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iOS 7.0.6 on iPhone 5: Impressions and Performance

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Yesterday, in a bit of a surprise, Apple rolled out iOS 7.0.6 for the iPhone and iPad. The update was a surprise given that rumors put the iOS 7.1 release date within the next few weeks. After spending some time with the new iOS 7.0.6 update on the iPhone 5, we want to offer our impressions and a look at its performance.

All the way back in November, Apple released iOS 7.0.4 for the iPhone and the iPad, an update that delivered a fix for a FaceTime Audio issue. The update did not, however, fix many of the problems that iPhone and iPad owners continue to face inside of Apple’s iOS 7 update. And that left many owners looking for an answer.

Shortly after the arrival of iOS 7.0.4, Apple put the iOS 7.1 update into the beta process, giving iPhone and iPad owners the possible answer for their problems.

Over the past few months, the iOS 7.1 beta has revealed itself to the world, showcasing a number of enhancements and fixes to iPhone and iPad users. Problem is, we still don’t know when it’s going to roll out.

Reports put the iOS 7.1 release within the month of March, possibly in the middle of the month. And given the close proximity to that time frame, most assumed that the iOS 7.1 update would be the update to replace iOS 7.0.4 and iOS 7.0.5. That’s not going to be the case.

In a strange turn of events, Apple rolled out iOS 7.0.6 to replace the iOS 7.0.4 and iOS 7.0.5 updates. The update, which for the iPhone is about 30MB in size, brings a fix for SSL connection verification making it far less important than the upcoming iOS 7.1 update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Incremental iOS updates typically promise fixes but they also have a habit of breaking things. iOS 6.1 for instance introduced a vicious battery drain bug. iOS 7.0.2 delivered an iMessage bug to my iPhone 5. So, here at Gotta Be Mobile, we like to take a deep dive into these incremental updates, looking for issues.

Here, we’ll take a look at how the iOS 7.0.6 update is performing on the iPhone 5, Apple’s iPhone from 2012 that is still in the hands of millions users around the world.

Quick & Painless Installation

I don’t dread installing incremental iOS updates as much as I dread installing major iOS updates, but I still dread it nonetheless. The reason I am so leery is because these smaller updates have caused problems in the past. Apple’s servers have done some strange things before, preventing me from seamlessly downloading and installing the upgrade Over-the-Air.

ios71

While I can’t speak for everyone, I can say this. The download and installation process for iOS 7.0.6 was quick and painless. From start to finish, it took about 10 to 12 minutes. The update didn’t act up, I wasn’t given any installation errors during the update, and my phone rebooted and produced iOS 7.0.6 without a single headache.

Those who are more weary than I might want to make a backup before installing the software but from my end, things look good. I haven’t seen any widespread complaints which is also a good sign.

iOS 7.0.6 Performance

When it comes to the performance of incremental updates like iOS 7.0.6, I like to look at five different areas in particular. Those areas include applications and how they’re performing post update, battery life and whether there is abnormal drain, bugs or hiccups, Wi-Fi and cellular performance, and overall speed. After spending a great deal of time with iOS 7.0.6 in the past 24 hours, here’s what I’ve found.

Apps

Everybody is going to have a different set of applications so I choose to focus on some of the bigger names that are common amongst iPhone 5 users. Applications like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Chrome, Spotify, Netflix, and Apple’s collection of iOS 7 applications.

My overall experience in iOS 7 has been pretty good. Applications have remained stable from iOS 7 update to iOS 7 update and developers have done a standup job with bug fixes. My only concern has been Google Chrome. In iOS 7.0.4, it started to lock up more consistently than it did in older versions of iOS, and the crashes almost led me to use Safari on a regular basis.

Fortunately, things settled down after Google released bug fixes and iOS 7.0.6 doesn’t seem to have broken what Google fixed. Same goes for the other apps I listed above and same goes for Apple’s core group of iOS applications. Apps like Camera and Calender are performing like they usually do.

So, from an App standpoint, iOS 7.0.6 on the iPhone 5 seems fine.

Battery Life

Battery life is always a major concern after these incremental updates. I always hear about these horror stories where battery life takes a dramatic turn, possibly because of Apple, possibly because of an application that needs to be updated. Possibly both.

