The latest iOS 10 packs a lot of cool tricks, but it's also a battery hog for older smartphones such as the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and even the iPhone 6s.
Apple unveiled iOS 10 with all the bells and whistles on Sept. 7 at its iPhone 7 launch event. As soon as the latest OS became available for download, however, reports started piling up, with a bevy of users complaining about battery life issues following the upgrade.
It seems that instead of further optimizing battery efficiency to make it last longer, the new iOS 10 does the opposite, and users are now getting shorter battery life out of their devices.
iOS 10 Battery Issues: iPhone 5s, 6, 6s and iPad
Older models such as the iPhone 5s are often the ones most affected by new OS issues, but with iOS 10, there are also some reports of battery drainage on the newer iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s after upgrading to iOS 10.
"Has anyone noticed any problems with battery life since updating to iOS 10? My 6s has been down to 10 to 20 percent for several days in a row by 4 p.m. with only 2 to 3 hours of usage. Safari took 32 percent of my battery today in 39 minutes. I'm on iOS 10.0.1," writes a user on Reddit.
Another user says their iPhone's battery dropped to 30 percent after 2 hours of use and 4 hours on standby. While the user doesn't mention which iPhone model they own, they do note that, prior to the update, one charge per day would suffice for their demands, but now the smartphone requires charging twice per day on iOS 10.
Other users also report a dramatic drop in battery performance following the iOS 10 upgrade, with Safari particularly power hungry. Scattered among the complaints are also a few positive reports of good battery life on the iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE, and significantly worse battery life on the fourth-generation iPad.
It remains unclear at this point whether this is a widespread issue or it's affecting only a few users, as Apple has yet to acknowledge any issues or bugs. Until Apple provides a fix for this issue, there are a couple of temporary workarounds that might help preserve the battery life of your iOS 10 device.
iOS 10 Battery Fix: Temporary Workarounds To Extend Battery Life
First of all, you can try a hard reset, or even a factory reset. For the latter, make sure to make a backup so you can later restore it with iTunes.
Another thing you can try is to follow the "Battery Life Suggestions" found under your device's Settings > Battery. Simple things such as reducing screen brightness can have a significant positive effect.
Other tricks you can try include disabling location services when you're not using them, disabling background app refresh, or using "Reduce Motion" (found in Settings > Accessibility > Reduce Motion). It's worth pointing out, however, that "Reduce Motion" will affect iMessage effects.
If nothing works, as a last resort, you could downgrade from iOS 10 back to iOS 9.3.5 until Apple sorts things out and fixes the issues marring the iOS 10 experience. iOS 10 has caused plenty of other issues, including bricking some iPhones and iPads, but Apple should patch things up soon enough.
