is out of warranty, hope that it might be covered under a warranty extension they sometimes issue if enough people have it.
I thought the battery/shutdown issue is related to the battery recall for iPhone 6S (with rumors of the recall expanding to other devices), and not the iOS version.
I have this issue and posted on their forums too. Guess what they did?
They deleted my threads, comments, and threatened to ban my account from posting anymore. Lovely Apple…seems like they’re intentionally hiding the fact that the iOS/battery are having issues.
They already admitted to an iPhone 6S problem and offered replacement. That issue is hardware not software. Stop reporting inflammatory news news.
We have to 5s phones in our house that this is happening to. I called apple “support” and spoke with two people, one a manager, and both said they had no idea what a 30% bug is. Thats the part that pisses me off the most. Get it together apple!
It happens all the time with my 4S… I still use it. Better go back and discover the problem on “ancient” versions of OS!
And yet, Apple apologists love to pick on Samsung.
I bought my Iphone 6s in October 2015 yet my serial # is not on the
list. I have had this problem for 5 months.. The battery is defective – I
have to bring an external charger with me everywhere. It makes me
question my loyalty to Apple. I have owned almost every version of the
phone since inception except for the 7/7s.