ZDNet
Here we are, another iOS release, and iPhone owners are divided once again.
Along with all the new features – including 31 new emojis – and several dozen security fixes, does the new iOS 16.4 update improve or worsen battery life?
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I’ve been keeping an eye on Apple’s social media and support forums and opinions are mixed. Some say this update is a big improvement, others say it sucks.
If you experience better battery life, good for you. You can stop reading here and get on with your day.
However, if you are one of those people who have battery problems, I have some tips and tricks to help you get through the day.
1. Be patient
It’s normal for battery life to decrease after installing an iOS update – quite significantly in fact.
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iPhones have a number of tasks to perform in the background after an update. This will consume more battery power than usual, and battery life will return to normal once all of these additional tasks are completed.
2. Reboot again
It might seem strange to recommend a restart since the update process restarts the iPhone, but it actually helps. And remember that a reboot after an update triggers a series of post-update actions, from updating indices to recalibrating the battery.
If the iPhone is burning out of battery after the update, a restart might bring things under control. It has worked for me, and it has worked for several other people that I have recommended.
And it won’t cost you anything more than a few minutes.
3. Update your apps
The problem might not be an iOS issue, but rather a problem with a rogue app, especially when new versions of iOS have been released. That means it’s a good idea to make sure all your apps are updated before spending a lot of time trying to diagnose what’s going on.
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Launch the App Store app and tap your profile icon in the corner. Then scroll down to Available Updates to check for updates (I like to pull down this screen to refresh so I see all the latest updates).
4. Find out what’s eating up your battery
OK, updating iOS and your apps didn’t solve the problem and your battery shows as fine. What else could it be? It could be a rogue app draining the battery. And luckily, iOS gives you the tools you need to spot misbehaving apps.
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Go to Setting > Battery, and here you’ll see a lot of data, including app battery usage. You can also tap to switch to activity by app, which shows a breakdown of app power usage on screen and background power usage.
Analyze battery discharge in iOS.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
You can use this information to diagnose battery drain issues. Here are some other things you can use this information for:
An app going haywire in the background will show a lot of background activity compared to screen activity (try disabling background activity for that app and see if that helps). ?).You can also detect poor battery performance (watch out for rapidly falling battery charge).5. Check if your battery needs replacing
Is your iPhone getting a little old?
If it is 4 years or older, the battery may be old and need to be replaced.
Tap Settings and go to Battery > Battery health & charging and check how the battery’s maximum capacity is listed. If this is below 80%, this could indicate a dead battery.
6. Wait for the next iOS update
Bugs slip through the net, and sometimes all you can do is wait for Apple to fix the problem and release a new update.
Apple is getting a lot better at fixing issues like this, although you’ll have to wait for the fix and bet that the new update will actually fix the problem and not create more havoc.
Given that pretty much every update Apple puts out these days is packed with iOS security updates, I recommend installing updates as it can leave your iPhone vulnerable to attack if you don’t.
