IOS 4.2.1 battery drain

You are not alone or crazy. I am having the same issue. I did get it to go away for a couple weeks though. check this out; i have an exchange account for email installed on the phone. i deleted the account and re-installed it, as well as shutting down all running apps, and few other recommended fixes. I even deleted suspect apps that may have needed an upgrade after 4.2 ios upgrade. the issue went away..... until the next time i plugged my phone in to itunes... yep, i sync'd my phone and the issue came back. i have been reading these threads to get an idea of what to do, but there is an issue and it would be nice for apple to own up. my wife has an iphone 4, we share the same itunes on the same computer and she doesn't have the battery drain issue... So, it's not everyone, but it does suck!

Going to have to try the network reset and then the full reset, set up new. Noticed this problems several days ago. Battery just drains really fast. Didn't really monitor it closely until yesterday but went to bed last night with 12% on battery, everything off (wifi, 3g etc etc), this morning, dead.

Did a hard reset and charged to 100% and phone has pretty much been on standby all day again with everything off. I don't use Exchange, don't use push, have notifications off, 3g off, data off, bluetooth off and no apps running in multi tasking (errrr, so the point of having the iphone is????) just to try and resolve the problem and battery has still dropped to 60% in 12 hours just on standby!! Usage and Standby times also are exactly the same at 12 hours 19 minutes.

I hope the options here fix it but I certainly won't be upgrading the OS in a hurry again. In all honesty I have often thought the iPhone is fine if you don't use it. Now I can't even not use it without charging it up every 12 hours.

As an aside I have to say I have no plans to invest in another iPhone unless the abysmal battery life is sorted and this really compounds the issue for me. I mostly use it for the apps I have on it and for the performance it delivers my next change is likely to be for an Ipod Touch and a decent phone!!

Message was edited by: TechAddict

Tried the hard reset couple of times. No joy. Really don't want to try the set up as new phone as I have a few apps with a lot of data in that is not the easiest to back up (some needs a hook up to a Windows device another needs an export another I'm not even sure I can do).

My usage and standby time are exactly the same but last night I put it in airplane mode and the the standby increased but usage had not moved. Virtually no battery drop either. Now it's out of airplane (but wifi off) they are both going up at the same time so hopefully a 'reset network settings' will do it. Wish I could fathom what was 'using' the device though? Not sure if its an app as all are closed and social apps (YM messenger etc) are all signed out and multi tasking all closed. Unless it's this Game Centre thing which I've never used (just what is it anyway???).

Here are some tips that should help to maximise your battery life.

http://www.yourdailyapple.net/2011/01/maximise-your-battery-life-make-your-iphon e-go-that-crucial-extra-mile/

Thank you! What WONDERFUL advice! Turn off all the features you bought the iPhone for. Yeah, right.

Well, most of the day it just chugged along with the standby and usage times going up by same amount. I tried reset all network settings and it seemed to have a couple of blips where the times changed but then went back to the original 9 hrs 10 mins difference it had had all day between the two times since I put it in airplane mode. Just before it died it changed to standby 1 day 2 hours and usage 17 hours.

Hopefully the overnight charge from zero will fix it. Lost 63% battery in about 10 hours with almost no use. Currently just a VERY expensive cell phone, and for a cell phone there are much better than the iPhone (in fact for me, the phone part is the worst element of the iPhone, I just like all the other stuff it does that I use a lot and don't want to carry a phone too).

Well, no such luck. Charged to 100% last night, this morning 74%! Usage and standby both same at 8hrs 30mins. Now I think of it I notice that an ap I had on before all this grief, Mem Info, used to be able to close down memory usage and get about 160 -175MB memory free. Now the best it achieves is 130 with the device constantly showing 43MB 'wired' and 33Mb 'active'. There are also 22 processes running whereas before, after this ap was run it could shut them down to just a few. Will try the 'reset all' next. Think I'll wait for 4.3 (which is hopefully not far off now before I go to set up as new, which I note still hasn't fixed it for some folks, as it will take me days to get all the data sorted.

Really not good enough this. I know there are comments that it's not the update that caused this and it could happened at any time but it's odd there are such vast numbers of problems across various devices (iPod Touch, iPhone 3, 3GS and 4 and iPad) to a scale previously unprecedented since IOS 4 but particularly after 4.2.1. Sadly Apple are silent on the matter, presumably bury the head in the sand and hope it will go away. Or certainly not admit any responsibility.

This is a real pain and to me it's pretty clear that 4.2.1 is responsible for the problems I and many others have. I hope 4.3 sorts this abortion out because Apple have made a real dog's breakfast out of this. Until this garbage is sorted I'd rather Apple provide the option of reverting IOS 3. I'd happily lose the multi tasking to get a phone that works!! Total disgrace.

Have also done an Apple feedback asking if there is a way to go back to IOS 3. Makes you wonder if Apple will look to compensate people for the shortened battery life as a result of now having to charge the phone twice a day instead of once every 2 or 3.

12 hours, almost no use and down to 56%!

