Study shows new iPhone system update can cut battery life by half

Reduced battery life has been a common gripe of Apple users installing the latest iOS software as experts claim devices could run out of power in half the time in some cases.

Technology analysts at Wandera studied the use of 50,000 iPhone and iPad users running the latest software to see how long devices lasted for before running out of juice.

The experts found heavy users running the older software, iOS 10 were able to run their devices for about 144 minutes longer than those who had downloaded the latest version, iOS11.

Battery life dropped from 240 minutes to 96 minutes over a three-day period, but a further emergency software update available is looking to address the issue.

Mobile security experts at Wandera have taken a second look at the latest software, to test its performance and see what improvements have been made.

Device ‘decay rate’ from 100 per cent to 0 per cent has since improved to 159 minutes, meaning heavy users can now enjoy battery life of an extra 63 minutes when running the latest version of iOS.

_______________

Read more:

iPhone 8 Plus: Apple's best smartphone, which you probably shouldn't buy

Texting while driving: Apple's new software is a game-changer

Apple iPhone 8 launch fails to draw usual thronging crowds at Dubai Mall 

_______________

“We wanted to look at this analysis again because we expected to see a positive change for a couple of reasons,” said David Pryce, PhD, head of data science at Wandera.

“We know from previous experience that Apple offers sub-version updates just after big releases to offer bug fixes for such issues.

“We also know humans love to play with new things so the excitement of new features may have worn off.”

Just a week after Apple issued the much anticipated iOS 11, and further update 11.0.1 to address bug fixes and performance improvements, 11.0.2 is now available to improve battery life and make devices run smoother.

Analysts said the improved software is allowing users to run more advanced apps on their devices, and with improvements also made to overall phone functions, the battery life was being drained faster.

Animoji and iPhone X's FaceID hardware use face-scanning technology are relying heavily on the camera which is a notorious drain on the battery.

Other fixes include improve e-mail function via Microsoft Outlook and clearer audio for iPhone 8 users who had reported interference on calls.