Apple has rolled out iOS 11.1, the first major update to the company's latest version of its mobile operating system.
The major component of iOS 11.1 is the addition of dozens of new emoji for iPhone and iPad owners. However, the big question is whether the upgrade fixes the battery drain issue that has plagued the operating system since its initial release.
iOS 11.1 Adds 70 New Emoji, Several Bug Fixes And Improvements
After a month-long testing period, Apple has rolled out iOS 11.1. The operating system upgrade's major addition to iPhones and iPads are 70 new Unicode 10 emoji that include mythical creatures such as a vampire and a mermaid, clothing elements such as gloves and a trench coat, and facial expressions such as a crazy face and an exploding head. Some of the emoji available to iOS device owners have also been updated with more detailed designs including the bee, the snail, and the dolphin.
Installing iOS 11.1 also patches up the KRACK exploit, which allows hackers to steal sensitive information over Wi-Fi networks. The update also brings back the 3D Touch App Switcher gesture, while fixing several problems with the operating system's Photos and Accessibility features, particularly on the VoiceOver system.
Does iOS 11.1 Fix Battery Drain Problems?
While gaining access to 70 new emoji are certainly important, as evidenced by the recent Google cheeseburger emoji debate, the big question that iPhone and iPad owners have is whether iOS 11.1 fixes the battery drain issues of the operating system.
The battery drain problem has been experienced by iPhone and iPad owners from iOS 11 to as recently as iOS 11.0.3, which is the last update before iOS 11.1. Fortunately for users, the latest iOS upgrade looks like it will be fixing the issue once and for all.
Early testing done on iOS 11.1 showed significant improvements on the battery life of iPhones and iPads after installing the update. The battery drain fix is not mentioned in the official changelog of the operating system upgrade, but iOS device owners will not mind that as long as the problem is fixed.
There could be some variation to the findings as most of the testing was done on beta versions of iOS 11.1, and the performance of the battery during real world usage could be different. Nevertheless, it is great to know that Apple is at least making some improvements to one of the biggest caveats against iOS 11.
