Thinking Of Updating Your iPhone To iOS 15.4? Battery Life Degradation Says Think Again

Last week Apple released its latest iOS update and many iPhone users noticing decreased battery life. The update, iOS 15.4, aimed to fix some known issues while adding a few new features to Apple devices.

Apple included a feature in iOS 15.4, which gives users the ability to unlock their phones while wearing a face mask. While that may sound great for those who are still masking up, it does come with a couple of possible costly requirements. First, you need to own an iPhone 12 or 13 and second, you must also own an unlocked Apple Watch. Those requirements may make the new feature for some null and void unless they upgrade and buy an Apple watch.

The update also seemed to impact the battery life of many iPhones. Some users took to social media and began posting about their newly acquired battery life shortly after the update. One person tweeted that iOS 15.4 was killing the battery life on their iPhone 13 Pro Max at double the normal rate, essentially cutting the battery life in half. Others chirped in with similar claims about their iPhone's battery drain.

While this is more than likely an unintended side effect of the update, some may think back to 2020 when Apple faced a number of class-action lawsuits for its CPU throttling. The lawsuits came about after it was discovered the company was secretly throttling performance of select iPhone models to preserve battery life. Apple ended up paying up to $500 million for its misdeed, so one would think it will be quick to fix this latest battery drain issue.

But it isn't all bad news with the latest update. It also patched 39 security vulnerabilities. Also included were updates to Apple Pay, a new American voice for Siri, and fixes for various known issues. You can visit Apple's website to see a complete list of updates and fixes included in iOS 15.4.

It should also be noted that when updating low-level system files, it could take a few charge/discharge cycles before battery life returns to normal. There are things taking place in the background that may make it seem like the battery is draining faster. As an iPhone 13 Pro Max owner, the battery life on my device is still suffering from a drop in performance. But as pointed out earlier, it is unlikely Apple will want to leave the issue unaddressed for too long.