back to article Apple: iOS 6.1 network overload caused by our Exchange SYNC OF DOOM

The source of the battery-draining bug that sucked the life out of iPhones, and strained mobile phone and corporate networks, has been identified by Apple as a cock-up between its iOS calendar app and Microsoft Exchange servers. The flaw affects people synchronising their Microsoft Exchange calendars with their iOS 6.1 devices …

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  1. dogged

    In before...

    some 'tard blames this on Microsoft.

    I have a list of likely 'tards right here.....

    1. Danny 5
      Meh

      Re: In before...

      I happen to be an Exchange admin and can tell you there's tons of people who think it's all Micorosft's fault.

      Android devices don't have any trouble connecting to my beautiful Exchange servers, winphone's are obviously pain free as well, but the amount of errors i get from Idevices is just plain silly.

      1. Captain Scarlet
        Unhappy

        Re: In before...

        I happen to be a Domino admin (Quick Run!).

        No problems here because no-one liked using Lotus Notes so much they canned it (I blame MS for making a better email client).

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

          Re: In before...

          No problems here because no-one liked using Lotus Notes so much they canned it (I blame MS for making a better email client).

          I never had the privilege of using Lotus, but are you telling me that they made an email client worse than MS Outlook? Ugh! That's a horrible thought. Particularly as they started losing in the 90s, so are you saying their client was worse than Outlook 95? *shudders*

          Remembers (with horror) the IT 'upgrade' in early 1999, where they took my PC with NT4 workstation away, and replaced it with one running Windows 95. I got upgraded to Win 98 the same year, so I've no idea why we went through 9 months of Win 95 purgatory first... Ugh! I hated 95 because of that, and fixing my Dad's PC every few months.

          1. Euripides Pants

            Re: Notes, Outlook

            "I never had the privilege of using Lotus, but are you telling me that they made an email client worse than MS Outlook?"

            Yep. They worked hard to make it worse too.

            1. Captain Scarlet
              Unhappy

              Re: Notes, Outlook

              To be fair 8.0.x looked nice but took a year to open, 8.0.x actually annoyed most of the Pro Lotus supporters (Mostly due to the speed it took to open and the dislike of the Calendar and I have to admit it was 2 people in the entire company).

        2. Sid James
          Pirate

          Optional

          didn't they only ditch the Lotus moniker?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: In before...

        "beautiful Exchange servers" = sad

        Yeah my beautiful ethernet switches and you should see my cable stripper.

        1. Euripides Pants
          FAIL

          Re: cable stripper

          Fail icon because it is sooo much better to watch the strippers live instead of on cable.....

        2. Danny 5
          WTF?

          Re: In before...

          Beautiful exchange servers = proud of your work.

          For the past three years i've had 99% uptime. 1% dowtime for patch management and nothing else. I manage a well built Exchange environment and i'm damn proud of what i'm doing. If you think that's sad, then i pity you for not understanding how to be proud of the work you do.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: In before...

        Yes but, it only affects Exchange 2010 SP1, not earlier versions, and it doesn't affect GroupWise using active Synch either. So there is something in the Exchange code that enables what is undoubtedly an iOS 6.1 flaw to actually cause a real life problem.

    2. hplasm
      Windows

      Re: In before...

      Guilty conscience?

    3. TeeCee Gold badge
      Coat

      Re: In before...

      Never mind whose fault it is, the solution could land them in hot water.

      Don't MS own the IP on switching your computing device off and back on as a method for solving problems?

    4. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: In before...

      he's got a little list, they never will be missed......

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Google please take note.

    You aren't the only people who drain a device's battery when connected to exchange. Oh, and when are you going to fix it on the Nexus 7?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Google please take note.

      Hmm.

      Apple connecting to exchange drains battery and Android connecting to exchange drains battery.

      I sense there is some common factor here but can't put my finger on it.

      I wonder if windows phones have the same problem? Then again it doesn't matter since nobody seems to have one.

      1. P. Lee
        Trollface

        Re: Google please take note.

        > I wonder if windows phones have the same problem? Then again it doesn't matter since nobody seems to have one.

        Rubbish.

        I've seen two in the last week!

        1. Wize

          Re: Google please take note.

          "I've seen two in the last week!"

          Were you watching Hawaii 5-O? I've seen them waving a Surface tablet about.

          The American Sherlock pulled one out pre-launch too.

          1. Gil Grissum
            Thumb Down

            Re: Google please take note.

            Let's not forget NCIS, which switched off BB and iPhone to be all Windows Phone shows!

        2. Euripides Pants
          Trollface

          Re: Google please take note.

          "Rubbish. I've seen two in the last week!"

          You've seen two Rubbishs?!

        3. Fatman

          Re: I've seen two in the last week!

          Are you sure that they were not store display models???

      2. JDX Gold badge

        Re: Google please take note.

        Except it wasn't a problem before Apple updated their software.

        Is MS software really so good these days you have to cook up such blatantly moronic attacks?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Google please take note.

          > Except it wasn't a problem before Apple updated their software.

          So apple updating their software causes the Nexus 7 battery to drain when connecting to exchange?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Google please take note.

            Oh do fuck off Eadon, sorry AC

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Google please take note.

              He obviously assumed that by posting the exact same posts that he did before, but under an anonymous tag, that he wouldn't get downvoted to Heck and back.