I’ve been pretty lucky with my iPhone 5. I haven’t experienced any abnormal battery drain since I bought the phone on the day Apple released it back in 2012. Things have been pretty stable all the way from iOS 6 to iOS 7.0.6. And that includes the battery life that I get when using my phone over 4G LTE.

Again, I can’t speak for all iOS 7.0.6 users but my experience with the new update is good. Battery life seems stable and my iPhone 5 is continuing to charge at a good rate of speed.

Bugs

Apple has been doing its best to clean up some of the issues that iOS 7 left in its wake. iOS 7.0.1, iOS 7.0.2, iOS 7.0.3, iOS 7.0.4, iOS 7.0.5, and even iOS 7.0.6 have been aimed at shoring up the experience inside iOS 7. And at least for my iPhone 5, they’ve done a fantastic job.

My experience with iOS 7 has been a fairly stable one. In my travels, I’ve run into three issues, one major, two minor. The first was the iMessage bug that prevented me from sending iMessages. That was fixed with iOS 7.0.3. The other two issues are minor.

We haven't found any major iOS 7.0.6 problems. Yet.

We haven’t found any major iOS 7.0.6 problems. Yet.

Occasionally, I see glitches with the iOS 7 interface after opening and closing certain folders or applications. For a few brief moments, I’ll see the contents of a folder appear in the top left corner of the interface before vanishing into thin air. It’s strange to say the least.

The other issue I’m having is with the Mail application. I turn push completely off and check for mail manually because I get too much of it. However sometimes, after opening an app, my phone will buzz and my Mailbox will magically show me some of the mail I haven’t read. It’s a strange issue to say the least.

Thus far, I haven’t seen any of these issues inside iOS 7.0.6. In fact, I haven’t been able to zero in on any bugs. Often times, it will take a few days before they show themselves but for now, iOS 7.0.6 seems to be stable, maybe even more stable than iOS 7.0.4 was.

Connectivity

Another thing I am always worried about is connectivity. If my phone can’t connect to Wi-Fi or AT&T’s cellular network, what good is it to me?

Fortunately, unlike some people, I’ve had good luck with my connectivity. As I’ve pointed out, I ran into some Wi-Fi issues in the months immediately after the release of the iPhone 5 but after the arrival of iOS 6.1, things settled down.

iOS 7.0.6 is performing admirably. Wi-Fi is fast, 4G LTE is stable, and I am able to browse the web, stream music and do all of the things I love to do with my iPhone.

Speed

Finally, speed. Who doesn’t love a fast device? While I had problems with iOS 7 lag with my iPad 3, I haven’t experienced the same kind of choppiness with my iPhone 5. There were some kinks at first, right after iOS 7 arrived, but it died down after a few days.

iOS 7.0.6 is smooth and fast, just like iOS 7.0.4 and the updates before it. Applications open up when I tap them and animations, for the most part, aren’t clunky. My hope is that iOS 7.1 delivers the same kind of experience.

Should You Install iOS 7.0.6?

The big question that iPhone 5 owners are likely asking themselves is: “Should I install iOS 7.0.6?” At this point, I can’t find anything wrong with the update. Apps work, battery life is solid, my connections are fast, the UI is fast, and I haven’t discovered any major bugs lurking around. It’s par for the course. It doesn’t appear to be harmful and it fixes a serious security issue.

iOS 7 jailbreak

One group of people that might want to avoid it is the jailbreak community, at least for the time being. Keep an eye on MuscleNerd’s feed for more information about iOS 7.0.6 compatibility with the iOS 7 jailbreak.

52 Comments

52 Comments

  1. Dan Mahoney

    02/22/2014 at 2:23 pm

    Please do not call an update which fixes a fairly critical man-in-the-middle SSL flaw (with documented exploits) “less important” than a new-feature release.

  2. Sunil

    02/22/2014 at 2:33 pm

    I took this update today and it bricked my IPhone 5s. I needed to put it in recovery mode and restore with a 3 month old backup.. I am not happy about it :(

  3. Randonnuer

    02/22/2014 at 2:36 pm

    The update also bricked my original iPad mini. Won’t turn off and when I go to log in, it’s a blank screen with no buttons for inputting password. Don’t upgrade.

  4. David

    02/22/2014 at 2:55 pm

    Experiencing pretty good battery drain since installing. Apple had me perform a factory reset and restore from my backup (thankfully 3 days old) and it didn’t help. Just wish they would be honest and tell me others are having the same problem and they have no fix instead of a factory reset.

