Tech
Apple acknowledges and fixes iPhone battery drain issue with iOS 15.4.1
The new update directly addresses a problem that was plaguing some iPhone users’ battery health after updating to iOS 15.4. Updates to iPadOS and macOS also bring fixes.
Turns out it wasn’t just you. Apple just released its iOS 15.4.1 update, which notably includes a bug fix for batteries draining more quickly than expected on iOS 15.4.
Many iPhone users were eager to update to iOS 15.4 since it finally allowed Face ID to work while wearing a mask. But some unlucky users were hit with serious battery drain issues following the update.
It’s pretty routine that users complain about battery drain following a major iOS update. But it may have been more widespread with iOS 15.4, as seen on Apple Support’s Twitter page, which was rife with complaints shortly after the iOS release. Apple Support even said on Twitter that it’s normal for apps and features to need to adjust up to 48 hours after an update. A full update was needed to actually fix the issue, though.
By explicitly adding this fix in the latest version of iOS, it seems Apple has finally been forced to acknowledge the issue as real.
Some security bugs — According to iOS 15.4.1’s release notes, the update includes three bug fixes, including the one that remedies the battery drain issues. The update also addresses a bug that made Braille devices unresponsive when navigating text or showing an alert and another bug that caused ‘Made for iPhone’ hearing devices to lose connection when using certain apps.
Along with the iOS update, Apple released iPadOS 15.4.1 and macOS Monterey 12.3.1, all of which include fixes to some serious security flaws. In all three operating systems, Apple said there was a bug that allowed an app to “be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges,” which basically means that bad actors could do whatever they wanted to the OS.
The updates also addressed a macOS Monterey bug that allowed an app to read the device’s kernel memory. According to Apple, both bugs “may have been actively exploited,” so some devices may have been compromised. Both of these security flaws were discovered by anonymous researchers.
No joke — These aren’t April Fools’ jokes; the security updates here are pretty bland but quite serious. As for the battery drain issues, there are still some complaints being directed at Apple Support’s Twitter, but noticeably less so than when iOS 15.4 was first released in March. Even if you weren’t experiencing battery drain issues, it’s a good idea to update all your Apple devices for those crucial security fixes.
