Thursday, December 20, 2012

Avoid the 6.0.2 iOS Update



An update for iOS came out either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week that said it 'Fixed WiFi issues'...since I don't have any WiFi issues that I am aware of, I did not manually try to update mine.  I'm glad I didn't, apparently it is causing issues with battery life for some folks, so I wanted to get the word out that it is most likely best to avoid this one for now.

In addition to the post below, here is a post on the Apple Support forums about potential battery issues with iOS 6.0.2.  My sister updated hers and said below that she hasn't noticed any issues, but for me the potential risk isn't worth updating since the only issue the update fixes is a WiFi problem that I don't have.  So your mileage may vary.  Definitely let me know if you've had success with the update as well.  

Potential Fix if You Do Have Battery Issues After Updating to iOS 6
Here is a potential "fix" that I saw in that Apple Support forum post mentioned above:
  1. Close all of my apps (using the app switcher; double tap home, press and hold an icon, click the red close button)
  2. Go to Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset All Settings. (Does NOT delete apps or any data; just resets network/iOS settings)
  3. Wait for phone to restart.
  4. Charge it up to 100% and monitor.
Here is a post from cultofmac about it:

"Apple released its iOS 6.0.2 update over-the-air to select devices earlier this week, promising a fix for a frustrating bug that could impact Wi-Fi performance. However, the update comes with a nasty problem of its own. There are reports that it has greatly reduced battery life on the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini — even when the devices go unused for long periods of time.
Adam Engst of TidBITS first noticed “unusual battery drains” with his iPhone 5 and iPad mini, and he notes that several of his colleagues have been experiencing the same thing.
In my case, when Michael Cohen raised the issue on our staff list at 12:30 PM, my iPhone 5 was at 73 percent. That’s a bit low, given that I’d barely used the iPhone, but I don’t know that I started the day with a full charge. However, 90 minutes later, at 2 PM, I was down to 55 percent – an 18 percent drop – without having used the iPhone at all.
Engst suggests that in Apple’s attempt to fix the Wi-Fi bug, it may have made Wi-Fi a little too active, having devices work so hard to connect to Wi-Fi access points that it’s draining their batteries.

Engst and his colleagues aren’t the only ones experiencing this issue, either — search for “iOS 6.0.2 battery” on Twitter and you’ll find a whole host of users reporting the same thing. With that being the case, it might be worth holding off on upgrading to iOS 6.0.2 for the time being if you’re not experiencing the Wi-Fi issues it’s supposed to fix.

Personally, I haven’t noticed this issue on either my iPhone 5 or my iPad mini, but to be honest, I haven’t been looking out for it. Although they don’t seem to be draining any faster than they did prior to upgrading, they’re often plugged into my Mac for different things anyway.

Hopefully, Apple will issue an update to fix this update — or a patch to patch the patch — in due course."

2 comments :

Jen said...

I updated, but I haven't noticed anything different with my battery. Same as before.

Chris said...

Thanks for the info, good to hear it is not an across the board thing and I added some steps on how to potentially 'fix' things if you do notice your battery draining quicker.

 
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