  5. NGuy

    02/22/2014 at 2:57 pm

    Has anyone brought up the issue with the continuous ringing after a VoIP call is received (i.e. Skype)? In iOS 7.0.4 it was only on remote (ANPs) call delivery but with 7.0.6 it is on all, local and remote. This is really a pain and I thought it was going to be fixed. It was only on 7.1 beta 1-4 but on beta 5 it showed up. Is Apple going to address this? ALL VoIP apps are impacted and it seems like a logical thing to address. I just don’t see anyone mentioning it.

  6. NGuy

    02/22/2014 at 3:00 pm

    Clarification. On 7.1 beta 1-4 it was APNs only then on 7.1 beta 5 it was local and remote/APNs too. Can’t believe Apple went live with it in prod.

  7. willowcin

    02/22/2014 at 5:25 pm

    I am having crazy problems with Twitter. They started about two days before I updated to 7.0.6, and the update did not help. The trouble involves at least one person (that i work with!) and my iPhone 5’s inability to update that person’s profile on Twitter. I talk to this person outside of Twitter, so I know there’s a problem on MY end. We have tried all the uninstalls, reinstalls, deleting backups, etc., but the problem remains.

    So, to follow this person’s tweets, (part of my job is to RT their tweets!!! hellllloooo!!) I have to watch my notifications like a hawk and try to catch their tweets in my timeline! I cannot go to their profile page and RT their tweets whenever. I manage other accounts for this SAME person on my iPhone 5, and none of those accounts will let me see their updated profile page!

    WTH? NOW to make things even nuttier………. even when I sign-in to any of my Twitter accounts on my MacBookPro… this person’s profile page will STILL not update!!! Totally different op/sys… but, I cannot get their current tweets from their profile page.

    I think the latest UPDATE to TWITTER has to be the issue. He has the newer Twitter update (Feb 2014), but Twitter has not provided an update to either my iPhone 5, or my MBP (2010). Just thought I should put this info ‘OUT THERE.’

  8. Philster

    02/22/2014 at 7:23 pm

    It bricked my verizon 5. Had to restore from a backup. No warning given.

  9. Christopher

    02/23/2014 at 2:40 am

    My iphone 5 will not charge after update need a fix Apple!

  10. Jamie

    02/23/2014 at 4:44 am

    It had wrecked my iPad. The sounds are terrible, my music echoes and it’s slow, it all started when I uptated to 7.0.6

  11. John

    02/23/2014 at 4:52 am

    My camera locks up, not the front one only the back. Any ideas?

  12. Gus

    02/23/2014 at 2:09 pm

    I had wifi issues after downloading last update. Had to resort to using the hot/cold solution which fixed my 4s. Will never do another update ever!

  13. Lisa F

    02/23/2014 at 3:58 pm

    I have the iPad 2 and once I installed 7.0.6 I no longer have apps ie. Amazon Prime, Instagram, You Tube and various magazines subscriptions. Tried to look for them and they have no download button. It’s just blank. Called Apple and they couldn’t figure it out, figured its a glitch so they had me restore it. Still having the same problem. Traveling soon and depend on videos, books and mags for long flight. Grrrrrr……..

  14. Dork

    02/23/2014 at 4:59 pm

    Mail app on iPhone AND osx just plain sux. It can take many minutes to sync mail even when you force it to sync. It will give the appearance it is syncing, then finishes syncing, but I know there is mail in the inbox because logging into the web server manually will show the inbox has additional items. This has bugged me for about 2 years now.

  15. Rob

    02/23/2014 at 7:06 pm

    Just did the update on an iphone 5 and now I can’t delete apps. There’s no x’s on anything when the apps are dancing. Anyone else see this?

  16. Mel

    02/23/2014 at 7:26 pm

    At least you got yours to turn back on! Update completely bricked my phone. Trying to do restore with iTunes and in an error loop. {iPhone 5}

  17. John

    02/23/2014 at 10:04 pm

    Bricked our 5S after hitting “Cancel” on the 50% battery requirement notification (we were at 38%), still trying to get iTunes Restore to run to completion after several attempts.

  18. BUZZ

    02/23/2014 at 11:44 pm

    No problems here with the update.

