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Jupik Author

Level 1

0 points

Iphone 3GS 4.2.1 problem-battery

Hello every one, at first I' sory for my English, I know it's not perfect.
I saw many topics with same problem, but I cant fix it 😟

I instaled the 4.2.1 software and after that my battery in my Iphone 3GS is weaker..

Before update I could use my Iphone a day with, now I need to charge it ;/

Let me show you:
Almost every day I had full charged ( from 10% or less to 100%) Iphone at morning beacuse I was charging him at night.

Now I have charged my Iphone from 0% to 100% and atm I have :
Usage : 3h 39min
Standby: 7h 15min
I want to added that at morning I was using my Iphone for 10min at internet and battery was 100% after that was 93%, 2min later 89%. OMG!
Before I could use it for 5 or more hours and I was in standby mode for 24h or more.

What I was doing on Iphone?
Internet-2h
Games -30min
Calls- 10min
Messages-20min
Doing something with Iphone -39min

I was 2h on Internet but I have turned off 3G and WI-FI so it was normal GSM connection with internet.
All push, notifacations, GPS etc etc were OFF.
Screen at 50% brightness.

I had restored my Iphone many times.
As a new Iphone
With a backup, nothing have changed.

What can I do ?
Can some one help me ?

Now I need to charge my Iphone twice a day !
It ***** a lot.

Please help me.

Greeting from Poland!

3GS, iOS 4, Batter big problem

Posted on Nov 29, 2010 7:28 AM

85 replies

Dec 26, 2010 11:15 AM in response to Muchacho Blanco

Glad you found a method that worked. I make sure to clear my history, cache and cookies daily, and if I see the network lagging I reset it (usually once or twice a month). But the thing that has helped the most is the method I posted earlier about properly closing the apps. I'm still able to go about 1.4 days or more with moderate use on one charge cycle. I'm not updating my iPhone again until I know all the bugs have been fixed.

Regards,
alli3katt

Dec 27, 2010 6:31 PM in response to Jupik

Honestly, I would have given anything for these fixes to have worked for me. Unfortunately, no such luck, and my iPhone ended up overheating completely on Christmas Day and no longer works.

Also, since it's over 1 year old and I don't have AppleCare, I have to claim against my extended warranty with my service provider.

The lovely Genius Bar staff at my local Apple Store kindly looked into the issue though and confirmed that the problem was definitely related to the battery.

So I wish everyone luck with getting their phone issues sorted out before it becomes too much of an issue like mine.

soubhi

Level 1

0 points

Dec 28, 2010 1:50 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Done all of these steps without use. I never had this problem before 4.2.1 so I think your assessment is not accurate. Yes, something is staying on and using the battery, but I think it is something related to the update which is causing a stuck bit or something like that. It is an update problem and I hope Apple will acknowledge it and fix it.

Dec 28, 2010 2:38 PM in response to soubhi

I never had issue with battery drainage before the update therefore I agree that it is due to the 4.2.1 version of iPhone. However it did help increase my battery life when I used some of the steps that have been mentioned. I would charge my phone before bed and my phone would be completely dead when I woke up. I am waiting to see if Apple will officially recognize the problem so many are having with the 4.2.1 update.

Dec 28, 2010 4:27 PM in response to alli3katt

I believe these 2 iOS4.2.1 and telco signal are the main problems for the battery drain.

Dec 28, 2010 9:35 PM in response to alli3katt

Apple will not officially recognize it any more than the did for versions 2.0, 2.2, 3.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, or 4.1. Because it is not a problem with 4.2.1; it is a problem with corrupt data on the phone. And the fixes are the same as they were for all of the previous releases, and are documented in this very thread.

