iPhone Here's why battery on the 6 Plus has taken a dive with 9.3.1..

[phillavelle]

As per title, this is - I'm convinced - the reason for the dwindling battery life on 9.3.1. I'd be very interested to see if it is the same for you..

Just to give you some context - I had the original 6 Plus and then migrated to the 6S Plus back in September. Been using both with Apple Watch. Both had outstanding battery life compared to any phone I'd ever had before. I'm just explaining this so that you can see I am familiar with the great battery on this model prior to the issues that appeared. Back in April, I took the maddening decision to switch to a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It didn't last long. The battery couldn't hold a candle to the iPhone. I sold it and bought a new 6S Plus. An expensive mistake, but we'll gloss over that..

So I went back and with the updated 9.3.1, pretty much straightaway noticed the battery wasn't as great as it had been. Standby usage still exemplary. Don't touch it, and it will sit on 100% for three hours. Don't touch it all day, the battery will barely move. Great.

But use it, then the battery drops quite quickly. At one point, in just two mins of using the camera to take photos, it dropped 5%. And the battery would often drop in 2% increments at a time.

First thing I did was an over the phone diagnostics and Apple told me there were some apps drawing more power than they should be but they couldn't see which over the phone and advised a Genius appointment. The girl in store ran a check and showed me that there were issues with a large number of apps - they were crashing in the background, then (I assume) automatically reopening and crashing again in a never ending cycle.. She said it was this 'constant behaviour' that was draining the battery. Important to point out here, they were both third party apps (Addison Lee, Checkmark 2, British Airways, Instagram) and stock apps (Weather, Reminders, Stocks etc - I don't EVER use Stocks, FYI!). Also worth noting that these apps were not showing up anywhere in the battery usage section in settings. Nothing odd showing up there.

Suggestion was that I could do a backup and restore but that could bring the software glitch back. Or just cut my losses and do a brand new setup. I opted for the latter - and in the process, lost 18 months of messages etc.

Setup as new iPhone without restoring from iCloud. Problems persisted.

So I decided to go nuclear. Removing the iOS source file from my Mac so that iTunes would have to download a fresh copy, wiped my iCloud compeletely so I had NOTHING in there, stopped apps from backing up to iCloud, then wiped it again. Then set up the phone as new again from scratch. This was, to all effects, a virgin phone.

And still, when I took it back to the Genius Bar a few days later, the problem was manifesting itself. Apple were adamant it was a software issue, nothing to do with the battery, but as we had exhausted all possibilities, they gave me a brand new iPhone. And once again, I did a full nuclear-level install as a new phone.

And what do you know? The battery is still below par!! And when I took it in, the Genius ran a diagnostics test and it is still the same issue (some of the same apps, some others - a real selection!).

The battery no longer drops in 2% increments, but what it does is sit on one number for a while d then goes down several percent very quickly. It is no longer the reliable phone I had. And it is driving me crazy. Had I not spent 18 months using this device and being awed by its battery, I wouldn't have noticed. But I do because I know it is so much better

I thought it was just me but a friend with the same phone reported the same thing although he hasn't been to the Genuus bar so doesn't know if it is apps crashing causing it as it is with me. Without going to the Genius Bar, it's a problem you could all be having and not realising because it is not manifesting itself in the Battery Usage settings area. So you would never know.

I am no expert on operating systems, but I had a root through the Diagnostics and Usage area of my settings and I can see that apps are still crashing as of now.

Be interested to see if this is an issue with you guys too?

Couple of footnotes - I'm not jailbroken, I'm not using my phone any differently to before and I'm not downloading tonnes of new apps.

Have a great day.

Phil

 

[geekiemac]

Hi - and sorry you're having all these issues...
I have a similar history to yours - got a 6 Plus in Jan. 2015 (as a replacement for a 5S), then when the 6S Plus came out, I sold the 6 Plus and bought the new one.
What I have experienced with both devices is fairly similar to you, but I didn't go see the Genius bar. And eventually, things sorted themselves out, I guess.
In the beginning, I reacted like you, I was appalled to see how fast the battery would drop. I would end a day with barely 30% battery left. That happened with both the 6 Plus on iOS 8.x.x and later with the 6S Plus on iOS 9.x.x.
Then I started tweaking my settings as much as I could, limiting notifications, localisation and other factors known to be battery hogs. I guess you must have done that, too. Slowly, day by day, battery life improved.

Right now, I'd say it has become more or less stable. On a normal day, my usage is fairly standard: some e-mail, some web browsing, some social networks and instant messengers, some music, some photography, some gaming, some sports. In the end of the normal day (at bedtime when I put it back on its charger) my iPhone proudly shows ~50% battery left. I'm quite happy with that and would say that's what's to be expected of this device.
I tend to restart it once in a while (maybe once every week or every 10 days).

How much battery do you have left at the end of a normal day?

 

[Paradoxally]

I would end a day with barely 30% battery left.

Then I'd say Apple have done their job. Ending the day with 30% battery means that your phone easily achieves all-day battery life, which is the goal.

Disabling services is nonsense. Use and abuse the iPhone, it was made to have all services on and still deliver all-day battery life in the case of the 6(S)+ (LTE, push, BAR, location, etc).

 

[phillavelle]

Hi - and sorry you're having all these issues...
I have a similar history to yours - got a 6 Plus in Jan. 2015 (as a replacement for a 5S), then when the 6S Plus came out, I sold the 6 Plus and bought the new one.
What I have experienced with both devices is fairly similar to you, but I didn't go see the Genius bar. And eventually, things sorted themselves out, I guess.
In the beginning, I reacted like you, I was appalled to see how fast the battery would drop. I would end a day with barely 30% battery left. That happened with both the 6 Plus on iOS 8.x.x and later with the 6S Plus on iOS 9.x.x.
Then I started tweaking my settings as much as I could, limiting notifications, localisation and other factors known to be battery hogs. I guess you must have done that, too. Slowly, day by day, battery life improved.

Right now, I'd say it has become more or less stable. On a normal day, my usage is fairly standard: some e-mail, some web browsing, some social networks and instant messengers, some music, some photography, some gaming, some sports. In the end of the normal day (at bedtime when I put it back on its charger) my iPhone proudly shows ~50% battery left. I'm quite happy with that and would say that's what's to be expected of this device.
I tend to restart it once in a while (maybe once every week or every 10 days).

How much battery do you have left at the end of a normal day?

Hi there.

Don't get me wrong. I can get by with the battery as it is. Yesterday, I got 15 hours from 100%-0% and that was with 10 hours usage. So you may wonder what I'm complaining about! I must be mad, right?

Well it's just because I know prior to that it would have worked for up to two days. That ten hours usage wasn't screen on time and I was seeing the battery fall every time the screen was on.

It's because I have seen better on it prior to 9.3.1 that I know thing are not quite right. I've got location off for almost all apps and only two are set to 'always'. Notifications are sorted and I do hard reset the phone fairly often. I also calibrated the battery yesterday by running it down completely.

It's not the end of the world to me, but I just thought it worth posting to see if the app crashing issue is something affecting everybody else.

 

[phillavelle]

Then I'd say Apple have done their job. Ending the day with 30% battery means that your phone easily achieves all-day battery life, which is the goal.

Disabling services is nonsense. Use and abuse the iPhone, it was made to have all services on and still deliver all-day battery life in the case of the 6(S)+ (LTE, push, BAR, location, etc).

Hey. Don't get me wrong. I would rather end the day with 30% and I know this is achievable. My point was the update has screwed things up and apps shouldn't be constantly crashing. With that in mind, they haven't done their job because they've brought out something with a bug to replace something that wasn't there before.
If my battery died in a few hours, I'd have real issues. And it doesn't, so all is not lost. But it just jars with me that something that was perfect has become not so perfect and to say that it still works, but not as well, doesn't make it acceptable.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I think you are putting too big of an importance on the percentage. The percent of battery remaining is an estimate and an estimate only. I've had my phone die at 10% and I've had it stay on 1% for an hour. Just turn off the % and use your phone normally. When you constantly watch the battery it makes it seem worse than it is. Trust me. I know. I've had to break the habit time and time again.

 

[phillavelle]

I think you are putting too big of an importance on the percentage. The percent of battery remaining is an estimate and an estimate only. I've had my phone die at 10% and I've had it stay on 1% for an hour. Just turn off the % and use your phone normally. When you constantly watch the battery it makes it seem worse than it is. Trust me. I know. I've had to break the habit time and time again.

I get you, but this doesn't explain the app crashing issue. I've never experienced my battery die at anything other than 0% or seen it run down so quickly before the update. The app crashing issue is obviously doing something bad which is why I wonder if it affects others.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I get you, but this doesn't explain the app crashing issue. I've never experienced my battery die at anything other than 0% or seen it run down so quickly before the update. The app crashing issue is obviously doing something bad which is why I wonder if it affects others.

How would app crashes in the background create battery drain? It would only hurt your battery if you are constantly reopening the same app that is crashing on you in the background. Therefore it's reusing processor power to reopen it.

 

[phillavelle]

How would app crashes in the background create battery drain? It would only hurt your battery if you are constantly reopening the same app that is crashing on you in the background. Therefore it's reusing processor power to reopen it.

Because the Genius told me that these apps are crashing in the background, reopening themselves and crashing again in an 'infinite loop' so to speak. Which obviously would impact the battery because the phone is caught up in a cycle

 

[Mlrollin91]

Because the Genius told me that these apps are crashing in the background, reopening themselves and crashing again in an 'infinite loop' so to speak. Which obviously would impact the battery because the phone is caught up in a cycle

They are auto reopening?? I have never experienced an app to auto reopen after a crash. On OSX yes. iOS. No.

 

[phillavelle]

They are auto reopening?? I have never experienced an app to auto reopen after a crash. On OSX yes. iOS. No.

Apparently so. Take Stocks for example. I had not even opened that app. I never use it. Yet it was showing up as crashing over and over again.

Same with Addison Lee. I installed it but still haven't opened it and set up my account.

It's so bizarre.

 

[geekiemac]

Then I'd say Apple have done their job. Ending the day with 30% battery means that your phone easily achieves all-day battery life, which is the goal.

Disabling services is nonsense. Use and abuse the iPhone, it was made to have all services on and still deliver all-day battery life in the case of the 6(S)+ (LTE, push, BAR, location, etc).

Oh, but I don't disable any services, don't get me wrong. I just use them selectively. I'm not interested in getting Facebook notifications every 5 minutes, so I disable that. It's not for the battery - it's for my own well-being.

 

[robnbill]

Apparently so. Take Stocks for example. I had not even opened that app. I never use it. Yet it was showing up as crashing over and over again.

Same with Addison Lee. I installed it but still haven't opened it and set up my account.

It's so bizarre.

Hi - There is an issue that causes what I categorize as severe battery drain + high data usage (cell and/or wifi). It's really unusual - a system task/daemon called identityservices - it's working on some iCloud queue - not sure which one - but, the task has to do with credentialing - it uses the largest portion of the CPU on the system side. And to boot - it's systemic across other iOS and OS X devices under the same Apple ID - such that the same thing may be happening on other devices - since this system task is also on those devices. Since I've had iPhones, starting with the very first one, my battery life has been good to excellent. Recently (April) it all went downhill - very much so. I investigated and found what I call a runaway task -- I did it by using the Instruments option from Xcode - in my case I know - for me - the runaway task was the issue.

Before I go on - does this sound at all like it may be your issue? One possible way to tell is to look at your diagnostic reports - and see if there is one or more reports for something like this title: ExcResource_identityservices. Another sign is the usage and standby times are close together - and if you are looking at your cell data usage there are higher peaks than you normally experience. Especially under System Services.

If it is - let me know and I'lll post a list of some things that have worked for some people.

UPDATE: I’ll post these now since we have a time difference - you are on the other side of the pond.

If Usage and Standby times are close together and you have an unusual high data usage (can tell when on cell) and/or you have a report or two that I mentioned- one of these steps may help you:

• Turn off all your iOS and OS X devices - turn them back on one-by-one (worked for me for almost two days)
• DFU your iPhone - Restore as New - Add Apps from App Store - Not Backup (Has been working for a while now) - you did this though

Other easy to try approaches that seems to work for some people (I have not tried these):

• Turn off “Allow Calls on Other Devices”
• Reset your Apple ID Password via appleid.apple.com
• Turn off iCloud Keychain on all your iOS & OS X devices - reboot them

It seems to me - in my non-expert opinion - that if you - in effect - break the loop - disrupt the queue that identityservices is processing - the problem goes away.

BTW - FWIW - IMO - this has nothing to do with what is turned on or off - location services - background app refresh, etc. - I think IOS and the iPhone is built to work well under those conditions - unless there is a bad user app that is always running in the background - Waze, etc. I also don't think it's tied directly to 9.x. I've traced this back, in multiple forums, to sometime in 2014 where very similar conditions were posted.

 

[phillavelle]

Hi - There is an issue that causes what I categorize as severe battery drain + high data usage (cell and/or wifi). It's really unusual - a system task/daemon called identityservices - it's working on some iCloud queue - not sure which one - but, the task has to do with credentialing - it uses the largest portion of the CPU on the system side. And to boot - it's systemic across other iOS and OS X devices under the same Apple ID - such that the same thing may be happening on other devices - since this system task is also on those devices. Since I've had iPhones, starting with the very first one, my battery life has been good to excellent. Recently (April) it all went downhill - very much so. I investigated and found what I call a runaway task -- I did it by using the Instruments option from Xcode - in my case I know - for me - the runaway task was the issue.

Before I go on - does this sound at all like it may be your issue? One possible way to tell is to look at your diagnostic reports - and see if there is one or more reports for something like this title: ExcResource_identityservices. Another sign is the usage and standby times are close together - and if you are looking at your cell data usage there are higher peaks than you normally experience. Especially under System Services.

If it is - let me know and I'lll post a list of some things that have worked for some people.

UPDATE: I’ll post these now since we have a time difference - you are on the other side of the pond.

If Usage and Standby times are close together and you have an unusual high data usage (can tell when on cell) and/or you have a report or two that I mentioned- one of these steps may help you:

• Turn off all your iOS and OS X devices - turn them back on one-by-one (worked for me for almost two days)
• DFU your iPhone - Restore as New - Add Apps from App Store - Not Backup (Has been working for a while now) - you did this though

Other easy to try approaches that seems to work for some people (I have not tried these):

• Turn off “Allow Calls on Other Devices”
• Reset your Apple ID Password via appleid.apple.com
• Turn off iCloud Keychain on all your iOS & OS X devices - reboot them

It seems to me - in my non-expert opinion - that if you - in effect - break the loop - disrupt the queue that identityservices is processing - the problem goes away.

BTW - FWIW - IMO - this has nothing to do with what is turned on or off - location services - background app refresh, etc. - I think IOS and the iPhone is built to work well under those conditions - unless there is a bad user app that is always running in the background - Waze, etc. I also don't think it's tied directly to 9.x. I've traced this back, in multiple forums, to sometime in 2014 where very similar conditions were posted.

Hi Robnill!

Hey from across the Pond! Thanks for taking the time to write all of that. Really appreciate it.

So I did what you said and have turned all off and on one by one etc again. And the stuff with the keychain.

I haven't noticed a huge amount of cell usage but have noticed usage and standby time similar (though not identical).

I don't have that process you mention but I do have others. Jetsam in particular. That's causing a lot of issues.

Here are some screenshots. It may as well be in Swahili for all the sense it makes to me. But does anything jump out at you here?

Thanks again!

 

[Paradoxally]

Based on those logs I'd say your phone is quite messed up (but you already knew this). The Jetsam events are related to a lack of memory. I typically see these on jailbroken devices because some tweaks installed tend to suck up available memory or leak it (bad programming), but this is not the case. You also have a bunch of other logs regarding location daemon and a lot of other app crashes.

I'd get that phone replaced. Show the logs to a Genius at the Apple Store. 9.3+ is very stable, and you unfortunately have a lemon here.

 

[phillavelle]

Based on those logs I'd say your phone is quite messed up. The Jetsam events are related to a lack of memory. I typically see these on jailbroken devices because some tweaks installed tend to suck up available memory or leak it (bad programming), but this is not the case. You also have a bunch of other logs regarding location daemon and a lot of other app crashes.

I'd get that phone replaced. Show the logs to a Genius at the Apple Store. 9.3+ is very stable, and you unfortunately have a lemon here.

Really? See that's the most bizarre thing because it only started when I went up to 9.3.1 on the other phone. And then they replaced the phone with a brand new one.. not even a refurb one from behind the counter, but a brand new, sealed one. It can't be the case that I'd be unlucky enough to get two faulty iPhones, surely, yet nobody else has this issue?

 

[Paradoxally]

I don't know if the update caused it, but you could try installing 9.3.2 beta to check if it's really 9.3.1 that has major issues (unlikely, otherwise this would spread like wildfire, but let's remove any doubt). Set it up as new and use it normally. Keep the logging on when Apple prompts you to in the setup. If they start appearing again, you can downgrade back to 9.3.1 and then show the generated logs to a Genius (because if it's a hardware issue, it will happen on any firmware). They will have to do something if your phone is having those many issues a day.

 

[phillavelle]

I don't know if the update caused it, but you could try installing 9.3.2 beta to check if it's really 9.3.1 that has major issues (unlikely, otherwise this would spread like wildfire, but let's remove any doubt). Set it up as new and use it normally. Keep the logging on when Apple prompts you to in the setup. If they start appearing again, you can downgrade back to 9.3.1 and then show the generated logs to a Genius (because if it's a hardware issue, it will happen on any firmware). They will have to do something if your phone is having those many issues a day.

Thanks Paradoxally!

Few quick questions from a luddite (forgive me!)

* If I update to 9.3.2, these logs will all disappear (aside from the screenshots), right? So I couldn't show them to a Genius

* Is 9.3.2 known to be stable? It's been a long long time since I installed a developer beta. Maybe back to iOS7's day

* Do I have to still become a developer and pay $$ to get 9.3.2 now?

I'm really, super reluctant to set up as a new iPhone, just as a trial. I have a 20,000+ iCloud photo library and 9000+ songs which I want offline, so have to download tonnes of playlists manually. I'm not exaggerating to say that it took about 2 days each time to get everything back to where it should be each time. I think I'd rather staple my face than do it again unless i KNEW that was the solution, rather than just doing it as a test (which is what I've done each other time).. I realise I may HAVE TO at some point though *bangs head against desk hard*

 

[phillavelle]

One other thing which may or may not be related.. But look what is there in my privacy settings.. It is a process rather than an app with icon. Just looks out of place. Wonder if that has anything to do with it..

 

[Paradoxally]

Thanks Paradoxally!

Few quick questions from a luddite (forgive me!)

* If I update to 9.3.2, these logs will all disappear (aside from the screenshots), right? So I couldn't show them to a Genius

* Is 9.3.2 known to be stable? It's been a long long time since I installed a developer beta. Maybe back to iOS7's day

* Do I have to still become a developer and pay $$ to get 9.3.2 now?

1- Yes, they will. One of the goals of updating to 9.3.2 beta is to see if the same logs are generated again. If they aren't, you have your problem solved. If they do, downgrade back to 9.3.1 and it will likely occur again anyway. Then you can show those to a Genius.

2- Seeing as we're on beta 4, it's pretty much close to the final release. I'd say it's stable enough.

3- No, you simply install the beta profile and update OTA. You don't need to set up as new iPhone, but it might help. https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/guide

 

[phillavelle]

1- Yes, they will. One of the goals of updating to 9.3.2 beta is to see if the same logs are generated again. If they aren't, you have your problem solved. If they do, downgrade back to 9.3.1 and it will likely occur again anyway. Then you can show those to a Genius.

2- Seeing as we're on beta 4, it's pretty much close to the final release. I'd say it's stable enough.

3- No, you simply install the beta profile and update OTA. You don't need to set up as new iPhone, but it might help. https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/guide

I'll give it a try. Would you advise doing Reset All Settings before the update? I've heard mixed reports on whether or not it is worth doing?

 

[robnbill]

Hi. I don't think you have the same issue I did. The genius bar told you have apps crashing - a lot. I think the JETSAM events are low memory events - memory is being released from RAM (not your main memory but the system RAM that actually is used to run Apps) to make room for another app that needs it. Just a guess.

