5 iPhone's, All Showed False "Low Battery" Warning & Died Yesterday - What Is Going On?

[boltjames]

My wife and kids and I have 2 iPhone 6's and 3 iPhone 6S's They are all running the latest firmware. We all charge them overnight, use them all day, repeat at bedtime. We do a hard-reboot once a month. None are jailbroken. We take great care of our iPhone's, none are damaged in any way. All were bought brand new on day one of sale at Apple Stores.

The 2 iPhone 6's are 2 years and 3 months old. The 3 iPhone 6S's are 1 year and 3 months old.

Ever since iOS 10, we are all getting [what appears to be] false battery indicators. We charge overnight, have phone's at 100%, by lunch they're at 85%, and then suddenly show 5%. If we do nothing, the 5% battery stays that way all day, the phone's never die. Sometimes the trigger for the sudden dropoff of battery indication is watching 5 minutes of a YouTube video or using the Slingbox app for 5 minutes.

Can someone please help me here? I'm quite adept at iPhone maintenance and behavior, I use all the right settings to maximize battery life, so what's going on here? As the dad, I'm the original owner of all 5 iPhone's, my wife and kids follow my lead on care and charging, I am completely at a loss as to why we all are experiencing fake low battery indicators 4x a week.

If anyone can help I'd greatly appreciate it.

BJ

 

[SoN1NjA]

TL;DR I own many iPhones they're all experiencing an issue concerning battery life while on our family ski trip, we treat our devices good and their condition reflects this

Based on your statements and my expertise, I can conclude temperature is your main issue here, as 29F is too low (also the iPhone 6's battery is getting some general wear)

32F is the lowest ideal operating temperature for iPhone
Good thing is once you return from the ski trip they'll work just fine, the decrease in battery life is only temporary

This page below shows you the ideal temperatures for your iPhone
http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

- josh
Macrumors's Forum member
Specializes in Using iPhone and iPhone Hardware

 

[Charadis]

Oh wow, I'm not alone. My 6s actually did something similar. I was out on the road around 1am in the morning, Dec. 24, and got a flat tire heading home for Christmas. Pulled over and started to replace the tire with the spare. I was using my 6s at the time as a flashlight, and decided to take a few photos. I took about 5 or 6 pics, trying to get a good view with flash, when my screen went dark and wouldn't come on with home button. When I try to power it back on pressing sleep button, it took a two or three tries before Apple logo showed up then it went dark again. When I tried again, battery logo showed up with %5 life. Fortunately, I also brought my PS Vita and used as a light (I probably could have just plugged 6s into my car charger, but just wanted to get out of the side of the road asap).

It wasn't too cold though, just light mist of rain. When I made it home, around 2am, I checked my phone again, and it started right up! There was %80+ left. My phone is jailbroken, and I just figured that's what caused it. Weird occurrence. Selling the phone anyways.

Pic below is one of the last shots I made before my phone shut off.

 

[HEK]

Flash.........cold temperatures affect batteries, slowing the chemical reaction that produces electricity.

In other news, when it rains you could get wet, if you are out in it.

Keep the phone near your body in an inside pocket to mitigate the cold environment. Using phone outside in cold, especially battery intensive functions like flashlight will definitely, without a doubt, cause it to deplete the battery much more rapidly than normal.

 

[Mlrollin91]

As mentioned above. Extreme cold and extreme heat will dramatically affect your battery. Prolonged exposure at these temperatures will permanently ruin the battery. Went snowboarding in March of last year. My battery life capacity was 100% the day I got there. After a few hours in the cold, it was down to 65% health. Not until a week later did it resume to 100% health.

 

[HEK]

As mentioned above. Extreme cold and extreme heat will dramatically affect your battery. Prolonged exposure at these temperatures will permanently ruin the battery. Went snowboarding in March of last year. My battery life capacity was 100% the day I got there. After a few hours in the cold, it was down to 65% health. Not until a week later did it resume to 100% health.

The cold, LI Ion batteries can recover from with cycling. Heat will permanently damage Li Ion batteries regardless if the device is on or off. Never leave your iPhone in a hot car.

