Now we know why Apple released iOS 17.2.1

A few days ago, Apple surprised some iPhone users by releasing iOS 17.2.1, iOS 16.7.4, and iPadOS 16.7.4. The last two releases were for older phones and tablets and we'll detail the distribution of the update in a second. More importantly, in the United States and many other countries, all we knew about the update was that Apple released it to provide what it called “important bug fixes. .

Unfortunately, in most countries, Apple did not disclose the problems the bugs were causing to the affected devices, as it usually does in the release notes. And Apple pointed out that the flaws fixed by the software had no corresponding CVE entries. CVE numbers, or Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures, help identify, catalog and define vulnerabilities.

It turns out that iPhone users in China and Japan received a bit more information about the release notes released by Apple in those countries. Using a translation app, iPhone users in these countries were informed that the update “addresses an issue that may cause the battery to drain more quickly under certain conditions.” This was mentioned in a tweet posted by @BrandonButch (via MacRumors) which creates Apple-related videos on YouTube.

Here is an interesting note on 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 don't mention it. pic.twitter.com/lQ192SEJp6

– Brandon Butch (@BrandonButch) December 19, 2023

This ties in with some articles on Reddit iPhone users celebrating the increase in battery life they've seen on their device since installation iOS 17.2.1. For example, Redditor “Delay_Similar” wrote: “Since updating to iOS 17.2.1, it seems like my battery has improved a lot” (By the way, this may be the clearest and most concise Reddit post ever. Congratulations!).

Some people never noticed the battery was draining iOS 17.2. Reddit user Salloumk owns an iPhone 15 Pro Max and had this to say about his phone's battery life: “Mine improved significantly with 17.2 and remained just as good with incremental update .1. This seems to be the best version from the start. to iOS 15.”

If you haven't managed to install the latest versions on your iPhone or iPad, perhaps the idea that this might prevent your battery from draining faster will be enough of an incentive to get you to download the new files. To install the update, go to Settings > General > Software update.