Short battery life on iPod touch 3rd gen (iOS 4)? Solution!

"Anyhow, with Airplane mode turned on, you can still use WiFi"

Airplane mode disables the wifi so you can't still use it while airplane is enabled !

So it dosent help.

I'm not sure why this works on your iPod, but it definitely doesn't work on mine and I doubt it works on most. Airplane mode is intended to shut off any transmitters and receivers as required by the FAA (the "airplane" people). If the WiFi transmitter/ receiver is off, there is no connection. Others have posted this solution before, so you're certainly not the only lucky one with an iPod that is "malfunctioning" this way. Most of those who try this say it doesn't work. Same here. ...I like the "bunnynet", though.

(And, then, the light finally came on in his head!) Now I see. When I turn on Airplane mode, it turns off the WiFi. HOWEVER, I can then press the WiFi setting and turn this BACK ON without turning off Airplane mode. Holy $#!%. This does work. It shouldn't, but it does. Will test to see what happens with battery life.

I have just tried this. Airplane mode and wifi can be "on" at the same time. I don't understand it, but I will test it to see if this improves my batttery life. Thanks for posting this. I will report back in few days.

Tried it battery still going down as it's definitely the wifi that's running it down,

when on flight mode with the wifi turned on battery doesent last very long turn wifi off battery lasts fine

Therefore wifi being active whilst in sleep mode is cause of battery running down .

My old iPod touch 2nd gen wifi used to turn off when you put it into standby modemed only come on if you turned it on or when it checked for email (it was set for every hour ) .

Unfortunately, I have to confirm the above posts. After turning on both WiFi and Airplane mode, I left my iPod 2G (iOS 4.1) on the nightstand in sleep mode for almost 24 hours. It was fully charged to start. After 24 hours, the charge is now down to 1/2. The telltale sign is that, when I press the home button, the WiFi icon shows the iPod is already connected. This means the transmitter/receiver is active and using power continuously. This level of drain is actually less than what I previously had, so this set-up may be decreasing how much activity is taking place. Once again, the primary cause seems to be Gamecenter. When I do a full reset, the drain goes away. It doesn't return until I turn on Gamecenter or a game that uses Gamecenter to connect to online players and scores. The WiFi + Airplane mode arrangement may slow down the activity, but it doesn't stop it. This is not a fix.

A few responses:

>There is nothing special about Gamecenter that would cause excess drain.<

As I stated, I ONLY get battyery drain when Gamecenter or a connected game is activated. This says clearly that Gamecenter is special. It appears that this app maintains a constant internet connection that requires power.

>No, this is not a telltale sign. The WiFi is always connected (or instantly connected) when the Home Button is pressed on all the iPODs I have tested.<

On my iPod, when Gamecenter has not been activated, the WiFi icon comes on 1-2 seconds after the Home button is pushed. Once Gamecenter is on, the icon shows instantly when the home button is pushed. Again, a difference is clear and repeatable.

>If you update to iOS 4.2.1, you may have success.<

It is true I may have success with this update, OR I may end up with an iPod that never turns off its WiFi connection and continues to drain the battery regardless of how many times I reset it. Any experimental result must be taken with a grain of salt until it is clearly replicated by other experimenters. At this point, I'm not seeing others having the same success you describe.

I'm interested in this.

I have a 2nd gen iPod and luckyly I was aware of the battery drain super thread in time, so I stuck with iOS3.

If this solution is confirmed, I would probably switch to iOS4.

Anyway, I would really know some statistic or demographic of this issue: is this general or just some % iPod get messed by iOS4?

I mean the thread is big, but the customer base is much more, and not anybody at all is giving negative feedback.

Does anybody have iOS4 on iPod with normal battery charge?

BR

Andrea