IOS 4.2.1 battery drain

It depends, of course, a lot on what you use the phone for. It is rated at 7 hours of use. So if you spend 7 hours on the phone or texting your battery will run down. If you receive a large number of texts, or email, likewise. If you play games for several hours it will use up battery. The real test of whether you have a problem is to leave everything on and don't use the phone for a day. The battery should still be pretty high by the end of the day. If it isn't there's something wrong. If it is then it's your usage pattern that is running the battery down. You should then consider a supplemental battery like the morphie juice pack.

Yeah, but my phone was perfect until I updated my 3Gs last week to 4.2.1.

I already have a Morphie juice pack and the phone plus the extra battery won't last a whole day. It sits in my purse in a locker for 10 hours on standby and the battery goes down to 25%. Yes, I had everything on (bluetooth, 3G, location services, background applications, push, etc.). But, with the old software even with everything on when I got my phone out of my locker it was at 85+%.

Now, I have turn everything off to just slow it down and even with the Juice Pack, I am lucky if it lasts until I go to bed. Plus, the speed test shows my wireless speed to the phone is awful. Even though my laptop connects at >30 megs download, 3 megs upload. So I have to forget about streaming YouTube or Netflix now.

Something is very different and I am wishing so bad that I had stuck with the old software...I am not enjoying the iPhone as much as I used to 😟

I have done every step short of restoring as a new phone (I don't want to lose my text conversations, voice mails, stored passwords on 1password, camera pics, etc.). This just *****!!!

Well...I have revolted my iPad, restored from backup, restored as new, cut off or taken out all email accounts, cut off location, .......still battery is running away from me.

It's the update. It must just be designed to run things in the background.

Same. Restore with backup, restore as new... Nothing helps. Problem comes back after one, two days. After restore as new I didn't install even any apps.
Any advice? 😟 😟 😟

I wonder if we can go back to the previous iOS?

Anybody know how to do this???

Same problem here unfortunately.

Haven't tried a restore yet but this seems to not solve the problem according to previous posts.

To me this is clearly an iOS 4.2.1 issue.

You cannot go back to the previous version without jailbreaking. If you want to try that you will have to find somewhere else with instructions, because it can't be posted in an Apple form. But it probably won't fix the problem anyway, because it isn't the version that's the problem, it's something that went wrong during the update. Af few people who revert report success, but most say it didn't fix anything.

tpep wrote:
Same problem here unfortunately.

Haven't tried a restore yet but this seems to not solve the problem according to previous posts.

To me this is clearly an iOS 4.2.1 issue.

As clearly as these were iOS 2.2.1, 3.0,3.0.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.1 issues?

New iOS 4.1 is a battery KiLLER!
iOS 4.1 drains battery
Battery Meter/Life Problems with 4.0.2
4.0.2 guzzling my battery. Your's too?
4.0.1 battery life
Battery runs out very quicky in iOS 4.0.1
Battery nearly nonexistant after 4.0 upgrade
Dead battery after few hours on standby using 4.0 software
3.1.3 battery problem
OS 3.1.3 battery issues
3.1.3 upgrade - shortened battery life?
Battery life cut after 3.1.3 update on iPhone 3G
3.1.3 Firmware is a battery killer - how do I back out this upgrade?
Poor battery life with iPhone 3G running 3.1.2
3.1.2 EXTREME battery drain - what gives?
3.1 Battery nightmare
iPhone 3GS with fw 3.1 – battery life gets even worse
Battery Issues with 3.0.1
BATTERY drain with 3.0
upgrade to 3.0 drains my battery
Battery Drain after Update 2.2.1
Battery Life Radically Decreased after 2.2.1 Firmware Update

Ok, something with the upgrade...well if we could downgrade then upgrade again, maybe that would fix it?

