iOS 9.3.2 battery vs 9.3.1 battery

[robnbill]

Interesting. Looking at what you experienced here, it's making me wonder if perhaps it was something to do with automatic iCloud backups that was causing all the drain for you. (I know you mentioned that you deleted most of your iCloud data, but wondering if perhaps the backup of the phone itself could have been playing a role in some way?) One way to perhaps try and narrow down if that was the culprit is to test the difference between what happens if the enable iCloud backups setting is on compared to when it is off. If you decide to try this, be sure to post your results, as at least we'd know for sure one way or another, even if it turned out not to be the case. (If it's that, then we'll have found it, but if it's not, then we'll know to try something else.)

Thanks for the tip - actually I intentionally had turned off iCloud backups. I've found a solution that works for me. See next post.
[doublepost=1460998699][/doublepost]iOS9 Battery Drain - in relation to identityservices and Messages - affects IPhone, Watch and OS X Devices

Some people are having issues with battery drain on their iOS devices. We have two sets of iPhone (each a 6S+) / Watch combinations - each running the latest versions - 9.3.1 and 2.2 respectively. The battery drain on the Watch and iPhone was noticed about five days after the release of 9.3.1. I took the devices into the genius bar - they worked on them for three hours - doing many things to the watch — restoring it as new. They also reset all settings on the IPhone — all to no avail. Both devices had abnormal battery drain. They agreed to leave the ticket open since the issues were not resolved.

I found a post that suggested signing out of all services. I tried that on the first combination of iPhone and Watch. It seemed to clear the issue. Tried it a day later on the second phone - still very bad battery drain on the second set - it didn’t work. Various tests showed that the Watch by itself (matching iPhone not tuned on) did not drain - it drained only when the iPhone was on. And, the iPhone by itself drained.

Next step: I ran instruments from Xcode on the iPhone still having issues. I ran the activity monitor multiple times for various periods. The most recent run showed the system task: identityservices consuming over 5 HOURS CPU time in a 9 hour standby period. Safe to say that system task was draining the battery. The iOS log in the iPhone lists that task as consuming excessive CPU time - and that the thread causing it is related to a Messages store. I researched more and find that this system task seems to have created battery issues in other IOS version too.

I also found that the OS X version of that task (identityservicesd) was creating an inordinate number of error messages in the console log on two of our OS X devices (iMac and MacBook). It also ran the battery down on the laptop - quickly. Armed with that information I again instrumented the iPhone. I began shutting down each iOS device - (two iPhones and two iPads) one-by-one - when three of those devices were shut down the identityservices task dropped to minimal CPU usage - no longer at 50-90-105%. In addition the corresponding task on the OS X iMac and MacBook stopped spewing the error messages.

I re-booted each iOS device one-by-one after they were fully charged. The ‘runaway’ system task (identityservices) is back to very low usage. Battery life on the iPhones now - after being in standby mode for five hours - consuming very low “Usage.” Not actually doing much with the phones during that five hours. Previously Usage was almost equal to Standby time - it was a low ratio. Now it is a a very high ratio - about a 1 to 10. For those that like %’s - after five hours it is at 97%.

As to the watches - we are going to turn those and the IPhones back on soon and see how they do. I’ll post a report on those later in the day.

UPDATE: Watches are now running at normal battery levels.

The identityservicesd error messages on the OS X machines indicated that the error was associated with a particular “Machine ID” (not the same as the serial number shown in About). I’m going to see if I can track that number down to a specific device. I don’t know how to find the Machine ID’s on the iOS devices - or watches for that matter. Perhaps one of devices has an issue - more likely turning off all devices and re-booting them one-by-one cleared Messages caches.

I think some people may have the same issue - but perhaps do not realize it since they are used to a certain battery life level- or maybe they don’t have it as bad. In any event, I don’t think this particular system task should continue to run and consume high CPU when there is an issue.

I hope this note helps those few people that seem to have battery issues. This is not for everyone - I would consider the following to determine if it might help you.

• Check your iOS log (Settings | Privacy | Diagnostics & Usage) for an entry that starts with: ExcResource_identityservicesd-2016-MM-DD . . .
• If you have one or more of the above - chances are this may help you
• Power off all IOS devices (and maybe your OS X devices too - not sure if that is necessary) and power them back on one by one.
• Simple -- for us it has been very effective
• My concern - this may happen again if the system tasks is not modified.

My plan is to to submit a bug report to Apple to document this behavior as son

For reference, here is an example of the messages that were continually (~ 5/sec) being generated in the OS X console log during the periods of high battery drain.

Apr 17 20:31:20 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering B4DAF3C4-515F-477B-943F-6CF3B92643BB com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:20 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid B4DAF3C4-515F-477B-943F-6CF3B92643BB
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering 9542E416-5CC5-4377-B3D6-BB1444BD7FBC com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid 9542E416-5CC5-4377-B3D6-BB1444BD7FBC
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering F9CE360D-9705-4DE6-8E5C-EBB930BCD62D com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid F9CE360D-9705-4DE6-8E5C-EBB930BCD62D

 

[sbailey4]

Whatsapp causing serious battery drains
It won't turn off from background even we enable low power mode or disable background app refresh it still downloading messages in background while connected to wifi and mobile data
Excess battery usage by this crap app they don't want to fix it I reported many times

To the app developer or to Apple? The app dev needs to fix this.