  19. Katherine

    02/24/2014 at 12:10 am

    agh my wont charge. its been plugged into everything and it just wont charge. any advice would be great. :)

  20. MaizeKid

    02/24/2014 at 12:14 am

    NO problems here with the update either, fingers crossed.

  21. Tremblay

    02/24/2014 at 5:00 am

    Just updated my iPhone 5s, so far no problems detected.. I don’t know why some of you got problems… is your phone jailbreak or you’re a samsung fans trying to troll??

  22. Ashley

    02/24/2014 at 10:53 am

    I updated to 7.0.6 and now my iMessage is messing up… or if someone can help me understand why I can message other iPhones with iMessage but not my mom… when I have always been able too…

  23. nottooimpressed

    02/24/2014 at 1:24 pm

    Nice try apple , every time I update it’s nothing but a stressful nightmare . Not EVEN gonna bother .The last update I tried it locked up halfway through the install . Screw your updates .Get your sht together apple !

  24. nottooimpressed

    02/24/2014 at 1:26 pm

    All I can say is next time (once my damn contract expires) it’s Samsung all the way. You guys have really screwed the pooch and are falling way behind , starting with your microscopic screen .

  25. music_payback_broken

    02/24/2014 at 4:32 pm

    Integration to car is screwed up after updating. Song information does not display correctly, songs will not start at all – have had to reset the phone more times in the last few days than in the last 16 months I’ve had it!

  26. 9cole9

    02/24/2014 at 11:49 pm

    Downloaded 706 last night. my i5 will not sleep ie return to the lock screen then switch off. Went to bed last night and woke up this morning with the app screen still on. It had gone from 100% battery to 18% . Only way to turn off is by power button on top. If you forget and some one picks up my phone they can use it as it has not reverted to lock screen. Come on Apple sort this. There is obviously a lot of problems. How can you produce update with out checking it. Very sloppy for a big company.

  27. j_j

    02/25/2014 at 1:15 am

    Hi all!

    I’m having problems on two iPads after installing iOS 7.0.6 update. The first one is “sending mails via Exchange account and gmail is a NO GO!” an the second is “closing apps from time to time uncontrollably”. With iOS 7.0.4 this worked fine.

    Anyone with same or similar problems? Any suggestions on how to fix this?

    I already tried rebooting and deleting/adding accounts again in mail app with no positive effect.

    Since iPads are used by company’s managers where seamless emailing is crucial function, this made iPads expensive bricks and nothing more.

    The rest of iPads are to stay on the older version till this is fixed or workaround is found.

  28. Bobo

    02/25/2014 at 4:17 am

    I did the update too on my iphone 4 and ever since my battery life has been terrible, I can’t power down, my face has broken out with acne, my back aches and I’ve gotten hemorrhoids, my girlfriend left me and my dog snarls at me! Once my boss found out that my battery life sucked, he started sending me tons of emails to suck it dry, then went to HR and told them I was ignoring him and they fired me! And the bureaucrats at Unemployment denied my claim because they say it’s my fault my iPhone won’t keep a charge.

    Damn you Apple!!!

    (Seriously, my upgrade went perfectly, but my wife’s iphone 4 upgrades but says she still needs to upgrade.)

  29. j_j

    02/25/2014 at 4:37 am

    Bobo, good imagination.

    Congrats.

    As far as it goes for your wives upgrades – you got what you wanted, same as all of us. (Take it a s a joke. :) )

  30. Ed

    02/25/2014 at 7:02 am

    After update, lost all sounds. Phone only vibrates. Did not happen right the way. Tried reset, restore. nothing helps. Also, battery drains all the time really fast.

  31. hirota

    02/25/2014 at 11:47 am

    7.0.6 = Battery drainning like sh*t
    Good Job Apple.

  32. Warren

    02/25/2014 at 4:16 pm

    My iPhone 5 no longer charges since the update. Be warned.

  33. CH

    02/25/2014 at 6:17 pm

    DON’T UPDATE IOS 7.0.6, since i update to ios 7.0.6 my wifi connection becomes unstable. They would connect, then drop, then reconnect, then drop.

  34. Alex

    02/25/2014 at 8:59 pm

    After updating I have troubles with exchange (in my office) to sync with my Outlook calendar. Wifi seems unstabile for creative Wifis now. Any ideas?

