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New iOS Update Fixes Unexpected Shutdown Issue On iPhone 6, iPhone 6s (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the patch-update dept.

Matthew Panzarino, writing for TechCrunch: Over the past couple of iPhone versions users have complained of "unexpected" shutdowns of their devices. Some iPhone 6, 6S, 6 Plus and 6S Plus devices could basically go dark unexpectedly, forcing a user to have to plug them into an outlet to get them to power back on. Apple has been working on this very annoying bug and it says it has come up with a fix of sorts that should mitigate the problem on a majority of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices. The fix is actually already on your iPhone if you have installed iOS 10.2.1 -- something that around 50 percent of iOS users have already done. After letting the fix simmer on customer devices, Apple now has statistics to share on how it has improved the issue, citing 80 percent reduction on iPhone 6s and 70 percent reduction on iPhone 6 devices.

49 comments

  1. Never install the latest OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let other people beta test for you.

    Also, if you have an old phone, never upgrade to a different OS version number, because your phone will barely function.

    1. Re:Never install the latest OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, don't pay attention to advice given on slashdot by anonymous cowards. Irony noted...

    2. Re:Never install the latest OS by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 3

      Only install the even numbered ones! Every Star Trek fan knows that!

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    3. Re:Never install the latest OS by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      And never buy a red smartphone! Every Star Trek fan knows that!

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re: Never install the latest OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't have a choice if you want Apple to install a new battery. All phones must be on the latest OS before or after a battery replacement in order to run "diagnostics".

      Sooner or later, you'll land up running the latest OS. That's how they get you. I can't wait until they figure out how to make iOS self-expire so you must always be running the latest version of the OS for "security reasons".

    5. Re: Never install the latest OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you mean like Microsoft Windows 10?

    6. Re:Never install the latest OS by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 1

      Yeah, malware purveyors and other malicious types are usually kind enough not to target people containing the latest disclosed vulnerability if they know that people are waiting on some mystical numerology before patching.

    7. Re:Never install the latest OS by sconeu · · Score: 1

      I thought that was Initech employees that knew that.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    8. Re: Never install the latest OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's already there. I'm still on 9.3 and the frigging thing keeps prompting me to upgrade to 10 multiple times a day. There is no way to disable this annoyance or to prevent it from downloading the update (about 1GB)

    9. Re: Never install the latest OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it is so brain dead, the dialog will stop videos and interrupt you typing on the keyboard. It's a big f you to the user.

  2. Looks like power surge issue by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2

    As far as I’m able to understand what happened here, Apple found that sudden spikes of activity to the maximum power draw could cause older batteries, which had some mileage on them, to deliver power in an uneven manner, which would cause an emergency shutdown of the devices

    So some older batteries are not able to support higher draw. They might have tweaked the scheduler not to launch too many jobs at the same time or throttle some jobs or even slow down the clock at high loads.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Looks like power surge issue by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Thinking about it, it is a very good way to nudge the user to stay on the upgrade treadmill!

      Create a special circuit to detect the battery's surge current delivery capacity. This is a good indicator of how old the battery is, and good indicator of how old the phone is. Internally throttle the clock based on the current delivery capacity. Thus as the battery ages, the phone slows down. Slowly, over time, imperceptably to the user. Then two years later, when they see a new phone, it is zippy by comparison.

      The only counter point is throttling the clock extends battery life and the users might get used to much longer endurance. So the phone should also drain the battery internally slowly so that it never exceeds the "expected" endurance in a predictable way.

      Yes, this is devious and diabolical. If there is a strong competitor who might actually deliver undegraded performance and long battery life one might worry. But if you convince your user base to stick to you even when the competitor beats you on performance metrics ... then why bother. Just wring the user dry for every last cent you could.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    2. Re: Looks like power surge issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ferraris outperform Toyotas. That doesn't mean that Toyota's user base is stupid for buying their product.

      Some people want a reliable and familiar interface and an appliance that just works. People who buy performance cars will never understand how the masses can get by driving their Toyotas. Just like Android performance enthusiasts will never understand why the masses like buying iPhones.

      Although I agree, if this is what Apple is doing, it's underhanded and diabolical bullshit.

    3. Re:Looks like power surge issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      im sure apple has a patent on this whole thing.

    4. Re:Looks like power surge issue by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Battery voltage falls as current draw goes up. It's worse on older batteries. Chances are they just made the code that checks for low battery voltage wait for it to fall consistently for say 30 seconds rather than momentarily, or maybe account for the current load on it.