I first noticed my Watch having a very quick battery drain last week. I visited the genius bar - they restored the watch as new. It didn’t work - they kept the case open. At the same time my iPhone was also quickly draining battery. This all started at some point after 9.3 and/or 9.3.1 - I don’t know when nor the circumstances.

I looked at multiple forums - imore, macrumors, Apple communities, Apple developer, Reddit, etc. Some combination of events occur and a number (no idea how many) people run into this problem.

Background - we have two identical sets of iOS devices — one pair each - iPhone 6s+ and Watch . The exact same battery drain happens on all iOS devices - Watches and iPhones.

Here are some of the things I tried - not necessarily in this sequence.

• Started my watch and DID NOT power on the matching iPhone. Result - no battery loss in the Watch.
• Powered off the Watch - started the iPhone. Result - high battery drain on the iPhone.
• Conclusion - the watch drain happens only when paired with the iPhone - assumed the iPhone is where the issue lies.
• Assumed - this is not a bad battery - rather some anomalous software error.

• Loaded Xcode and instrumented, using Activity Monitor in instruments, the iPhone for about 30 minutes while locked and of course connected to the iMac.
  • There was very high CPU usage while locked and plugged in.
  • Two system task/daemons were taking a great deal of CPU cycles: mediaanalysisd and identityservicesd.
  • Researched both - I think (not sure) that the media analysis task is looking at Photos - and / or indexing. The Identity Services task seems to be associated with iCloud.
  • I assume there will be some system tasks that only execute when the phone is locked and has power- e.g., tasks associated with indexing, backing up, downloading apps, etc.
• Did additional searches for anything associated with iOS and identityservicesd - not limiting it to iOS 9.x.
  • I found a few posts that indicated success with one method - these posts seemed reasonable and well thought out.
  • They said they succeeded in stopping the battery drain by signing out of all services, restarting and signing back in.
  • This problem occurred under multiple iOS versions not just 9.x

• Here’s what I did:
  • Signed out of iCloud and iTunes - confirmed to IOS to remove all associated DB’s - Photos, Contacts, etc. from my device.
  • Rebooted the iPhone and signed back in to iCloud.
  • Let the DB’s restore while plugged in and on Wifi - took about three hours due to a large Photos DB.

• Results:
  • Took the iPhone off the charger - in standby mode with normal times running in the background (Mail, notifications, etc,) - after 5 hours - very little battery drain. Matching watch was not turned on.
  • Took the second IPhone off the charger at the same time. It maintained a very high battery drain during the same five hour period (maybe 5 to 6% hour) while in standby.
  • Next Day (Today) - 4 hour test - Added the Watch to the first iPhone - very low battery drain on Watch - maybe 1-2% hour - where it had been at least 5-6% hour.
  • The matching iPhone after 4 hours is still at 100% - and not using much background time relative to standby.
  • Unexpected results: The second iPhone - which had been rapidly losing battery last night against the first iPhone - today has identical results as the first iPhone - very little background usage. This iPhone was not signed out of iCloud as the first iPhone was.

• Bottom line: The process of signing out of all services, rebooting, and signing back in worked on my devices. Re-Instrumenting the iPhone for 30 minutes shows very little identityservicesd CPU time.

UPDATE: Battery life continues to be normal - no more unexpected draining after 8+ hours.

UPDATE II: If you look at the diagnostics log (Privacy | Diagnostics . . .) in your iPhone - you may see an entry similar to this: ExcResource_identityserviced-2016 . . . Apparently this gets recorded if there is excessive CPU usage on one the system tasks - look at the entry for it - if you have some of these they may be a sign of the battery drain. I logged out of all of iCloud - it's probably overkill - but, I don't know which 'account' (twitter, messages, iCloud, etc.) is really creating the issue.

I hope this helps someone - hopefully I made it fairly clear as to what I did.

Nice work. Seems to verify the claims that iCloud options (syncing, photos, links etc) is most likely the cause of these reported drains that folks cannot seem to identify. Something is apparently getting hung up with iCloud during upgrades for some users.

 

[robnbill]

I would like to use Xcode to try and take a look at performance, can you tell me what to do? I just downloaded Xcode. Thank you

Missed your question until now. Download Xcode and Install. Connect your Mac and let iTunes connect to your iOS device. Open Xcode - then open Instruments: Xcode | Open Dev Tools | Instruments. In the open window choose the template for your iOS device. You can then choose say Act. Monitor. It will open another window. The start/stop button is in the upper left.

 

[Galacticos]

Thanks for the tip - actually I intentionally had turned off iCloud backups. I've found a solution that works for me. See next post.
[doublepost=1460998699][/doublepost]iOS9 Battery Drain - in relation to identityservices and Messages - affects IPhone, Watch and OS X Devices

Some people are having issues with battery drain on their iOS devices. We have two sets of iPhone (each a 6S+) / Watch combinations - each running the latest versions - 9.3.1 and 2.2 respectively. The battery drain on the Watch and iPhone was noticed about five days after the release of 9.3.1. I took the devices into the genius bar - they worked on them for three hours - doing many things to the watch — restoring it as new. They also reset all settings on the IPhone — all to no avail. Both devices had abnormal battery drain. They agreed to leave the ticket open since the issues were not resolved.

