iOS 16.5 has iPhone owners up in arms, but post-update battery blues are normal

Apple iPhone owners who have just updated to iOS 16.5 are in some instances finding their battery life has been severely hampered, and charging times are reportedly affected too.

Macworld was quick to spot the complaints, of which there are quite a few, hitting various online forums and social media platforms.

The tech site also flagged up the Apple Support account responding on Twitter, as you can see in the above tweet, noting that it's 'normal' for an update to cause your apps and phone to go through a period of adjustment - and it might take 48 hours to return to normality.

In other words, this is the system performing various operations (rescanning files, optimization measures) as a result of the update, and apps may be up to the same kind of shenanigans. All of which can add up to extra system resources being used, and therefore additional battery drain.

That said, there are still slight concerns here, as some posts we've seen complain about battery life really being hit. For example, one Redditor says:

"While there are a bunch of silly comments here, I have a 14 Pro with 100% battery health, no social media apps, and since I've installed iOS 16.5 my battery actually dies before end of day.

"Prior to 16.5, my battery would typically be between 40 and 60% when I'd go to bed. Something is definitely up in 16.5 that's greatly affecting battery life."

On the flipside of that, there are iPhone users who have reported better battery life after updating to iOS 16.5. Another Reddit thread has posts from the owners of various iPhones (including the iPhone 8, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max) who have all observed improved battery life after the update.

Ultimately we'll have to give this a bit more time, and see how the dust settles, but there is a chance that perhaps a niche set of users are encountering some sort of bug related to battery longevity.