Carrier EE sim-only battery issues

[TwoBytes]

I'm on the GM with no EE battery issues. 6+

 

[Daniel.steel]

Just to share further clarity on the testing i've done.. Certainly looks to be something on the EE side, could it be due to they are the only carrier to offer Wi-Fi calling? Operate on a different 4G spectrum? Visual Voice Mail Services? Will try and highlight this to both EE and Apple to understand why this is occurring.

 

[Frogfoot]

Just to share further clarity on the testing i've done.. Certainly looks to be something on the EE side, could it be due to they are the only carrier to offer Wi-Fi calling? Operate on a different 4G spectrum? Visual Voice Mail Services? Will try and highlight this to both EE and Apple to understand why this is occurring.

For what it's worth, I never used WiFi calling on 8.x because I value the Continuity features more. I enabled it on PB3, though, and it's certainly around that time that I started to have the same battery and heat issues that everyone's described here. I had no problems on the earlier betas. Turning WiFi calling off again on the phone doesn't help; if it's related to WiFi calling, the carrier setting alone is enough to bring about the problem.

Would've reverted to 8.4.1 by now, if my backup from that wasn't so out-of-date.

 

[Daniel.steel]

For what it's worth, I never used WiFi calling on 8.x because I value the Continuity features more. I enabled it on PB3, though, and it's certainly around that time that I started to have the same battery and heat issues that everyone's described here. I had no problems on the earlier betas. Turning WiFi calling off again on the phone doesn't help; if it's related to WiFi calling, the carrier setting alone is enough to bring about the problem.

Would've reverted to 8.4.1 by now, if my backup from that wasn't so out-of-date.

Trying to get the attention of the necessary people in EE as this isn't really an iOS issue and more likely a carrier issue, i'm a business user, so on an old ex orange tariff which I know is different on the backend side of things to the consumer EE (which is the T-Mobile infrastructure)

 

[Daniel.steel]

Signing out of iCloud and rebooting seems like a temporary fix for now.

 

[Mystic Eddy]

Thought Podcasts was causing my battery drain until I saw this thread. I'm on EE Pay Monthly. Tried both WiFi Calling on and off (although I really need it on due to my home having stupidly thick walls). Still the same issue. Draining to 70% with an hour of usage (emails, SMS). Running EE Carrier 21.5 on 9.1 beta.

 

[johnnyboy360]

I am on EE Pay monthly and ever since beta 1 I have had shocking battery life, every single day I have been running with Low Power Mode on just to get a day of use and even with that on I had to recharge it (Thank god for EE Power Bad). I have Vidgets installed and I use the CPU widget, and with no apps open, the cpu is above 50%, roughly 65%. I have not tried to remove my sim yet but I am thankful to see this thread (Been following for a while) and appreciate the research gone into it. What also confirms this for me is the fact that I have done reset settings, reset network settings, OTA updates then reset, restore from back up, DFU mode clean install iOS 9 GM and restore from backup and still nothing has changed. Currently on 75% with 1 hour battery usage.

To be fair iOS 9 has improved my battery...


...Drainage.

 

[KSean]

I've encountered the same issue since upgrading from 8.4.1 to 9.0 GM on my iPhone 6 Plus. Upgraded to 9.1 public beta and still the issue is present.

Same 100-115% CPU usage in CommCenter:

FWIW, I'm also an EE customer - SIM only. Downgrading to 8.4.1 now.. hopefully this is just a carrier config issue that can be resolved at least in time for the 9.0 public release. What is worrying is that people are claiming they've had this issue since beta 1 - and neither Apple nor EE have acknowledged or addressed it. :/

 

[tumtumtum]

I've spent days diagnosing this problem have found some interesting things including a solution:

• Poor Battery Life and hot iPhone is due to CommCenter process using 100%-110% CPU continuously
  
• Only seems to occur with EE sim cards (but not all) in combination with a logged in iCloud account
• Removing the SIM card does not make CommCenter stop spinning unless you reboot the phone without the SIM card afterwards
• Rebooting with the SIM card in and Airplane mode on does not prevent CommCenter from spinning
• Logging out from iCloud is the only "setting" that immediately stops CommCenter spinning (even with the EE SIM card installed)
• Possibly starts occurring with accounts that have enabled EE WiFi-calling

After having tried the following to with no luck:

• Changing SIM cards
• Airplane mode
• Disabling 4G/LTE
• Disabling everything in iCloud settings except for signing out
• Disabling iMessage
• Resetting and restoring an iTunes and an iCloud backup

The issue appears to be related to a setting or profile that is backed up so doing a full restore from a backup does not work but a fresh install will work.