I found a post that suggested signing out of all services. I tried that on the first combination of iPhone and Watch. It seemed to clear the issue. Tried it a day later on the second phone - still very bad battery drain on the second set - it didn’t work. Various tests showed that the Watch by itself (matching iPhone not tuned on) did not drain - it drained only when the iPhone was on. And, the iPhone by itself drained.

Next step: I ran instruments from Xcode on the iPhone still having issues. I ran the activity monitor multiple times for various periods. The most recent run showed the system task: identityservices consuming over 5 HOURS CPU time in a 9 hour standby period. Safe to say that system task was draining the battery. The iOS log in the iPhone lists that task as consuming excessive CPU time - and that the thread causing it is related to a Messages store. I researched more and find that this system task seems to have created battery issues in other IOS version too.

I also found that the OS X version of that task (identityservicesd) was creating an inordinate number of error messages in the console log on two of our OS X devices (iMac and MacBook). It also ran the battery down on the laptop - quickly. Armed with that information I again instrumented the iPhone. I began shutting down each iOS device - (two iPhones and two iPads) one-by-one - when three of those devices were shut down the identityservices task dropped to minimal CPU usage - no longer at 50-90-105%. In addition the corresponding task on the OS X iMac and MacBook stopped spewing the error messages.

I re-booted each iOS device one-by-one after they were fully charged. The ‘runaway’ system task (identityservices) is back to very low usage. Battery life on the iPhones now - after being in standby mode for five hours - consuming very low “Usage.” Not actually doing much with the phones during that five hours. Previously Usage was almost equal to Standby time - it was a low ratio. Now it is a a very high ratio - about a 1 to 10. For those that like %’s - after five hours it is at 97%.

As to the watches - we are going to turn those and the IPhones back on soon and see how they do. I’ll post a report on those later in the day.

UPDATE: Watches are now running at normal battery levels.

The identityservicesd error messages on the OS X machines indicated that the error was associated with a particular “Machine ID” (not the same as the serial number shown in About). I’m going to see if I can track that number down to a specific device. I don’t know how to find the Machine ID’s on the iOS devices - or watches for that matter. Perhaps one of devices has an issue - more likely turning off all devices and re-booting them one-by-one cleared Messages caches.

I think some people may have the same issue - but perhaps do not realize it since they are used to a certain battery life level- or maybe they don’t have it as bad. In any event, I don’t think this particular system task should continue to run and consume high CPU when there is an issue.

I hope this note helps those few people that seem to have battery issues. This is not for everyone - I would consider the following to determine if it might help you.

• Check your iOS log (Settings | Privacy | Diagnostics & Usage) for an entry that starts with: ExcResource_identityservicesd-2016-MM-DD . . .
• If you have one or more of the above - chances are this may help you
• Power off all IOS devices (and maybe your OS X devices too - not sure if that is necessary) and power them back on one by one.
• Simple -- for us it has been very effective
• My concern - this may happen again if the system tasks is not modified.

My plan is to to submit a bug report to Apple to document this behavior as son

For reference, here is an example of the messages that were continually (~ 5/sec) being generated in the OS X console log during the periods of high battery drain.

Apr 17 20:31:20 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering B4DAF3C4-515F-477B-943F-6CF3B92643BB com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:20 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid B4DAF3C4-515F-477B-943F-6CF3B92643BB
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering 9542E416-5CC5-4377-B3D6-BB1444BD7FBC com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid 9542E416-5CC5-4377-B3D6-BB1444BD7FBC
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering F9CE360D-9705-4DE6-8E5C-EBB930BCD62D com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid F9CE360D-9705-4DE6-8E5C-EBB930BCD62D

This is thorough advice thank you. Do you have any suggestions for what might make the battery warm, specifically while charging, and, if you know, in general use?

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

The identityservicesd error messages on the OS X machines indicated that the error was associated with a particular “Machine ID” (not the same as the serial number shown in About). I’m going to see if I can track that number down to a specific device. I don’t know how to find the Machine ID’s on the iOS devices - or watches for that matter. Perhaps one of devices has an issue - more likely turning off all devices and re-booting them one-by-one cleared Messages caches.

I think some people may have the same issue - but perhaps do not realize it since they are used to a certain battery life level- or maybe they don’t have it as bad. In any event, I don’t think this particular system task should continue to run and consume high CPU when there is an issue.

I hope this note helps those few people that seem to have battery issues. This is not for everyone - I would consider the following to determine if it might help you.

• Check your iOS log (Settings | Privacy | Diagnostics & Usage) for an entry that starts with: ExcResource_identityservicesd-2016-MM-DD . . .
• If you have one or more of the above - chances are this may help you
• Power off all IOS devices (and maybe your OS X devices too - not sure if that is necessary) and power them back on one by one.
• Simple -- for us it has been very effective
• My concern - this may happen again if the system tasks is not modified.

