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Skeuomorph Author

Level 1

72 points

FIX FOR: iPhone 4 battery draining fast, phone running hot

I had the same issue many have reported here and in comments on blogs, where their +_battery was draining at least twice as fast_+ as on an iPhone 3GS with iOS 4.

Some threads suggest +_this happens to iPhone 4 when restored from a 3G or 3GS_+, and indeed, that's what I'd done. A few people said that resetting to factory settings and installing everything fresh solved the issue, giving them better battery life than they'd seen on any prior iPhone.

Many of my apps have files or settings stored in them, so I didn't want to have to set everything up again. A fresh install is a real pain.

Deep in an iPhone 3G thread mentioning a similar battery problem after upgrading to iOS 4, someone said they'd deleted all their mail accounts, and set those up fresh, which solved the issue for them. I tried that today, and it worked.

*_BEFORE AND AFTER_*:

Thursday and Friday, the iPhone 4 went from 100% to 15% in under 6 hours. Today, after this fix, the iPhone 4 is at 87% after 12 hours. Thursday and Friday the phone was hot to the touch whenever I picked it up. Today it's always cool. Apps usage and movement among coverage areas on each day have been exactly the same. The only change was resetting up mail.

*_STEPS TO FIX_*:

Do this on WiFi so you can sync and check mail fast.

1. Delete all mail accounts.

2. If MobileMe user, delete MobileMe account, and remove all Calendars, Contacts, Notes, etc., from the phone (so you don't have dupes when you re-sync).

3. Turn off phone, and back on again.

4. If MobileMe user, add MobileMe account first. I enabled all options, even Find My iPhone (Thursday and Friday I had it off, in case it was using power). Wait long enough for contacts and calendars to sync, check to make sure. I use MobileMe mail on Push.

5. Add back each additional mail account. I have 5. I am in a marginal coverage area, so I set these accounts on Fetch Hourly. I also have "Preview 5 Lines" (I think the default is Preview 2 Lines. This doesn't matter.)

6. Go into Mail, go to the MobileMe Inbox, and scroll your way down letting the messages come in. You can see them come in when you see the Preview Lines update, and then scroll some more.

7. Go into each additional mail account's Inbox, scroll your way down, letting the messages come in.

8. Go to the combined Inbox if you use that, make sure all the messages are in.

9. The WiFi activity spinner may remain spinning even after Mail says it is done Checking Mail. This is because other parts of mail accounts are being synced for the first time. Let the iPhone sit in Mail combined inbox until the spinner stops. Quit Mail, go back in, and watch the spinner after it's done Checking Mail. If the spinner doesn't stop after < 5 seconds or so, let Mail sit again. Once it's caught up, going into mail will Check Mail, and the spinner will stop a few seconds after as it should.

10. You're done.

Hopefully your phone stays cool and your battery life reflects the boost from the 20% larger battery. If not, the next step to try is Reset Network Settings, and finally try a factory reset and installing everything fresh instead of doing a restore. Hopefully you won't need to do that. I didn't.

(a) G5 Quad; (b) Mac Pro; (c) MBP 17"; (d) iMac 24"; (e) iPhone, Mac OS X (10.6.1), (a) 6.5 GB, Apple 30" + Cintiq 21; (b) 4 GB, Dell 30" + Samsung 215TW

Posted on Jun 26, 2010 5:53 PM

317 replies

Dec 2, 2011 6:22 AM in response to b4xsy

This debate appears to completely miss the point. Apple are breaking the law by selling products not fit for purpose under the UK Sale of Goods Act, and breacking all advertising standards codes by claiming things which are a pack of lies. Why is it that people are so defensive of such totally unacceptable practice?

My phone worked perfectly well for a few days, and then has entered a mode where the usage time and standby time are almost equal - it is cooking away, doing heaven knows what damage, and therefore even if there is a software fix provided, the goods will have been irreparably damaged.

Come on Apple, get off your arrogant backsides and give us a better response.

WL31

Level 1

10 points

Dec 2, 2011 6:48 AM in response to b4xsy

hi b4xsy,

Oh I see you live in UK.

Sorry but I still do not understand you, what does the data cable do? Is it the one that you connect to the charger when you charge your phone? which is also the one you connect to the computer when you connect your iPhone to the computer? Or are you talking about something else?

Games, I quit playing games on iPhone after replacing my first iPhone 4.

what kind of signal problems did you have??

