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11.4 - SE - Fast Battery Drain

Had location services turned off and then turned on to look up ETA for my drive home. Battery percentage dropped 8% in less than 2 minutes.

I am not able to see 11.4.1 yet. Is there an advanced access?
 
The Weather Network just released an update on the App Store for bug fixes. Is everybody using it? I'm fishing for any commonality among those with the issue.
 
Yesterday it was Settings that was supposedly using my battery, today it says Phone was used for 56 minutes, but that is totally untrue. I received one short phone call and once voicemail message, but did NOT leave the phone app open. Something is very wrong. It seems that whatever tells the ios "I'm not using that app anymore" isn't working correctly.

So, my update today is that things are much better with Location Services off, but there are still other problems. Losing 5-10% per hour when the phone is off.

BTW, I'm not having any of these problems on my ipad mini with 11.4, so it seems to be specific to my iphone. Anyone else also running 11.4 on multiple devices and able to compare?

In response to ablatt above, I don't use The Weather Network (or The Weather Channel), so that is not a commonality.
 
dewluca said:
Yesterday it was Settings that was supposedly using my battery, today it says Phone was used for 56 minutes, but that is totally untrue. I received one short phone call and once voicemail message, but did NOT leave the phone app open. Something is very wrong. It seems that whatever tells the ios "I'm not using that app anymore" isn't working correctly.

So, my update today is that things are much better with Location Services off, but there are still other problems. Losing 5-10% per hour when the phone is off.

BTW, I'm not having any of these problems on my ipad mini with 11.4, so it seems to be specific to my iphone. Anyone else also running 11.4 on multiple devices and able to compare?

In response to ablatt above, I don't use The Weather Network (or The Weather Channel), so that is not a commonality.
Click to expand...


Yeah like i said i also run 11.4 on a iPhone 7 and iPad Pro 10.5 without any battery issues
 
Can we conclude that most people with the rapidly draining battery issue have an iPhone SE, 6 or 6S? Or not?

My 6S is model N71AP with the Samsung CPU. There was another model 6S with a TSMC CPU - N71MAP.

The 6S Plus Samsung is N66AP. The 6S Plus TSMC is N66MAP.

The SE Samsung is N69AP. The SE TSMC is N69uAP.

I use CPUDasherX app to reveal the device model.

Not sure is any of this makes a difference - whether only those with the Samsung CPU have an issue?
Or if the wifi or location chipsets are problematic in these older models with 11.4.
 
I have the TSMC SE and I have the issue. Battery is down to 1% today, from 100%, in about 9 hours with minimal use (< 1 hour total usage, mostly web, including one < 5 min phone call).

Absolutely nuts.
 
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dewluca said:
Yesterday it was Settings that was supposedly using my battery, today it says Phone was used for 56 minutes, but that is totally untrue. I received one short phone call and once voicemail message, but did NOT leave the phone app open. Something is very wrong. It seems that whatever tells the ios "I'm not using that app anymore" isn't working correctly.

So, my update today is that things are much better with Location Services off, but there are still other problems. Losing 5-10% per hour when the phone is off.

BTW, I'm not having any of these problems on my ipad mini with 11.4, so it seems to be specific to my iphone. Anyone else also running 11.4 on multiple devices and able to compare?

In response to ablatt above, I don't use The Weather Network (or The Weather Channel), so that is not a commonality.
Click to expand...

I am running 11.4 on a brand new 2018 model 9.7" iPad which seems to have suffered no ill effects.

ablatt said:
Can we conclude that most people with the rapidly draining battery issue have an iPhone SE, 6 or 6S? Or not?

My 6S is model N71AP with the Samsung CPU. There was another model 6S with a TSMC CPU - N71MAP.

The 6S Plus Samsung is N66AP. The 6S Plus TSMC is N66MAP.

The SE Samsung is N69AP. The SE TSMC is N69uAP.

I use CPUDasherX app to reveal the device model.

Not sure is any of this makes a difference - whether only those with the Samsung CPU have an issue?
Or if the wifi or location chipsets are problematic in these older models with 11.4.
Click to expand...

I have the TSMC 6S and was affected.
 