My plan is to to submit a bug report to Apple to document this behavior as son

For reference, here is an example of the messages that were continually (~ 5/sec) being generated in the OS X console log during the periods of high battery drain.

Apr 17 20:31:20 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering B4DAF3C4-515F-477B-943F-6CF3B92643BB com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:20 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid B4DAF3C4-515F-477B-943F-6CF3B92643BB
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering 9542E416-5CC5-4377-B3D6-BB1444BD7FBC com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid 9542E416-5CC5-4377-B3D6-BB1444BD7FBC
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] Received IDS message payload is empty, not delivering F9CE360D-9705-4DE6-8E5C-EBB930BCD62D com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys
Apr 17 20:31:41 XXX-MBP identityservicesd[288]: [Warning] No broadcast desired for command 227 topic com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys -- deleting message with guid F9CE360D-9705-4DE6-8E5C-EBB930BCD62D

Great work providing such a detailed analysis. From what you wrote here, I couldn't help but notice a couple of things that (might) help narrow down troubleshooting what's triggering this....

The first thing I noticed was that the recurring address reference that seems to keep popping up from the above log is com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys

The second thing I notice from what you said was that you opened up XCode (which as I understand it, is the IDE interface that app developers use to write apps for Apple devices, and also a name given to the native C based code language that is used within it when doing so).

So putting two and two together, my next question is to ask you if perhaps you've created some apps using XCode?

I'm a hobbyist programmer myself (in different coding languages though, so haven't branched out into learning XCode yet, so I may be wrong on those points). I fully intend to learn XCode next though, as I think Microsoft is slipping bigtime of late, and that Apple technologies are likely the future, so if you have coded using XCode yourself, then (going off on a slight tangent here) I'm actually really pleased to have found someone on here that I can talk to about stuff like this, and maybe my experience with other programming languages will be helpful to you in return. (I often find that additional languages are actually really easy to pick up once you understand the basic universal programming concepts.) -While many languages exist, the difference is often little more then slight syntactical differences, so the learning curve when it comes to learning additional ones tends to be little more than slight differences in syntax, and the odd little nuance here and there, but the basic programming concepts remain the same (like variables, loops, references, object models, classes, etc.) -They pretty much all have them, and the core principals behind them are much the same.

So getting back on topic, even tough I've never written a line of XCode myself, I can already tell that the aforementioned code above of com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys is the full address of the object class which is triggering the error. So if you go into XCode and look for all the instances that reference this, (just do a text search within the code modules, which will save you lots of headache rather than having to read every line of code). Then once you've located each reference to it, then this will help you to identify the piece of code that's triggering it.

The most likely explanation for what's actually happening is that there is either a memory leak (an object has been created via its class constructor, but no accompanying class destructor is being triggered to take it back out of memory when it stops being used, thus resulting in it clogging up the memory of the device). On failing that, it may even be the result of a continuous loop which is not exiting, and thus continually recurring in the background, which is what's swallowing up all the background processing (it could even be a combination of those two things).

Apologies if for any reason you had some other reason for using XCode but don't actually write stuff in XCode yourself, as all that would likely have not made much sense. lol. But I'm determined to help you locate the problem and I love little puzzles like this. So if it turns out that it's not one of your own apps that's triggering this, then the next step would be to locate which app it is that's doing it (as someone else on here suggested), and then contact the developer of that app via the app store reviews section, which will help the developer pinpoint where his app is going wrong, and you might have a shot at actually fixing it.

It's also possible that it's an error within the iOS version, but being as many of us including myself are not experiencing this issue (that are using the same iOS version as you), it does suggest that it's the process of a third party app that has missed something, and that when something in the latest iOS version changed, it caused that app to stop working, so needs to tweak his code to work in conjunction with the new way of doing things. (simple stuff like the address of a function it calls now being in a different place, or having been renamed as something else, etc.)
So getting the developer to lookup all his references to com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys would probably be a good place to start, and at the very least would provide clues.

 

[robnbill]

Great work providing such a detailed analysis. From what you wrote here, I couldn't help but notice a couple of things that (might) help narrow down troubleshooting what's triggering this....

The first thing I noticed was that the recurring address reference that seems to keep popping up from the above log is com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys

The second thing I notice from what you said was that you opened up XCode (which as I understand it, is the IDE interface that app developers use to write apps for Apple devices, and also a name given to the native C based code language that is used within it when doing so).

So putting two and two together, my next question is to ask you if perhaps you've created some apps using XCode?

I'm a hobbyist programmer myself (in different coding languages though, so haven't branched out into learning XCode yet, so I may be wrong on those points). I fully intend to learn XCode next though, as I think Microsoft is slipping bigtime of late, and that Apple technologies are likely the future, so if you have coded using XCode yourself, then (going off on a slight tangent here) I'm actually really pleased to have found someone on here that I can talk to about stuff like this, and maybe my experience with other programming languages will be helpful to you in return. (I often find that additional languages are actually really easy to pick up once you understand the basic universal programming concepts.) -While many languages exist, the difference is often little more then slight syntactical differences, so the learning curve when it comes to learning additional ones tends to be little more than slight differences in syntax, and the odd little nuance here and there, but the basic programming concepts remain the same (like variables, loops, references, object models, classes, etc.) -They pretty much all have them, and the core principals behind them are much the same.

