According to Apple Support’s iPhone Discussions BBS, iPhone users are reporting that iPhone OS 3.1 software is causing their iPhone 3G devices to shut down and drain battery life. It seems that in most, if not all cases, a hard reset will revive the phone (press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten second until the Apple logo appears).
Some iPhone users also report having difficulties connecting to Wi-Fi points, GPS issues, and that tethering (available outside the U.S., thanks, AT&T) has stopped functioning in legally unlocked phones.
With the number of people discussing iPhone OS 3.1 on Apple’s site, we’d guess that iPhone OS 3.1.1 is due sooner than later.
MacDailyNews Note: For the record, a seemingly random shut down with and/or due to complete battery drain happened one time to us on one of our iPhone 3GS units running iPhone OS 3.1. Connecting to a power source and doing a hard reset immediately brought the iPhone back to life and the problem has not surfaced again in over four days of heavy use.
So, how’s iPhone OS 3.1 treating you? Let us know below in Reader Feedback if you’re having any problems with iPhone OS 3.1 and, if you are, on which iPhone model(s): iPhone (original), iPhone 3G, and/or iPhone 3GS.
I wish I hadn’t applied the update to my iPhone 3G because now random apps take two tries to launch and the dned phone will just shut down during the usage of an app and will not come back up unless I do a hard reset or plug it in. Definitely not cool and very frustrating.
Battery meter is flaky, just today it jumped from about 55% down to 9% and back up to 55 after a couple of hours. 3GS and 3.1
Interesting post above. The gov giving back choice is less appetizing than companies forcing their choice down your throat. Your choice, not mine, but then that’s the beautiful thing about democracy.
Joe
3.1 bricked my phone during the update process, afterward requiring a full restore and about 1.5 hours of my time … waiting and waiting. Had to laugh when I plugged in my non-functioning iPhone, clicked “Restore” and a pop-up says “Doing a full restore will erase all data on your iPhone. Are you sure?” Ummm gosh … like I have any other option?!! No issues since then but from the amount of troubles people are suffering it does sound like the update manages to corrupt itself quite regularly.
Shut down twice yesterday – none today yet…
Flaked out again. In the course of 2 hours the battery went from 50% to dead. Just sitting in my pocket doing diddly squat…
Joe
Yes, I’m having the same issue, auto shut down and battery draining quicker now on my 3G iPhone. This happens once a week. Time to get back to work and find the culprit Apple. Looking forward to OS 3.1.1
iPhone 3G shuts down by itself 3-5 times a day, sometimes multiple times in an hour.
Bit me today. I rest the Phone and I hope it goes away. But I know something was wrong because I could not place calls or receive calls before the problem cropped up. Not good, not good at all.
I got much better battery life on my 2 G phone that was running push applications. Had to turn push off when I got the new 3 GS with 3.0. Battery life was bad enough with 3.0, but 3.1 is really horrible. Hard reset as recommended in the article did nothing, but a system restore helped with battery life. I still have bogus time adding up on the usage meter. Hopefully the next update will fix the battery problems.
Only one problem shows regularly on my 3G since I had it: The screen doesn’t come back on after making a phone call with set to ear. The VOIP app I use (XSPhone) does the same thing.
Hard reset and the bat is back to 57%. Plugging it in didn’t even help.
joe
iPhone 3GS and only new issue with 3.1 seems to be that my GPS is not as accurate and is slower to respond. Have always had an issue with the screen shutting off during a call ringing in (phone keeps ringing, but can’t see caller ID or answer via screen w/o hitting Home or Power button).
My 3GS is working absolutely perfectly on 3.1
3GS on 3.1 with absolutely no issues with the iPhone. SMS and tethering work great.
Now ask me about the rapacious Rogers monthly subscription rates, the miserly Rogers monthly data limits and the shocking Rogers overage charges.
I need an App that tells me when I’m approaching my monthly data limit.
Is there an App for that?
I’m surprised by the comments about poor battery life. I find on my 3GS, that 3.1 has improved my battery life quite a bit.
I’ve had a couple of issues with my iPhone since 3.1. First the Mail App kept crashing. Turns out my business email account (through GoDaddy) was the culprit. Now I can’t get that email address back on the phone which is a real problem.
But just as serious is the loss of tethering after the 3.1 update. Had I know the update was going to kill tethering I would not have done it.
I don’t use tethering a whole lot but I do when I’m traveling. I just can’t afford to spend the cost to buy internet service at the airport.
it does appear to drain the battery at a much faster rate than 3.0, but I haven’t had any shut downs..
3.1.1 has always been the version number for the touch.
The iPhone got 3.1
There has never been a 3.1 for the touch, so if you are now just updating your touch, you are getting the first version of OS 3.1 that was issued for the touch which is 3.1.1
Way shorter battery life than 2.X or 3.0.
No problems with 3.1 and my 3GS.
No visual voicemail & battery drains fast with 3.1 on 3GS 32 GB. Hard reset doesn’t help.
The random freeze up has occurred to me three times now. After shutting down, I had 2-3 missed emails/texts/calls. Once, the battery drained within 30 minutes. All this happened after downloading 3.1. (I have the 3G.)
Than you, Apple.
Absolutely fantastic.
Including: Tethering. Visual VoiceMail. Skype.
I have a 3G. In this month alone. I’ve had to reset 4 times.