Ipod Touch 4th gen battery drains fast

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I am having the same issue, iPod Touch 4th generation battery draining very fast. I received the iPod as a gift for Christmas and found this problem immediately. The iPod was sent back to Apple for service and they returned it saying that it meets all specifications for the device and nothing is wrong.

I can let this iPod sit completely untouched, no apps running (not even in the background), wi-fi on, and in 14 hours the battery is DEAD.

So I tried an experiment. I restored the iPod Touch to original factory settings (it actually came that way when I got it back from Apple service. They restored/wiped it clean), charged it fully and let it sit with wi-fi turned off. Three days later I still had full battery. I turned the wi-fi ON and did the same, full charge don't touch it. Three days later I have full battery power.

I did the same test again, full charge, wi-fi ON, and loaded ONE 3rd party app (Angry Birds) to the iPod Touch. Let it sit untouched and days later still full charge.

Here is where things change though. One more test. Full charge, wi-fi ON, one single third party app installed (Angry Birds). But this time I launched Angry Birds which requires that I login to the "Game Center", which I do. I then play Angry Birds for a minute or two (Really! Just a minute or two.), quit Angry Birds, double-click the home button and remove the app from the "recent apps list" then leave the iPod untouched in its sleep mode. 14 hours later the battery is DEAD.

I am now doing the same test with a different app to see what happens. My gut tells me that if I activate ANY app that uses wi-fi in the background for notifications or wireless updates or any such thing, my iPod battery is going to be dead in a matter of hours, even WITHOUT actually using it! At least that is my experience so far with the Angry Birds app. Time will tell.

Same exact issue here and from what I'm reading on other forums outside of Apple, this seems to be a big issue.

I actually took my ipod in for service at a local Apple Store and they ran a diag on it and said there was definitely a battery issue. They gave me a brand new Itouch. As soon as I configured "find my iphone" on it with location services on, I cant keep a charge for longer than 8 hours. I am running an experiment tonight to see if the battery stays good with location services turned off. But that would stink since I like the "find my iphone" app (especially since this is my son's, and he tends to lose things 🙂

All I can do is apologize for Apple. The "update" includes a feature where the device constantly scans for Wi-Fi stations while it is ostensibly asleep. You can verify this behavior by checking your Wi-Fi routers' DHCP client list while the iPod has been asleep. Notice it is always shown as connected.

This "feature" is supposed to enable the iPod to know where it is for "Location Services". Unfortunately it also means that after about 24 hours your battery is dead. You wake up the iPod and what a disappointment.

The only solution is to enable "Airplane Mode" in Settings. This definitively stops all wireless activity. It is especially aggravating because if you forget to do that one step before putting the thing down, by default the battery will be dead for you.

There is no way around it, this is a serious bug in the OS. I am really surprised Apple has not tried to appease users with at least a promise it will be fixed. But all these months nary a word.

You are an official representative of Apple? What position do you hold? If you aren't then you have no business apologizing.

The change in the OS was in order for the iOS devices to not lose the WiFi connection while asleep. It does not continually scan in this mode and there is no reason this would drain the battery in 24 hours. Mine certainly does not, so it must not be a global "bug" in the OS. And why not just turn off WiFi at night?

Dear all

plz guide me on this

i bought my brand new ipod touch 4g 7 days ago .but i have some battery realated issues.
take a look of my usage details.

game play normally 2 hours (after 2 hrs my battery gose 20% from 90%)
wifi 5 to 6 hrs
music play 30 mints
and normally here and dere on ipod touch is 1 hr .

i normally charge 2 times in a day.

so is it normal or is this a some kind of issue of a battery.it drains really fast
so frnds please guide me and suggest a apporiat thing for this .

I have a better idea. How about Wi-Fi just turn off while the iPod is asleep? There is no reason it should continue to communicate with my router while it is asleep. This is a serious bug in the software. The problem started the very same day I updated a few months ago. Just read thousands of complaints on this forum and you will see I AM NOT IMAGINING THIS PROBLEM!

How Apple could make such a horrendous mistake I cannot imagine. My iPod is essentially useless since I can never depend on it being charged up anymore.

Turning off wi-fo defeats the purpose of the ipod.

There is a large thread about battery issues with ios 4.xx here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2474499&tstart=15&start=1965

There are some solutions listed in the later pages of the thread, which started in July 201. But after seven months Apple still has not issued a fix or owned up to the problem. Perhaps the forthcoming ios 4.3 will have a fix.

If you post your problem and possible solution on the 'main' battery thread above then apple should respond with a fix. We are eagerly awaiting for apple to do something to correct the problem.

If there is a lot of screen motion and use of controls a game can cause the battery to go down that fast. And your WiFi time is spot on, if not better than most. You are asking a lot of a very small battery.

Deggie, this seems to be ipod related only and this doest impact the iphone. I have two iphones in the family and two ipod touches. The iphones are find but both ipods have the battery issue. Based on my post earlier, I got a brand new replacement from Apple for one of the ipods and as soon as I connected to my wifi, the same problem started happening. if I turn the wifi off, the battery is fine.

Yes we can just turn off the wifi but when you pay over $200 for a device you expect it to work properly and when it doesn't, you expect to have it fixed as soon as possible. And I know what "properly" means based on my iphone usage. I am a heavy iphone user and my batter lasts for two days between charges.

Anyway, hopefully the new OS will have a patch fix for this. Good luck all!

When not using WiFi I always turn it off to keep it from seeking hotspots. Not really hard to do this and a software update really isn't necessary for it.

Are all of the iPhones/iPods the same generation? Difference in batteries between some iPods and iPhones, with the latter having a longer lasting battery.

Other than that you can just wait for 4.3 and write back if it makes a difference.

That is just plain stupid. We are not superhuman you know. Expecting us to go through the whole formality of Airplane Mode before putting down the iPod is unreasonable.

This is what programming is for, and I suggest Apple get busy using it.

You don't have to go into Airplane Mode, just turn off WiFi.

Perhaps what Apple should offer in a future OS is the option of leaving the WiFi connection on or breaking the connection in sleep mode. That way those who want to get their mail, etc. at night will be happy, those who don't care about that, like you, will be happy.

That would be a good idea. Obviously when the iPod is connected to a charger it can use all the power it wants to.

Just FYI, I did try the "only Wi-Fi off" mode however the battery drained except just slower. This is apparently the difference between "Location Services" running and what you mentioned.

One unknown factor, because I am driving an RV with the iPod mounted in the back it is possible the motion detector knows it is moving and scans for WiFi. I don't know how integrated Motion Detector is programmed into the power management system.