iPhone 7 performance since iOS 11

[dj95]

I held off updating to iOS 11 until the 11.2.5 beta came out last week, given that many people were declaring that animations were finally faster. As soon as I updated I noticed frequent stuttering and general OS lag, so ran a Geekbench 3 test and the scores are substantially lower, almost half in fact (and low power mode wasn’t on!). See attached, iOS 11.2.5 vs 10.3.3.

I’m beginning to wonder if this is related to the battery degradation issue that’s come to light lately, as my battery life is abysmal too, only 2-3 hours usage and it’s dead. Apple says the health of the battery is at 87% so won’t do anything about replacing it. I sure don’t want to pay £79 for a repair (a couple of weeks out of warranty) if it is something that has been caused by iOS 11. Is there anything I can do?!

 

[sampo]

Here’s my score, your phone is likely being throttled.

 

[Radon87000]

It looks like even my 7 Plus is being throttled compared to those scores. My Multi core is never above 6000. Its mostly 5823

 

[Chazzle]

I held off updating to iOS 11 until the 11.2.5 beta came out last week, given that many people were declaring that animations were finally faster. As soon as I updated I noticed frequent stuttering and general OS lag, so ran a Geekbench 3 test and the scores are substantially lower, almost half in fact (and low power mode wasn’t on!). See attached, iOS 11.2.5 vs 10.3.3.

I’m beginning to wonder if this is related to the battery degradation issue that’s come to light lately, as my battery life is abysmal too, only 2-3 hours usage and it’s dead. Apple says the health of the battery is at 87% so won’t do anything about replacing it. I sure don’t want to pay £79 for a repair (a couple of weeks out of warranty) if it is something that has been caused by iOS 11. Is there anything I can do?!

That low number is normal after a update as the cpu is tied up with all sorts of behind the scenes processes. Give it a day or so and all will be normal.

 

[macfacts]

That low number is normal after a update as the cpu is tied up with all sorts of behind the scenes processes. Give it a day or so and all will be normal.

Background processes run at low cpu priority. Foreground apps run at higher priority.

 

[C DM]

It looks like even my 7 Plus is being throttled compared to those scores. My Multi core is never above 6000. Its mostly 5823

That doesn't seem like throttling and just slight variances and fluctuations in benchmarks which aren't some sort of consistent absolutes.

 

[Chazzle]

Background processes run at low cpu priority. Foreground apps run at higher priority.

Not immediately following a big update like iOS 10 to iOS 11 beta. That processor is bogged down for some time.

 

[MarvinHC]

Please report back in a few days. I am still on IOS 10.3 on my 7+ and dare not to update, after I have seen what IOS 11 has done to the 6+ and 6S of other family members

 

[dj95]

That low number is normal after a update as the cpu is tied up with all sorts of behind the scenes processes. Give it a day or so and all will be normal.

The attached iOS benchmark was conducted today and I updated to iOS 11.2.5 on the 14th, so I was assuming the behind the scenes processes would have finished by now. Very confusing!

 

[Chazzle]

The attached iOS benchmark was conducted today and I updated to iOS 11.2.5 on the 14th, so I was assuming the behind the scenes processes would have finished by now. Very confusing!

Didn't realize that since you said as soon as you updated, you ran a Geekbench. Have you tried it again? Or on Geekbench 4?

 

[dj95]

Didn't realize that since you said as soon as you updated, you ran a Geekbench. Have you tried it again? Or on Geekbench 4?

I haven’t tried geekbench 4 in fairness, j thought I’d keep testing on v3 seeing as that’s what was used to test 10.3.3.

As a slight update, I installed beta two of iOS 11.2.5 that was released today. It seems to have consistently improved scores slightly, so maybe something has been tweaked.

 

[roncron]

Please report back in a few days. I am still on IOS 10.3 on my 7+ and dare not to update, after I have seen what IOS 11 has done to the 6+ and 6S of other family members

I upgraded a 7+ to iOS 11. For the first few weeks, experienced just a few glitches and compromised battery life. After the various bug-fix updates in the first 5 weeks of iOS 11, my 7+ battery life and performance were comparable to 10.3.3. Around November 18 or so, I traded in the 7+ for an X, so I don't know how the 7+ performs on the newest versions of iOS 11.

 

[JM]

About the only thing I care about losing with iOS 11 is battery life and speed of opening apps.

*im still on 10.3.3 with iPhone 7. Hopefully more will chime in as I'm waiting for mostly good news before updating.

 

[dannyyankou]

It looks like even my 7 Plus is being throttled compared to those scores. My Multi core is never above 6000. Its mostly 5823

For the record, b2 is a lot better on the 7+. 3543 single core (even higher than 10.3.3) and 5991 multi core.

 

[imagineadam]

About the only thing I care about losing with iOS 11 is battery life and speed of opening apps.

*im still on 10.3.3 with iPhone 7. Hopefully more will chime in as I'm waiting for mostly good news before updating.

I'm in the exact same boat as you. Whenever I'm getting the urge to update I just watch this video and then I feel better about staying on 10.3.3.

Some of ios 11 looks cool but I can't give up my instant home button and faster app opening speed and of course the best battery life for the 7. Every time I've updated an iphone the next year it's always been the same thing. A slight dulling of performance and battery life. But there are new features and usually they are features that I will actually never use. But they look cool!

One thing I've read on various forums is how iOS 11 has changed the podcast app... I can't deal with that either! It's one of my number one apps! It's a battle.

I just know that if I do update I will probably regret it and have that sinking feeling in my stomach. Still remember regretting when I updated my 6 to iOS 9. Never did get the snappy performance back of its original iOS 8. And then right before I got my 7 I updated the 6 to 10 and that was even slower so I downgraded it back to 9.3.5 and gave it to my mom!

