Friday, February 24, 2017

iOS 10.2.1 Update Reduces Unexpected Shutdowns

Juli Clover:

For the last several months, iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, and 6s Plus users have been dealing with a problem that causes their devices to unexpectedly shut down, an issue that Apple now says it has successfully addressed in the latest iOS 10.2.1 update, released to the public on January 23.

In a statement provided to TechCrunch, Apple says that the iOS 10.2.1 update has resulted in an 80 percent reduction of unexpected shutdowns on the iPhone 6s and a 70 percent reduction of unexpected shutdowns on the iPhone 6.

There’s still something going on. After updating to iOS 10.2.1, I went skiing and within two hours (during which all I did was take one photo) my iPhone went from 100% battery (charged in the car) to unable to turn on. After plugging it in to charge for a few minutes, it booted but showed nearly zero battery.

Previously: Apple’s Support Gap.

19 Comments RSS · Twitter

Cold weather might have caused those symptoms. It has that effect on Li-ion batteries.

@Anonymous Yes, but I’ve never seen such a large effect from cold weather, after many years of using iPhones (including this one) in similar conditions and for longer time periods.

Same here. 6s shuts down in moderately cold weather (~0 C) with around 25-30% battery. Nor my iPhone 5 nor 3G ever did that, not once.

I have that problem occasionally with my 6S, and indeed it happens when the phone is in the last half of the battery and gets in a cold environment. It happened last week, battery suddenly at 0, then I warmed it up again in my hands for a minute and I could boot it again, battery back to what it was before the shutdown, at ~40%. It kept going for the rest of the day, no need to plug it. Never had that issue with the 4S.

Since 10.2.1 50% of the calls I make the iPhone 7+ gets unresponsive... the call is made, but I neither can tap on anything nor do I hear something... After 1-2 minutes the phone recovers - it feels something like in the end-80s

... ah forgot: the battery lasts **really** long - but I's rather power my battery more often and have a better calling experience ;)

Michael Spencer

I'm in deep SW Florida and have seen my 6s die with 20% or so as well. And strapped to my belt as always. It's true that overheating is trivially easy to initiate but this is just ordinary use. And it's not consistent.

Michael Spencer

BYW: I have to wonder if this low-charge behavior is somehow linked to the charge curve of the battery? That charging from day 20 to 60% is much faster than 80 to 100%?

I think there are two separate issues here. One is these sudden shutdowns that apparently seems to been fixed/reduced by software update. But I think the cold weather shutdowns are due to faulty batteries that deteriorates unreasonable fast, just like the ones that Apple are switching for free for some iPhone 6S. I think the problem exist as well for iPhone 6, they just have not acknowledge it.

First winter with my iPhone 6 was ok as I remember, the shutdowns started the second winter. Especially if I used the camera. It could go from something like 70% to shutting down and showing the drained battery symbol in an instant, when I was taking a picture. I live in northern Sweden and I know that cold temperatures has an effect on batteries in general, but the problems I've had with my iPhone 6 is not like any other. I've had the original iPhone, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 and non of them had these kind of severe issues.

I was hoping for Apple to introduce a replacement program for iPhone 6 but this winter I finally had it, and payed for a battery replacement myself. What a difference a new battery did! I can now use my iPhone 6 outdoors in cold weather, well below freezing point, without any kind of shutdowns. And the daily extra recharging – because it just couldn't last a day – is gone too.

Random shutdowns when having 60%+ battery still happen to a family member's 6S on 10.2.1, living in the very temperate southern california area.

@Adrian B : The same cold problem was observed with an iPhone 5. Take a picture in cold but within official operating temperature range (~5°C) and this iPhone will shut down.

The battery was part of a series of dysfunctional batteries but Apple's support software claimed there was no issue with the battery and was unable to find the sudden charge drops in the battery log.

In the same weather condition, at the same time, an iPhone 6 worked flawlessly.

I've had my 6s+ shut down on me within 15 minutes when it's 40% or lower charge and I go out into freezing weather. The most annoying thing though is that I see my battery plummet very quickly at room temperature once it gets to 60%. For example, 100% to 60% drain while doing typical activities might take 3 hours. But then it will go from 60% to 20% in an hour, even though I've not changed what I'm doing on my phone, I have 4-5 bars of LTE, strong Wi-Fi, etc. It's ridiculous. I basically can't leave home if my battery is under 60%, or I know it will be dead if I'm gone longer than 2 hours.

Called Apple. They told me my 6s+ doesn't fall within the battery replacement program (it's "not in the batch of affected serial numbers"). I explained what I'm seeing, that it hasn't always been this way, and that I have no confidence if I leave home with less than 50% battery that it won't be dead within 2 hours. I even made sure to note that the excessive drain wasn't due to having a poor cell signal, that I'm at 4-5 bars of LTE when I'm seeing this. The Apple tech then said "That doesn't matter anyway, as long as you have a signal it's fine. It doesn't make a difference how strong the signal is when it comes to battery drain." –––––– GOOD GOD... having a weak 1-2 bar cell signal is one of the things that can drain your battery the MOST. Where do they find these people?

@BCG Wow. Even the non-techy iPhone users I know have noticed that.

Oh, the other zinger I forgot. The Apple tech also claimed that I should stop using my iPad charger on my iPhone 6s+. She said the higher amperage could mess it up because the battery might be getting charged too fast. I told her it's a feature of the phone, and that the charging circuitry regulates the incoming power anyway. She continued to argue that I should stick to the original Apple charger that came with the phone.

I'm starting to think that these battery issues are more widespread than Apple is currently willing to admit. I was surprised to find out that mine isn't in the batch that they are replacing the batteries, and even when Apple did a remote battery health diagnostic they said it came back with normal results – despite that I am seeing the exact same issues as other iPhone 6s+ users who do qualify for a battery swap.

Oh and lastly, I have noticed that not only is it discharging irregularly, it's not charging normally either. It used to be that, with my iPhone plugged into a 2.1 amp charger it would charge at about 1% increase per minute (roughly) up to 80%, then obviously it would slow down as it topped off. But the other morning I noticed that when I plugged it in at 1% battery it was back to 39% within less than 10 minutes. I wonder if anyone else has seen this crazy rapid charging? And I'm curious if it's something physical with the phone, or the software is just not reporting the battery drain / charge status properly?

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