Q: iPhone 5 with iOS 7 randomly shuts off

So I ended up restoring it as new, and now the battery life is better.  It doesn't shut down at 40 or 50% anymore.  It did shut down at 15% last night...but it seems to be working better. Not perfect, but better.

My iPhone 5 usually shut off around 14-17%, other times I would make it to 1%. I have had this happen on iOS 6 and iOS 7. I went to the Apple Store, ran diagnostics and was told that my battery was normal at 84% health, above the 80% threshold that would constitute a warranty battery replacement. It made sense that if my battery was at 84%, it would shut off at around 16%, 100-84=16. The "Genius" told me to do another restore and set up phone as new (I had already done this once but it was not from recovery mode), turn off background app refresh and other features. I restored as new, no background app refresh, no spotlight indexing, no airdrop, no motion and everything seemed normal thanks to some midday charging, because I would not let my phone get below 20%. Today I was at a store and was using my phone when it shut off at 37%. I was able to find a lightning dock and set my phone on it, it turned on immediately, left it there for about 2 minutes and continued using it. A few minutes later, pin wheel and phone shut down. I called Apple support as soon as I got to a charger. Ran diagnostics, and battery still operating "normal". Was told to restore AGAIN, set up as new, but use phone without downloading any apps or music to see if problem persisted. Why would I even use it? How am I supposed to drain the battery without any apps? I am supposed to use it with only the operating system for 24-48 hours. If it is normal then the problem is supposedly caused by apps that I can then load on and test 1 by 1 each day! That is ridiculous, I thought the apps were supposed to be tested for stability.

Their answer to my problem is to turn off the features of this feature-rich phone. They tout the huge catalog of the App Store but I cannot use any of them. It is not like I am running an iPhone 4, less than 60 days this was the newest, most current hardware.  This is unacceptable.

I have another appointment at the Genius Bar tomorrow to run more diagnostics. I am sure they will tell me I am SOL and turn me away as usual.

(let them) replace battery and your problems are gone! I can tell you.

It's just a generation of faulty batteries, nothing to do with software.

The should reclaim them, but they are not gonne do it.

Ivan

Agreed, I had all the guff - change of battery has solved this issue completely - change the battery !!!

Even if Apple say not under warranty - it's only £40

This shutdown happens on both 5 and 4 versions and only after the iOS 7 update even with the latest patch. I have put in bug reports as this happened even with 80% battery and never happened with iOS 6 on either phone.

So far hasn't happened on my 5c...

Message was edited by: doubleroll

I went to my appointment at the genius bar today. They tested my phone and before I could explain what was going on the battery test failed. They replaced my phone battery under warranty which is fine and great. I am relieved but still frustrated because I knew this was the problem weeks ago when they told me everything about my hardware was normal. It was insisted that my issue was the software and that a restore from recovery would solve all my problems. After restoring and starting fresh THREE times, it ends up being the hardware as I originally thought.

Oh and everyone that keeps saying this is an iOS 7 problem, stop. My original post and posts from many others clearly state this happened on iOS 6 too.

It's not an iOS7 problem. I have an iPhone4 16GB. Was running iOS 5 happily till last week. Then the mystery shutdowns began. Was 3 hrs late for work because it shut down during the night, on the charger. Next night left it off the charger. Shut down again, late for work again. Battery was at 87%..

Had a diagnostic run, battery is still ok offer 3 years heavy use.

THEN (I was unaware this was a common problem - I thought my power button was faulty!) I upgraded to iOS7. Was fine for a few days, but then it happened again. It seems to be happening to all models iPhone, regardless of OS version or settings or battery status. And only started happening recentlyWhich leaves the question, is there one App giving us all grief? Is it possibly a virus? I very much doubt it's a hardware or iOS issue, then it would be restricted to one model/OS version, right? The latest crash report said it crashed because an app exceeded time limit, prevented sleep. But the problem started before I had this app and before I upgraded to iOS7...

This never happened with iOS6 on either my iPhone 5 or 4. Started after the update to iOS7. Both phones have battery of 80%+. And it's random not lie it happens regularly at a certain battery level. So if it's not HW or iOS  what else is there? I would think iOS would handle phone functions like sleep, shutdown etc....

Having the same problem so I just wanted to contribute to the discussion. 

My phone (iPhone 5 running iOS 7) will shut off anywhere from 25% down to 15%.  It will let me power it back on only to tell me my battery is suddenly between 2% and 10% followed, of course, by my phone shutting off again within a minute. If I connect to power supply and power on my phone it will tell me I have 20% to 25% battery remaining.

Very frustrating.

Problem fixed I took my phone to a local iPhone repair place and they installed a new oem iPhone battery and since then my phone has not one time shut off or anything also the battery life has significantly improved ! I took my phone off charge at 7am yesterday and by 11pm the battery was at 52% most of the time it wouldn't even last till dinner before it needed to be recharged.

I've been having the same problem with my iPhone 5, which I bought upon its release in September 2012, since upgrading to iOS 7. Background app update has never been enabled. At first, it would shut off at 10-20%, now it's shutting off between 30-40%. Very frustrating, and since I'm pretty sure my phone is out of warranty, I'm not going to get a replacement for free at the Genius Bar. I've tried just about everything. I'm just hoping that a future iOS update fixes the problem, since it's almost certainly software related. I still have my old iPhone 3GS which is over four years old, and the battery life still isn't too bad. A year is way too soon for the battery on this phone to be this degraded.

I have the same problem! I don't think that it's problem of battery but iOS7. waiting for a solution from Apple

Running iOS7 in iphone 5

Have had my new battery for a little while and my phone has been amazing and operating exactly the way it is supposed to operate. Battery life is exceptional. 14.5 hours of standby with 8.5 hours of use the other day and still had 12%. Streamed music over Bluetooth for hours and even played some games in addition to my regular use. I haven't had any shutdowns. I think it was directly related to the health of my battery. That problem first appeared for me on iOS 6 with a 9 month old iPhone 5.

Hi,

I have the feeling that I have the same problem with my battery. 4%, gets off. after 60 sec of power, starting up at 28%...

Is there a way to know if it is an issue with the battery before going to an apple store?

Cheers,

JC

I have been having this issue for quite some time now and it is EXTREMELY frustrating. It seems to shut off at the WORST times. For example: happened when I was alone late night and needed to find my towed car, as well as right before I paid for my coffee with my Starbucks app lol. I now feel that I always have to have my charging cord on me to "revive" my phone in case it dies, and even then I'm paranoid if I'm not near an outlet. I bought a warranty from Wireless Wave (1 year extension from Apple) and my iPhone 5 is about 14 months old. They told me to restore to factory settings then use my backup and see if the problem persists before sending it off (which I have yet to try).

By reading all these forums I can't really say what the REAL issue is. I noticed it DID start happening ONLY AFTER doing iOS7 update which probably triggered whatever issue we're all having. I don't think it's a hardware issue as I see comments from people with an iPhone 4, 5, 5s AND 5c so... Hopefully Apple has an answer soon. I will post a solution if I find one.

Glad to know I'm not alone though!