iOS 14 has been one of those releases plagued by bugs that have plagued some users from day one. Battery bugs and notification issues being top of the list. And the question that I’ve been fielding from readers over the past days is an obvious one — does iOS 14.5 fix these issues?
Let’s start with the battery.
Overall, the opinion seems to be divided, with some saying that iOS 14.5 doesn’t make things any worse, while others say that they see an improvement in battery life.
I’m seeing a small improvement on my test systems, but nothing major.
Must read: iPhone users – Do this today!
Some users may have noticed that iOS 14.5 has a battery recalibration mechanism for being rolled out to iPhone 11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max users.
Watching the support forums and social media for feedback on this, it seems that for many the process is ongoing (I’m in that category, and Apple says it may take weeks), while of those where it’s finished, some say their battery is now showing less wear, others more wear.
It seems like it’s a roll of the dice whether battery wear gets better or worse.
As for notifications, the barometer for this issue I’ve been using is the huge support thread on Apple’s website.
The consensus: iOS 14.5 does nothing to solve the notification issue. The best solution that users have come up with is to disable Bluetooth. Not really a great long-term answer, and even this isn’t a guaranteed solution.
Interestingly, I thought that I’d picked up a version of this problem — for about a day after installing iOS 14.5, I had delayed notifications.
Fortunately (for me), a reboot solved this issue.
Given that iOS 14.5 fixes 50 security bugs, some of them already being used by bad guys, it feels like a bad idea to put off installing this update, especially since we’re a few days into this release and no show-stopping bugs have made an appearance.
