What you should know
- Apple recently released iOS 17.2.1, iOS 16.7.4, and iPadOS 16.7.4, primarily to deliver what it termed as “important bug fixes”.
- The company did not disclose the specific issues these bugs were causing to the affected devices in most countries, but it was revealed in China and Japan that the update addresses a battery drain issue.
- Some iPhone users have reported an increase in battery life after installing the iOS 17.2.1 update.
- The iOS 17.2.1 update is for the iPhone XS and later, while the iOS 16.7.4 and iPadOS 16.7.4 updates are available for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch 1st generation.
Full Story
Just a few days back, Apple sprung a surprise on some iPhone users. It released iOS 17.2.1, iOS 16.7.4, and iPadOS 16.7.4. The latter two were for older devices. We’ll dive into the specifics of the update distribution shortly.
In the U.S. and several other countries, the only thing we knew about the update was that it was to deliver “important bug fixes.” Apple didn’t go into much detail about what issues these bugs were causing, as they usually do in their release notes.
And here’s a weird thing. Apple noted that the software flaws fixed didn’t have any corresponding CVE entries. If you’re not familiar, CVE stands for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures. These numbers help identify and catalog vulnerabilities.
But here’s the kicker. iPhone users in China and Japan got a bit more info in their release notes. With the help of a translation app, they found out that the update “addresses an issue that can cause the battery to drain faster under certain conditions.” This was tweeted by @BrandonButch, who makes Apple-related YouTube videos.
Here’s what he said: “Interesting note about iOS 17.2.1. The Japanese release notes mention a fix for battery drain: ‘This update addresses an issue where the battery may drain quickly under certain conditions.’ Meanwhile, the English release notes do not mention this.”
This matches up with some Reddit posts. iPhone users there were celebrating an increase in battery life since installing iOS 17.2.1. For instance, Redditor “Delay_Similar” said, “Ever since updating to IOS 17.2.1 it seems my battery has gotten much better.”
However, not everyone noticed a battery drain in iOS 17.2. Reddit user salloumk, who owns an iPhone 15 Pro Max, said, “Mine improved substantially on 17.2, and remained just as good on the .1 incremental update. This feels like the best version since all the way back to iOS 15.”
If you haven’t installed the latest releases on your iPhone or iPad, this might be the push you need. The promise of a longer battery life could be enough to get you to download the new files. To install the update, head to Settings > General > Software Update.
The iOS 17.2.1 update is for the iPhone XS and later. The iOS 16.7.4 and iPadOS 16.7.4 updates are available for the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad 5th generation, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch 1st generation.
