I can absolutely say for certain that (in my case at least) this is not a hardware issue. It has nothing to do with solder joints or batteries etc. The operating system itself is absolutely corrupt (whether by malware or otherwise), as the issue transfers from one phone to another via iTunes backup. (Whether back to the same iPhone or a new iPhone).
I have no idea what the actual issue is (I'm not an Apple user, just bought a new iPhone 8 plus for my mom to replace her iPhone 6 plus). I can say that she has mentioned/complained for years about her phone "acting up" but I didnt think much of it as everything "seemed" normal when I checked out the phone casually.
After using it for the afternoon/evening, trying to properly transfer her data to her new phone, I see now that I was wrong, and that there is for sure something seriously wrong with her iOS. (as I said, even after setting up on the much newer phone, after multiple resets, the iPhone 8 plus exhibited similar random issues that are very subtle and periodic. (as in it "seems fine" but it definitely is not fine).
What (to me at least) is most concerning is that there is little valid info on this issue (at least after a casual search, I imagine there is more somewhere). That's why I took the time to reply to this thread to both confirm to the people that are experiencing similar iOS "weirdness" that it isn't just you and you are correct, there is a problem... And to the others that replied by attributing this to other commonly known Apple phone issues such as the battery or "touch disease" etc., those are completely separate issues.
I am somewhat in the IT industry and have used PC's, Macs, Android and a bit of iOS all my life. This is the first I have seen an issue quite like this, (although it does exhibit similarities to some sort of low-level malware that is running either as a layer/filter which periodically results in weird anomalies seen/experienced or it is right at the core/kernel level, as the anomalies experienced make no sense otherwise.
Either way it is very concerning as clearly there is code running that is not Apple's that is affecting core aspects of the OS. (unless the OS itself can become minorly corrupt and still function as "mostly normal", but I don't see how because there would have to be more errors and crashes etc... And these issues have continued after multiple iOS updates).
The symptoms this phone exhibits (the brand new iPhone 8 plus) (after restoring the iPhone 6 plus backup to it) after 4 hours of observation are: (of which almost all of the time has been spent in settings)
1. Significantly faster battery drain
2. Phone gets warmer than normal
3. Things that just worked a minute ago (like going down a menu in settings, take much longer, or don't work at all). Then the next time, work and respond normally.
4. Screen scrolling can "lag" for no reason with nothing running. (as I said this is my mom's phone and she literally had no apps on it other than Facebook and the weather network... Lol)
6. Keyboard entry just seems different. (but I haven't spent enough time with it to say what's different, maybe just laggy.)
7. Weird random screen "glitches" like the home screen background slowly moving down the screen. Barely noticeable unless you stop and watch it move.
8. Certain text fields in settings are now a grey, and a grey "bar" sometimes exists at the top of the screen (at least on the home screen) (yet the iPhone 8 plus before being "restored" to was running the latest iOS (12.1.2), as was the iPhone 6 plus before it was backed up, so there should be no differences like this).
Issues my mother has "complained" about over at least a year (maybe longer).
1. Poor battery life. (I also thought it was cause of the Apple battery issue, but I can say for certain that battery drain increased significantly after restoring the backup from the iPhone 6 plus)
2. Very random lockups.
3. Voice call and texting issues
4. Excessive cell data usage (which we attributed to her texting pics more often)
4. Wierd things she couldn't explain.
Probably a few other things too, but it seemed to work fine, or was fine after a reboot.
As I said, it definitely is not.
My solution is to do a completely clean install and put only her pics and contacts back on the phone and see if that works. I am also going to change her passwords on absolutely everything. As I said, I have no idea what the actual issue is, and I honestly don't want to have to find out. Because the fact the symptoms experienced are so subtle is... Definitely not good in my opinion.
I may play with her old phone when I have time to see what I can find out about what is actually going on with it. (although the better idea is probably to just wipe it too).
Anyway, that's all, hope someone finds this info somewhat useful.
IdiotBar and have them exchange it for a new one. I doubt a restore will fix your problem.
