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

Thank you so much for this post. I have a 2nd generation 8th iPod touch and am running iOS 4.2.1.

I don't know why this post has nog had more comments as when I searched the Internet to see if anyone else had the same problem, there were loads of posts but no resolutions apart from the usual restores etc.

After only having to charge my iPod every week, I had to charge it at least twice a day and I am not a heavy user. I now have airplane mode on all the time and only turn it off when I want to use something which requires wifi. When I am done, I then go back into airplane mode.

This fix definately works, I have been trying it over the last couple of days and have used the iPod for at least 2 hours each day and left it in sleep mode overnight and my battery looks to be at about 80%.

Maybe because apple have made such a big mistake and we are on an apple site, they are censoring it! Also though, I didn't make the connection at first between the update and the battery draining so quick. I just thought that because I have had my iPod touch for a while and therefore had recharged the battery a lot of times that it was coming to the end of it's life.

Thanks again :)

I have been using this solution on both our iPod Touches - 3rd Gen running IOS 4.3.3 - for two weeks now and it has significantly improved the battery performance on both of them. To me there is no logic to switching Airplane Mode on and then being able to use wifi, etc but that is what is happening. I'm no techie so I want things to 'just work' - and this does.

Great tip, sdc01. You have done what nobody else has been able to. Thanks!

sell it and get an iphone

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I have a 3rd gen 32gb running 4.3.5, and lately it's been getting bloody awful battery life. This morning I left it at home fully charged just before 8, and when I got back at noon it was so dead it wouldn't even turn on! I looked around online and found this thread right away. I too thought that wifi wouldn't work with airplane mode turned on, but it does. It has not been long enough for me to say for sure that it has helped, but it's been unplugged and at full for the last 4 hours. I'll update this tomorrow on how it goes.

I posted solution months ago, however it seems that folks still insist that AIRPLANE enabled and WIFI enabled won't work! IT WORKS!

My last post was months and months ago, and I provided directions for the above and other hints, and asked folks to shut off all unnecessary PULLS/PUSHES/LOCTATORS. IT works!

NOW, here's the other item folks just won't listen to: MY ROUTER greately affected my battery life. I use a VZ Fios router in at home, and get great battery life. However, we use an older Netgear G at my daughter's home, and it illed my battery every time I was at her house. Finally, installed a new Netgear dual N-Router at her hfouse, amd guess what? NO battery loss. So, router can impact battery mode!

Good luck to all. And, SHAME on Apple for hiding and not addressing this issue!

I also dramatically inproved battery life by turning off wifi when my ipod goes to sleep.

@sdc01

It simply worked (Airplane mode off AND WiFi on) for the last month for me (iPod Touch 8 Gb 2nd gen + iOS 4.2.1): I returned to the habitual battery drain I had months ago. 🙂

Nothing else need to be said except thank you sdc01 !!!

Martin G

I have a 3rd Gen running IOS 4.3.3. I have noticed a large battery drain. I just turned on airplane mode and hope that it is a fix. Thanks scd01.

I am afraid to update to IOS 5, It seems that sometimes when I update, there is a problem. I went for a couple of weeks without being able to use my IPod in my Hyundai last year. It would be "nice" if Apple would alert registered users to potential problems.

Guess that I'd better check this site more often instead of assuming that my problem is unique.

Again; thanks scd01.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. After having some problems with my 2nd G. touch I took in to the Apple store whilst it was still under warranty and the gal told me there was an update, which I allowed her to install. After the install, the battery drained in a very short time, now it's out of warranty,so I finally got sick of it and stuck it in a drawer. Since I recently got the iphone I decided to take it to Apple and see if it needed a new battery in order to sell it in good order. Before doing this, I turned it on and the battery lasted less than an hour, so I decided to look around for some ideas and discovered this thread. Wow!! Had no idea there were this many battery problems. Anyway, I took the bull by the horns, did a restore via itunes, and followed your advice, (turned on Airplane mode and WiFi). I have left the touch on for about four hours so far, and the battery still looks to be about 90% charged.

Now I want to keep it!!!! But I think a classic, nano, shuffle, iMac, iPad, iPhone annnnddd a touch is a little like overkill. So far, so good but I will let you know how this pans out after a week or so.

BTW I was very concerned I had actually killed the battery by leaving it for so long without charging it.