Apple iOS 5.0.1 battery life fix is now available

By Andrew Couts Published November 10, 2011

iphone 4 iOS 5 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple has officially released a minor update to iOS 5, which is intended to fix the battery drain problem some users have experienced. Based on early tests from some users, the iOS 5.0.1 update does, in fact, fix this problem.

For users who did experience battery life drain after updating to iOS 5 (or with the new iPhone 4S, which comes pre-loaded with iOS 5), the update will certainly offer relief from the pains of having to charge more than once every day or two. That said, not all users had any problem with battery life after updating to iOS 5. So for them, 5.0.1 will offer almost nothing new.

Aside from the battery fix, the update also enables mutlitasking gestures for the original iPad, eliminates some bugs that have popped up with Documents in iCloud, and improvements to the Siri voice control system for Australian users.

According to our tests, the update to 5.0.1 is not yet available as an over-the-air download — a feature that has served as one of the many selling points of Apple’s newest OS. Instead, anxious users will have to download it from iTunes the old fashioned way, by connecting to your PC with a USB cable.

UPDATE: Over-the-air update for iOS 5.0.1 is now available (at least for us), but developers who downloaded an earlier version of 5.0.1 are reportedly unable to update to the final version over the air — annoying, but not a big deal, for most users.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…

Mobile

Here’s how iOS 18 is going to overhaul your iPhone’s email app

An iPhone showing the home screen in someone's hand.

We're just days away from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024), which means we're about to get our first look at iOS 18. The new iPhone operating system is expected to get RCS texting in the iMessage app, more customization options for the home screen, and maybe a significant design change overall. Now comes word that changes will be made to the native Mail app.

According to AppleInsider, the Mail app is about to undergo a significant transformation. It's getting a powerful new search tool, Smart Replies, automatic sorting for different email types, and more. But the real excitement lies in the app's expected integration of AI functionality, a feature becoming a hallmark of iOS 18.

Mobile

Have an iPhone that won’t turn off? Here’s how to fix it

person holding an iphne 15 pro max.

When you try to turn off your iPhone 15 or any other model, you may encounter a situation where it doesn’t turn off as expected. Maybe you're getting ready for bed, want to keep your phone silent while you head to the movies, or it's acting up and you need to reset it. There are numerous situations where you may want to turn your iPhone off, and if it refuses to, that can obviously be quite annoying.

Mobile

Here’s how iOS 18 could change the way you use your iPhone

The lock screen on the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.

It seems the long-overdue Siri overhaul will finally arrive at WWDC in just over a week from now, and the digital assistant will embrace AI trickery in all its forms. According to Bloomberg, Apple’s planned upgrades for Siri will deeply integrate with on-device functions at the OS level and with the installed apps, too.

“The new system will allow Siri to take command of all the features within apps for the first time,” the report says. The most notable capability is that Siri will only require voice prompts to interact with apps, thanks to a major change in the AI architecture powering it and putting large language models in command, just the way Gemini or ChatGPT draw their own skills from such models.