Apple rolled out iOS 11.4 last month with a bunch of new features, including Messages in iCloud and AirPlay 2, but it’s also having some unintended side effects. Some iPhone users have taken to Apple’s forums to voice their frustrations over the new software apparently draining their battery life at an alarming rate.
One user pointed out his iPhone 6S and iPad mini 4 both suffered steep battery declines. “Both units show the same annoying battery drain (60% overnight). Also a clean install with 11.4 on the phone didn’t improve the situation.” They had to downgrade the software to remedy the problem. “Yesterday I downgraded to 11.3.1 on the iPhone and everything is back to normal.”
Another user claimed the issue was occurring on their iPhone X. “I have an iPhone X, after installing iOS 11.4 my battery started draining 2 to 3 times faster than before. I tried everything possible for a week to fix it. Nothing worked.”
Many users pointed out that they tried everything from turning off location services, Wi-Fi, background app refresh and just putting the device in airplane mode, yet nothing seemed to work. About the only constant fix users found was to downgrade to iOS 11.3.1 after which battery performance went back to normal. The culprit for the issue still has not been identified.
Battery issues affecting iPhones has been somewhat of a sore spot for Apple. Back in December, it was busted for throttling devices with degraded batteries after which it begin to offer battery replacements at a discounted price. Still, the ordeal continues to hang over the company’s head.
Apple is already seeding out betas for iOS 11.4.1, so a fix may already be in the works. It remains to be seen how long it’ll be before the final version is seeded out to users to address the recent battery woes.