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Same problem here. I’ve got an iPhone SE, bought new a few months ago: never had any problems whatsoever. But since I downloaded and installed iOS 11.4, the battery drain is absolutely crazy: full charge when I go to bed at night, and...3% left the next morning, with no activity during the whole night! I’ve already contacted Apple support, wiped out the SE and reinstalled the OS, to no avail. Major bug.
[doublepost=1528361676][/doublepost]I should add that I also own an iPad Air (1st gen), updated to 11.4 as well: no problems here. Works like a charm, and the battery is fine...
 
Okay so I want to revert back to iOS 11.3.1 (which is still signed at the moment) but iTunes is giving me an error when I wanna [option + Check For Update] I get this message:
"Couldn't upgrade iPhone "iPhone". Declined to authorize this image on this device for this user."
Anyone knows what's wrong or how to resolve this?
 
For what it’s worth, I have the Samsung processor 32GB SE and my battery has “basically” been the same. My measurement is I check what my screen on time has been when I reach 50%. It has often been the same as 11.3.1 (3 hours, use to average 4 hours on 10.3.3).

I do not have Facebook or any social media (besides YouTube) and background refresh is turned on for only a few apps. iMessage in the cloud is on as well.
 
Some things we can check to see if any are common causes:

5GHz WIFI
Exchange Email with Push

Some common APPS:

The Weather Network
The Score
WhatsApp
GoogleMaps

I had most other stuff off like handoff, most location services, messages in iCloud, background app refresh etc.

[doublepost=1528375202][/doublepost]I did the DFU restore method to go back to 11.3.1 where you download the IPSW, put your phone in DFU mode, and then select it by option-clicking on Restore in iTunes.

Mac-lover3 said:
Okay so I want to revert back to iOS 11.3.1 (which is still signed at the moment) but iTunes is giving me an error when I wanna [option + Check For Update] I get this message:
"Couldn't upgrade iPhone "iPhone". Declined to authorize this image on this device for this user."
Anyone knows what's wrong or how to resolve this?
Click to expand...
 
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I’ve checked the type of processor in my SE, and it’s a TSMC (N69AP). Don’t know if the battery problem is linked to that fact, though...
 
Tried a few things like rebooting right away when it hit 100% but that didn't help at all. Battery drained from 95% to 60% overnight and i decided to all turn on low power mode and that also didn't help.
 
Also whats strange to me is that it only seems to happen overnight or maybe im just not paying attention as much to my standby drain during the day. Regular usage the battery drains normally. Now i decided to try out the 11.4.1 beta, my first time messing around with betas backed up the old terrible 11.4.. just in case. Another user already reported that the .1 beta didn't help him so my hopes aren't high :/
 
ablatt said:
Can we conclude that most people with the rapidly draining battery issue have an iPhone SE, 6 or 6S? Or not?

My 6S is model N71AP with the Samsung CPU. There was another model 6S with a TSMC CPU - N71MAP.

The 6S Plus Samsung is N66AP. The 6S Plus TSMC is N66MAP.

The SE Samsung is N69AP. The SE TSMC is N69uAP.

I use CPUDasherX app to reveal the device model.

Not sure is any of this makes a difference - whether only those with the Samsung CPU have an issue?
Or if the wifi or location chipsets are problematic in these older models with 11.4.
Click to expand...

It happens to my iPad Pro 10.5 too. The battery drain is about 10% overnight. This may seem less than what iPhones have but keep in mind that the iPad doesn't have cellular and its battery has much larger capacity. The usage time in battery stats is about 1/3 of total time although background refresh is disabled. Downgraded to 11.3.1 and the battery drain is gone. Only <1% loss overnight.


Edit: I didn't test disabling Wifi or location before downgrading but I do use 5GHz Wifi.
 
Last edited:
ablatt said:
Some things we can check to see if any are common causes:

5GHz WIFI
Exchange Email with Push

Some common APPS:

The Weather Network
The Score
WhatsApp
GoogleMaps

I had most other stuff off like handoff, most location services, messages in iCloud, background app refresh etc.