So getting back on topic, even tough I've never written a line of XCode myself, I can already tell that the aforementioned code above of com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys is the full address of the object class which is triggering the error. So if you go into XCode and look for all the instances that reference this, (just do a text search within the code modules, which will save you lots of headache rather than having to read every line of code). Then once you've located each reference to it, then this will help you to identify the piece of code that's triggering it.

The most likely explanation for what's actually happening is that there is either a memory leak (an object has been created via its class constructor, but no accompanying class destructor is being triggered to take it back out of memory when it stops being used, thus resulting in it clogging up the memory of the device). On failing that, it may even be the result of a continuous loop which is not exiting, and thus continually recurring in the background, which is what's swallowing up all the background processing (it could even be a combination of those two things).

Apologies if for any reason you had some other reason for using XCode but don't actually write stuff in XCode yourself, as all that would likely have not made much sense. lol. But I'm determined to help you locate the problem and I love little puzzles like this. So if it turns out that it's not one of your own apps that's triggering this, then the next step would be to locate which app it is that's doing it (as someone else on here suggested), and then contact the developer of that app via the app store reviews section, which will help the developer pinpoint where his app is going wrong, and you might have a shot at actually fixing it.

It's also possible that it's an error within the iOS version, but being as many of us including myself are not experiencing this issue (that are using the same iOS version as you), it does suggest that it's the process of a third party app that has missed something, and that when something in the latest iOS version changed, it caused that app to stop working, so needs to tweak his code to work in conjunction with the new way of doing things. (simple stuff like the address of a function it calls now being in a different place, or having been renamed as something else, etc.)
So getting the developer to lookup all his references to com.apple.private.alloy.thumper.keys would probably be a good place to start, and at the very least would provide clues.

Thanks for your message. I do not have any apps of my own. I am a former programmer - I used to do apps and systems programming in multiple high level languages and assembly languages. I too may at some point learn IOS programming as a hobby. I think iOS developers use Swift now.

I installed Xcode (yes - IDE environment) only to access the instruments app.

It's pretty clear that the system task I identified was consuming an inordinate amount of CPU time. The IOS exception reports on the task I identified was trying to work on a Messages queue. We have five iOS devices and four OS X devices -- all using Messages. At some point I think the queue got hosed. It's a unique combination of events that created this anomalous error.

The simple act of powering them all off and on again - I believe cleared the Messages queues - and the issue. If you search all the various forums - others have identified indentityservices a system task that had created issues in various versions of iOS. Most people are not going to run into this problem. But, for those that do, this will help.
[doublepost=1461074343][/doublepost]

This is thorough advice thank you. Do you have any suggestions for what might make the battery warm, specifically while charging, and, if you know, in general use?

While craving just guessing that that itself excites the battery and warms t. When it is not charging - some task is perhaps running. If it's that way all the time - I'd first look to an app - Infix, etc.

 

[unclesam01]

I'm having a huge battery drain with the YouTube app. I used the app for 42min and it drained 40% of my battery. This is not normal, is anyone else experiencing this?

iOS 9.3.2 beta 1 on iPhone 6

 

[simba4]

I'm having a huge battery drain with the YouTube app. I used the app for 42min and it drained 40% of my battery. This is not normal, is anyone else experiencing this?

iOS 9.3.2 beta 1 on iPhone 6

I have with same issue with streaming apps.

 

[unclesam01]

Even Spotify isn't this bad, and I use it a lot!

 

[Galacticos]

I'm having a huge battery drain with the YouTube app. I used the app for 42min and it drained 40% of my battery. This is not normal, is anyone else experiencing this?

iOS 9.3.2 beta 1 on iPhone 6

Streaming audio or videos is more battery intensive than usual is my experience
[doublepost=1461118709][/doublepost]

Thanks for your message. I do not have any apps of my own. I am a former programmer - I used to do apps and systems programming in multiple high level languages and assembly languages. I too may at some point learn IOS programming as a hobby. I think iOS developers use Swift now.

I installed Xcode (yes - IDE environment) only to access the instruments app.

It's pretty clear that the system task I identified was consuming an inordinate amount of CPU time. The IOS exception reports on the task I identified was trying to work on a Messages queue. We have five iOS devices and four OS X devices -- all using Messages. At some point I think the queue got hosed. It's a unique combination of events that created this anomalous error.

The simple act of powering them all off and on again - I believe cleared the Messages queues - and the issue. If you search all the various forums - others have identified indentityservices a system task that had created issues in various versions of iOS. Most people are not going to run into this problem. But, for those that do, this will help.
[doublepost=1461074343][/doublepost]
While craving just guessing that that itself excites the battery and warms t. When it is not charging - some task is perhaps running. If it's that way all the time - I'd first look to an app - Infix, etc.