  35. JanL

    02/25/2014 at 9:12 pm

    I am also having trouble syncing to my Outlook calendar. It does the back up, prepares to sync, and then hangs on the “syncing calendars” step. I have tried doing a disk cleanup, defragging, shutting down my laptop, closing all apps and shutting down my iPhone 5. Very frustrating – I will have to add calendar items to each calendar manually. Anyone else see this?

  36. JD

    02/26/2014 at 4:22 am

    iPhone 5s. Weird Safari issue – when I open Safari, it restores my last session (all tabs and pages I was on when I closed safari).
    This is a pain especially when I closed Safari because of a site hang. I now need to reboot the phone to clear browser hangs. Boo!

  37. Ben

    02/26/2014 at 5:45 am

    My wife’s iPhone 5 can no longer find a cell tower after the update this morning, thanks for turning her phone into an iPod Apple!

  38. Jeff

    02/26/2014 at 5:58 am

    Battery draining issues here as well with 7.0.6. Went from 100% to 50% in less than 2 hours with minimal use.

  39. [email protected]

    02/26/2014 at 6:21 am

    I listen to podcasts on my morning subway commute. Normally even with only 10% battery left I’ll be good for the entire 30 minute commute. This morning, with 7.0.6 on an iPhone 5S, with 10% battery left, I only was able to make it last for about 15 minutes. Conclusion: battery’s draining faster.

  40. Hassan

    02/27/2014 at 7:32 am

    Warning do NOT dawnload ios 7.0.6 it completely wrecked my iphone 5s and i never had a jellbreak

  41. Pam Bursler

    02/28/2014 at 8:00 am

    My husband and I both have the iPhone 4S. After installing this update (7.0.6), we’ve been experiencing tremendous battery drain. Although my wifi seems to be fine, he has been unable to even get into our wifi to reset it.

  42. Ayrton G. Alencar

    02/28/2014 at 5:29 pm

    Battery life SUCKS since the 7.0.6 update on my iPhone5s, with all apps closed and all apps updated in the apple store! I can see the percentage and the battery drain! The phone is simply unreliable since the update!!!!

  43. Elizabeth

    03/01/2014 at 7:56 am

    Anyone else having trouble with the camera after updating? Mine won’t focus and looks like it has a filter on even though it doesn’t.

  44. Patti

    03/01/2014 at 9:08 am

    Sucking the life out of my iPhone5 – also, I can no longer receive calls (goes right to VM) and I cannot make calls. Nicely done, Apple.

  45. Lois S Mash

    03/03/2014 at 8:19 am

    Mine is going into my contacts and dialing phone numbers by itself-anybody else?

  46. Mark Lennon

    03/03/2014 at 12:38 pm

    I have an iPhone 4s and an iPad 2.0, both upgraded to ios 7.0.6. They both consistently hang during the calendar part of the sync. I use Outlook.

  47. Sanjiv Thakuri

    03/04/2014 at 1:23 am

    My camera has stopped working since the ugrade; restored the phone twice but the problem persists.

  48. Farhad

    03/04/2014 at 10:25 am

    Thanks to god that I haven’t upgraded yet!!!! Though I had already plugged the cable into my laptop to bring down the update from itunes. Hell yeah don’t know what seized me. Beyond This I actually am in tackle with bugs on 7.0.4 which drives me crazy. The vicious battery drain, the spontaneous respringing, slow speed, finally f**king my friendly Iphone 5 with ios 7.0.2 whose minor bugs were not an issue for me at least….:)

  49. BillyBob

    03/05/2014 at 5:31 pm

    After downloading 7.0.6, I am unable to connect to PayPal, Yahoo Sports and GolfLogix…..Way to go Apple……

  50. Marie

    03/06/2014 at 7:33 pm

    I also had this happen after updating to 7.0.6. After two calls to Apple for help I found this on Apple’s support forum and it worked for me.
    Check Restrictions: Settings>General>Restrictions>enter your pin>Deleting Apps>Enable

  51. MKG

    03/09/2014 at 6:27 pm

    My 3rd generation iPad will not connect to wifi in our house anymore (everything else still works, I’m assuming because I didn’t upgrade them!). I’m going crazy, does anybody have a fix??!!

  52. Ed

    03/12/2014 at 5:32 am

    Update: just upgraded to 7.1 with hope that they fixed issues. No Luck. still no sounds. Now have to waste my time to go to the Apple ‘genius’ Store and see what they can do. :(((((

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