Update to address excess Exchange activity involving recurring calendar events

Feb 14, 2013 10:53 GMT  ·  By

Apple has released an official statement regarding the issues with iOS 6.1 affecting recurring calendar events with Microsoft Exchange accounts resulting in abnormal network activity and battery drain.

In a Support document posted online, Apple acknowledges a serious issue on devices running iOS 6.1: “Excess Exchange activity after accepting an exception to recurring calendar event.”

Although the company rushed out iOS 6.1.1 this week to address 3G issues with iPhone 4S devices riding Vodafone’s airwaves, the update was not aimed at fixing other issues, such as the one involving recurring calendar events, or battery drainage.

“When you respond to an exception to a recurring calendar event with a Microsoft Exchange account on a device running iOS 6.1, the device may begin to generate excessive communication with Microsoft Exchange Server,” Apple reports.

“You may notice increased network activity or reduced battery life on the iOS device,” reads the company’s advisory.

Apple also explains that “This extra network activity will be shown in the logs on Exchange Server and it may lead to the server blocking the iOS device.”

“This can occur with iOS 6.1 and Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP1 or later, or Microsoft Exchange Online (Office365),” it adds.

As usual, Apple’s support document includes “symptoms” and the “resolution.” Regarding the latter, Apple says it has “identified a fix and will make it available in an upcoming software update.”

Apple has yet to seed any iOS 6.1.2 betas to developers, but considering how iOS 6.1.1 got released without warning, this patch could arrive in the same manner in the following days.

In the meantime, Apple’s advice for affected customers is to “avoid this bug by not responding to an exception to a recurring event on your iOS device.”

For customers who are experiencing the symptoms in question, Apple posts instructions to disable and reenable the Exchange calendar on their iOS device.