iPad Pro Something is killing my iPads

[Romain_H]

look for some common denominator, did you install the same apps you had before all at once? are your other electronics ok?
could be just bad batch and you got lucky to receive two of them from it
did you test some of apps you are developing on it?

Was thinking the same. Only common denomitator is: happened in school, on my desk. Nothing even remotely dangerous there.

 

[FeliApple]

What's a faulty extension?

Extension cord, a long cable to be able to reach the mains power, it was too far away from where we needed it.

 

[Romain_H]

OP, your post reads like you have had this problem with 2 separate iPads: an original and then a new one. I'm interpreting it to be that you had this problem with BOTH of them. If so, that rules out a LOT of things (defective iPad, iPad battery, charging tech, etc).

We can also completely dismiss a stock software issue or 16.3 bug, else EVERYONE would be sharing this problem too.

So what variables are left?

1. The case? If both were used in the same case and that case might step in for charging purposes (battery case or hard/keyboard case with charging passthrough?), perhaps it has some flaw that is quickly draining the battery? If it is a case with only a cut out to the Apple port for charging, rule out the case. You mention Apple's Magic keyboard. Perhaps cut that OUT of the equation to rule it out as contributing culprit?
2. The charger(s) you are using? Have you tried a different charger? Perhaps it has failed or barely functions and you are getting only a minimal charge after- presumably- giving it the many hours it needs to charge up to full. Perhaps the charger is defective and actually damaging the iPad? Battery? I once fried an iPhone in a case by only plugging it into a new fast charge charger. Apparently the case could not manage fast charge technology and quickly trashed the iPhone. When you get to school are you connecting it to some charger tech there? Perhaps IT is defective and/or draining instead of charging? Don't use the school connections to rule that out.
3. You? While unlikely, you should understand concepts like these do not instantly charge (hours at least). I don't see you making any reference to seeing "100%" in the upper right to confirm full charge. While these are water resistant, does yours end up getting "washed" in water? Etc.

Post #6 "dead as in dead" (not drained): implies SOMETHING is damaging 2 separate iPads. Is it only the drive to school or can you kill iPads without involving the vehicle? Does anyone's iPhone or (their) iPads also die after a comparable ride in your car? If the dead relationship is only with the car ride, what happens in the car ride? Are you using the iPad connected to the car? If so, scrutinize the connecting tech. Perhaps it is frying both iPads? Old car charger? Third party CarPlay connection?

If you are connecting them to anything in your car, try NOT connecting them for the same ride and see what happens. Maybe stop every few miles on the way and check the iPad battery indicator. Get someone to ride with you, keep the iPad on and simply watch the battery indicator as you ride. If it is dropping rapidly, there's something about the car (this seems highly unlikely but you can rule it out with a simple drive).

Are you putting the iPad in the dash window or where it can get pounded by direct sunlight. If they overheat, they will seem dead. I've made mine seem like that by taking it to a pool and letting the sun overheat it. Once it cools back down, it is usually OK again. I've since learned to be sure iDevices are well shaded.

Presumably, you will replace the dead iPad again. My suggestion: do NOT restore existing software or settings to it immediately. In other words, with it set up with ONLY Apple stock apps, get someone else with a different car to give you a ride to school. That rules out anything weird happening in/with your vehicle and any rouge apps/customized settings by you draining the battery (to death).

If that is successful, you then take it on a ride to school in your own car. Do NOT hook it to anything (usual?) in the car. Does it work fine on arrival? This rules out the car and rouge apps or your own settings (because you haven't restored to it yet).

If you do hook it to something in the car, try that on the next drive. Does it work fine on arrival? Does battery indicator on arrival show 100% or towards it? Again, stopping every few miles as you go may offer a key clue if the power reserve is dropping rapidly.

At school, are you keeping it near anything with strong magnetic field? Maybe school involves medical scanners? It is generally placed in a spot where it gets heated? Direct sunlight? Does anyone at school have it out for you and might be able to get to it and do something to it without your knowledge? Does school involve extreme cold? A frozen iPad will seem just as dead as an overheated one.

After you do those, restore your own apps & settings. I suggest on a Saturday when you do not need to head to school. Take it for a drive somewhere else and see how it does. Again, take note of the battery indicator on each open. Anything cause it to rapidly fall too fast?

Basically, if you stack up a step-by-step way of changing ONE variable at a time, you will likely discover the cause.

