The first full point update for iOS 7 landed this week with some relatively straight forward additions. The update included CarPlay functionality, which we covered in our last issue, but the welcome enhancements and bug fixes were overshadowed somewhat by reported battery issues.
Response to the release was largely positive, and saw users hail the changes to the Calendar app which some the return of some iOS 6 functionality after concerns over its simplicity were voiced following the release of iOS 7. Tweaks to Siri, iTunes Radio and the Touch ID Fingerprint technology were also made, mostly to streamline the OS for iPhone 4, which runs the system on a less advanced processor.
Battery woes
However, following the initial release, many found battery life reduced, taking to Twitter and Apple’s support forums to relay their dissatisfaction using an array of not-so-polite, and in some cases even-less-polite language. Following the outpour, Ars Technica ran some tests on battery drain.
As the above image shows, the majority of devices on iOS 7.1 had a poorer battery like than those still on iOS 7.0.
While there was no word from Apple, battery issues have been experienced on updates before and a handful of solutions were put forward. These included performing a full restore through iTunes to avoid re-installing any corrupt profiles.