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Some iPhone users report high battery drain following iOS 14.6 update

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A number of iPhone users are reporting issues with their battery life, with some noting severe battery drain when left off-charge overnight.

Generally, users see the power level drop by a few percentage points when leaving their iPhone off charge overnight. With the release of iOS 14.6, it seems more power is being consumed.

A number of posts made to the Apple Support Forums mention excessive battery drainage. Some users offer that the battery is seemingly draining at a faster rate versus previous iOS releases.

In one case posted on Monday, a user saw Siri consume 70% of an iPhone XS battery from a complete charge. Another had their iPhone 12 see its battery go down to 30% while it was being charged overnight, and a third claimed the update drained the battery faster than their Apple Smart Cover could recharge their iPhone 11 Pro.

It is unclear exactly what is causing the battery drain problem. One user on the forum blamed the Podcasts app for the battery drain. Another Reddit poster offered that it could be related to AirTags due to the timing, though that seems to be unlikely given the range of affected hardware and other users claiming it happened while set in airplane mode.

There is also some debate as to how many people are actually affected by the problem. AppleInsider regularly tracks social media trends as they pertain to Apple devices, and there isn't a statistically significant increase in complaints for iOS 14.6, versus any other recent version. In the case of the iPhone 12 Pro battery drain issue of December 2020, there was a much bigger support forum response my an order of magnitude than what has been observed so far.

Apple has yet to comment or acknowledge there is a battery problem stemming from the latest iOS release. Any fixes for it will likely appear in a future firmware update.

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28 Comments

shamino 18 Years · 543 comments

We see articles like this for every iOS release.  Most people see a spike in battery usage, probably due to things like optimizing the file system or re-indexing search databases, but that returns to normal in a day or two.  And every time, some people report excessive usage that never seems to go away while others with identical hardware report no such problems.  And people speculate about what's going on, but never come to a satisfactory conclusion.

As the article says, this release isn't much different from any other release.

At any time, there are some people whose batteries are failing or are close to failing.  I personally suspect that the extra load from a system update is sometimes enough to push these devices over the edge, or at least push them far enough that their owners take notice - even if what they're noticing is something that's been gradually degrading for several months or more.

10 Likes · 0 Dislikes
rcfa 18 Years · 1123 comments

That’s the problem, with media giving credence to anecdotal information. It leads just to nonsense, like withdrawals of important vaccines, baseless lawsuits, etc…

4 Likes · 0 Dislikes
mike1 11 Years · 3446 comments

I started to notice a faster rate of battery usage from my 9.7" Pro within the past few weeks. I know it's older and the battery health is definitely not ideal, but it was going from mid 30% to less than 5% just sitting overnight.
By simply looking at which app was consuming the most power, I realized that my local newspaper's app seemed to be the culprit, even if it was just in the background and not being actively used. I resolved the issue by simply making sure I force-close the app when I'm done. While there may be nothing inherently wrong with 14.6, I suspect that this particular app did not react well to some change in iOS.

1 Like · 0 Dislikes
person 12 Years · 34 comments

I’ve actually been very impressed with my battery life lately. iPhone 12 Pro Max. 

The latest update helped me. 

1 Like · 0 Dislikes
lkrupp 20 Years · 10521 comments

Big f’ing deal. This article is dragged out and reprinted after every iOS update. The Apple Discussion Forums and other Apple, Reddit, Instagram forums fill up with outraged users screaming bloody murder, demanding a patch. Within a week it all dies down until the next iOS update.

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes