iOS 15 hobbled my 6s plus

[MacTiki]

iOS 15 has hobbled my iPhone 6s Plus and has made it unbearable to use.

Prior to updating my iPhone was running the last version of iOS 14.

The phone is now extremely sluggish.

Safari has issues displaying pages.

Typing is like hunt, peck and wait for the letter to show up. This is extremely noticeable on the comment section on a number of major websites.

The remote control app has been disabled and directs you to the remote in the control center. Unfortunately the control center remote is not compatible with my version of Apple TV.

Battery Run Time is significantly shorter. Battery Run Time went from 6AM to 8 or 9PM to now only lasting 4 to 5 hours with light use.

Location Services Find My iPhone is constantly getting location every minute. The hollow Location Arrow is constantly displayed next to the battery icon.

I am not sharing my location.

It is my understanding that I am unable to revert to the phone’s previous iOS.

Apple claims to value the user experience and to provide products that just work.

From my experience iOS 15 should have never been allowed to be installed on the 6s plus.

Its telling that Apple will segregate which iPhones are permitted to be updated but not allow a person to roll back to a previous version of the iOS by discontinuing signing the firmware.

Planned obsolescence is one thing but this experience seems more like planned sabotage.

And if anyone is wondering I was convinced to update the iOS due to security updates. I guess that enhanced security is achieved from not being able to use the iPhone.

 

[TiggrToo]

iOS 15 has hobbled my iPhone 6s Plus and has made it unbearable to use.

Prior to updating my iPhone was running the last version of iOS 14.

The phone is now extremely sluggish.

Safari has issues displaying pages.

Typing is like hunt, peck and wait for the letter to show up. This is extremely noticeable on the comment section on a number of major websites.

The remote control app has been disabled and directs you to the remote in the control center. Unfortunately the control center remote is not compatible with my version of Apple TV.

Battery Run Time is significantly shorter. Battery Run Time went from 6AM to 8 or 9PM to now only lasting 4 to 5 hours with light use.

It is my understanding that I am unable to revert to the phone’s previous iOS.

Apple claims to value the user experience and to provide products that just work.

From my experience iOS 15 should have never been allowed to be installed on the 6s plus.

Its telling that Apple will segregate which iPhones are permitted to be updated but not allow a person to roll back to a previous version of the iOS by discontinuing signing the firmware.

Planned obsolescence is one thing but this experience seems more like planned sabotage.

And if anyone is wondering I was convinced to update the iOS due to security updates. I guess that enhanced security is achieved from not being able to use the iPhone.

Oh dear dog, really?

You hold on your hands a device that is still officially supported, a device older than any officially supported Android device by far, and you STILL complain?

This device was released late 2015 - it's had 6 years of updates.

And yet you complain of "planned sabotage"

Give me a break...

 

[clevins]

Did you just update? If so, try two things:

First, open the app store and make sure all apps are updated. If they're not, force them to by choosing Update All (do this plugged in).

Second, leave it alone overnight, plugged in. INdexing could be happening and taking CPU cycles.

The location thing is odd. You should be able to open Location Services in Settings and see what;s asking for your location. Facebook app used to be a hog at this all the time.

You could do a clean install - if it runs fine with a new copy of just iOS 15, then it's likely 1 or more apps. But I'd do the reverse and try to find the app that's the cause (if it is an app). Look at what's using battery, etc.

 

[MacTiki]

Did you just update? If so, try two things:

First, open the app store and make sure all apps are updated. If they're not, force them to by choosing Update All (do this plugged in).

Second, leave it alone overnight, plugged in. INdexing could be happening and taking CPU cycles.

The location thing is odd. You should be able to open Location Services in Settings and see what;s asking for your location. Facebook app used to be a hog at this all the time.

You could do a clean install - if it runs fine with a new copy of just iOS 15, then it's likely 1 or more apps. But I'd do the reverse and try to find the app that's the cause (if it is an app). Look at what's using battery, etc.

Did the update a few days ago.

All apps are updated.

Plug it in at night and don’t touch it, other then to see what time it is, until the sun comes up. Which reminds me in the morning, since updating, the iPhone is warm to the touch.

The Find My iPhone is what keeps asking for the location.

I turn it off under Location Service/System Services and it stops and the hollow arrow next the the battery goes away. Which I would expect.

What is confusing is that under Location Services / Share My Location / Find My iPhone indicates that Find My iPhone is still on.

So is Find My iPhone on or off? Will I be able to find my iPhone?

All my other apps are set to Never or While Using.

Don’t run any of the social media apps and stick mainly with the iOS stock apps and a few more utilitarian apps.

Thanks for your input.

 

[TiggrToo]

Did the update a few days ago.

All apps are updated.

Plug it in at night and don’t touch it, other then to see what time it is, until the sun comes up. Which reminds me in the morning, since updating, the iPhone is warm to the touch.

The Find My iPhone is what keeps asking for the location.

I turn it off under Location Service/System Services and it stops and the hollow arrow next the the battery goes away. Which I would expect.

What is confusing is that under Location Services / Share My Location / Find My iPhone indicates that Find My iPhone is still on.

So is Find My iPhone on or off? Will I be able to find my iPhone?

All my other apps are set to Never or While Using.

Don’t run any of the social media apps and stick mainly with the iOS stock apps and a few more utilitarian apps.

Thanks for your input.

If you look at battery health, does it show anything there?

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I suggest doing a full restore using iTunes/Finder and setup as new without using your backup. Use the phone for a day or two and see if it's performance has improved. If it hasn't, you can just restore using your backup and it will be back to where you started

 

[clevins]

Hmm. And is Find My taking most of your battery too, then?

I'm inclined to do the full restore, setup as new thing that @BugeyeSTI suggests. At the least, it will let you know whether or not there's something off in your current setup.

 

[Pecka]

iOS 15 is a bit sluggish on my iPhone 8 too. Not slow but the interface and animations are frequently lagging.

 

[MacTiki]

Hmm. And is Find My taking most of your battery too, then?

Does the System Services Find My iPhone even show up in Battery Usage? I am not running the Find My app.

Also it’s a bit confusing there are two separate locations where a toggle button can be found for Find My iPhone.

I have it now set to OFF under System Service, which stops the constant location queries, but have discovered that it is still in the ON position under Share My Location.

So is it ON or OFF? Will I be able to locate my phone if lost?

 

[iAFC]

Does the System Services Find My iPhone even show up in Battery Usage? I am not running the Find My app.

Also it’s a bit confusing there are two separate locations where a toggle button can be found for Find My iPhone.

I have it now set to OFF under System Service, which stops the constant location queries, but have discovered that it is still in the ON position under Share My Location.

So is it ON or OFF? Will I be able to locate my phone if lost?

The "share my location" thing is for Find My Friends, which is now integrated into the same app as Find My iPhone. You can turn Find My iPhone off by following these steps.

 

[AlixSPQR]

iOS 15 has hobbled my iPhone 6s Plus and has made it unbearable to use.

Spoiler: Litany

Prior to updating my iPhone was running the last version of iOS 14.

The phone is now extremely sluggish.

Safari has issues displaying pages.

Typing is like hunt, peck and wait for the letter to show up. This is extremely noticeable on the comment section on a number of major websites.

The remote control app has been disabled and directs you to the remote in the control center. Unfortunately the control center remote is not compatible with my version of Apple TV.

Battery Run Time is significantly shorter. Battery Run Time went from 6AM to 8 or 9PM to now only lasting 4 to 5 hours with light use.

Location Services Find My iPhone is constantly getting location every minute. The hollow Location Arrow is constantly displayed next to the battery icon.

I am not sharing my location.

It is my understanding that I am unable to revert to the phone’s previous iOS.

Apple claims to value the user experience and to provide products that just work.

From my experience iOS 15 should have never been allowed to be installed on the 6s plus.

Its telling that Apple will segregate which iPhones are permitted to be updated but not allow a person to roll back to a previous version of the iOS by discontinuing signing the firmware.

Planned obsolescence is one thing but this experience seems more like planned sabotage.

And if anyone is wondering I was convinced to update the iOS due to security updates. I guess that enhanced security is achieved from not being able to use the iPhone.

I have an iPhone SE 1st gen, which is basically the same phone as a 6s, internally. It works perfectly fine with iOS 15, so something else must be amiss with yours. I would recommend that you restore your phone to its factory settings, see instructions here. Please make a backup first. Good luck!

 

[NC12]

iOS 15 has hobbled my iPhone 6s Plus and has made it unbearable to use.

Prior to updating my iPhone was running the last version of iOS 14.

The phone is now extremely sluggish.

Safari has issues displaying pages.

Typing is like hunt, peck and wait for the letter to show up. This is extremely noticeable on the comment section on a number of major websites.

The remote control app has been disabled and directs you to the remote in the control center. Unfortunately the control center remote is not compatible with my version of Apple TV.

Battery Run Time is significantly shorter. Battery Run Time went from 6AM to 8 or 9PM to now only lasting 4 to 5 hours with light use.

Location Services Find My iPhone is constantly getting location every minute. The hollow Location Arrow is constantly displayed next to the battery icon.

I am not sharing my location.

It is my understanding that I am unable to revert to the phone’s previous iOS.

Apple claims to value the user experience and to provide products that just work.

From my experience iOS 15 should have never been allowed to be installed on the 6s plus.

Its telling that Apple will segregate which iPhones are permitted to be updated but not allow a person to roll back to a previous version of the iOS by discontinuing signing the firmware.

Planned obsolescence is one thing but this experience seems more like planned sabotage.

And if anyone is wondering I was convinced to update the iOS due to security updates. I guess that enhanced security is achieved from not being able to use the iPhone.

I have an iPhone 6s (not the plus) and it runs perfectly fine on iOS 15. I think it’s just your phone

 

[Larsvonhier]

I have an iPhone SE 1st gen, which is basically the same phone as a 6s, internally. It works perfectly fine with iOS 15, so something else must be amiss with yours. I would recommend that you restore your phone to its factory settings, see instructions here. Please make a backup first. Good luck!

Same here, SE 1. Gen, iOS 15, no problems at all.

 

[Romkugl]

@MacTiki

I also have an old iPhone 6S as a spare phone. When I updated it to iOS 15, I put it to my Mac, and made a full restore, in recovery mode, and booted it up again without restoring from an iCloud Backup. It runs okay, but of course I can feel it is not new anymore, but definitely usable. I can recommend you do that too. Old hardware combined with software that is constantly updated and accumulates more data is not an optimal combination

But Battery Capacity on my 6S, is down to 85% which also means that it does not run optimally. It could also be the reason your seems sluggish, have you checked your battery capacity?

 

[BellSystem]

A lot of this stuff is expected with a device that old. It’s getting time to really stop updating it until you see how it impacts others first. I would erase it completely and manually rebuild it. Restoring can bring over borked configs that might just restart the issues you are having. After that many consecutive updates things can go sideways eventually.

 

[MacTiki]

A lot of this stuff is expected with a device that old.

If I had expected these results I would have not updated my iPhone.

Having owned iPhones from the beginning I have never experienced such an outcome when updating.

Previous models would get to the point that updating was not allowed and eventually third party apps would no longer be supported on old iOS.

Other than a ongoing camera lens issue, which was resolved by Apple replacing the phone three years ago, the 6s Plus has been a sold phone.

Not needing the latest and greatest I WAS expecting to get a couple more years out of this phone especially since Apple is still supporting it via updates.

It’s getting time to really stop updating it until you see how it impacts others first.

The results I am experiencing should have been reason enough for Apple to have not included the 6s plus.

Apparently while others ( @Romkugl @Larsvonhier @NC12 @AlixSPQR ) are saying their SE and their 6s works fine there are others with the 6s Plus experiencing similar problems.

I would erase it completely and manually rebuild it. Restoring can bring over borked configs that might just restart the issues you are having.

So how do I manually put my stuff back on the iPhone? (Notes, Messages, Mail, Contacts, etc…) Are you saying use a third party app to move files from my Mac to the iPhone?

After that many consecutive updates things can go sideways eventually.

Unfortunately many of us know from experience that Apple from time to time has released updates for their products which cause thing to “go sideways” to the point of bricking them.

If I could revert back to iOS 14 the issues I am having would be resolved.

 

[MacTiki]

I suggest doing a full restore using iTunes/Finder and setup as new without using your backup. Use the phone for a day or two and see if it's performance has improved. If it hasn't, you can just restore using your backup and it will be back to where you started

If it does improve does that indicate that I will not be able to get my data back on the iPhone? (Mail, Notes, Messages, etc…)

 

[MacTiki]

But Battery Capacity on my 6S, is down to 85% which also means that it does not run optimally. It could also be the reason your seems sluggish, have you checked your battery capacity?

I just checked the Battery Capacity and I am now down to 84% and indicates that the iPhone is operating at “Peak Performance Capability”

Prior to the update I was at 90~92%

So did the update shorten the battery runtime and life expectancy?

 

[LivingMyBeachLife]

Like others, I would recommend a factory reset. You do need to keep in mind you are using a 7 year old phone.

 

[Romkugl]

@MacTiki

Since it's an iPhone 6S Plus with a few years behind it, I do not think the update downgraded your battery capacity. I think more that the battery capacity has been adjusted to the right value. If the battery life is 84%, according to Apple, it is also time to get the battery replaced, and that is certainly also why your iPhone performs poorly, while it could certainly also need a reset without subsequent installation of backup.

 

[clevins]

So how do I manually put my stuff back on the iPhone? (Notes, Messages, Mail, Contacts, etc…) Are you saying use a third party app to move files from my Mac to the iPhone?

Make sure that all of that stuff is syncing to iCloud (ask if you're unsure how to know this). If it is, then it will all resync to a newly setup iphone once you sign back into icloud. First, make a backup of course.

Also, check what's using battery. Go to Settings, scroll down to Battery and tap that. Then scroll down a bit and you'll see Battery Usage by App. If something is taking a good chunk of your battery, let us know what it is.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

If it does improve does that indicate that I will not be able to get my data back on the iPhone? (Mail, Notes, Messages, etc…)

Not necessarily. Everything that's synced to iCloud will come back when you sign into your account during setup. So everything you have checked off in iCloud (settings/your name/iCloud) will come back. All your apps will have to be reinstalled one by one (data should come back too after you sign in to them). As far as the 84% battery, I'd consider getting it replaced myself. If the battery is older it possible that during certain situations the battery isn't capable of providing the power necessary for smooth operation. I'd hold off on installing your apps until you figure out if it runs better without them. If it does you can add your apps one by one to see if one of them is causing a problem. It a long process but it works well to weed out problems

 

[Bandaman]

Go into your battery settings and see what the heath is at. If optimized battery charging is turned on and your health is below a certain percentage your may see some very sluggish behavior as your phone is trying to save your battery. You could very well just need a new battery. Try turning off optimized battery charging if it’s on though. And also turn off any graphical effects.

You may also want to try backing up your phone and doing a restore.

 

[Jeven Stobs]

Oh dear dog, really?

You hold on your hands a device that is still officially supported, a device older than any officially supported Android device by far, and you STILL complain?

This device was released late 2015 - it's had 6 years of updates.

And yet you complain of "planned sabotage"

Give me a break...

You sound a lot like the people that used to defend Apple when they crippled the iPhone 4s with iOS 9.
Fact is, Apple could have done better with their recent iteration of iOS, that’s out of the question. They repeat mistakes they’ve done before, as someone buying into the brand and its marketing with top dollar you’d expect them not to do the same ever again, but here we are. They couldn’t have cared less, because if they did, the A9 generation would still work more than fine with iOS 14, instead of being slowed down by an update that introduced almost nothing new for old devices but problems.

 

[TiggrToo]

You sound a lot like the people that used to defend Apple when they crippled the iPhone 4s with iOS 9.
Fact is, Apple could have done better with their recent iteration of iOS, that’s out if the question. They repeat mistakes they done before, as someone buying into the brand and it’s marketing with top dollar you’d expect them not to do the same ever again, but here we are. They couldn’t have cared less, because if they did, the A9 generation would still work more than fine with iOS 14, instead of being slowed down by an update that introduced almost nothing new for old devices but problems.

Except, as others have said, their 6S’s are fine with 15.