The permanent solution I discovered is:

1. Backup the phone to iTunes
2. Reset the phone and install a fresh install of iOS9 GM
3. Setup the phone as a new device
4. Connect your AppleID and setup iCloud
5. CommCenter CPU usage should remain fine
6. Most of your settings should come back off your iCloud
7. Your messages will not be restored because SMS/iMessage is not backed up to iCloud (except as a full backup) but you can use iBackupBot (free edition) to restore your SMS/iMessage from the iTunes backup you made in Step 1. Follow the steps detailed here: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/03/06/how-to-back-up-restore-sms-messages

Hope this helps people out. My iPhone was a hand warmer and almost always attached to a USB port for 3 weeks...


CommCenter before:

CommCenter after:

(blog post about it here: http://www.abstractpath.com/2015/ios9-battery-life-and-commcenter-cpu-usage-when-on-ee/)

 

[Frogfoot]

I've spent days diagnosing this problem have found some interesting things including a solution (...)

I'm glad something works--wish I'd seen this before I tried reinstalling 9.1 earlier today.

As far as causes go, I have noticed one slightly odd thing. When I try to use "Add Wi-Fi Calling For Other Devices" nothing seems to happen, and "Calls on Other Devices" still has "When Nearby" printed next to it. It could be that that's a setting that requires carrier information, and EE doesn't support it properly yet. That would explain why it requires the combination of EE, WiFi Calling and iCloud, anyway.

If that's what it is, the problem might resolve itself on or before the 16th--I'm going to wait and see, anyway. Already wasted one day waiting for photos, apps and music to redownload.

 

[KSean]

I've spent days diagnosing this problem have found some interesting things including a solution:

<snipped>

Thanks for typing this out - hopefully it solves the problem for others. I unfortunately can't go with this solution because I have quite a lot of app data that isn't in iCloud (e.g. game save files where the game doesn't support iCloud). Setting up as a new device would cause me to lose this data - I checked iBackupBot and it doesn't seem to allow me to view app data in the backups (Documents folder for every app is empty). Hopefully Apple/EE address this issue in a carrier update, iOS 9.1 beta 2 or 9.0.1..

 

[tumtumtum]

Thanks for typing this out - hopefully it solves the problem for others. I unfortunately can't go with this solution because I have quite a lot of app data that isn't in iCloud (e.g. game save files where the game doesn't support iCloud). Setting up as a new device would cause me to lose this data - I checked iBackupBot and it doesn't seem to allow me to view app data in the backups (Documents folder for every app is empty). Hopefully Apple/EE address this issue in a carrier update, iOS 9.1 beta 2 or 9.0.1..

Are you sure? I can see contents of the Documents folders under "User App Files"

 

[BadMelonFarmer]

Unfortunately it did work for me, I had the issue during bea and I rebuilt from scratch on beta 5... But the problem was still there.

I used a three sim ... The problem went away

Started using the EE sim, problem came back

Then when the iOS9 GM came out I used a totally fresh build, no restore as described and I thought it fixed it.... But within a couple of days the issue came back

 

[tumtumtum]

Unfortunately it did work for me, I had the issue during bea and I rebuilt from scratch on beta 5... But the problem was still there.

I used a three sim ... The problem went away

Started using the EE sim, problem came back

Then when the iOS9 GM came out I used a totally fresh build, no restore as described and I thought it fixed it.... But within a couple of days the issue came back

Did you turn on wifi calling after the fresh build?

I fixed it originally by using a different EE sim and number but the problem came back between enabling wifi calling and iOS9 GM. I haven't turned on wifi-calling since my fresh rebuild and it's still ok. Fingers crossed.

 

[BadMelonFarmer]

Did you turn on wifi calling after the fresh build?