Well, I hope now sorted. Tried reset all to no avail. Then saw a post, on an Ipad forum I think, where the user had a) done a restore as new (hoping that if it was the update PROCESS as opposed to one of the aps/settings being used) that caused the problem, this would remove it and then b) done a restore from the last working back up of the old device (clearly not the new one it automatically creates when you set up as new).

This seems to have worked. I did the above then charged to 100%. Early days but my standby is currently 30 minutes and usage nil.

If this has fixed I will certainly NOT be going for 4.3 for a LOOOOONG time!

TechAddict wrote:
Really not good enough this. I know there are comments that it's not the update that caused this and it could happened at any time but it's odd there are such vast numbers of problems across various devices (iPod Touch, iPhone 3, 3GS and 4 and iPad) to a scale previously unprecedented since IOS 4 but particularly after 4.2.1. Sadly Apple are silent on the matter, presumably bury the head in the sand and hope it will go away. Or certainly not admit any responsibility.

The problems were just as severe with EVERY iOS update since 2.0. If you scan this thread you will see that. If anything there are fewer reports of the problem with 4.2.1 than there were with 3.1.3, for example.

This is a real pain and to me it's pretty clear that 4.2.1 is responsible for the problems I and many others have. I hope 4.3 sorts this abortion out because Apple have made a real dog's breakfast out of this.

4.3 is unlikely to sort it out. Any more than 4.2.1 did for those who were hoping that IT would fix the problems they had with 4.1.

I'm not saying this to be contrary, only to point out that if you want the problem fixed you will have to find what is causing it for YOU and fix it. There are dozens of reasons that iPhones have high battery drain, not just one or two. And all of them have to do with apps that are using too much power. You need to identify the app and fix or remove it. If you read this thread, which goes back to the first day of 4.2.1, you will see what others have done to fix it.

very very true.

i beleave apple hasnt issued a fix for this specific issue kuz there isnt just one single thing that is causing this for people.

i have had what i thought was this specific battery drain bug with certian updates plenty of times.alot of them where after a IOS update but it has also started out of nowhere when my phone would be running perfectly.

each time it was something different causing the drain in my battery.alot of the times my phone would randomly connect itself to the 3g network at 2 or 3 am and start sending and recieving phantom data that i could even go onto atts website and could see axactly when this was happening.this was happening even with a new formated phone with no apps so i know this was something the iphone or att was doing.

i used to have very slow and bad 3g connection where i would sleep so i beleave trying to send and recieve the data that att or apple was tranfering would be so slow or even lag with ping and that was causing my battery drain.if i do anything on 3g it just dostn work and will hang so if the phone is trying to send that data its just gonna be in a very bad place for battery power consuption.


this was only one of my problems that caused draining and its fixed it self over time and also started again and stopped.att blames apple . apple blames att.

apple cant just put a bug fix on a symptom when there is tones of different problems that are the root of it.

it will deffintly seem as if it could be just one thing causing it if you dont look into it tremensly and know exactly what your looking for /doing

with all this said . how many of you guys have low signal where u are at mostly?

ever since the service got better in my house every thing has been fixed.

@ Lawrence: Not being funny about this but if you take the time to read my last post you will see that I HAVE fixed it and how. While there may be merit in what you say I am not convinced about the this particular update. There have been threads running into hundreds and hundreds of posts in rekation to iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads and I have NEVER seen this level of activity/problem with ANY other update so if you think it can happen to anyone at any time, fine. For me it's too much of a coincidence that al of this activity springs up after IOS 4 and esp 4.2.1. Whether I'm right or your right is irrelevant to a degree, it is as it is and Apple will do what they do. Too much of a coincidence for me though. And it will be a LONG time before I take 4.3 or buy another iPhone!!

yes and poor signal. I just updated this week after I received a text message to update. I wished I would have not updated. Phone is using battery faster, text messages are not coming through and #G signal is no higher than 2-3 bars.

My brand new iPhone4 has iOS 4.2.1. installed by default. I have deleted all apps and still the drain prevails, usage and standby are the same. In the past month that I own it, I had the problem 5 times, I used to be successful with quitting apps in the task bar and hard-resetting, but now even that doesn´t help anymore.

There seems to be a bigger problem behind it and if it remains, I´ll return the phone. Don´t need a phone that´s sometimes empty in the morning, especially not when I leave for biz trips...

1. If you have EVER launched Game Center go to Settings/Restrictions and set a restriction on multiplayer games. Then reboot (hold HOME and SLEEP until an Apple logo appears)

2. If you are getting email from a PUSH account (MS Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo, MobileMe) search this thread for the message I have posted several times on how to fix the problem. No, forget it; I'll post it again:

If you have Push email accounts: Settings/Mail,Contacts,Calendar - tap on the account name and switch it off (the account, not Push). Open the email app; verify the account is gone (and let the mail app know it is). Likewise for Contact and Calendar. After rebooting, go back to Settings and turn the account back on. Wait an hour before testing to give it time to sync back to the server.