AnaMusic

Level 9

57,562 points

Dec 28, 2010 11:44 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

HI,

I would just like to say that since +Restoring my 3Gs iPhone as New…+ ALL my issues have been resolved and the phone has been Performing Flawlessly…

Cheers,

}Moose

Level 1

10 points

Dec 29, 2010 11:32 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Hi,

I'm also experiencing the battery issue with my 16GB 3GS running 4.2.1. I live in an area with no 3G and don't bother with cellular data, I just rely on the many wifi hotspots around town so they are switched off. Battery life up until recently (even since the 4.2.1 upgrade which required a restore to sort out) has been fine, around two days or more between charge. Now it's chomping through the battery and feels slightly warm to the touch, even with no apps in the background.

I've done the various resets and restored the phone in iTunes but still have the problem, so I'm wanting to do the reset and restore as a new phone which seems to fix it for most. My question is: my phone was originally bought on the O2 UK network and officially unlocked. It's now on Vodafone.... if I restore as a new phone will iTunes recognise it and perform the unlock again? I can't risk losing the unlock as I have no O2 coverage here and it cost me £15 for O2 to unlock it which I don't want to pay again!!!

Any help gratefully received!

Rory

}Moose

Level 1

10 points

Dec 30, 2010 5:41 AM in response to }Moose

Well It does retain the unlock - the message "Congratulations, your iPhone is now unlocked" before the setup/restore from backup section. I restored from a backup and the battery is now behaving as normal!

Cheers,

Rory

bj110

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2010 4:11 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence, thanks for your solution.
I had a similar problem, but the weird thing that seemed to be causing it was the camera. After I had done a reboot by holding the HOME & SLEEP button until the Apple logo appears, the camera suddenly operated and took a snapshot of the login screen, I've still got the photo to prove it. How does it do that? I did another reboot as described above and the battery problem had been cured; indeed it seems that the battery life now appears to have been extended as it appears to drain more slowly than it had before, although I've solved the problem, I would still like to know why.

Dec 31, 2010 5:02 AM in response to bj110

If you press and release HOME and SLEEP it will capture the current screen as an image. That's a feature. To reboot you must hold both for 10 seconds.

bj110

Level 1

0 points

Dec 31, 2010 5:24 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

O.K., Thanks Lawrence, didn't know that was a feature. The battery seems O.K. now, so thanks very much for your post.

Jan 9, 2011 10:17 PM in response to bj110

Out of frustration, I unsubscribed from this thread, but I wanted to let all know I may have an explanation for the issue and a solution, of sorts. Everyone knows that iOS 4.2 enabled multitasking on the iPhone and iPad, but Apple has not documented well what this means. What it means is that when you launch an App on your iPhone, it continues to run in the background until you either reboot your iPhone or quit the application. In order to quit a running app, press the home button twice. You will see up to four icons appear at the bottom of the screen. If more than four apps are running, scroll right (swipe your thumb towards the left) to reveal the next group of four. To quit an open application, hold your thumb on the icons until you see an X in the upper left. Click the x and the app is quit. Note that this is not the same process as removing the application from your phone which you may be more familiar with. Since I started doing this on a regular basis, my battery life has returned to normal. It is a shame that this is not better documented by Apple. It should be in big bold writing on the iPhone home page, as it is a major change in how the phone works.

Jan 10, 2011 7:08 AM in response to Alan Hirshberg

Hi, Alan. Sorry for your frustration. However if you check on page 3 of this thread you will notice I posted the same explanation you mentioned (i.e. closing apps correctly) and it has helped increase my battery life as well. I was told to do this by Apple Care. My battery would be fully charged before bedtime and when I woke up, it was completely drained. Now that I close the apps in the manner I described earlier, I've increased my battery life to approximately 1.3 days or so with moderate use. I'm happy to hear this method is working for you as well.

Regards,
alli3katt

Jan 10, 2011 9:51 AM in response to Alan Hirshberg

Thanks, Alan and ali3katt. I didn't know the apps needed to be closed in that manner. I found a bunch of 'em open just now and closed them all. Although most of the pushes on all my apps are turned off, I'd bet your suggestions will help.

Iphone 3GS 4.2.1 problem-battery