I fixed it originally by using a different EE sim and number but the problem came back between enabling wifi calling and iOS9 GM. I haven't turned on wifi-calling since my fresh rebuild and it's still ok. Fingers crossed.

Yes WiFi calling is off.

It's odd but for the first few days of fresh GM I thought it was fixed, but it came back

 

[tumtumtum]

Yes WiFi calling is off.

It's odd but for the first few days of fresh GM I thought it was fixed, but it came back

One other thing I did is call up EE to remove wifi calling from my account (turning it off in settings doesn't remove it at the carrier level)

 

[schmidt65]

This MUST be what has been driving mad during the ios9 beta, and continues to be an issue on the GM. It starts every time I turn on wifi calling and press the 'add wifi calling to other devices button', which does nothing and the on the phone gets hotter and hotter. Had to rebuild from scratch so many times (and my watch each time as well). Hoping this gets fixed ASAP.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-add-wi-fi-calling-for-other-devices.1914005/

 

[Frogfoot]

This MUST be what has been driving mad during the ios9 beta, and continues to be an issue on the GM. It starts every time I turn on wifi calling and press the 'add wifi calling to other devices button', which does nothing and the on the phone gets hotter and hotter. Had to rebuild from scratch so many times (and my watch each time as well). Hoping this gets fixed ASAP.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-add-wi-fi-calling-for-other-devices.1914005/

That sounds familiar. Right now my only advice if you don't want to rebuild again is to do what I'm doing and live in Low Power Mode, which at least stops the heat buildup and some of the battery drain. Signing out of iCloud also works, apparently, but that's a pretty high price to pay. I'm hopeful that something will start getting done on the 16th, once EE gets flooded with complaints.

 

[schmidt65]

That sounds familiar. Right now my only advice if you don't want to rebuild again is to do what I'm doing and live in Low Power Mode, which at least stops the heat buildup and some of the battery drain. Signing out of iCloud also works, apparently, but that's a pretty high price to pay. I'm hopeful that something will start getting done on the 16th, once EE gets flooded with complaints.

I rebuilt my phone (and watch) again this week after the GM came out, and did not turn on wifi calling and it still seems to be OK after around 3 days. Won't dare attempt to turn it back on again until I know it's been sorted, and I've done a full iTunes backup of the phone.

Really surprised EE haven't got on top of this before now - we're days away from a huge public launch and they still haven't resolved a massive issue.

 

[Mystic Eddy]

I rebuilt my phone (and watch) again this week after the GM came out, and did not turn on wifi calling and it still seems to be OK after around 3 days. Won't dare attempt to turn it back on again until I know it's been sorted, and I've done a full iTunes backup of the phone.

Really surprised EE haven't got on top of this before now - we're days away from a huge public launch and they still haven't resolved a massive issue.

Well it is EE. The guys who said WiFi calling was 'Coming Soon' after the 6 launched only to delay it for ages!

 

[schmidt65]

Well it is EE. The guys who said WiFi calling was 'Coming Soon' after the 6 launched only to delay it for ages!

True. Hopefully we'll get the full wifi calling on other devices working on the 16th as well- this is a feature I'd find extremely useful!

 

[davidChief]

I am also experiencing rapid battery drain using an iPhone 6 Plus on EE running iOS 9.0 GM. I've tried restoring a backup from my Mac and from iCloud with identical results.

 

[Mystic Eddy]

Even with airplane mode on, WiFi calling deactivated on my account and location services etc turned off I'm at 87% battery with 24 mins usage . iPhone 6 running 9.1.

 

[schmidt65]

I am also experiencing rapid battery drain using an iPhone 6 Plus on EE running iOS 9.0 GM. I've tried restoring a backup from my Mac and from iCloud with identical results.

The only way I ever fixed mine was by wiping and setting up from scratch. I did this 3 times during the public beta, which also meant I lost the watch backup and had to set that up from scratch as well. Was hoping this would be sorted by the GM (I believed it was an Apple issue), but now worried to find out it's an EE problem. They'll be a lot of complaints come Wednesday if this isn't sorted

 

[BadMelonFarmer]

One other thing I did is call up EE to remove wifi calling from my account (turning it off in settings doesn't remove it at the carrier level)

Ahhh no, I did not do that.... I only switched it off on the phone.