      Actually there might be other factors at work, like failing capacitors due to them being flexed or badly made.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. C'm on! This is a feature! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > complained of "unexpected" shutdowns of their devices.

    Seems the best an iPhone can do, no?

  4. get a replacement battery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you do have a battery issue with 6s you can get it replaced for free at an apple store.
    There's a page somewhere at apple.com which will tell you if your serial is among those which can have the battery replaced.

    I'd imagine this fix only recalibrates the software so it reports the battery correctly even if it is actually failing and lasts half the time it should.
    But the battery is still toasted.

    -> get it replaced. I did it for mine, they kept the phone 2 hours and that was it.
    Even fixed an issue with the charging port being full of pocket fluff while they were at it.

    1. Re:get a replacement battery by tsqr · · Score: 2

      If you do have a battery issue with 6s you can get it replaced for free at an apple store.

      Any idea why Apple wants you to do this before they replace the battery?

      • Back up your data to iTunes or iCloud.
      • Turn off Find my iPhone
      • Erase data and settings in Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings
    2. Re:get a replacement battery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. Backup
      2. Required for #3
      3. So the device is clean & can recalibrate.

    3. Re:get a replacement battery by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      Because they may decide not to replace the battery and to give you another phone. But why wouldn't you want to do that anyway before giving random people your phone?

    4. Re:get a replacement battery by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      If you do have a battery issue with 6s you can get it replaced for free at an apple store.

      Any idea why Apple wants you to do this before they replace the battery?

      • Back up your data to iTunes or iCloud.
      • Turn off Find my iPhone
      • Erase data and settings in Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings

      Um, maybe so they don't have to worry about people in the refurb-chain stealing your data?

  5. I think that the word "fix" is not really correct. by luvirini · · Score: 2

    For something that still happens 20% to 30% of the time it did before.

    Mitigation is more appropriate until they can do much better,

  6. Re:I think that the word "fix" is not really corre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have an iPhone 6s in the batch they are offering free battery replacements. I have not taken advantage of the offer and my phone doesn't shutdown unexpectedly. It is important to remember that several people using the internet to yell loudly does not a huge problem make.

  7. Re: I think that the word "fix" is not really corr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Summary says both fix and mitigate.

  8. Typical Apple by ledow · · Score: 1

    "fixes" :Apple now has statistics to share on how it has improved the issue, citing 80 percent reduction on iPhone 6s and 70 percent reduction on iPhone 6 devices.

    Well, that's not a "fix".

    That's a quick patch to reduce the instances.

    And suggestive that they have no idea what the issue really is.

    1. Re:Typical Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      apple has a magical way with words.

    2. Re:Typical Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, yes. I miss the days of AntennaGate. That was the last chance for Apple to get killed off, but damn it, Apple survived. Then came the Touch Disease. DAMN YOU APPLE, you survived that too. And then you removed the ear jack, Apple. AND YOUR DAMN SALES WENT UP. Apple. You. Will. Die. It's just a matter of time.

    3. Re:Typical Apple by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      "fixes" :Apple now has statistics to share on how it has improved the issue, citing 80 percent reduction on iPhone 6s and 70 percent reduction on iPhone 6 devices.

      Well, that's not a "fix".

      That's a quick patch to reduce the instances.

      And suggestive that they have no idea what the issue really is.

      Or that there is something out of their control that is causing some batteries to have more problems than others.

    4. Re:Typical Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My question is...

      Shouldn't privacy people be screaming right now?

      How do they know ANY percentages? What other information do they phone home with?

    5. Re:Typical Apple by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Ah, yes. I miss the days of AntennaGate. That was the last chance for Apple to get killed off, but damn it, Apple survived.

      And Samsung survived Explodegate. Their phones fucking exploded, and didn't just lose a bar if you held the phone in a fucking awkwardly forced way.

      Maybe if they had a safety feature that shut off your phone if the battery voltage suddenly dropped, indicating a possible problem. That could have avoided that whole sudden spike in temperature thing. Aren't they supposedly the company that actually invents technology?

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  9. Re:I think that the word "fix" is not really corre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a huge problem, unless the fucker shuts down at 55% power while you're navigating through a new city. Fuck Apple and this blatant attempt to force people to buy new phones.