Want to ruin your iPhone battery real quick? Mount it on dash in sunlight, screen turned up full and plugged in charging running radios and GPS constantly. Sure fired battery killer.

 

[ardent73]

This is why I purchased a 3-in-1 charging battery, hand warmer and a flashlight.

 

[boltjames]

I understand that cold weather can slow a battery.

We have gone skiing last year with the same iPhone's in the exact same conditions and they all worked all day long. My wife and I spent a week walking around Iceland in March with temperatures well below what we did yesterday skiing and our iPhone's never died on us.

There is something that is a) triggering a phony low battery situation at room temperature 4x a week and b) that is exacerbating the cold temperature situation we encountered yesterday.

The only difference is iOS 10. Is there something about iOS 10 and the iPhone 6 that gives false battery indications ultimately leading to our situation?

BJ

 

[Newtons Apple]

Hard to believe that people do not know about the effect of cold on our phone batteries.

 

[Mildredop]

Yesterday we all went skiing. It was 29 degrees out. After 1 hour in this temperature up on the slopes, all 5 of our iPhone's not only dropped to 5% but also locked us out, all the phone's showed the 'plug your iPhone in' screen. Needless to say, we couldn't communicate all day, it was awful. Upon going into the lodge and warming up, all 5 of the iPhone's started up again, all showed around 80% of battery life remaining.

If anyone can help I'd greatly appreciate it.

You answered your own question - it was too cold.

The solution: make the phones warmer.

 

[I7guy]

I understand that cold weather can slow a battery.

We have gone skiing last year with the same iPhone's in the exact same conditions and they all worked all day long. My wife and I spent a week walking around Iceland in March with temperatures well below what we did yesterday skiing and our iPhone's never died on us.

There is something that is a) triggering a phony low battery situation at room temperature 4x a week and b) that is exacerbating the cold temperature situation we encountered yesterday.

The only difference is iOS 10. Is there something about iOS 10 and the iPhone 6 that gives false battery indications ultimately leading to our situation?

BJ

See if the battery on your 6s is affected by the recall. You can put your serial number into a tool on the apple website.

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6s-unexpectedshutdown/

 

[boltjames]

Hard to believe that people do not know about the effect of cold on our phone batteries.

I'll say this again: I fully understand cold weather and the impact on iPhone batteries.

But 30 degrees has NEVER halted one of my iPhone's before, we spent a week in Iceland in 15 degree weather, and certainly we've never seen 5 of them shut down at the same time.

And bigger picture is that our phones are ALL showing false low-battery warnings when they have 80%+ battery life left and at room temperature of 70 degrees.

Forget the temperature please....what would be causing 5 iPhone's (three 6S's, two 6's) to jump from 80% battery remaining to 5% battery remaining at 70 degrees indoors 4x a week?

BJ

 

[Newtons Apple]

I'll say this again: I fully understand cold weather and the impact on iPhone batteries.

But 30 degrees has NEVER halted one of my iPhone's before, we spent a week in Iceland in 15 degree weather, and certainly we've never seen 5 of them shut down at the same time.

And bigger picture is that our phones are ALL showing false low-battery warnings when they have 80%+ battery life left and at room temperature of 70 degrees.

Forget the temperature please....what would be causing 5 iPhone's (three 6S's, two 6's) to jump from 80% battery remaining to 5% battery remaining at 70 degrees indoors 4x a week?

BJ

Maybe a bad battery!

You want real answers, go to Apple. No one here can diagnose your 5 iphones.

 

[foxconn]

I'll say this again: I fully understand cold weather and the impact on iPhone batteries.

clearly you don't based off your responses.

you can't compare one day to another day. temperatures will vary while the phone is inside the jacket.

 

[elemenohme]

...

 

[macfacts]

...

The only difference is iOS 10. Is there something about iOS 10 and the iPhone 6 that gives false battery indications ultimately leading to our situation?

BJ

A lot of people are having false battery readings.

http://fortune.com/2016/12/27/apple-iphone-6-battery-problem/

"When I brought my device into the Apple Store ... a worker there acknowledged she had heard of similar complaints, and offered a solution: Apple could reinstall the firmware on the device, which would fix the battery problem, but would also cause me to lose important data, including all my text messages."

