The battery problem with 15.3.1 thru 15.4.1

[auxbuss]

Well… Apple Releases iOS 15.4.1 With Fix for Battery Drain Issue

Pleased to see the admission. Not to point fingers, I might add – it's Apple all the way down after all.

Update installed and fingers crossed.

 

[auxbuss]

Day 1 of 15.4.1. Big improvement, though worrying increase in power usage after 12:00 despite almost zero usage.

I can't shake the thought that Apple are doing things on our devices without divulging what. There's a story here, otherwise why is power usage so uneven on a device only touched to check its status?

9% in 16 hrs. 22% in 24 hrs. i.e. 13% in 8 hrs. Makes no sense.

 

[OhMyMy]

Day 1 of 15.4.1. Big improvement, though worrying increase in power usage after 12:00 despite almost zero usage.

I can't shake the thought that Apple are doing things on our devices without divulging what. There's a story here, otherwise why is power usage so uneven on a device only touched to check its status?

9% in 16 hrs. 24% in 26 hrs. i.e. 15% in 10 hrs. Makes no sense.


View attachment 1984951

Battery drain isn’t linear. It drains slower 100->90 than it does 90->80. And that amplifies 40% and under.

 

[auxbuss]

Battery drain isn’t linear. It drains slower 100->90 than it does 90->80. And that amplifies 40% and under.

Fair enough. Do you have a citation for that? Not griping. Genuinely curious.

 

[OhMyMy]

Fair enough. Do you have a citation for that? Not griping. Genuinely curious.

Other than my personal observations over the years with different models, No, not at the moment. But there was a mention on MR somewhere that iOS shows 100% battery till the battery’s at 95% or so. You can probably observe it yourself if you have access to Coconut Battery Plus which would allow you to monitor the status via Wi-Fi.

 

[auxbuss]

So 24 hours later, 29% used (22% for the first 24 hours; see above). A slight reduction in drain from 15.4. Basically, it looks like the load has been spread out over the day instead of concentrated overnight. That said, there are obvious flat periods on the graph – so nothing to do with non-linear drain – and then sudden increases.

I'd really like to know what's using this large amount of extra power, because something is, and it ain't me.

For ref: on iOS 14 I got ~20% per day for four days and would then charge. iOS 15 looks like being three days and then charge. First world problem, but that's not the point.

 

[Taz Mangus]

So 24 hours later, 29% used (22% for the first 24 hours; see above). A slight reduction in drain from 15.4. Basically, it looks like the load has been spread out over the day instead of concentrated overnight. That said, there are obvious flat periods on the graph – so nothing to do with non-linear drain – and then sudden increases.

I'd really like to know what's using this large amount of extra power, because something is, and it ain't me.

View attachment 1985383
For ref: on iOS 14 I got ~20% per day for four days and would then charge. iOS 15 looks like being three days and then charge. First world problem, but that's not the point.

When I faced a problem with my 13 Pro Max that no update could resolve, I went and did a Recovery Mode Restore and setup as a new devices. I reinstalled everything manually. It resolved my issue. Maybe that would resolve your battery life issue you are having. Just a thought.

 

[JoeShades]

My Iphone 7+ battery after the update is worse, full charge at 12 PM, down 25% now and did not use the phone at all

 

[mpavilion]

So 24 hours later, 29% used (22% for the first 24 hours; see above). A slight reduction in drain from 15.4. Basically, it looks like the load has been spread out over the day instead of concentrated overnight. That said, there are obvious flat periods on the graph – so nothing to do with non-linear drain – and then sudden increases.

I'd really like to know what's using this large amount of extra power, because something is, and it ain't me.

View attachment 1985383
For ref: on iOS 14 I got ~20% per day for four days and would then charge. iOS 15 looks like being three days and then charge. First world problem, but that's not the point.

I’m sure you have checked this (and apologies for not reading the entire thread), but are certain apps showing background usage?

 

[auxbuss]

I’m sure you have checked this (and apologies for not reading the entire thread), but are certain apps showing background usage?

Zero. You can see Screen Off is 0m. I barely touch the thing, and have no "social media" or background-service-type apps on it. And this is really the core of the problem: there are no diagnostic tools to determine what's happening.

 

[addamas]

Guys but this thread is about 15.3.1 not 15.4.1 ?

 

[auxbuss]

Guys but this thread is about 15.3.1 not 15.4.1 ?

Updated

 

[auxbuss]

The plot thickens…
Steady decline overnight, then 1%… yes, 1%, over 8 hrs (it's still at 31% at 16:37, as I post)

(Snazzy colour-change due to switching on Increase Contrast. Nice!)

 

[mpavilion]

I know this is not necessarily helpful, but in my 12 years or so of owning smartphones, I have learned that it is not necessarily conducive to sanity to constantly monitor background battery use…

 

[auxbuss]

I know this is not necessarily helpful, but in my 12 years or so of owning smartphones, I have learned that it is not necessarily conducive to sanity to constantly monitor background battery use…

Well, I'm monitoring it because on iOS 14 my phone used ~20% charge per day, and on moving to iOS 15.3 that increased to ~33% per day. I would like to understand the reason for that change.