Thanks appreciate the suggestion

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

I'm having a huge battery drain with the YouTube app. I used the app for 42min and it drained 40% of my battery. This is not normal, is anyone else experiencing this?

iOS 9.3.2 beta 1 on iPhone 6

Not noticing anything out of the ordinary on any of my iPhones (and we have quite a few in our household, all using the most recent iOS update, so at least we can rule out there being an issue with the latest update as being the cause for this particular problem). As galacticos has mentioned though, it is normal that video streaming consumes more data (and therefore also battery) than other simpler iPhone tasks would do. 40% in 42 mins does sound quite alot though (and while it's unlikely it would drain that fast on its own, it can definitely happen if there are also lots of other background processes going on at the same time. Things I might check are if any of the following are true...

• Are you connected to email accounts that receive alot of mail? (even this is not quite so heavy on battery use on its own, unless you're connected to accounts that continually receive alot of junkmail)
• Do you keep bluetooth on all the time? (bluetooth itself can be quite a heavy guzzler, but a necessary evil for those of us that use an AppleWatch, so keeping that off all the time isn't always an option anymore).
• -Location services (this one is probably the worst offender in my experience, and alot of people aren't even aware that this is on, as many apps enable this by default). Plus, even when we turn it off in settings, many apps need it, so make you turn it back on again (which of course turns it back on for all of them). But a good way to solve this one (while it's a bit cumbersome, I find well worth it) is to instead of just shutting it off on the main setting, to instead go into the individual app settings (the ones right at the bottom of your settings menu, all named by the app). You will have to click on each one individually, but when you do, make sure each one has it's location services option selected as "Only when in use" instead of "always on". That way, it will only use it and guzzle battery when that app is in use, but will stop using it when you close the app, so consumes MUCH less battery. There are a few caveats to this though., For example, if you keep forgetting to close apps, that process will still be running for that app, but at least it will only be running for the open apps, and not for all of them all at the same time, so can still help. Also if you install any new apps, it is likely that the "always on" setting will be its default setting, so you'll need to remember to change that app's setting to "Only when in use" aswell.

Streaming audio or videos is more battery intensive than usual is my experience
[doublepost=1461118709][/doublepost]

Thanks appreciate the suggestion

Yeah, streaming videos does consume alot more battery than other things generally, but if he's noticing that it is happening more than even the video app itself used to do it, then it's still possible that perhaps something else is going on.

@Uncluseam01:
Are you noticing this with just one of the video streaming apps, or are you noticing the same thing happen on others too?
If it's only happening on youtube's official app, then it'll be something worth reporting the youtube app developers themselves. But if it's happening on all video streaming apps across the board, then this suggests that something else is going on. If you wanted to test it, there is another really good third party youtube app that I uses called Tubex. Try watching the same video on both apps, and see if there is a difference in battery drain from one app to the other. Doing that will at least tell us whether it's an issue with the app or an issue with something else on your iPhone.

On a side note, I actually prefer using the Tubex app generally for youtube videos, as I've always found the interface of youtube's own app extremely frustrating (to be fair to it, it has gotten alot better recently, but the interface still has an unnecessary amount of sub-windows to have to open just to do simple things.) The other trade-off is that the Youtube app supports casting to a TV screen for smart TVs (or in my case, a regular TV with chrome-cast dongle), whereas Tubex does not. But I hardly ever use that feature anyway, and I like how the Tubex app automatically remembers the position of the video you last played, and I much prefer the method they sue of creating playlists on the fly within the app. So they each have their pros and cons, and alot really depends on which features you need at the time.

Anyways, Getting back on topic, let me know how you get on with the battery troubleshooting.

While craving just guessing that that itself excites the battery and warms it. When it is not charging - some task is perhaps running. If it's that way all the time - I'd first look to an app - Infix, etc.

I'll second that. Anything that's constantly in use is naturally going to keep the machine hotter (and also the battery), so this is definitely the most likely scenario.

Thanks for your message. I do not have any apps of my own. I am a former programmer - I used to do apps and systems programming in multiple high level languages and assembly languages. I too may at some point learn IOS programming as a hobby. I think iOS developers use Swift now.

I installed Xcode (yes - IDE environment) only to access the instruments app.

It's pretty clear that the system task I identified was consuming an inordinate amount of CPU time. The IOS exception reports on the task I identified was trying to work on a Messages queue. We have five iOS devices and four OS X devices -- all using Messages. At some point I think the queue got hosed. It's a unique combination of events that created this anomalous error.