I think this "reinstall firmware" procedure is talking about downgrading, meaning it is a ios10 problem. No way it is talking about "restore from new".

The following story is talking about the same Fortune author and describes the "reinstall firmware" procedure as an unusual fix, so I am certain it is talking about a downgrade to iOS 9

http://bgr.com/2016/12/28/iphone-6s-battery-shutdowns-fix/

 

[BenTrovato]

My 6s dies anywhere from 35% left to 1%. Always different. Always annoying.

 

[itsmilo]

Always happens to me when i am in the mountains and it is around 1 C outside. Nothing to see here. Usually blamed the thinnes and material of the iPhone 6 and upwards

 

[noekozz]

Funny I came across this thread, my phone was at 25% when I left the house this morning (forgot to charge overnight), got on the bus and my phone died, gave me a false battery read (showed battery drained), gave it a hard reset and my phone fired up back at 25%.

I'm also noticing the false reads from time to time on my phone and iPad devices where it would stay stuck at 95% and a half hour later read at 55%.

At this point I strongly believe it's a software issue. Ever since I've updated to the latest iOS it's been happening.

 

[boltjames]

Funny I came across this thread, my phone was at 25% when I left the house this morning (forgot to charge overnight), got on the bus and my phone died, gave me a false battery read (showed battery drained), gave it a hard reset and my phone fired up back at 25%.

I'm also noticing the false reads from time to time on my phone and iPad devices where it would stay stuck at 95% and a half hour later read at 55%.

At this point I strongly believe it's a software issue. Ever since I've updated to the latest iOS it's been happening.

This is what I think too, I'm sorry I even mentioned the skiing portion of my woes.

At room temperature across 5 iPhone's in the same family that were bought on the first day of sale directly from Apple, we're experiencing the false battery reads 4x a week. Each. It has to be iOS related. I'm glad I'm not alone.

BJ

 

[Bethanie21]

Lots of 6Ss (and other iPhone models, such as the iPhone 6) have been having battery issues recently. My own 6S was randomly shutting down anywhere south of 50%, and the battery percentage would drop drastically whilst doing basic tasks. I had my iPhone battery replaced under Apple's replacement programme - this seems to have resolved the issue.

I'd check to see if your iPhones qualify for the programme (only the 6Ss, Apple haven't acknowledged the issue in any other model as of yet).

 

[off_piste]

clearly you don't based off your responses.

you can't compare one day to another day. temperatures will vary while the phone is inside the jacket.

I'm an avid wintersports enthusiast and have never had this problem on any phone, even on the coldest of days. 29 degrees is nothing.

 

[boltjames]

I'm an avid wintersports enthusiast and have never had this problem on any phone, even on the coldest of days. 29 degrees is nothing.

Thank you.

I can post up the 60 minutes worth of HD video my same iPhone 6 shot across all manner of terrain in Iceland last March, it was 15 degrees maximum for a week, no battery issues at all at that time. Same North Face jacket, same exterior pocket, nothing has changed except the operating system and a few more months of usage.

BJ

 

[I7guy]

Did you plug your 6s serial numbers into the tool to see if they were eligible for a battery replacement?

 

[C DM]

A lot of people are having false battery readings.

http://fortune.com/2016/12/27/apple-iphone-6-battery-problem/

"When I brought my device into the Apple Store ... a worker there acknowledged she had heard of similar complaints, and offered a solution: Apple could reinstall the firmware on the device, which would fix the battery problem, but would also cause me to lose important data, including all my text messages."

I think this "reinstall firmware" procedure is talking about downgrading, meaning it is a ios10 problem. No way it is talking about "restore from new".

The following story is talking about the same Fortune author and describes the "reinstall firmware" procedure as an unusual fix, so I am certain it is talking about a downgrade to iOS 9

http://bgr.com/2016/12/28/iphone-6s-battery-shutdowns-fix/

Nothing seems to indicate some sort of a "magical" iOS 9 downgrade.