I understand that not everyone is curious about such things – or sometimes about anything – but I am surpirsed to learn that some folk consider such curiosity akin to insanity, but it is duly noted. I will, nevertheless, continue to be curious, and take no offence at the suggestion that for so doing my sanity is in question.

 

[mpavilion]

My suggestion was more that it may drive you insane! Whatever background processes are happening, you may not discover them.

 

[nph]

After 15.4.2 I now have 0% loss during the night with my 13 Pro Max! Happy as a clam have no intention of taking another upgrade ever! Ok, maybe sometime but not for a while. I also can stretch the use to 48 hours and still have 17% left and that is after 11 hours on screen and 3.5 off screen!

 

[Aerisdies]

It's a pain that we are having this on premium phones.
I never had this kind of unidentifiable issue on Android (on my old Xperia XZ2, Samsung Note 4).

I even though I always do a clean restore (with no backups) every major update (like 14.8.1 -> 15 or 15.4.1) just to make sure that everything is fine, sh*t still happens.
Sudden battery drains, overnight drains, back heating up, etc.
I turned off most possible background things like the Motion & Fitness thing, reduce motion, turned off the background app toggle thing, turned off all related to Siri (all per app toggles and Siri toggles), uninstalled all apps except the only ones I use (even the Apple Calendar, Notes, Mail etc), Notifications are also turned off for those unneeded sh*t except for chat apps, I'm even on Zoomed display, all auto-updates are off, charhe my phone around 40 to 90 only, and every nook and cranny of iOS settings and per app settings are optimized.

It comes to me to stereotype that iOS operating system devs are incompetent bastards that only know how to do UI and such.
And that "wait for a week for the indexing to cooldown", like what the heck? iOS has the "most" powerful CPU, it shouldn't be like that unoptimized!

Anyway, I'm holding off until the last update for iOS 15. My wife and I are still on iOS 14.8.1.
Well, I'm actually contemplating to update to 15.4.1 before my wife does but reading this thread makes me want to postpone it again. She'll kill me if the same iOS 14.0 fiasco happen on her phone.

I don't much care about security updates for now as I am tight secured with my household system and as a poweruser, I know what to not click/do.

edit: spellings

 

[shmuckler]

Very interested in battery experience of 6s plus on 15.4.1. Apparently it got very good:

 

[ManuCH]

I actually have an iPhone 6s that I use as a test phone. On 15.4 it would go from 100% to 70% overnight while not touching it. With 15.4.1, I find it with 100% in the morning. So there's definitely an improvement.

 

[badatusernames]

@auxbuss new to the thread so I didn’t read everything. Are you signed into iCloud? Try signing out overnight if you haven’t already and I can almost guarantee you’ll get a much different result. Obviously not a solution but this stuff drove me crazy a couple years ago and I just lived with it.

 

[auxbuss]

… and I'm back to iOS 14 battery usage. i.e. ~20% per day.

Still not convinced the Battery Level graph is remotely accurate, because by far the most battery drain takes place overnight when the device is sleeping. During the day, with light usage, the level barely drops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My only takeaway from this is a significant reputation hit for Apple. Great kit, terrible software, and seemingly in endless decline.

 

[Taz Mangus]

… and I'm back to iOS 14 battery usage. i.e. ~20% per day.

Still not convinced the Battery Level graph is remotely accurate, because by far the most battery drain takes place overnight when the device is sleeping. During the day, with light usage, the level barely drops ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

View attachment 1988785
My only takeaway from this is a significant reputation hit for Apple. Great kit, terrible software, and seemingly in endless decline.

Maybe try doing a encrypted backup, Recovery Mode Restore and restore from backup. The other option might be to do a Recovery Mode Restore and setup as a new device and manually install everything, login to your Apple ID.

 

[thadoggfather]

I restored my SE1 to 15.4.1 and we will see how it holds up

Not my main device, not even my backup, more like a random iPod touch but it was going down by the percentage every 20 seconds or so even from staring at Home Screen or into settings lol

it had been OTA'd since iOS11 and lots of public betas in between over the years, so maybe that was it but dont know? Well see if it continues to drain at a comical/tragic pace

 

[auxbuss]

Maybe try doing a encrypted backup, Recovery Mode Restore and restore from backup. The other option might be to do a Recovery Mode Restore and setup as a new device and manually install everything, login to your Apple ID.

Oh, perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I'm happy that normal service has been resumed \o/

It's possible that the Battery Level peculiarity was present in iOS 14 (and before), but I never looked until things went wonky with iOS 15.

Thus, clearly Apple and their software were the culprit for this, as it tuned out, waste of time.

I maintain that companies should be open about their mistakes. Apple's tenacious refusal to go further than "fixed a battery drain issue" is my reason for the reputation hit; as is the absence of diagnostic tools, which is absurd. There are smart people at Apple, they know this. And they should fix it, else they become just another commodity box-shifter, and that doesn't warrant the Apple Tax.