Does iOS 17.2.1 improve the battery on your iPhone? Some release notes seem to think so

iPhone 15 Pro review back flat angled camera

(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

iOS 17.2.1 has arrived, adding bug fixes and stability improvements to your iPhone. While the small update has little in terms of new features for the iPhone, some regions’ release notes hint at a much bigger improvement — a battery drain fix.

If you head to settings to install the latest software update, you’ll see release notes that read, “This update provides important bug fixes and is recommended for all users.”

However, the same release notes in some countries like Japan have extra information related to the battery of the iPhone when translated into English, “This update includes important bug fixes and addresses an issue where the battery may drain quickly under certain conditions.”

Originally spotted by Brandon Butch on X with the Japanese release notes, more iPhone users have chimed in on the matter. One user even found similar text for the Chinese release notes that also hints at battery improvements in the new software update.

Here’s an interesting note about 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 do not mention this. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/lQ192SEJp6December 19, 2023

More than just minor bug fixes?

While we’ve not been able to confirm what exactly the unspecified bug fixes in the English release notes refer to, it’s very interesting to see such disparity between the same text in multiple languages.

iOS 17.2 was released earlier in December, and some users on Apple’s forums had reported a more significant battery drain than previous software versions. Hopefully, the release notes that do mention a battery drain fix are correct, and we’ll see improvements to the battery on the iPhone with this latest update.

As an iPhone 15 Pro Max user myself, I haven’t noticed any increased battery drain on iOS 17.2. With the release of iOS 17.2.1, we’ll be sure to test and check out the improvements to see whether or not the hints at battery improvement are, in fact, accurate.

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John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.

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