Work on iOS 5 Battery Issues Continues with Customer Testing, Internal Support Notices

ios5 iconLast week, Apple confirmed that some iOS 5 users are experiencing battery life issues on their devices due to some bugs in the operating system, issues that Apple is working to address with iOS 5.0.1 currently in developer testing.

9to5Mac reports that Apple has now expanded its testing to include some of those users who have reported problems with their devices, reaching out to them through Apple's invitation-only customer seeding program.

Apple invites you to participate in a software seeding project. We have selected you, based on a referral from AppleCare for participation in our program, to assist us in testing an upcoming iOS 5 Software Update. Please follow the directions below to complete the invitation process.

Apple is also apparently notifying its retail store support staff of the battery issues, instructing them to encourage customers to hang on for "a few weeks" until the software update is ready for release. Under the notice, support staff should not offer replacement handsets for battery life issues at this time unless potential hardware defects are found.

A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. If you are helping one of those customers, follow standard procedure to rule out any hardware issues with the device. If no hardware issues are found, let the customer know that Apple has found a few bugs in iOS 5 affecting battery life and Apple will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.

In addition to the battery life issues, iOS 5.0.1 is also including several other fixes and enhancements, including multitasking gestures for the original iPad, bug fixes for Documents in the Cloud, improved voice recognition for Australian users, and security enhancements.

Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

mbarriault Avatar
185 months ago
How about improving recognition for Canadian users? Just the other day I said to it "Ring me mudder hand tell er Hi be hon me way!" and it didn't have a sweet clue to what I was saying.

Edit: From my score it's become apparent that either people hate Newfoundlanders, or didn't catch on that I was joking.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HyperX13 Avatar
185 months ago
One more observation. When I charge my new 4s, from 28 percent to 99 percent it only takes like 15 minutes. My iPhone 4 would take hours to charge. Leads me to believe the whole battery is not being utilized.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MTShipp Avatar
185 months ago
A day in my 4S battery

With my 4S and the latest 5.0.1 beta, I am getting better life.

Here is an example of today with GSM on 4S:

- Unplugged from charge at 6:00 AM
- Checked email while "contemplating the day"
- Checked FB status
- Sent 2 Siri text messages
- Checked Twitter
- Did 1 "Find Friends" search
- Made a 3 minute call
- Checked Maps for an address to respond to a text with directions
- Responded to the text with Siri
- Checked email
- Answered a 5 minute call
- Checked weather for tomorrow using Siri
- Sent another text using Siri
- Checked email and responded with a short paragraph using Siri

Location Svcs for Diagnostics, iAds, and Time Zone are off
Exchange email and iCloud are all on with Push
Gmail is on with 30 minute Fetch
Brightness at 50% with auto off
WiFi is on
Hotspot is off

It is now 5:12 PM and my battery is at 63%
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wolfshades Avatar
185 months ago
How about improving recognition for Canadian users? Just the other day I said to it "Ring me mudder hand tell er Hi be hon me way!" and it didn't have a sweet clue to what I was saying.

I know what you mean, bay. Mudder 'as enough problems widdout 'aving to figure owt what time to start makin' the poutine.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_bnkr612 Avatar
185 months ago
I have heard positive remarks on the current beta of a much improved battery life.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Game 161 Avatar
185 months ago
Wait

so is the battery life issue not a 4s issue but IOS 5 related?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)