Apple (Finally) Acknowledges iPhone Battery Indicator Bug

If you've found that your iPhone 6s or 6s Plus is reporting an odd battery percentage, especially if you've been using your smartphone for some time, Apple is aware of the issue and is (finally) indicating it's a bug the company wants to fix.

As a new support document from Apple notes, the mislabeled battery percentage tends to affect those who switch their time zones either manually or automatically when travelling. Though the company is "aware of this issue and is investigating the cause and a solution," Apple also has a few rudimentary steps you can use to try to fix the issue yourself. Unfortunately, there aren't many things you can try: Reset your phone, then check and make sure that "Set Automatically" is flipped on under your iPhone's Date & Time menu (in Settings).

If you're still having issues, Apple encourages you to contact Apple Support with your problem. That, or you can just wait until the company releases iOS 9.3, which should hopefully fix the issue (we're assuming). The company is also working on a minor iOS 9.2.1 update, but we don't yet know whether any fix for this battery issue might find its way into that patch.

The strange thing about the bug is that it's taken Apple quite some time to disclose any information about it publicly, even though people have been discussing the issue since just around fall of 2015. It's unclear whether the bug is just that pesky and Apple was waiting until it found a decent solution, or whether Apple has just lagged with this particular issue.

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On the plus side, the bug doesn't seem to affect your iPhone's overall battery life, just what the device displays as your remaining battery percentage. That's annoying from a "is my phone about to die" standpoint, but at least your total uptime is the going to be same whether your iPhone has this issue or not.