I think the best way to use iOS 11 is to buy the X but I don't have that kind of money every year! I'll stick will 10.3.3 and my 7. It's super quick and stable. But some of iOS 11 and the AR kit looks cool.... heh heh heh it's a battle! Maybe 11.3 will make the home button instant again and battery life will be on par with 10.3.3. One can dream!

 

[dk001]

Please report back in a few days. I am still on IOS 10.3 on my 7+ and dare not to update, after I have seen what IOS 11 has done to the 6+ and 6S of other family members

It's a crap shoot.
The sheer myriad of issues, the heavy mix of good / bad / middle, if you are good on 10.3 and don't need 11, I recommend staying off of 11 until we see an improved standard version of 11 come out.

 

[Paddle1]

It looks like even my 7 Plus is being throttled compared to those scores. My Multi core is never above 6000. Its mostly 5823

It's because Geekbench 3 scores more easily than 4.

iPhone 6s average Multi-Core score:
3: 4332
4: 3994

5s average Multi-Core score
3:2525
4: 2018

 

[Act3]

I'm in the exact same boat as you. Whenever I'm getting the urge to update I just watch this video and then I feel better about staying on 10.3.3.

Some of ios 11 looks cool but I can't give up my instant home button and faster app opening speed and of course the best battery life for the 7. Every time I've updated an iphone the next year it's always been the same thing. A slight dulling of performance and battery life. But there are new features and usually they are features that I will actually never use. But they look cool!

One thing I've read on various forums is how iOS 11 has changed the podcast app... I can't deal with that either! It's one of my number one apps! It's a battle.

I just know that if I do update I will probably regret it and have that sinking feeling in my stomach. Still remember regretting when I updated my 6 to iOS 9. Never did get the snappy performance back of its original iOS 8. And then right before I got my 7 I updated the 6 to 10 and that was even slower so I downgraded it back to 9.3.5 and gave it to my mom!

I think the best way to use iOS 11 is to buy the X but I don't have that kind of money every year! I'll stick will 10.3.3 and my 7. It's super quick and stable. But some of iOS 11 and the AR kit looks cool.... heh heh heh it's a battle! Maybe 11.3 will make the home button instant again and battery life will be on par with 10.3.3. One can dream!

Good decision, read this ....

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...g-of-iphones-with-degraded-batteries.2096297/

"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.

Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future."

 

[imagineadam]

Good decision, read this ....

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...g-of-iphones-with-degraded-batteries.2096297/

"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.

Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future."

Sweet! So now I will know my battery is going to crap when I start getting sudden shutdowns when I'm pushing the phone instead of it throttling the processor down! Hmmmmm..... It's kind of a double edge sword but I think I'd rather not have the throttling (stay on 10.3.3) and just eventually replace the battery down the road someday.

The sudden shutdowns is nothing new with these iPhones with a degraded batterythough. I remember when I had my iPhone 5 it would shutdown sometimes when the percentage would get below 30-40% and then it would turn back on with the same or more power. And it was usually when I was opening the camera or using gps on a run or in cold weather. Oh well. Glad I'm still on 10.3.3!

 

[dj95]

I installed CPU DasherX to see if my iPhone 7 was being throttled - does this screenshot confirm it is? It is running at 1056MHz vs. the advertised 2.34Ghz. Is this throttling or just the low power core frequency? Running something intensive like a benchmark in the background doesn’t make the CPU run at a faster frequency according to this app.

 

[Paddle1]

I installed CPU DasherX to see if my iPhone 7 was being throttled - does this screenshot confirm it is? It is running at 1056MHz vs. the advertised 2.34Ghz. Is this throttling or just the low power core frequency? Running something intensive like a benchmark in the background doesn’t make the CPU run at a faster frequency according to this app.

Try it while connected to power.

 

[dj95]

Try it while connected to power.

Same reading by the looks of it. Haven’t seen it go above 1100 MHz so I’m assuming this is the phone now throttled. No wonder iOS 11 is performing worse than 10.3.3!

 

[imagineadam]

Same reading by the looks of it. Haven’t seen it go above 1100 MHz so I’m assuming this is the phone now throttled. No wonder iOS 11 is performing worse than 10.3.3!

That's interesting it's using primarily the low power cores it seems. How worn is your battery I wonder? Can't be too bad if it's a 7.

Edit: Sorry just read it's at 87%. That's crazy how much iOS 11 seems to be throttling the 7. Glad I'm still on 10.3.3. And 2-3 hours of use is crazy! I'm a Pokémon go player and the only way I could kill the battery that fast is if I was outside with full brightness playing non stop! Maybe there is something wrong with your battery and apples diagnostics just don't see it.

 

[Blaze4G]

Same reading by the looks of it. Haven’t seen it go above 1100 MHz so I’m assuming this is the phone now throttled. No wonder iOS 11 is performing worse than 10.3.3!

Can you always try powering off then turning it back on then run the geekbench. This is just to cover all basis. Since there are non believers that claims that fixes this issue. I've heard it fixes it temporarily then after a day or so it starts throttling again.

 

[dj95]

Can you always try powering off then turning it back on then run the geekbench. This is just to cover all basis. Since there are non believers that claims that fixes this issue. I've heard it fixes it temporarily then after a day or so it starts throttling again.

Tried a restart but that doesn’t seem to affect geekbench or CPU DasherX. However, it seems being above 80% battery clocks the CPU at 1355 MHz. I thought it was a placebo but I have noticed slightly snappier performance above 80% since updating so at least I know I wasn’t imagining that!