Apple iPhone and iPad users are reporting alarming battery drain issues since updating to iOS 11.4

Wouldn’t you know it, Apple’s recently released iOS update is once again so full of bugs that Apple will inevitably have to release another bug-fix update, and soon. As far as we can tell, iOS 11 is the buggiest operating system that Apple has ever released. No other iOS release to date has had seen these many iterations. [caption id=“attachment_4508503” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] iPhone batteries are draining alarmingly fast since iOS 11.4[/caption] Since the update to iOS 11.4 , Apple users, including yours truly, have noted that the battery drain on their iPhones has increased dramatically. In my case, there have been nights where I’ve lost 40 percent of charge by morning. Other users have reported losing up to 60 percent of charge overnight. Several users have posted various solutions, but with Apple refusing to acknowledge the issue, there’s no clear indicator as to the source of the issue. Some are suggesting that background app refresh and location services are the culprit while others are pinning the blame on Apple’s inability to deal with 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks. There could be some merit to this argument because iOS 11.4 introduced AirPlay 2 and multi-room audio support. Both these technologies are related to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks. Those who were able to have downgraded to iOS 11.3.1 and report that the battery drain issue has disappeared. Unfortunately for everyone else, downgrading isn’t an option any more as Apple has pulled the plug on that option. As far as we can tell, every Apple device that supports iOS 12 has been affected, even the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. The iPhone X appears to be the only device that’s safe. Apple has long since boasted that its users readily embrace new updates. At WWDC, Apple had, in fact, poked fun at Google’s 8 percent adoption rate for Android Oreo. If Apple continues to push out buggy updates like this, all of which have a direct impact on usability, users are going to stop updating their phones. On a related note, we’ve noticed several UI bugs in 11.4 as well. This includes lines crossing out the status bar, glitchy personal hotspot indicators and even keyboard rotation bugs. An iOS 11.4.1 beta has already been pushed out to developers, but it’s not yet clear if Apple has addressed the battery drain issue yet. One can only hope that Apple gets its act together and cleans things up by the time iOS 12 comes out .