The simple act of powering them all off and on again - I believe cleared the Messages queues - and the issue. If you search all the various forums - others have identified indentityservices a system task that had created issues in various versions of iOS. Most people are not going to run into this problem. But, for those that do, this will help.
[doublepost=1461074343][/doublepost]

Thanks for the heads up on all these points. (I could tell by the way you refer to things that you were a fellow programmer, but very pleased to meet you!) As with all the XCode stuff, I've noticed that there are quite a few buzzwords kicking around in relation to progarmming for iOS, (for example, I've noticed XCode being used interchangeably referring to both the IDE, and also the code itself,m yet Swift being used as a more recent language, and more recently still, even a Swift 2 having come out, so things like that have made me unsure as where to start. (in the old days I'd just pick up a book on Amazon about a particular coding language, and that would be enough to get me familiar with the syntax and its nuances to start writing really advanced programs, based on the combination of that and the knowledge I have of the various other languages) -However, I have noticed that alot of the books for iOS development (both for XCode and Swift) are quite old, and many of which are probably outdated now, so I have often been puzzled as where to start. But while most of the other languages I have learned, I no longer need so much, most of the software I have written for work I rely on heavily, and most of that is based in excel VBA. But given that Microsoft don't seem to be supporting it for anything that will work on Windows 10, and that it;'s only a matter of time before they make the update mandatory, this is going to be a real headache for me. So it's now a race against the clock to rewrite all my software for something that will work on modern systems. But being as almost everything else I do nowadays are based on Apple devices, iOS programming just seems the most obvious choice.

I've already downloaded the XCode IDE, and the most recent documentation for iOS programming was actually an eBook I found on the App store, so is probably where I'll start, and then will look up other resources once I've gotten more familiar with it. But if you're interested in learning it too, then keep in touch, and I'm sure that between us we'll be able to fathom it all out.

 

[mich070]

That is currently my battery status on 5%. What are your opinions about this usage?
Btw my battery indicator got stuck... So it's not the battery usage for 43% but only for 5%

 

[macfacts]

I'm having a huge battery drain with the YouTube app. I used the app for 42min and it drained 40% of my battery. This is not normal, is anyone else experiencing this?

iOS 9.3.2 beta 1 on iPhone 6

Do you get same battery drain when watching youtube in safari?

 

[unclesam01]

I've never tried watching YouTube on safari. Have to try it.

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

Do you get same battery drain when watching youtube in safari?

I've never tried watching YouTube on safari. Have to try it.

Yeah, worth doing. Comparing how one video player affects it will give you huge clues as to whether it's the app that's causing the problem, or whether it is something else on the phone.

That is currently my battery status on 5%. What are your opinions about this usage?
Btw my battery indicator got stuck... So it's not the battery usage for 43% but only for 5%

The usage only really tells us that there is a problem, but on its own, it doesn't really give any indicators as to what exactly has caused it. However, the fact that you said your battery indicator got stuck, does tell us that the problem here is less likely to be app related, and more likely to be an issue with the phone itself. (and that it could either be a corrupt iOS file, or it could be the actual device). If this is the case, the first thing I would recommend doing, is going into iTunes and doing a full phone backup. (it's fairly easy to do, but worth doing before you do anything else, as that way, you won't lose any data if you end up having to reset the phone.) -You can simply copy all your data back onto the phone straight afterwards, and it will be exactly as your phone is now). But if something has gone wrong with the iOS software (like a corrupt file that's not behaving as it should), then reinstalling iOS via a simple phone reset (the same as when you set up your phone for the first time when you just bought it). But doing this will put everything back as it should, without whatever corrupt files were causing your battery to do this. If however after all this it still has the same problematic behavior, this will tell us that the problem is not an issue with iOS either, and that the problem lies with the phone's hardware. (the device itself, not the operating system). So if this is what you find happens, then Apple will be able to replace it, and you will be able to put all your old data back on the new phone from the backup you made earlier).

It's fairly easy to do, but if you don't feel confident in doing this, or if you have any questions you are not sure about, then don't be shy to ask. I will help with whatever I can. And also if you prefer personal help from an actual Apple representative, they will usually be able to help you at any Apple store. (at least, they've always been pretty helpful at the Apple stores that I've ever been to.)

 

[mich070]

Yeah, worth doing. Comparing how one video player affects it will give you huge clues as to whether it's the app that's causing the problem, or whether it is something else on the phone.


The usage only really tells us that there is a problem, but on its own, it doesn't really give any indicators as to what exactly has caused it. However, the fact that you said your battery indicator got stuck, does tell us that the problem here is less likely to be app related, and more likely to be an issue with the phone itself. (and that it could either be a corrupt iOS file, or it could be the actual device). If this is the case, the first thing I would recommend doing, is going into iTunes and doing a full phone backup. (it's fairly easy to do, but worth doing before you do anything else, as that way, you won't lose any data if you end up having to reset the phone.) -You can simply copy all your data back onto the phone straight afterwards, and it will be exactly as your phone is now). But if something has gone wrong with the iOS software (like a corrupt file that's not behaving as it should), then reinstalling iOS via a simple phone reset (the same as when you set up your phone for the first time when you just bought it). But doing this will put everything back as it should, without whatever corrupt files were causing your battery to do this. If however after all this it still has the same problematic behavior, this will tell us that the problem is not an issue with iOS either, and that the problem lies with the phone's hardware. (the device itself, not the operating system). So if this is what you find happens, then Apple will be able to replace it, and you will be able to put all your old data back on the new phone from the backup you made earlier).

It's fairly easy to do, but if you don't feel confident in doing this, or if you have any questions you are not sure about, then don't be shy to ask. I will help with whatever I can. And also if you prefer personal help from an actual Apple representative, they will usually be able to help you at any Apple store. (at least, they've always been pretty helpful at the Apple stores that I've ever been to.)

