VERY VERY Poor Battery Life

I would like to think its the MMS. I recently put the mms on my phone, and I'm having horrible battery life.

Nothing to do with MMS. Probably you OS 3.1. People have been having issues. I still have 3.0.1 on my 3GS with MMS and don't have any issues. I would also look and see what other features you have activated that have to consistently stay connected the network. Good Luck.

Im still on 3.0.1, and the mms is the only thing that has changed.

Here in the UK I've had MMS since day 1 of my iPhone 3GS - and I typically loose 20% during a light day of hardly any usage (email polling etc). It shoots up much more if I use it for web browsing or video though.

At first 3.1 seemed ok, but in the last couple of weeks the battery is just gone with barely any use.

Matthew Pendergraff wrote:
I can't pin point if it was 3.0, 3.1 or the MMS update, but the battery life has significantly decreased over the past month or so.

Probably none of those. Rather it's likely that there was some bad data in your backup that got restored after the update. I get better battery life after 3.1 than I did before.

Try to narrow the problem down. It could just be a battery gauge out of calibration. Run the battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and won't turn on. Then charge for 4 hours. If this doesn't fix it you may have an errant application.

The likely candidates are apps that use Notifications or email. First turn off Notifications in Settings and reboot; leave it off for a day. If this does not fix the problem it is most likely email.

First try Reset Network Settings and a reboot. Still a problem? Delete any email accounts that use Push (Exchange, MobileMe, Yahoo), reboot, and add them back.

At this point it is usually fixed. If not do a Restore with iTunes, and if that doesn't fix it do the Restore again and set up as a new phone, then add only your email accounts for a day. Then add your apps back the next day after testing.

If it was gradual and not the battery gauge you may actually have a battery that is failing.

I was getting 1.5 to 2 days battery life until recently on my 3G now its down to 6 or 8 hours with same usage pattern. I updated to 3.1 but I haven'tused or done anything with MMS.

I have the same exact issue. I have never had a cell phone in which a full charge does not last a full day even with no usage whatsoever.

I can have the screen off, no bluetooth, no wi-fi, no gps, no notifications, and still only get maybe a good 18 hours on one charge. The longer I seem to have the phone the worse and worse it gets.

It's got to be the MMS update. My phone was fine, had it since the 3Gs game out. I'm still on 3.0 and installed the latest carrier settings and since my battery life is crap. I used to use it all day and it never got below 40% and now by 8pm it's at 10%. Something needs to be done. I wonder if I turn off MMS will it improve. Anyone tried that?

Have you tried anything to fix it? (Look upwards a few messages).

I'll try them but I haven't changed any of my settings or added and apps since updating to MMS. That's when my battery life started going bad.

The MMS update absolutely killed my battery. I was running 3.1 just fine and getting home every evening with 50% or better with moderate use during the day. After I updated the carrier settings on Friday, the phone drained like crazy over the weekend - and I actually use it less on the weekends.

I've tried every fix, including Airplane mode, pulling the SIM card, and doing a full restore with a new profile setup and no third-party apps. It asked me whether I wanted to update the carrier settings when I restored, and I said no. Nothing makes a difference. This is absolutely killing me.

Greetings,

This is very strange indeed - I, for one, have no issues and the phone is delivering the appropriate battery life, going by the specifications, and by how I'm using it.

I have almost all of it on, except Bluetooth, and I'm at 3.1 with the AT&T MMS update thing, which is pretty pointless, and therefore is also off.

All the syncing is going on, and I do a lot of email on it, mostly read, I make around a dozen or more calls a day, my calendar gets a work out, and I access my iDisk via Airshare each day, several times.

My battery seldom drains enough in a day, to get excited about, as I always have about 60-70% left at the end of a typical 12 hour work day.

Now, I don't waste my time with games, SMS, MMS, music, etc. I bought the iPhone as a phone and as a way to keep my calendar, address book, and email in sync, and it does this very well - I couldn't ask for much more in this sort of device.

I have a hard time believing it's an update causing all these strange battery issues, as I have had no connectivity issues, poor battery life, dropped calls, dropped WiFi, or any WiFi issues, and it's always on 3G - it dropped in to EDGE in the Mohave Desert, for an hour, or so, once upon a time.

If you have calibrated your iPhone's battery, and done a complete shut down, and maybe a reset, then I would take it to an Apple Store, and talk with them there - you may just have a bad phone, it is, however unlikely, possible.

Cheers,
M.
****

Right now (9:45 a.m.), my usage screen shows 13 minutes of use, 2 hours 30 minutes of standby, and I have 84%. I charged before bed last night, and it was down to 70% when I woke up six and a half hours later.

From the time I got my 3GS on launch day until last Friday, I woke up to 97-98% after a full charge before bed. I used to have around 95% left at this time of day after similar usage.

I know it shouldn't be possible for the MMS carrier settings to have this kind of impact on my batter, but it was like somebody flipped a switch. Everything was fine on Friday morning and gone to **** on Saturday morning.

Apple have my iPhone and are testing it right now cause I've had the battery problem. Some 3GS's are ok but loads aint after 3.1 update, hopefully my iPhone or someone else's will help work out the problem.

They will most prob just replace my iPhone and I'll have the same problems but its worth a shot.