Apple iOS 14.2 Battery Drain
Apple iPhone users are starting to complain about severe battery drain. (Photo: Nikolay Tarashchenko/Unsplash(BY CC 2.0))

A new severe battery draining issue threatens Apple once more as users start posting complaints about the problem online, alleging the culprit is no other than the iOS 14.2 update.

Apple released its iOS 14.2 update on November 5, bringing along several improvements like redesigned media controls, a Shazam toggle in the Control Center, Magnifier app face detection, and eight new wallpapers, as well as more than 100 new emojis. Users welcomed all these enhancements and new features. Recently, however, some users have started complaining about their iPhones losing battery power more rapidly than usual. Some of these users are now pointing at the iOS 14.2 update as the cause of these severe battery drain issues.

According to users who posted the complaint on Reddit and Apple Developer forums, symptoms of the severe battery drain issue include longer charging times and iPhones losing more than 50% charge in less than half an hour. Some users also report experiencing large battery power drops of about five percent within a couple of minutes of regular use. Many of the users who reported experiencing severe battery drain issues with their iPhones reveal this happened only after they downloaded and installed the iOS 14.2 update. When asked why it is they are reporting it only now, some users say they did not mind at first because the drop was insignificant until recently when their batteries started draining more rapidly.

Some of the complainants allege that the issue appears software-related as many of them are experiencing battery life showing a high percentage in its indicator just before dropping. Many of them also say they see a sudden resurgence in their battery life after shutting down and restarting their iPhones. This behavior drove many of the complainants to think that the iOS 14.2 update is causing the severe battery drain issue.

  Many users say the issue appears reminiscent of Apple's batterygate debacle, arguably one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Cupertino tech giant, which resulted in hundreds of millions of settlements. While the old fiasco is not similar to what is happening now, it also involved batteries in older phones. Like in the past, the severe battery drain issue, which occurred after users downloaded and installed the iOS 14.2 update, appears to only affect slightly older iPhones. These include iPhone 7, iPhone 6S, and iPhone XS, as well as the first-generation iPhone SE. Some users also say their 2018 iPad Pros with the iPadOS 14.2 update is also having a similar issue.

Although Apple already released its iOS 14.2.1 update, which fixes address bugs with its Message app, no reports are suggesting that the severe battery drain issue, which happened only after users installed the iOS 14.2 update, is already fixed. Reports indicate that Apple recently released its third developer beta of iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3, which may also include a fix to the severe battery drain issue. The update brings refinements to the Home, Weather, and Health apps, as well as support for Apple ProRAW.