I use iPhone mostly for sms and calling. Never use to check email. Use Safari only once in a long long long long time. I use WhatsApp but rarely.

My battery is now 49%. I last charged it on Wednesday night, it is now Friday night. Sounds like a long time but all I did was mostly sms. Used WhatsApp only for a short while. made only one phone call.

Under Settings->General->Usage->Time since last full charged, it shows as:

Usage: 5 Hours 38 minutes

Standby: 2 Days 2 Hours

But do take note that usage time is an overestimate, not real usage time, because sometimes usage can increase by a few minutes even when I am not using the phone. It can increase by more than 10 minutes overnight. I tried reading up a bit on it(but not much), and from what I read, the iPhone is not always asleep even when you are not using it, because sometimes the it works to try to communicate with the network, or the tower, or something like that.

And I predict that soon the battery will drop to 48%.

WL31

Level 1

10 points

Dec 2, 2011 6:53 AM in response to cooking-apples-are-sour

Hi cooking-apples-are-sour,

I can identify with your feelings. I too am frustrated with the iPhone woes.

As for your standby=usage problem, try switching on Mobile Data or Cellular Data(whichever your iPhone says), then leave your iPhone on stdby for a few minutes and check again. if it is solved, you can switch off the mobile data/cellular data. It worked once for me. for iOS 4.3.5, go to Settings->General->Network. Go under "Cellular Data" or "Mobile Data"

Dec 5, 2011 12:12 PM in response to Skeuomorph

Whoa, what is going on with my iPhone 4s running 5.0.1. This phone had incredible battery life until about 2 days ago. I couldn't complain about anything now I am literally watching the phone suck power to 1% every couple minutes. The phone is getting hot (not warm ...HOT!)

I have just deleted all of my email accounts and restarted. I set them up again and still having the same problem. This blows. I dread going to the Apple Store they are going to restore it like they want to do each/every time.

Before I do that does anyone have any other suggestions that worked. I admit I didn't read all 6 pages on here; too many people went on tangents (Thanks UK discussion above.)

Ugh.

b4xsy

Level 1

0 points

Dec 5, 2011 3:11 PM in response to RoyalsMan

Hi ya mate welcome to the world of dead battery on the iphone 4s lol

i have managed to get some more life out of my battery by turning push

off on the emails and make sure if you dont use bluetooth to turn it off

because its turned on without you knowin hope this help

Thanks 🙂

Dec 11, 2011 6:52 AM in response to Skeuomorph

This worked for me.

I had upgraded from an iPhone 4 to a 4s and a full charge wouldn't last for more than 5 hours, even in standby mode!

To be safe I did multiple things. First, hard reset. Second reset network settings. Lastly, deleted all mail, contact services - which included a Mobileme, Gmail, Aol, and my company's MS Exchange server. Did another hard reset. I then restored those services.

Before I did this, contact synching with the Exchange server exhibited weird behavior, so I suspect that was the culprit.

Battery now seems to run normally.

Good luck everyone!

gamesick

Level 1

4 points

Dec 11, 2011 9:07 AM in response to Bear Down

Hi, maybe you should join the big thread on battery: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3391947?answerId=16974560022#16974560022

nbkp1yn

Level 1

0 points

Dec 14, 2011 3:57 PM in response to gamesick

I've had the iPhone 4 since it came out last year, and just yesterday my battery started draining incredibly fast! I don't know what to do!! I have the latest update installed. I've turned off all of my push notifications and closed out all active applications. I really hope Apple fixes this soon!!!!!

WL31

Level 1

10 points

Dec 16, 2011 7:19 PM in response to nbkp1yn

nbkp1yn, I am afraid Apple will not fix it, they only care about profits, they do not care about us, their customers. Customer welfare is clearly not a priority for them and their customer service(such as phone technicial support) is very bad and sulky.

Iflyfr8

Level 1

0 points

Dec 18, 2011 5:46 PM in response to Skeuomorph

I have been havng similar issues over the last couple days. After troubleshooting based on suggestions in this and ther threads I narrowed the problem down to a wifi issue. It was hard to detect but it appeared as if my phone would momentarily drop the wifi and reconnect. I reset my router and all seems to be fine in the first couple hours of testing.

At least in my case it was not a problem with my phone but with my network. Maybe this will turn out to be the case for others. Good Luck.

