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Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
1,138
Hi all,

yes..a battery question, so feel free to skip if you've nothing constructive to add. As the title implies I'm interested to know if you're still getting the same screen time with iOS17 vs iOS16?

As many, I bought the Mini to replace an OG SE that I used for 6 yrs. I had Apple replace the battery after 5 yrs and a version of 15.x.x absolutely annihilated time between charges. It's now really just used as a WiFi device but depletes on idle quite quickly.

So this isn't about batteries being consumable items, I'm just curious if members have noticed any negative changes. Perhaps it's way too early to ask this question anyways and personally, I'm not quite seeing major advantages in updating to iOS17.

Any Mini users with similar thoughts/ concerns?
 

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
1,138
I haven't noticed any changes with my 13 mini. I went from 16.6 > 17.0 > 17.0.1.
Thanks for your feedback. In a way, my question is perhaps academic as the SE didn't degrade going from iOS14>iOS15, it was one particular update that had a significant impact.

On another note, any positive "real life" additions with iOS17 that you're finding particularly useful?
 

arkitect

macrumors 604
Sep 5, 2005
7,370
16,098
Bath, United Kingdom
The first day or so I thought battery life had gone down and that the mini was running really warm/hot.

But it seems to have settled now and I can see no difference from before 16.6.
 

BenGoren

macrumors 6502a
Jun 10, 2021
502
1,427
I have a 13 mini and installed iOS 17 the morning it was released. As usual, it was active in the background later that day before returning to normal the next day.

Honestly, there isn’t all that much difference to me. The usual collection of relatively minor things. Perhaps biggest is going to be the browsing profiles, but I still haven’t fully embraced that the way I expect to. Interactive widgets are welcome, but why weren’t they like that from the beginning? The contact poster / name drop thing is cool, but I’ve yet to actually use it … it’s not like I’m handing out my number to people all the time. And so on.

I should add: I didn’t expect it to be revolutionary, and I don’t at all regret any of it.

And … much bigger is watchOS 10. That’s non-trivial.

b&
 

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
1,138
The first day or so I thought battery life had gone down and that the mini was running really warm/hot.

But it seems to have settled now and I can see no difference from before 16.6.
Wonder what happened there. Good to hear it's all back to how it was/ meant to be.
 
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Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
1,138
I have a 13 mini and installed iOS 17 the morning it was released. As usual, it was active in the background later that day before returning to normal the next day.

Honestly, there isn’t all that much difference to me. The usual collection of relatively minor things. Perhaps biggest is going to be the browsing profiles, but I still haven’t fully embraced that the way I expect to. Interactive widgets are welcome, but why weren’t they like that from the beginning? The contact poster / name drop thing is cool, but I’ve yet to actually use it … it’s not like I’m handing out my number to people all the time. And so on.

I should add: I didn’t expect it to be revolutionary, and I don’t at all regret any of it.

And … much bigger is watchOS 10. That’s non-trivial.

b&
Thanks for the feedback about the new(ish) features. Glad to hear that there's no issues battery wise.
 

sunapple

macrumors 68030
Jul 16, 2013
2,836
5,419
The Netherlands
It's never a bad idea to wait and see what happens to others after an OS upgrade. This year is the first year where I did not immediately update my 13 Mini for the same reasons as you. Battery worries and overall lack of interesting features IMO. I will hold out until some app or function requires me to update, which I guess will be soon. iOS 16 is still secure as far as I'm aware.
 
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Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
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It's never a bad idea to wait and see what happens to others after an OS upgrade. This year is the first year where I did not immediately update my 13 Mini for the same reasons as you. Battery worries and overall lack of interesting features IMO. I will hold out until some app or function requires me to update, which I guess will be soon. iOS 16 is still secure as far as I'm aware.
Exactly, security updates be independent anyway. Initially I bought a 13 Mini end of last year with iOS15 on it, had some hardware problems and exchanged it in store, start of this year. Whilst transferring my data at the Apple store with both side-by-side it forced the "new" phone into updating to iOS16 before I could even proceed.

So for that initial 30 days I had the native iOS15, I feel in retrospect that the battery did last longer. No empirical data, just recalling use of only one month. I certainly do achieve a full day's use easily in between charges (no 5G) so it's currently less of a problem. But updating (effectively) two iOS versions does make me consider the necessity, hence this thread.
 

snipr125

macrumors 68010
Oct 17, 2015
2,002
3,110
UK
Its probably better to update to ios 17, when its at version 17.2 or 17.3 when its more stable.
 

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
1,138
Its probably better to update to ios 17, when its at version 17.2 or 17.3 when its more stable.
Absolutely the right thing! Mind you, I haven't been able to follow my own advice in the past ;) Luckily I haven't had problems in that scenario..except..that one SE update where (<1 yr old battery) totally destroyed its use. Just cannot recall what 15.x version it was, but somewhere around the 15.4 mark.
 
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Elf7

macrumors member
Sep 26, 2020
38
18
I’m on 12 mini, updated from 15.7.1 to 17.0, and 17.0.1 and health remained the same, but it drains much faster, i can’t go through whole day heavy use (heavy by my criteria) with 100% without charging again. On 15 i could finish the day with some battery left (more than 20%).
 

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
1,138
I’m on 12 mini, updated from 15.7.1 to 17.0, and 17.0.1 and health remained the same, but it drains much faster, i can’t go through whole day heavy use (heavy by my criteria) with 100% without charging again. On 15 i could finish the day with some battery left (more than 20%).
I mentioned in post #12 about the OG SE battery taking a radical dive, half way in iOS 15 and directly after an update. Actually I've just checked and the Apple installed battery now reads 89% after only 1 1/2.

The 13 Mini I initially bought (returned after 1 month) with iOS15 had 1 1/2 days worth of battery life. It's replacement with iOS16 clearly has less. It gets me through the day but I'm also mindful that its health is still on 100%.

I guess with our smaller capacity batteries we tend to notice updates affecting real life depletion more readily.
 
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NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,089
22,155
Brand new (2 months old or so) mini 13 here. Battery life is the same for me, battery is at 100% health.
 

Elf7

macrumors member
Sep 26, 2020
38
18
I guess with our smaller capacity batteries we tend to notice updates affecting real life depletion more readily.
This makes sense, but what’s worse is that now you can see increasing number of users with pro phones that report drastic health drops/drains.
 

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 13, 2020
1,441
1,138
This makes sense, but what’s worse is that now you can see increasing number of users with pro phones that report drastic health drops/drains.
Haven't been following much of what's going on in the iP forum. Any particular models that folks have been mentioning when moving to iOS17?
 
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