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iOS 6.1.1 causes battery drain, say some iPhone 4S users

An update designed to fix cellular problems on the iPhone 4S may have introduced a battery drain bug.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
3 min read
CNET

Rolled out this week for the iPhone 4S, iOS 6.1.1 may have fixed one problem only to create another, at least according to some users.

Several iPhone 4S owners chiming in on Apple's Support Communities say their battery drains faster after updating to iOS 6.1.1. In a discussion thread labeled "My iPhone 4S battery life is terrible, Even with iOS 6.1.1," many report that their battery life was much better under iOS 6.1.

Here's just a sampling of the comments:

The battery life on my iPhone 4S was fine with iOS 6.1, but is depleting quickly with 6.1.1. The iPhone is now constantly warm. I would normally go get home and have about 65% charge, it is barely 2 hours into the day and the phone is aleady at 65%.
My iPhone 4S was FINE until 6.1.1. Now losing 10% battery per hour in STANDBY. I even disabled most of the services to no avail. REALLY APPLE? Fingers crossed for 6.1.2 SOON!
I had no issues with battery life before 6.1.1 upgrade and now it's draining at an alarming and unusable rate. 30 minutes of use this morning and my battery was down from a 100% charge to 46% left (with Wifi and Bluetooth OFF)!

One user shrugged off the problem as something to be expected, saying that "battery issues are reported after EVERY iOS update. The resolution is always the same, basic troubleshooting as described in the User's Guide. Reset, restart, restore (first from backup then as new)."

But a few of the commenters who went that route say the battery drain persists.

iOS 6.1.1 was deployed on Monday specifically to the iPhone 4S to address problems with cellular performance. No other iOS device received the update. None of the commenters in the discussion thread mentioned the cellular issues, so that particular glitch may have been resolved with the latest update.

Like most new flavors of iOS, version 6.1 comes with its own set of baggage.

One bug prevents iOS 6.1 devices from syncing with Microsoft's Exchange e-mail service. Apple is aware of that problem and said it's working on a fix.

Another flaw just discovered allows someone to sneak through your passcode using a specific series of steps, including trying to place an emergency call. Once in, the hacker can use your phone and listen to your voice mails. Apple told CNET that it's aware of this issue and will resolve it in a future update.

In response to the reported battery drain issue, an Apple spokesperson pointed CNET to a support page discussing reduced battery life. But the problem cited on the page refers to a recurring calendar event with a Microsoft Exchange account on an iOS 6.1 device. So it seems unrelated to the complaints voiced by the iPhone 4S users in Apple's forum.

(Via Wired)

Updated 9:45 a.m. PT with response from Apple.