14 DAY TRIAL // Everyone can agree that Apple Discussions forum users are relentless when it comes to Apple messing up on a software update, but who’s to blame them this time around when the third update tasked with fixing their troubles brings the same battery drainage issues experienced by numerous customers since the initial release of iOS 4.0?
Apple announced on September 1 that iOS 4.1 was on the way with fixes for several issues that customers had been complaining about, including the proximity sensor issue on iPhone 4 handsets, Bluetooth problems, and the iPhone 3G’s inability to handle the new operating system.
Many rejoiced after installing the update, while many didn’t.
It seemed that iOS 4.1 had left half of the devices it was installed on virtually unchanged - users continued to experience said issues and, most recently, a problem that has been present since iOS 4.0.1 seems to remain unresolved.
In fact, the battery drainage issue is new for some, as recent Apple Discussions posts indicate.
Many who’ve upgraded to the new iOS version are only now faced with such problems.
These customers have taken to Apple Discussions to get to the bottom of the issue.
As much as we’d like to help with some advice, we’re just as curious as to why every incremental update since the 4.0 release appears to produce more issues, rather than eliminate them, or at least reduce their number.
So, here's what's going on at Apple Discussions at the moment:
“Has anyone noticed a significant increase in the draining of the iphone 4 battery since the 4.1 upgrade?”, a disappointed user going by the screen name of Bluesteel310 writes over at Apple Discussions.
“My iphone used to go an entire day without needing recharged. Now its draining about 10 points an hour since the upgrade,” the poster explained.
“My 3GS with 4.1 is draining the battery at least twice as fast as with 4.0.2,” elCabong replied. “I hope Apple fixes this fast….”
“Since yesterday 4.1 upgrade my 32gs battery drain within 30 mins when I started to drive from home to work... Took it to Apple shop which they flash it..,” a user identified as Sydney_Aus added.
Forum user steve83jack chimes in to say “yeah i have. in 5 hours with out using it, it has goone down 30%. signal is terrible... wish i never updated!!!”
One poster claims to have isolated the problem.
“It seems that the push notifications are still active despite having deactivated,” Sentanza writes. “I suspect that something centers Game Centre, since its notifications come anyway even if I turned off push notifications.”
Another has a different explanation: “What is interesting is that some people experience battery drain after ANY update to the phone,” Lawrence Finch writes.
He links to over a dozen similar threads, adding “…Which makes it unlikely that it is something in the new version per se. It is more likely an artifact of corrupt data in the phone or backup.”
Historically, users have reported that a warm iPhone was draining the battery fairly rapidly. Forum user kimokid seems to be experiencing just this:
“Same Problem. You can almost watch the % drop (I have x% indicator turned on in header bar). And the phone is WARM. Seems like it isn't shutting down something like it should,” the iPhone owner writes.
Bluesteel310 returns with a followup post, adding that his iPhone 4 was “also running very warm.” He also seems to have a temporary resolution to the issue:
“I went through the apps in the multitasking and removed some of them from the list, especially the ‘games’ app which seems to have been added to iOS 4,”
“The phone seems not to be draining today thus far,” Bluesteel310 concludes.
We wouldn’t want to sound like VoiceOver stuck on reading a line of text over and over again, but we’d be interested to see how many of you are having trouble with this new software update from Apple.
This time around, use the comments to include a possible resolution as well. Share your symptoms in detail, so we can draw a better picture of the general situation following the release of iOS 4.1.
Expect a followup with some of your comments in it.
UPDATE: As promised, Softpedia has posted a folloup to this story based on your comments. Check it out here.