iPhone 3GS Battery Issue (iOS 5)

And I am honestly not sure how to restore to an old backup. My phone always backsup when I plug it in, but I don't really understand iTunes or what to do.

When you plug in your phone, launch iTunes. Under DEVICES column on the left, the name of your phone should be displayed. Click on that, then it should open a tab that contains a summary of your device, and then scroll down until you see a "Restore" button. This restores the phone to factory defaults. After the phone powers on when the restore is complete (you should leave it plugged in the whole time, it won't take very long), iTunes will ask if you want to set it up as a new iPhone or restore it from a backup. Choose Restore from Backup, and select a date before you updated to iOS 5.

One other thought, are you running iOS 5.0 or 5.0.1? You can check by going to Settings > General > About > Software Version. If you are running iOS 5.0, you may consider updating to iOS 5.0.1. Apple released 5.0.1 SPECIFICALLY to address battery concerns. Your phone can be updated by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

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I am running on iOS 5.0.1

You can backup from earlier than 5.0 store point. This will not however fix the damage your battery has taken from the last couple months by constantly being over an ACTUAL 70++% charge. This takes a toll on any lithium battery much similar to a laptop battery.

I am trying to understand why one would ever go back to a company that clearly does not care about support for their older products? Apple staff obviously know about this problem. It's not a secret.

Both company sales iPads have been replaced by a better product.

Starting this week, iPhones will be replaced next.

It has sure made some interesting off topic sales discussions. I have even learned while discussing cellular stories that the 4 and 4s have been troubled since 5.0.1.

Go figure. Many will be moving on

Yeah I am not sure what to do honestly. Apple HAS to know what has been going on seeing since I am not the only one with the problem and I know I'm not crazy.. trying to explain to someone what has been happening and them telling me it is because I dont charge my phone right is frustrating. Ever since I have had my phone, I would let it run dead and never take it off the charger until fully charged. I knew to do that because my dad is big into technology, so I took care of my phone and still do. It is very frustrating having a nice phone and have something silly like this happen. I will try restoring my phone to an old back up tomorrow, but my dad does agree that the damage has been done and I can't reverse it. Thank you for your help to both of you and answering my concerns and questions

I had the same problems after installing iOS5 on 3GS. Phone was warm to touch, battery losing at least 11% charge every hour when not being used! 100% would only last 6-7 hours max!!

Turn off Wifi and then check how much Mobile Network data is being used over a certain number of hours.

Settings > General > Usage > Mobile Usage > Reset Statistics

Then after a few hours see how much data is being used.

My phone would send 23MB and receive about 25MB in 24hours - even when i didnt use the phone!

I tried everything: new phone, restore as new and always the same problem, turning off location servs, and notifications.

I have MS Exchange email on this phone and since iOS3 i always had Fetch New Data (General > Mail, Contacts, Calendars) = "Push" with no battery problems.

But on iOS5 + 3GS i think there is a problem with the Push setting.

Last week I changed Fetch New Data to Off and Manually Fetch for all email accounts - and now my phone is cold to touch, and only sending about 3MB in 24hours. Battery is now lasting more than 36hours!!!

Now i have got location services and notifications switched on again (but only for important apps - not on for all 70+ tho!)

I hope this helps XD

Peace

I find it absolutely atrocious that I've spent over £400 on my phone and that's it's been useless for the past 4 months because of this problem. I've seen hundreds of topics about this issue yet Apple have not taken any notice - how can you sell a mobile device that you can't take away from home because the battery autonomy doesn't even last a working shift and doesn't allow you to use the most basic applications without randomly shutting down?

I'm tired with trying customer support, and massively disappointed I replaced my battery because I actually believed them when they said it was due to the age of the battery and because I was probably charging it wrong, brand new battery, same exact issues. I'm just going to keep the phone so I can show friends how poor the product is and make sure they spend their money on something a bit better. Never, ever buying an Apple product after this complete shambles...

I think the whole point of this discussion is that people spent bundles on their original phones and don't want to go out and spend another $800 on a new phone just because Apple isn't supporting this issue that was caused by their own update. My phone is only 2 1/2 years old, and to go out and simply buy a 4 or 4s would cost me another 600 to 700 dollars. My contract with Telus isn't up until December, so I would have to buy out my current non-functioning iPhone, and then buy another iPhone? That simply is not going to happen. If I have to buy another phone, I gurantee it will not be an Apple product due to the lack of customer service and support.

I live in a province with no Apple store. Fortunately I was in Toronto on the weekend and was able to bring my phone to a Genius bar. The employees (there were 3 of them) looked absolutely perplexed, and they couldn't event restore my phone (a message kept coming up saying that the phone could not be restored). Their solution was the same as yours - buy a new phone. My phone won't even turn on now - it's stuck on the Apple symbol and my brand new MacBook pro won't recognize it. This is after months of experiencing all the same issues that have been discussed in this thread.

We aren't all fortunate enough to have deep pockets to be able to keep buying the latest and greatest Apple products. I would have eventually bought another iPhone (I was waiting for 5 to be released), but for now I'm going to have to go back 5 years and use my old flip phone until my contract is up and I get an Android.

@ amy1985

In regards to getting your phone to come back on:

With the phone plugged into a wall outlet power souce, hold "JUST" the round HOME button down for upwards of 5 minutes. It should, but not guaranteed, come back to you.

Took me a while to figure that out but mine came back around 3:30.

As for any other information, fixes, solutions, I have none and after dealing with Aple Support and THREE plus "Supervisors" who told me to go buy a 4s - I'm disgusted, mad, upset blah - blah - blah! I'm actually past most of the anger and more just OVER Apple altogether.

Best way to show your disgust with this company is buy anything but Apple.

Any body having the same issues with iOS 5.1 on iPhone 3GS, just worried the new update might make the phone even worst.

I updated my 3GS to iOS 5.1 last night, (unplugged, just over my wireless, no itunes, etc) and am cautiously optimisic that my phone issues have actually stabilized. I played on it for awhile and left it unplugged overnight and it was still alive in the morning, with about 75% of the battery life still intact.

Will confirm that this is actually the case once more time has passed...

I updated my 3GS to iOS 5.1... no battery issues.

After all of the troubleshooting I did and posted about earlier, I could not get my phone to quit shutting off randomly. Then it began to shut off at higher battery levels so I considered changing out the battery myself but decided against that because of the number of people that reported they had to replace 2 or 3 batteries before getting a good replacement. During that time I happened to be in Target and they were offering trade-ins for old phones and I was able to replace my 3GS even...for a Samsung Galaxy II. Not a bad swap considering my iPhone was over two years old. Haven't had any battery issues since...

Can't get ios 5.1 to upload from icloud 'unable to check for update'. It must only work from iTunes I'm guessing.

Last update and I'm off this board: iOS 5.1 update seems to have returned my 3GS to normal; it retains its battery life as expected and no longer shuts down when the battery drains below 75%.

In the meantime, I've since moved on to the Samsung Galaxy II, and after an "adaptation period" of about a month, when everything was new and different and strange, the iphone seems tiny. I love the new phone, and I let the kids play with the 3GS.