Dear All,
last week I went abroad from Italy, in Morocco, first time abroad with my iphone4, where there are very a few wi-fi hot spot. During the fly I put the iphone in airplane mode, and when I arrive the iphone was connected to GSM network but, because of data roaming setting OFF, it was unable to synchronize data. From that time on, until I find the first wi-fi spot the battery ended in 6-7 hour. The battery drain was so huge in the same way also if I switch the iphone back in the airplane mode, and I was also unable to delete sms stored (delete switch on selected sms appear, but it do not work). Nothing change rebooting the device.
As soon as I find the first hot-spot, every think went back at the normality (although my battery drain in no more than 24-30 hours with typical daily usage).
Anyone know if cold be a possible 4.2.1 bug, or something wrong in my settings?
Thanks, Giovanni

Hello all,

I have an iPhone 3GS that I have always upgraded to the newest iOS. Here are my observations on the matter:

Updating to 4.0 (my first upgrade) caused a battery drain that was easily fixed simply by shutting off all communicating applications (like Facebook). Having to double click the home button each time I stopped using an app was an awkward way to use the phone, but it worked.

Updating to 4.1 caused no new problems.

Updating to 4.2 caused the most problems, which I have not yet been able to solve. The battery now drains ten times as fast in standby mode as it did before. I have read through all 19 pages of this thread (so I don't need another one of those "Read the thread you posted in" messages), and I have yet to try resetting the network settings and restoring the iPhone. I'm hoping the former works, because I'm reluctant to discard all my data. But before I can see if this works, I was compelled to write this post because some issues are still not answered here. These issues are:

The only way I was able to stop the battery drain was to turn on Airplane mode. This is curious, since turning off bluetooth, 3G, cellular data, wi-fi, push notifications AND location services (most of which I always keep off anyway) did not help. What's left besides my telephone connection? I.e. how can a stale background process drain a battery through a GSM network without data transfer? Can the process attempt to communicate without the means to do so?

In my usage menu, even though I mostly have my phone in standby mode, the amount of time given for "Usage" and "Standby" is now IDENTICAL. So the phone is "in use" constantly, even when in standby with all programs and all communication methods (except the GSM) turned off. I distinctly remember this not being the case before. Has anyone else noticed this problem in connection with the battery drain?

Finally, a question for Lawrence: if you indeed have to recharge your iPhone every day, how can you be certain that you aren't suffering from drain issues yourself? Before the drain, I only had to recharge the phone once every three to five days with light to moderate usage; but I was able to drain the battery in a single day by playing a game for hours. After noticing the drain, I also have to recharge about once every 30 hours even when not using the phone, but I can still get through the day with moderate usage (which sounds like what you are doing). So isn't it possible that the problem is more widespread than you think, but people who are accustomed to heavy usage are less likely to notice it?

My two cents.

- Azukikuru

Azukikuru wrote:
Finally, a question for Lawrence: if you indeed have to recharge your iPhone every day, how can you be certain that you aren't suffering from drain issues yourself? Before the drain, I only had to recharge the phone once every three to five days with light to moderate usage; but I was able to drain the battery in a single day by playing a game for hours. After noticing the drain, I also have to recharge about once every 30 hours even when not using the phone, but I can still get through the day with moderate usage (which sounds like what you are doing). So isn't it possible that the problem is more widespread than you think, but people who are accustomed to heavy usage are less likely to notice it?

Good question. I note the battery left at the end of the day, which sometimes is 60% and sometimes is much lower, but it does correlate with what I was doing. And I compare the usage in settings with my recollection of how much I used the phone, which generally align. When they don't I go through the cycle of turning off email, opening email, rebooting and turning email back on. This problem occurs at random times since v 2.0, and appears to be a bug either in Microsoft's ActiveSync or Apple's implementation of it. But, as I had the same problem on a Treo several years ago, I suspect Microsoft.

In addition to my known usage there are background processes that can use phone resources. These include Push email (each time a message is delivered the phone uses 1-2 minutes of data), Notifications from apps (also about a minute each), incoming text messages, apps that genuinely use background to maintain connections (streaming apps, Facebook, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, etc.) and Game Center. There is also a popular app that tracks data usage; Dataman uses a lot of power.

I see absolutely no point in seeing how long the phone will work before the battery gives out. I don't want to start a day with less than 100%, because I don't know how much I am going to need the phone during the day. And it is better for the battery to be kept charged.