Dec 19, 2011 9:31 AM in response to Skeuomorph

I posted several weeks ago and have gone through a slew of items. Here is a list of things I have noticed which have impacted (and with changes; improved) battery life and heat.

First off - Geniuses were no help. They gave me a new phone which did the same thing immediately but led me to some self derived conclusions.

- 3G downloading anything ***** battery life; increases heat in the phone, decreases battery life drastically

- iTunes Match was the worst offender. I have tested this three times by turning on/off the match software and downloading an album or multiple. This was an IMMEDIATE drain, tremendous temperature rise (to the point of very hot; not warm HOT), and I believe this was my biggest problem! Avoid iTunes Match (more on that in another post)

- Deleting email accounts, restarting, and reestablishing accounts did seem to work. Clearly changing the push/fetch options are helpful....but is that really a fix for poor performance? Nope. Accounts (gmail especially) continually get tripped up and lose passwords etc and continually search for service. Not sure why but it has happened on both brand new 4Ss I have had. I noticed this gmail tripping up issue carried forward when I reinstalled from a back up without doing my recommendation above. I found this odd but it is a single sample use case which I can call upon.

- Clearing open programs. ...of course for obvious reasons they are using resources

- Close open windows/cache in Safari as windows continually loading will be a major drain (a loading FB page too)

My biggest problem that I have seen 1% drop per every 5 mins and increased heat to nearly dangerous temps was iTunes Match. If you have this do not download any albums without power connected and while on WiFi.

As for the phone. I haven't had any major issues since I determined that it was mostly tied to downloading actions (page downloads, iTunes Match (major,) and even the FB app.) I hope this post helps others and if you feel it solved your problems please repost so others can find this effective solution.

Dec 19, 2011 9:33 AM in response to RoyalsMan

Not sure why Apply "starred out" the word drastically. But it was a drastic reduction of battery life.

Obtong

Level 1

0 points

Dec 20, 2011 4:24 PM in response to Skeuomorph

My 3GS began to run hot and only have about 4 hours of battery time soon after I updated to iOS 5. It had dropped it onto a hard floor that week so I thought that I had damaged the phone. I was eligible for an upgrade so I went for the 4S. First thing I did was to restore my old phone's data and apps from iTunes. My new 4S also ran hot and the battery went dead after 4 hours, and that was will WiFi and all location services turned off and with no other usage.

I took the phone in to ATT and they told me the phone was defective, so they gave me a new one. I took the new one home, did a restore and but had the same problem! The ATT store this time told me to drive to an Apple store (which is over 40 miles away) to see what they could do. There was no way I was going to fight the holiday shoppers at the mall (where the Apple store is located) for a possible fix.

I was reluctant to do a full restore of the iPhone because I was worried about losing all my settings etc., but I went ahead anyway. If the phone still ran hot and had poor battery life I would simply return it for a refund. It took about three hours to reinstall the OS. That did the trick. My iPhone now runs cool and the battery lasts all day. What's interesting to me is that although I had to reinstall all the apps manually, the data for all my apps remained on the phone. This was a great relief and time saver.

The restore appears to have worked for me, but it's only been a couple of days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Jan 9, 2012 5:02 PM in response to Skeuomorph

I've been trying to fix my battery problem for weeks. It died after 4 hours sitting in my desk drawer today. This fixed it right up. I'm so glad this worked, the next step was to restore to a brand new phone thereby loosing every setting i had built up. This helped tremendously.

Jan 15, 2012 12:11 AM in response to kinilaw

I read engadget review and they said the phone pulled off 8 hours video with wifi and 3g on.... Check the 3rd paragraph in 'Battery life and Performance'

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/14/iphone-4s-review/

So, I guess email accounts have got not much to do with the increased drain....I have been having this drain since the day I bought the phone....I restored everything and did not sign into email accounts for a day and still, I lost around 1 percent per hour. I also tried calling my phone and kept the line live for a while during which I lost 1 percent every 3-4 mins on call...

Whatever the bug is, some guys have gotten rid of it luckily and some like me couldnt...I belive the bug is not altered with any change in settings in anyway for some of us and hence the drain....

Right now, my phone is with apple guys and they say after diagnosis, the phone showed a 40 hours music play back. They are testing it further with call and video....Hope it does good....
And I wonder when the 5.0.2 update will be released.....

FIX FOR: iPhone 4 battery draining fast, phone running hot