[doublepost=1528375202][/doublepost]I did the DFU restore method to go back to 11.3.1 where you download the IPSW, put your phone in DFU mode, and then select it by option-clicking on Restore in iTunes.
Click to expand...

ablatt, you're a genius! I've tried downgrading (no 11.3.1 backup so unless I wanted to lose all data it forced me into upgrading right back into 11.4 during the setup) and turning off numerous features. Nothing seemed to work. Last night I finally turned off wifi overnight so my phone wouldn't die while I slept (that worked).

But it never occurred to me that the 5GHz antenna might be the problem! I just switched over to the 2.4GHz xfinity router signal and forced the phone to forget the 5GHz signal. So far, the battery has been solid for the past hour while it's just sitting on my desk. I'll report back tomorrow to see if it dies overnight again (from 100%, battery "health" at 85%).

This is iPhone 6s A1633 (specifically MKQ62LL/A) on AT&T. Modem firmware 4.60.00

Everyone with this issue, please confirm your carrier, modem firmware, wifi router type, and whether switching out of the 5GHz wifi band works.

FWIW, I also have an ipad air 1st gen also on 11.4.0 that has experienced zero problems.
 
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ablatt said:
Can we conclude that most people with the rapidly draining battery issue have an iPhone SE, 6 or 6S? Or not?
Click to expand...

I have an iphone 6 64GB acquired summer 2016. I honestly don't know how to find all the detailed info about the CPU, etc.
In Settings > General > About it says the model is MG6G2LL/A

No battery issues with my ipad Mini 2 from April 2016.

At home I'm on an xfinity router, but I've also experienced the problem on the road . . . my carrier is Sprint.
[doublepost=1528397709][/doublepost]I've had much improvement by turning off most notifications and location services and rebooting a couple of times. I also deleted a couple of apps I had added recently (MapQuest and NJ Today). The only app I use that is on ablatt's list is GoogleMaps. It was the biggest offender while on the road. Lost 20% battery in 30 minutes while charging and using googlemaps navigation. That's when I turned off localization.
 
I can confirm that downloading 11.4.1 didn’t help with the battery drain. Switching now to 2g wi-fi to see if that works
 
There is talk about the 5GHz wifi issue over at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8409995?start=30&tstart=0.

My iPhone 6S modem firmware on IOS11.3.1 is 4.56.00. Does this modem firmware control the wifi chipset or just the LTE?

If the issue is related to 5GHz, I wonder if only certain 5GHz routers are affected, and why? Is there some security update they have or wifi chipset firmware that conflicts?

Mine is a Netgear R7800 running 1.0.2.52 firmware. The R7800 uses the Qualcomm Atheros wifi chipset.
 
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I'm not entirely certain that the modem firmware as we see in the settings controls both the wifi chip and the qualcomm cellular chip. In fact, my ipad air doesn't list a modem firmware, so I think we can conclude it isn't that.

I've got the xfinity ARRIS TG1682G. According to https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Arris_TG1682G it is also using an Atheros chipset. But now thinking about it, I doubt it has anything to do with the router. I think this problem is entirely a combination of a few models and the use of the 5GHz spectrum of wifi controlled by some software deep inside the ios.
 
I'm noticing increased battery drain even when not connected to wifi, so I doubt it is a 5 GHz issue.

Edit: I think I spoke too quickly. If I consciously make sure Wifi is always disabled it does seem to help.
 
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ghanwani said:
I'm noticing increased battery drain even when not connected to wifi, so I doubt it is a 5G issue.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I see you also reported going from 100% to 1% in 9 hours with little use. Crazy bug. I guess Apple had zero QC on this? We are probably seeing multiple bugs causing power drain on different devices. Can you report what HAS seemed to help? Can you report your carrier and exact model number?
 
rabidkangaroo said:
Interesting. I see you also reported going from 100% to 1% in 9 hours with little use. Crazy bug. I guess Apple had zero QC on this? We are probably seeing multiple bugs causing power drain on different devices. Can you report what HAS seemed to help? Can you report your carrier and exact model number?
Click to expand...

Model number is NLY42LL/A. Carrier is AT&T.

I edited my post above. If I consciously disable WiFi I do notice that the battery drain is more normal/expected. So it does help. Sorry for the confusion.
 
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