Azukikuru wrote:
Updating to 4.2 caused the most problems, which I have not yet been able to solve. The battery now drains ten times as fast in standby mode as it did before. I have read through all 19 pages of this thread (so I don't need another one of those "Read the thread you posted in" messages)

In my usage menu, even though I mostly have my phone in standby mode, the amount of time given for "Usage" and "Standby" is now IDENTICAL. So the phone is "in use" constantly, even when in standby with all programs and all communication methods (except the GSM) turned off. I distinctly remember this not being the case before. Has anyone else noticed this problem in connection with the battery drain?

Greets, Azukikuru!

If you really had read through all 19 pages, you would see that one page back, I shared that I was also experiencing the same issue: identical standby and usage times, and rapid battery drain, even when the device ought to be "sleeping" (locked, display off).

I recall that some time back, I experienced a similar issue, and had narrowed it down to a problem with Location Services becoming confused when I traveled to a different time zone. My speculation was that some process was "hung", utilizing 100% of the CPU.

I also find your observations curious, but since my phone seemed to have fixed itself, it's impossible for me to narrow down the cause of the problem. I've also got a few friends who experienced battery problems after upgrading to 4.2; as the person that these friends come to with questions about tech problems, it would be nice to know what the solution is. For one of my friends, resetting the network settings was enough. Another went straight for a firmware re-installation and set up as a new phone. While that also solved the issue, it's like killing a mouse with a shotgun... and we still don't know what the exact solution would have been.

I'm confident that resetting network settings will work for you. You might also consider a "cold reboot": power down, then hold power and home button down for 10 seconds or so. Feel free to report back here, whatever your solution ends up being!

Lawrance .. I am not buy the fact . 7 hrs and then identical standby time there is no way.. I do not even have push on , no email nor do i have apps running in the background and i have set up as new and restored and nothing changes.. so something is cycling the connection and its no push setting or email setting now.. its firmware and if your an engineer you would know this so do us all a favor just admit Apple is at fault on this .. its a connectivity issue that hangs in the background constantly pinging the network or router (if using w-fi) it remains limited connectivity anyone every notice there 3g or wi-fi bars dip .. likely this is a sign its trying to reconnect after losing a wi-fi it dips then jumps back up.. to full signal .. before this release I always had full bars when i was near my router (wi-fi connection) now if i move 2 steps away its down and has a weaker signal.. firmware issue.. . Added not look at your cell phone bills over night most phones do get downloads of information overnight to towers etc.. but not every hour on the hour.. which explains why the phone is dead 20 percent in an 8 hr period is because it lost its connection constantly to any provider.. because there is bad coding in the firmware! So if you have old hardware and new firmware or visa versa the connection is lost till something is upgraded. Lawrance yes your ideas have worked for some think about it though reset the firmware, or re-set the network settings only to within days I bet the average person has the problem return.. much like I did a connection process is cycling in the cpu.. Apple needs to step up and fix this

Hi all. I too am experiencing extreme battery drain since the 4.2 update.

I have had this phone about 7 months now and while the battery life has never been great, it is now ridiculous. I can sit here looking at it and see the percentage dropping. Last night in 8 hours it went from 100% to 70% whilst in standby, three hours later it was down to 40%. I used to charge it every 2 to 3 days but now I'm having to charge it twice a day!

I have tried ALL fixes posted on this forum and others with absolutely no joy whatsoever, even the restore achieved nothing, except deleting all my data of course.

I don't need anyone to tell me its my settings (because it is not), nor do I need anyone to tell me that the problem existed in previous updates (because it didn't).
I can see how some heavy users might not have noticed it as much but as I am not a heavy user it is very obvious. If Apple fail to notice this as a problem I will be extremely disappointed, though not surprised. I am fed up with being an unwilling BETA tester for Apple.

It now looks as though I will be forced to return to 4.1.
Thanks Apple, thanks a lot.

Note to mods: Notice no use of the unspeakable J-word this time.