iPhone 7 overheating playing talking books

[Rod]

This would not be an issue if not for the fact that it is a sudden and unexplained change in behavior.
My wife has had her iPhone 7 for about a year and a half and habitually listens to talking books at night before sleep. She has been doing this for years with this iPhone and the one before.
Last night she woke me up to show me how hot her phone was. With no case on it it was uncomfortable to leave against the skin an much hotter than my iPhone 7 had ever been. She did have a case on it but it's the standard soft flexible plastic type that comes with the device from Apple.
It is currently running iOS 12.1.2 and she always updates it when updates become available.
She has not added any new apps recently and seldom runs many apps in the background and those she does, like a solitaire game and WhatsApp are frequently left on so no changes in behavior there.
A battery usage check shows the main power drain is from iOS Books, 92% in the last 24hrs.
Everything else is in single figures.
This is a sudden and unprecedented change in behavior and i cannot understand why a native audio app running with the display off would use so much power and obviously CPU resources in such a short period of time.
She is using a pair of third party earphones plugged in but again this is not a change, she has been using the same pair for 6 months or more.
Honestly I suspect the latest iOS update may be the culprit but I cant think of any way to check this.
Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[ferrarr]

Maybe, it's a battery issue, and it is dying? Maybe a drop, or bump affected it, and changed the charge/discharge properties? I wonder if Apple can run a diagnostics, to the iPhone like they do fo Macs? Can you call AppleCare? Do you have that option? Do you have Coconut Battery on your MBP, so you can check the iPhone battery there?

 

[pm-r]

iPhone 7 overheating playing talking books
... ... ...
Any suggestions much appreciated.

Well, from your description Rod I'd suggest she's possibly really got into a new really HOT and maybe a bit more risque than normal novel.

Sorry...





- Patrick
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[Rod]

Thanks Ferrar but I'm in Bali. No Apple stores here but I will load coconut battery on Annie's MBP and check the battery.

 

[IWT]

Hi Rod

You say your wife's iPhone 7 is bang-up to date; but can you just check something for me, please?

In Settings > General > About, scroll down Version. It should read: 12.1.2 (16C104).

I only mention this because I found out that although my iPhone X AND my wife's iPhone 7 both told me via Settings > General > Software update, that we were up to date - in fact, when I went into iTunes, I discovered that there was a supplementary update available - also called 12.1.2 (16C104). instead of (16C101).

I had updated our iPhones OTA previously. So, to get the latest version, it has to be via iTunes.

The whole story, should you want it!!! is here: https://www.mac-forums.com/ios-and-apps/348739-ios-12-1-2-12-1-2-a.html?highlight=

If you're really up to date, then, I guess it's a battery problem?

Ian

 

[Rod]

My wife's is actually 16C104 and mine is 16C101. Both iOS 12.1.2

 

[IWT]

Thanks Rod. Well, no help for your wife. I'm sorry. Worth a try. Which leads me to think along the lines of battery "failure".

Your iPhone can be updated (via USB/iTunes) to (16C104) should you want to.

Thanks for your quick response. Sorry I can't help more.

Ian

 

[ferrarr]

Thanks Ferrar but I'm in Bali. No Apple stores here but I will load coconut battery on Annie's MBP and check the battery.

Rod, I meant, if you call AppleCare, they can run a diagnostic on your iPhone over OTA, but you should call from a separate phone if you do that. As long as it is still covered by AppleCare that is, if not, they will want $$$$.

 

[lclev]

Yes, Rod have the battery checked out. My husbands iPhone 7 started to get hot and loose battery life. I called Apple to take it in for the battery replacement program they had at that time. When I took the phone in the genius took one look at it and said it had a swollen battery. I never noticed as he kept it in a case and the screen was just barely elevated in one corner. But he showed me that when the corner was pushed on the screen went down and came right back up. So they replaced the phone.

Lisa

 

[Rod]

Thanks bob, we dont have Apple Care on our phones, one of the drawbacks of buying second hand or refurbished but that is helpful because i didn't know that Apple could test an iPhone via OTA. So that's good to know.

 

[Rod]

Well i seem to have fixed the problem. As easy as a soft reset. Although we have only had one night to confirm last night it was fine. maybe just a glitch but as a result i did download coconut battery for my wife and checked her battery status. Turns out it is surprisingly good.
After 610 cycles it is still getting 89.3% charge.
Its possible my wife has hit on the best recharge regime by accident.
I did some research on phone battery charging recently in order to debunk some persistent old wives tales about charging Lithium Ion batteries expressed by a contributor on another forum.
It turns out, based on findings by the so called "Battery University" that it is better to;
a. never allow your battery to fall below 20% or above 90%. Levels below or above these levels cause "stress" to the battery.
b. although this stress is minimal charging from 99% to 100% repeatedly such as when you device is plugged in overnight will have an effect on battery life.
c. Below 20% it is strongly suggested Low Power Mode should be used to minimize this stress and charging before 10% is strongly advised.
My lovely wife seems to have ticked all the boxes simply by her usage pattern.
Because of the talking books at night she does not charge her phone o/night. She plugs it in during the day sporadically charging it up to maybe 80% at a time either in the car or on her MBP depending on where she is and this seems to be working for her.
I on the other hand tend to just charge it o/night and not at all during the day.
This means it trickle charges o/night but although I have a much lower recharge cycle count (390) my battery charge capacity is lower at 88.4%.
So perhapes they're right. To overcome this issue without making drastic changes to my routine I grabbed an unused AC timer I had lying around and set it to be on from 10pm to 12am guessing that 2hrs would be roughly enough and given I usually plug my phone in around 10pm.
Only time will tell if this works but it is an easy answer.

 

[Rod]

Help!

Help!
Well the fix was only temporary.
Since then I have tried reinstalling the iOS with iMazing and following that the recent iOS update was applied. This and a soft reset seems to fix the problem for a short period but then it returns. It seems strange that it is limited to the Books app. Nothing else drains the battery or produces heat like the Books app when playing Audio books. I compared the Music app and it does not cause this problem. So it's not just an audio issue.
I have searched and searched on Google to no avail. No site specifically refers to audio causing this problem just lots of general steps to take all of which I've tried.
Here is the battery info window after one hour of playing an audio book via cable ear-pods.
Note; the battery had been recharged as it was down to 8% after the one hour.



I do take onboard the advice to contact Apple but with no Apple Care on this phone I think I would rather wait until we are back in Australia in Feb. where I can access a Genius Bar.

 

[ferrarr]

While you’re listening to the book, are you doing other things with the iPad? Does the display stay on the entire time? Do you turn down the brightness?


Bob -

Sent from my iPad using Mac-Forums

 

[pm-r]

Help!
Well the fix was only temporary.

Is there any chance that the type of earphones or earbuds may be causing a faster battery drain???

I'm just wondering and thinking out loud for a possible cause...

And I was just wondering about the power needed if they were of a type that required a fair bit more power then the usual "low power" stuff.





- Patrick
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[Rod]

Patrick, that did occur to us so I suggested just using the Apple earpods but alas same problem. I think it's off to the Apple shop when we get home.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[pm-r]

Patrick, that did occur to us so I suggested just using the Apple earpods but alas same problem. I think it's off to the Apple shop when we get home.

OK, great minds think alike perhaps. ;D





- Patrick
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