First of all I would like to thank you for your kind answer as well as your attention regarding this subject.
To kick in directly, I would like to let you know that my iPhone 6s is 2 weeks old (brand new) currently on ios 9.2.1. The problem with the battery indicator getting stuck already happened while charging (just to let you know , so i switched my phone off during charging and back on, and the indicator was fine again). What I was thinking, was clearly to do the same as you wrote here. However I would like to ask you (if you may know) if ios 9.3.1 maybe solves this situation and if it causes any battery drain? I read it in some forums, however I would be happy to hear it from you. I think that I will follow your advice, backup my phone, update it to the new firmware and set up as new and see what happens.

 

[GeekishlyGreek]

First of all I would like to thank you for your kind answer as well as your attention regarding this subject.
To kick in directly, I would like to let you know that my iPhone 6s is 2 weeks old (brand new) currently on ios 9.2.1. The problem with the battery indicator getting stuck already happened while charging (just to let you know , so i switched my phone off during charging and back on, and the indicator was fine again). What I was thinking, was clearly to do the same as you wrote here. However I would like to ask you (if you may know) if ios 9.3.1 maybe solves this situation and if it causes any battery drain? I read it in some forums, however I would be happy to hear it from you. I think that I will follow your advice, backup my phone, update it to the new firmware and set up as new and see what happens.

No problem. Glad you managed to solve it in the end. I know that the last update definitely was to include bug fixes, but I don't remember whether battery life indicators was among them. I can confirm though that neither of the iPhones in our household displayed this problem, though we all have different models to you. (I have an iPhone 5S, and a 6 Plus, my spouse has an iPhone SE which was bought recently to replace the old 5C, and my daughter has my old iPhone 5). None of which displayed battery life indicator issues. However, one of the issues I know did happen, was that the previous update got temporarily pulled by Apple because some older devices would not update, which affected my daughter's iPhone 5. However, they fixed the issue and made the update available a couple of weeks later, and her iPhone 5 updated just fine after that.

Anyways, as far as backing up your phone, while that's a good thing to do generally from time to time, thankfully you do not need to do that with iPhones whenever you just want to upgrade to the latest iOS version. (That's one of the good things about iPhones) -The updates will refresh the iOS version whilst still keeping your data in tact. So just go into your iPhone Settings -> General -> Software Update (if the new update already shows, it will have a number next to it, so just click "download and install update", agree to the terms and conditions, and then let it do it's thing).

If there is no number next to the "Software Update" option though however, and you know one exists, it will have a "check for updates" option, so just click that and it will check apple servers for if a new update is available. (I'm guessing though that as you already know about the newest 9.3.1 update, and it has been out for a over a week or so now, that yours probably does automatically show up without having to check for new updates, so just download it as described above, and you're good to go.)

 

[Bambalazs]

Try changing your iCloud password. Sounds crazy but I found some references back in 2012 to a similar iCloud issue that was solved this way...and it worked for me today. Android phone is back in the drawer and my iPhone is cranking again.

I've been struggling with this battery drain issue since iOS 9.2, and your suggestion finally fixed it. Thank you so much!

 

[sbailey4]

First of all I would like to thank you for your kind answer as well as your attention regarding this subject.
To kick in directly, I would like to let you know that my iPhone 6s is 2 weeks old (brand new) currently on ios 9.2.1. The problem with the battery indicator getting stuck already happened while charging (just to let you know , so i switched my phone off during charging and back on, and the indicator was fine again). What I was thinking, was clearly to do the same as you wrote here. However I would like to ask you (if you may know) if ios 9.3.1 maybe solves this situation and if it causes any battery drain? I read it in some forums, however I would be happy to hear it from you. I think that I will follow your advice, backup my phone, update it to the new firmware and set up as new and see what happens.

iOS 9.3 added the fix for the battery meter issue on the 6s and 6s+.
From iOS 9.3 release notes
• Fixes an issue where an inaccurate battery percentage could be displayed

 

[AmazingTechGeek]

I've been struggling with this battery drain issue since iOS 9.2, and your suggestion finally fixed it. Thank you so much!

Really?

 

[Bambalazs]

Really?

Yeap, the percentage of battery remains still in standby state. I have an iPhone 5c with a new battery replaced a week ago, iOS 9.3.2 beta on it. Before changing the Apple ID's password, the battery level descreased about 40% overnight, which was clearly strange from a new battery.

 

[JohnCrichton]

Seriously, what is this crap? Started fresh from backup from ITunes after some disastrous days after upgrading to iOS 9.3.1. It seemed to solve the battery drain but the latest two days the drain has been back with a vengeance! I haven't done anything differently the last days. I've had the phone in my pocket for 10 h and it seems that the phone has been working nonstop!!!

 

[iOZZY]

9.3.1 working fine for me. 6 plus

 

[starsmoon8a]

9.3.1 working fine for me. 6 plus

View attachment 629660

Mind to show what's you top 3 apps that uses most battery?

By the way, did you turn off background app refresh ? Any setting which you do to achieve such great battery life?

 

[der meister]

Battery drain on the latest beta is horrible.