    Really, you can't fix a fucking batter you broke via software? I don't believe that. Hell, the Chinese knockoffs are better than that with their hamfisted engineering.

  10. I need a similar fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    iPhone regularly goes totally unresponsive. It feels like the phone is getting stuck in a loop for 5-30 minutes and cannot even respond to finger swipes. It wasn't always like that. It's almost certain by now that Apple got rid of their QA department sometime last year...

  11. So not fixed then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The summary title says it is fixed. But in the summary it clearly says it has not been fixed. Reducing the number of times it happens is not fixing it. It is an attempted fix that perhaps almost worked. Will it make people's experience better? Likely. Will people still be complaining about this issue since it apparently still happens? Yep.

  12. And the mic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about the no one can hear a damn thing I'm saying unless I use speaker phone bug?

    1. Re:And the mic? by ledow · · Score: 1

      Seriously?

      Buy a better phone.

      You know, one that has a working mic.

      How's that "most expensive phone on the market" thing working out for you?

    2. Re:And the mic? by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Seriously?

      Buy a better phone.

      You know, one that has a working mic.

      How's that "most expensive phone on the market" thing working out for you?

      Wouldn't know; because a Samsung GN7 (when it was available) was MORE EXPENSIVE than an iPhone 7 PLUS, which is more expensive than the iPhone 6 and 6s models affected by this shutdown issue.

      So, STFU, Hater. Do so research before venting your spleen.

    3. Re:And the mic? by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

      I have a 6s as does my wife and son, and an iPhone 5 before that, and we've never had these issues. (Battery did die though, eventually). The phone that *does* often just randomly shut off on me is my Galaxy S4, which is my work phone. I've changed the battery on that twice already. Also, my Galaxy Tab A freezes, but to a much lesser extent than the S4. Overall I have more reliability issues with Samsung/Android than I do Apple. It's the pick of the draw, all these things have the potential for failure.

      --

      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
    4. Re:And the mic? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

      I have a 6s as does my wife and son, and an iPhone 5 before that, and we've never had these issues.

      I have a 6+ (over 2 years now), and an iPhone 4 before that. I haven't had any of the oft reported issues on either, such as "antennagate", "bendgate", or random shutdowns. Not sure if I'm lucky, or if some users are doing weird stuff with their phones.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    5. Re:And the mic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not entirely accurate. The GN7 has much more than a i7. Dollar for dollar, you get much more for the Note 7:

      Infrared camera for iris recognition. MST along with NFC for payment. The S Pen. SD card slot. More RAM.

      If you buy a i7+ with the pencil, the cost is actually very similar.

    6. Re:And the mic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait wait wait...

      1) "I've never had battery issues, but the battery died." I've had 0 batteries die on me. They might have abysmal charge, but never just not worked. My laptops purchased 7 years ago here have a 15 minnute charge but it still holds a charge. My fliphones in my basement still power up. For a premium smartphone, that's actually really for so many battery issues on all their devices.

      2) The Galaxy S4 is now almost 4 years old and you're comparing it to a phone which you replace so your phone is never older than 2-3 years (between the 5 and 6 s). I'll bet if you kept using your 5, it would start freezing or otherwise behaving eratically.

  13. They replaced my battery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bought my 6s the first week it was available, in September 2015. That was within their window for replacing the battery at no cost despite being out of warranty. I had the issue described before the replacement, and it was getting worse with each day. Now, it has not shut down unexpectedly at all after two months.

  14. Re:I think that the word "fix" is not really corre by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    It's not a huge problem, unless the fucker shuts down at 55% power while you're navigating through a new city. Fuck Apple and this blatant attempt to force people to buy new phones.

    Really, you can't fix a fucking batter you broke via software? I don't believe that. Hell, the Chinese knockoffs are better than that with their hamfisted engineering.

    STFU, Hater.

    Show me PROOF that Apple CAUSED this ON PURPOSE, or GTFO.

    Seriously.

    Fucking ACs...

  15. That's why I never update my phone anymore by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

    My iPhone 6 Plus came with iOS 8.0 factory installed. I kept up with the updates until 10 came out, at which point I've refused every update. So my phone sits at 9.35, likely forever.

    Reason (aside from avoiding bugs like in this thread topic) is to avoid a bloated OS that eats your battery life and overtaxes the processor/gpu. On a previous Apple device, I noticed that as soon as you got to two OS revisions above what it came with originally, it gets painfully slow. On that particular device it was originally iOS 4, and when i updated it to 6 there was a dramatic slowdown in responsiveness and app loading time. I eventually updated it to 7 to see if that helped, but it did nothing aside from taking up more disk space. It became so unusable, I gave it away for free.