              I'd love to know what his upvote/downvote ratio is. He must be about as popular as a horny dog at a Miss Lovelylegs competition. (h/t Red Dwarf)

        2. hplasm
          Windows

          Re: Is MS software really so good these days?

          As good as ever.

          No cooking required, it seems.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I sense there is some common factor here but can't put my finger on it

        Cocksure engineers at both Cuppertino and Mountain View don't know how to test?

      4. Danny 5
        Windows

        Re: Google please take note.

        Since when do Android devices drain when connecting to Exchange? i don't see the horrible amount of connection errors from Adnriod devices as i see them from IOS devices. Granted, we don't have that many connected Android devices, but i am yet to encounter such problems on Android.

        I've just had a quick peek on google and see there's definately some problems with it, maybe we've been lucky so far.

  3. Chris007
    Trollface

    St Steve must be spinning in his grave

    He's been out shone by Cook who has managed to create a multitude of cock-ups recently.

    St Steve would have preferred his antenna of doom to be the "highlight" bug and to never be outdone...

  4. John Robson Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    So it's self correcting?

    It drains the battery - which causes the phone to switch off.

    When you charge it and switch it on it will stop behaving in this way

    1. Scrote

      Re: So it's self correcting?

      I'd guess everyone was plugging the bugger in before it ran out then.

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: So it's self correcting?

      Sadly no. I don't think rebooting the phone works. You have to turn off the exchange server synching, and then turn it back on again.

      I've just set up my new work iPhone 5, and the damned thing keeps beeping at me, about every 30 minutes. I can't work out what alert is sounding, since I've disabled alerting on everything but calls and text messages, and I won't get any of those until the number is ported across. The only thing I can think is that it's telling me to upgrade to iOS 6.1. Leading me to my doom...

  5. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    The solution is obvious…

    … they're all holding it wrong!

    Time for Apple to bring out a new model or accessory to distract everyone.

    1. Fatman

      Re: The solution is obvious…… they're all holding it wrong!

      NO!! They are syncing all wrong!!!!

  6. stephajn
    FAIL

    I just sit back and iLaugh

    The marketing phrase of "it just works" is going right down the drain isn't it? It is joining that "trustworthy computing" one that already went down there ages ago!

    It makes me wonder if things like this happened more often before, but Steve Jobs would somehow keep it all secret in such a way that Tim Cook can't. I remember the colossal mistake I made upgrading my iPod Touch 2nd Generation from iOS 3.6.3 to 4.0 and then seeing my Wifi on it was never the same afterwards. (Maybe I was holding it wrong?) But it just showed me in that short six months where my device was still supported how much I do not want to ever own an Apple made product again.

  7. Pie
    Meh

    This isn't unique to IOS 6.1

    Previous IOS's would exhibit some sync rage with exchange, filling up log files and draining batteries in a couple of hours. Switching turning off push email would fix it...

  8. Someone Else Silver badge
    Coat

    Sent from my iPhone (which still works)...

    You're turning in on wrong....

  9. Stephen Channell
    Happy

    time for microsoft to do what google did...

    And add an exchange email client to the app-store.

  10. Wibble
    Holmes

    Not the only problem

    There's something about the phone and/or iOS which is far more unreliable than previous versions. Lots of forum based evidence of something happening.

    I watch my phone dropping in and out of 3G when it's sitting on a desk. Four bars, drops to 1 bar, then no 3G, then "Searching", then 1 bar, then back to 4 bars and 3G. I've just changed provider (3's all-you-can-eat data plan) so don't know if it's the new provider or if it's the phone.

    There's another issue widely reported where the phone drops the signal and doesn't pick it up until the phone's rebooted.

    1. Archivist

      Re: Not the only problem

      "the phone drops the signal and doesn't pick it up until the phone's rebooted."

      Interesting... mine has exactly the same problem.

      My experience with iPhones has been downhill:

      iPhone 3GS - perfect - best phone I've ever owned

      iPhone 4 - minor issues

      iPhone 5 - major issues

      I almost bought a Sammy; wish I had now.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not the only problem

        Still running my 3GS until it finally dies (or I drop it in the Thames) and don't have many issues, except with crappy apps. Some devs don't know how to handle errors.

        I do hate when Apple does an iOS upgrade, they don't have a history of doing it well. I usually wait a few months for everyone else to experience the pain of a in-the-wild testing process on behalf of the dominant phone maker, so they can release a fix before I install it. That, and the fact that they have a habit of dropping some of their own apps during the upgrade, or splitting them in two.

        Other than that, it works as a phone and fast mobile browser - basically all you need. I have a Win 7 mobile too from work - the browsing experience there isn't great - but the email experience is better. Connecting to Exchange, Hotmail and Gmail is faster to download and easier to read than on the iPhone.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No Comment

    We are advising not to upgrade!

    http://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/news/display/?id=9521&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eUpdate

  12. Just a geek
    Alert

    "That flooded networks with packet traffic and burned through 3G mobile data allowances"

    So does that make Apple liable for the expense? Could be an interesting court case.

  13. Stephen 2

    Identified by Vodafone

    This problem was identified by vodaphone at the beginning of the week - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/11/vodafone_ios6_1_software_problem/

  14. rols

    I don't care if it was Microsoft or Apples fault - I just want to know who we can claim £1500 roaming data bills off before we had to block data for affected users!

  15. GreggS

    What is Apple playing at?

    The update appears to have goosed the mobile phone signal on my phone (O2), it's up & down like the percentage of horse meat in beef burgers.

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