I'd do two things to troubleshoot - turn off background app refresh on all your apps (for now) - and perhaps turn off location services for those apps that only give you only an 'always' choice - I feel more comfortable with those apps - that give you the choice of 'while using.' See if you can make an educated guess as to which of those apps may be causing an issue. I have read some people have run into issues with Mail app connections to a MS exchange server - just in case you use one. Look in your battery usage too - see if there is some app running 'a lot' (I know that's subjective) in the background (press the time icon in the upper right corner). My guess is this is a user app - not a system app.

Perhaps you have an app that 'needs' system RAM - it's always requesting it - kicking out other apps - not really a crash as such. It may be a misbehaving app - one with a memory leak. Those are hard to find - although if you had time you could run Xcode and see if you could find it.

At this point I'd call Apple Support - explain the problem - they'll tell you to try much of what you have already done - incl. a DFU as New. But - be persistent, nice, and ask them to raise the issue to the next level. They can get your logs if you are able to plug in your iPhone int ITunes - and see your iPhone and it's log contents interactively. They did that for me when they were troubleshooting my issue. They had me DFU as New - and when I did the restore - my iPhone shows it was attached to someone else's Apple ID - very odd since the phone was bought new from an Apple store - they cleared that issue quickly since I had proof-of-purchase. Their security team didn't explain why that happened.

I am interested to see what you find out. The best of luck.
[doublepost=1463409203][/doublepost]

I'll give it a try. Would you advise doing Reset All Settings before the update? I've heard mixed reports on whether or not it is worth doing?

I like the idea of trying 9.3.2 -- it seems like that's relatively easy to do. I believe it's on a very late version of the Beta - probably close to final release.

 

[macfacts]

When you got the new iPhone replacement, you shouldn't have updated iOS if you believe the new versions are the problem.

 

[Paradoxally]

When you got the new iPhone replacement, you shouldn't have updated iOS if you believe the new versions are the problem.

The new versions are meant to improve stability and performance in general, not to mention fixing bugs. If it's not the case, you either have an issue with your setup or your hardware. Staying on older firmware is a security risk and not justifiable unless you want to preserve a jailbreak.

I'll give it a try. Would you advise doing Reset All Settings before the update? I've heard mixed reports on whether or not it is worth doing?

I'd try just updating for now. If the problem persists, then do that.

 

[robnbill]

Hi. I don't think you have the same issue I did. The genius bar told you have apps crashing - a lot. I think the JETSAM events are low memory events - memory is being released from RAM (not your main memory but the system RAM that actually is used to run Apps) to make room for another app that needs it. Just a guess.

I'd do two things to troubleshoot - turn off background app refresh on all your apps (for now) - and perhaps turn off location services for those apps that only give you only an 'always' choice - I feel more comfortable with those apps - that give you the choice of 'while using.' See if you can make an educated guess as to which of those apps may be causing an issue. I have read some people have run into issues with Mail app connections to a MS exchange server - just in case you use one. Look in your battery usage too - see if there is some app running 'a lot' (I know that's subjective) in the background (press the time icon in the upper right corner). My guess is this is a user app - not a system app.

Perhaps you have an app that 'needs' system RAM - it's always requesting it - kicking out other apps - not really a crash as such. It may be a misbehaving app - one with a memory leak. Those are hard to find - although if you had time you could run Xcode and see if you could find it.

At this point I'd call Apple Support - explain the problem - they'll tell you to try much of what you have already done - incl. a DFU as New. But - be persistent, nice, and ask them to raise the issue to the next level. They can get your logs if you are able to plug in your iPhone int ITunes - and see your iPhone and it's log contents interactively. They did that for me when they were troubleshooting my issue. They had me DFU as New - and when I did the restore - my iPhone shows it was attached to someone else's Apple ID - very odd since the phone was bought new from an Apple store - they cleared that issue quickly since I had proof-of-purchase. Their security team didn't explain why that happened.

I am interested to see what you find out. The best of luck.
[doublepost=1463409203][/doublepost]
I like the idea of trying 9.3.2 -- it seems like that's relatively easy to do. I believe it's on a very late version of the Beta - probably close to final release.

Also - see this link: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7527095?start=0&tstart=0
I have not seen springboard before in location services. To me - very unusual.