    There is a problem with this strategy though. Apple will force you to update. No matter what you do to your phone setting, it will phone home and automatically download the latest update. Disabling "Settings: App Store Auto Update" has no affect on this whatsoever. There is no way to disable this, aside from:

    1. Jailbreaking with Cyanogenmod.

    2. Block Apple update server from your wifi router (your phone will only attempt to auto-download when on wifi and not when on cellular)

    I went with option #2 since I did not want to deal with the hassle of jailbreaking. Simply go to your router config page and block these two URLs:

    appldnld.apple.com
    mesu.apple.com

    1. Re:That's why I never update my phone anymore by golden_donkey · · Score: 1

      Good fix. But I use WiFi at work as well.

  16. Re:I think that the word "fix" is not really corre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think its time for your pill.

  17. Re:I think that the word "fix" is not really corre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Alternately, show proof that they didn't cause this on purpose.

    They've had a huge history regarding "forced" upgrades.

    No camera on tablet one or two months from releasing "revolutionary" video conferencing? Bam, $600-1000 down the drain!
    Voice Assistant that was working perfectly fine on even the original i phone? fuck that shit, 4+ only!
    Battery sealed? $100 for a $20 battery replacement!
    Cell signal drops a little if you hold it normally? We'll offer a $0.50 rubber bumper for JUST couple months because they fixed it? Oops, no, they didn't.
    Constantly nag you to upgrade to an OS your device can't run comfortably? Nope, nag nag nag, and at one point, I got an installing countdown that if I wasn't paying attention to, would have proceeded.

    Shall I continue?

    So where's your counterproof for their reputation?

  18. You can thank my relative & his crew... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See my subject: He runs those updates & patches @ Apple for iOS & iirc, MacOS X too (does a hell of a good job too, sharp kid, going on his 4th yr. there outta RIT).

    * Can you tell I am PROUD of him?

    (You betcha!)

    They're making sort of a tiny mistake MANY software OEM publishing houses do though (MS too) - they're TRYING to "pack in new 'features'" TOO fast imo (that's mgt. & marketers, NOT coders)...

    APK

    P.S.=> He's the *NIX man outta the tribe here - me? I'm more the Windows poster child (lol, I do both, so does he w/ MacOS X, iOS, Linux & Windows) - he told me when I asked him @ age 14 or so "What do you want to DO w/ your life?" & he gave the typical "I'm not sure" so I told him "Do something you see someone being successful in a given area & liking their job, because when you hate your job? You have sentenced yourself to a living hell!" & he told me, YEARS later "I did it because YOU were so good @ it Uncle Al & you never bullshitted me like other adults!" lol, but I'm not that good (I can "get the job done" @ best imo) - it's just he was still a "noob" saying that (I'd say he's well on his way to knowing FAR MORE than I in fact)... apk

  19. Re: I think that the word "fix" is not really corr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AC thinks it's possible to prove a negative. Smarter than the rest of us, I guess.

  20. Another reason to ditch iPhone by Joshs922 · · Score: 1

    I have this problem on my 6s (1 year old phone). We went to the "Genius Bar" at the Apple store and were told "Sorry, bud." [Can't help you] That's an exact quote. It was then I realized that Apple products aren't for me. With an Apple product, if something is wrong, they will tell you what they're going to do about it, and that's the end of it. No consumer repairable or upgradable anything on them. As a long-time tinkerer and nerd, this sort of arrangement is not for me. Even to replace the battery on an iPhone, you have to pay a "Genius" at the Apple store $80 to do it for you and they have to take your phone apart to do it. Other complaints: iTunes. What in the world? I can't just copy mp3 files on to my phone and listen to them? I have to "Import" them into iTunes and sync my phone on a Windows or Macintosh computer? Or how about no SD card slot? What kind of digital camera device has no removable media capability? Now on the latest iPhone they have removed the last standard piece of hardware on it: the headphones jack. But don't worry, you can buy new Apple wireless headphones for $160.00. This snotty little expensive eco-system is for the birds. Next phone will be Android where I have native compatibility with my Linux PC at home, an SD card slot, standard file formats and hardware/jacks, and way less expensive. Many Android phones have serviceable/upgradable parts too.