I highly doubt this is 16.3 bug or there would be an endless number of "me too" posts in this thread and an endless number of "me too" threads about this topic.

I hope this is helpful.

Nothing of the sort. No magnetic fields, nothing. In actuality, its 3 iPads that died the same way. I did not restore from a backup, yet still it happened. Nothing connected in a car or similar.

 

[Romain_H]

Extension cord, a long cable to be able to reach the mains power, it was too far away from where we needed it.

One guy from Apple support suggested the same. All devices died without being connected though, roughly one hour after the devices have been disconnected from the charger.

I'll use a different charger from now on just to be safe. Btw. charging and the location are the only things I can think of common to all instances

 

[FeliApple]

One guy from Apple support suggested the same. All devices died without being connected though, roughly one hour after the devices have been disconnected from the charger.

I'll use a different charger though. Btw. charging and the location are the only things I can think of common to all instances

Did you charge all iPads the same way? If you did, I’d change that.

 

[arw]

Really curious how this develops… reminds me of the classic correlation/causation dilemma:
My car won’t start after I buy vanilla ice cream! HELP ME FIGURE OUT WHY.
Good luck!!

 

[Richard8655]

I'm not clear how much time elapses from closing the case and later reopening. But my first thought is that if the auto-lock setting is turned off (or set to never) and your case's magnetic lock feature isn't working, it could leave the display continually on and drain the battery (especially if already was low).

 

[Krypton Deer]

Grabbed a cup of coffee...happened in school, on my desk. Nothing even remotely dangerous there...its 3 iPads that died the same way.

They died before/after your coffee? You know you ain't supposed to pour coffee on your iPad right?

Anyone experienced something similar?

Somewhat, my 2018 MBP never turn on when it's snowing and I sit outside. But it works once I warm it up/plug it in. But if Apple staff can't resurrect your iPad either, then it's something else. If you plug it in during your commute, that would be the cause most likely. Otherwise, just break the matrix - leave your iPad ON in your car and walking into school.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Nothing of the sort. No magnetic fields, nothing. In actuality, its 3 iPads that died the same way. I did not restore from a backup, yet still it happened. Nothing connected in a car or similar.

Again, try/consider the other things.

Are you sure they are fully charged? Do you see 100% in the battery indicator before you drive to school? If so, what does it show when you arrive at school? This will rule out the car, the route, etc. First thing to look at each time you power it up along the way is battery indicator. Second thing is to open the Preferences, Battery option and look at which apps are using the most energy. That may identify a culprit right there.

Does the sun blast through a window to bathe it as you drive? For example, are you putting it in the front window as you drive? Heat is not your friend and will easily make an iPad seem dead.

Have you swapped the charging cable to rule out faulty cable?

Have you swapped the charger to rule out faulty charger?

Are you Magneto?

Electro-magnetic pulse terrorists between home and school testing their magneto-ray (but not killing your car at the same time)?

That school desk: does it kill an iPhone put in the same place for the same amount of time? Laptop?

Since it is at school, does anyone have access to it without your knowledge? One bad apple in the class might be playing a game of sabotage if given the opportunity.

Rule one thing out at a time until you find the culprit. It can't be a mass thing without mass reporting of the same problem. So far, it is you and apparently someone at Apple saying that yours is not the only case of this. But where is everyone else reporting the problem?

That implies user issue or user supporting tech issue. But this is easy to figure out because the charge indicator will show you what is draining energy so quickly. All you have to do is regularly monitor it as you make the trip and after arriving until you figure out what set off the rapid drain. More strangely is that the drain is to the death (of iPad) which is why I was getting into crazier concepts like strong magnetic fields and such.

With the desk suspicion, go there when there is no class, open the iPad, put it in it's usual place and watch the battery indicator. If desk (environment), it should start rapidly draining it and/or abruptly zap the iPad while you can witness it. If suddenly zapped, be sensitive to what is happening around you. Did you hear something just before (unusual sound, etc)? Did you see something (flickering lights, etc)?

 

[Thisismattwade]

I will hug my 2018 iPP 11" a little tighter tonight. This is a creepy issue.

(In all seriousness, I'm sorry OP. Sounds frustrating, and I hope you have iCloud backups or something so you're not regularly losing all your data. As I read through this I was thinking about your charger/outlet. To have it fry three very expensive electronic devices would be very annoying!)

 

[h.gilbert]

Yes, more mystery threads on MR please.

So the only common denominator in terms of equipment is the charger right? Try a new one, and new cable.

