You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

IOS-5 battery power drain issue

Did somebody notice a major power drain issue after iOS5 upgrade on iPhone4? Last night at midnight, it was ~90% charged. In the morning, it was 37% charged. By noon, it was dead. I didn't make even 1 call during this time. Connected to Wi-Fi at home and strong 3G signal. Bluetooth is off, location services are off, all that stuff. The same phone's battery would last for 40 hours with my normal usage with IOS 4.3.5. Anybody knows if any specific feature of iOS5 is causing this battery drain?

iPhone 4, iOS 5

Posted on Oct 14, 2011 1:16 PM

Reply
225 replies

Nov 11, 2011 12:54 PM in response to RakeshPDX

I cannot answer 100%. What I can tell you is that 1st I Reset Network Settings. My battery was still hot. Approximately 30 minutes later I changed my push to Fetch and the battery IMMEDIATELY went cool. My assumption would be that the Push to Fetch was the problem, but with only a 30 minute delta I don't want to say this is the answer 100%. I did not delete my email account and reset, I only changed the setting.

Nov 11, 2011 11:06 PM in response to jeffrogers01

I don't think it is hardware. My iPad battery is suddenly draining very quickly since upgrading to iOS 5 and switching to iCloud from mobile me.


My phone (4) seems to be fine! It is very strange.


I have been closing out as many apps as possible and limited notifications to try to preserve battery but the iPad is a real problem. Could it be Safari? There are tabs now instead of pages. Is this somehow sucking up battery?


Reading all the complaints from those who have upgraded to 5.1, it doesn't look like Apple has solved the problem. Not going to upgrade.

Nov 13, 2011 8:42 AM in response to RakeshPDX

I said I would report back in after a few days, so here I am.


I must say that it looks a bit more stable now. Standby time is not that bad anymore. Using the Iphone is still consuming a lot of power and everything is shut down.


I still have problems with my bluetooth being distorted and all. will give it another few days after the full cycle today to see how long it takes.

Nov 13, 2011 11:36 AM in response to HayriC

Neither push nor fetch should ever be turned on. These shouldn't even be features. The phone is destined to get stuck in a loop and drain your battery quickly if you do, as connectivity to the server is lost and mail spins the battery down. This is true of any mobile device. Manual loads mail quickly and also gives you the opportunity to stop a loop when server access is unavailable for whatever reason. Nothing kills a battery more quickly than a mail loop. You'll feel the phone begin to heat in your pocket and you know it's in a loop that is killing your battery quickly. If you need battery reliability, never fetch or push mail, and keep location services to a minimum, turning them on and off again as needed.

Nov 13, 2011 12:52 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Suit yourself. I learned the hard way. Live in SF, drop connectivity frequently, and found a hot potato in my pocket. Am on my third iPhone and never have complained about poor battery life. If you, as a level 6, are recommending people leave push or fetch, or Location Service on all the time and at the same time spend your days in poor battery life discussions, what? At the end of the day, with normal use and two mail accounts including Exchange I have 75-80% battery day in and day out for these same 4 years. I only charge the phone at night. If you disagree that a loop will kill the battery while fetching mail from a downed server then I can't tell you anything. All of our IT staff with these phones have experienced this and we are all in agreement.


A new concern with IOS5 is iMessage pushing, which I've also learned the hard way. It too loops till it kills the battery when the Wifi connection is dropped. Spun my battery down in no time continuing attempts to send the text.

Nov 13, 2011 1:45 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Well, we live in different cities, perhaps that matters or perhaps my server is faulty. I know Gmail IMAP service drops frequently on my computer and on the phone. SF has had a difficult time with the city not allowing towers due to environmentalist complaints. It takes years to get a new tower approved and there are neighborhoods (most of Hayes Valley for one) which have no AT&T service at all to this day I repeat. If reliable battery life is a concern, turn off mail push and fetch and only use location services as needed turning them off when not in use (that's why they each have a switch). Watch for loops in iMessage as well and delete the failed message before you wind up with a dead battery.

Nov 13, 2011 2:15 PM in response to steelerfan4life06

Who are you saying "please fix" to? Certainly not Apple, because this is a user-to-user forum, not read by Apple. It might be you want other users to fix your phone, but that's not likely to happen. The only one who can fix it is YOU, by reading posts from other users about how they fixed it. Some even in the thread you posted to, probably without reading it.


You could also post enough information to allow someone to help you, line what model phone, what version of iOS, what problem specifically you have, and what you have tried to resolve it.

Nov 13, 2011 3:07 PM in response to RakeshPDX

The problem I am having is the battery life. I updated to iOS 5 and started having problems with the battery draining very quickly even without a lot of use and quiting all my running apps. Then when iOS 5.0.1 came out and said that the battery problem was supposed to be fixed, I updated to that and the problem became worse. I restored factory settings and I am still having the same problems. If anyone has any suggestions, please reply. Thank you.

IOS-5 battery power drain issue

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.