It’s a bit chilly here today – about minus 10 but now very sunny so I went for a walk.
I have an iphone 6 plus and never suffered any problems with the battery before today, but when on a call the phone died. I was only talking for about 20 minutes. It wouldn’t switch back on until I got in and plugged it into a power socket. When it came back on, it showed 85 percent charge on the battery.
Are they really that bad in cold temperatures? I have a lot of walking planned for the next few weeks and the long term shows it’s not getting above 0 for a while yet.
Is there a cold weather cover I can get if it really was the temperature that killed it?

Have a check on this.
https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6s-unexpectedshutdown/

Mine started behaving in that way, turned out it was one of the faulty batch, apple repaired free of charge, perfect ever since.

Not got a 6 but I’ve certainly had to warm up my phone and camera batteries to get them to work in extreme cold. When snowboarding I generally keep my phone in an inside pocket near my body to make sure it stays warm.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201678

Use iOS devices where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F). Low- or high-temperature conditions might cause the device to change its behavior to regulate its temperature. Using an iOS device in very cold conditions outside of its operating range might temporarily shorten battery life and could cause the device to turn off. Battery life will return to normal when you bring the device back to higher ambient temperatures.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201678

Use iOS devices where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F). Low- or high-temperature conditions might cause the device to change its behavior to regulate its temperature. Using an iOS device in very cold conditions outside of its operating range might temporarily shorten battery life and could cause the device to turn off. Battery life will return to normal when you bring the device back to higher ambient temperatures.

Well that’s just ************* as where I am, both ranges are exceeded in Winter an Summer.

All battery life is definitely impacted by cold temperatures, possibly your battery may be a bit tired, my 6 is fine but it’s worth getting yours checked. Mine works ok when skiing but life is much worse. 20 mins on a call with so-so mobile signal and very low temperatures will strain the battery imo.

If you want to make a long call – which is what I’d consider 20 mins to be on a mobile – just get headphones with a mic so you can keep the phone in an inside jacket pocket.

My old iPhone 4 used to shut itself down in cold temps, happened surprisingly regularly in a Glasgow winter.

My wife’s 6 used to shut down regularly at temperature below 5C. We took it to an Apple store and they advised backing up everything, then a factory reset and install any new updates. It fixed things marginally but it still shuts down 🙁

I was commuting home in Jan or Feb 2016 on the single day we got snow here that year and got about 20 miles in and couldn’t feel my face or feet, so pulled over to call my wife to ask if she’d come collect me as it was getting dangerous due to the usual driving standards of people in the slightest snow, and despite my iphone having been fully charged when i left work (made sure of this due to conditions) it was completely dead having been in rear pocket, not good, as it was only -1 or -2 on Garmin

Shut downs. The phones have a temperature sensor. When there where problems with wifi chips in the 4S one of the fixes was to force a hardware reset which you did by either 1) putting a phone in a plastic bag and into the freezer or 2) heating it with a hairdryer. I did both from time to time.

It’s a bit chilly here today – about minus 10 but now very sunny so I went for a walk.

I have an iphone 6 plus and never suffered any problems with the battery before today, but when on a call the phone died. I was only talking for about 20 minutes. It wouldn’t switch back on until I got in and plugged it into a power socket. When it came back on, it showed 85 percent charge on the battery.
Are they really that bad in cold temperatures? I have a lot of walking planned for the next few weeks and the long term shows it’s not getting above 0 for a while yet.
Is there a cold weather cover I can get if it really was the temperature that killed it?

my wifes iphone 6 did the exact same 2-3 times last week when out in cold weather, battery was at worst 50%. first time we’ve seen it happen. My 7 was fine

My iphone 6 shut down when it got too hot on holiday in the summer, but it did warn me before doing it.

Shut downs. The phones have a temperature sensor. When there where problems with wifi chips in the 4S one of the fixes was to force a hardware reset which you did by either 1) putting a phone in a plastic bag and into the freezer or 2) heating it with a hairdryer. I did both from time to time.

And you actually believed them when they said that was how to do a hard reset? 🙄

Rachel

I used to put 4s’ in the freezer all the time as detailed above. Off in 10 mins.

I just had this happen recently too (6s plus), normally take it out to grab a few pictures snowboarding but kept it out a bit longer to take some video and it cut off, when i switched it on later still had 85% battery, now I know why I guess.

I’ve had this with iPhones and GoPro’s. It usually happens when there are extreme temperature changes over a short time (15 mins or so). Most recent time 3 iPhones died after a couple of photos, and both GoPro’s died. Everything was fully charged before.

Well that’s just ************* as where I am, both ranges are exceeded in Winter an Summer.

High temperature issue is usually only when the phone is sat in direct sunlight for extended periods – only had it happen once with any of my iPhones when I had one sat on the top of the car dash using it as an iPod.
In really cold conditions it’s recommended to have DSLR camera batteries in a separate pack in an inner pocket, with a connecting cable.
A phone’s Li-ion battery is not going to be any different.

And this’ll be why MR teams tell you to keep your phone in a warm pocket rather than strapped to your bars….

Known issue with the 6s.
Mine was replaced by Apple for doing it(although the chap in the store said they weren’t officially allowed to report a problem with the battery)

Nothing to do with an iPhone, it’s just the way lithium batteries cope in the cold. i.e. they don’t.

They can appear to lose charge when cold and can go below a threshold which may cause the phone/camera/whatever to shut down. I’ve had this with loads of devices with lithium batteries.

Back in the warm it may revive back to a reasonable charge.

Sometimes they just drain quickly in sub zero though and will still need a charge once warmed up.

Low temperatures aren’t good for lithium batteries anyway. They should really be stored and operated in higher, maybe +10C temperature. Frequent use below that tends to kill them over time.

Other thing about freezing temperatures is with any electrical device, you should let the thing acclimatise before use in the warm. Ideally it should be powered off and wrapped in a sealed bag to avoid condensation build up, then power up when at room temperature. If powered on with condensation inside it might short out.

Interesting just had this happen to an i4s, in bike bag out to take photos, shut down after a minute or two in the cold, only around zero, not really freezing, first time, was at around 50% battery, will keep an eye on it, useful to know it happens!