 

[AstroRexaur]

Based that were fully functional iPads and they were dead in the same circumstances, must be something before all your morning routine. My hypothesis: the charger or cable that you use for all the iPads are cheap stuff or are really in bad shape.

 

[celaurie]

Hi all,

I experience a super weird issue: as by title.

This is what happended:

Monday, January 16th I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the iPads case only to find the iPad dead. A 2018 iPad Pro 12.9.

I ordered a new iPad Pro 12.9 to receive it a day later.

Monday 30th the exact same thing happened: I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the iPads case only to find the iPad dead again.

Left field... School. Do you pass through any sort of security scanners with an external keyboard or powered case attached to the iPad(s)?

 

[BaggieBoy]

You don't work near Skinwalker Ranch do you?

 

[Romain_H]

Left field... School. Do you pass through any sort of security scanners with an external keyboard or powered case attached to the iPad(s)?

Nope. Teaching in higher education in Europe. No scanners whatsoever

 

[Romain_H]

You don't work near Skinwalker Ranch do you?

Nope!

 

[Romain_H]

Based that were fully functional iPads and they were dead in the same circumstances, must be something before all your morning routine. My hypothesis: the charger or cable that you use for all the iPads are cheap stuff or are really in bad shape.

Actually neither. But you got a point, I removed the USB-C cable since its entirely possible its the culprit

 

[FeliApple]

One guy from Apple support suggested the same. All devices died without being connected though, roughly one hour after the devices have been disconnected from the charger.

I'll use a different charger from now on just to be safe. Btw. charging and the location are the only things I can think of common to all instances

The location isn’t the culprit, which leaves the most likely factor: charging. Throw the cable away, use original cables and power bricks.

 

[BB1970]

Hi all,

I experience a super weird issue: as by title.

This is what happended:

Monday, January 16th I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the iPads case only to find the iPad dead. A 2018 iPad Pro 12.9.

I ordered a new iPad Pro 12.9 to receive it a day later.

Monday 30th the exact same thing happened: I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the iPads case only to find the iPad dead again.

Ordered a replacement, received it yesterday. Today (30 minutes earlier) I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the case to check if the iPad still works. Found it to work.
Grabbed a cup of coffee, opened the case (magic keyboard) - again, iPad dead.

What the heck is going on? Anyone experienced something similar?

I thought this was happening to me… but turns out if I wipe the iPad remotely using the Find My feature, it revived the iPad… though I had to do a complete reinstall (from icloud). So while I think it was “bricked” it may have been simply the screen had an issue or bug (I’m using an older Pro) and not the entire device. But there was no way for me to know as I couldn’t see anything. Next time before you exchange it, try wiping it remotely from Find My. See if it comes back to life.

 

[BoctorBill]

Do you live underwater or in a magma environment? Either one of those would be red flags

 

[antiprotest]

We need a Netflix series about this.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Maybe the charger or the cables are some of those that have hidden chips inside that destroy or hack devices. If you're going to toss them, I would be curious to see how they look on the inside.

 

[TVreporter]

Are you using the same plug-in to charge? Could be electrical surge in your home.

Better guess is faulty charging cords/block.

 

[thenahon]

No, by dead I mean dead. No reaction, no charging, nothing. Restart is not possible because its dead, it doesn't do anything

If you're using the same Magic Keyboard case, I wonder if there is some sort of issue with the case that is damaging the iPads.

 

[ignatius345]

Hi all,

I experience a super weird issue: as by title.

This is what happended:

Monday, January 16th I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the iPads case only to find the iPad dead. A 2018 iPad Pro 12.9.

I ordered a new iPad Pro 12.9 to receive it a day later.

Monday 30th the exact same thing happened: I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the iPads case only to find the iPad dead again.

Ordered a replacement, received it yesterday. Today (30 minutes earlier) I read the morning news at home, drove to school, opened the case to check if the iPad still works. Found it to work.
Grabbed a cup of coffee, opened the case (magic keyboard) - again, iPad dead.

What the heck is going on? Anyone experienced something similar?

Did you restore the new iPad from the iCloud backup of the old one?

I ask because I was having a ton of trouble with my iPad Mini. It was lagging a lot and somehow couldn't play videos on apps like HBO Max. So, I reset it completely and restored it from an iCloud backup -- and the problem came right back. It only started working properly again when I bit the bullet and set it up from scratch. Not sure what, but there was something screwed up somewhere that seemed to be carried forward from the backup.