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iPhone 4s Battery Life?

My iPhone 4s battery seems terrible! Almost equivalent to my 3GS and it's terrible battery life. When I got my iPhone yesterday and restored from backup I noticed nothing really changed with minimal usage and standby! Is this normal or should I consider setting it up as a new phone because maybe something is running in the background that's causing it to drop a percentage every few minutes under light usage? Input would be great!

Posted on Oct 15, 2011 7:14 AM

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12,787 replies

Oct 18, 2011 8:31 AM in response to Randy from Western PA

I totally agree with the previous 2 posts from NC Kishore and Randy. Why the **** do I have to go into my settings and toggle 10 things on and off constantly, depending upon what I need to accomplish, to have my battery last through the day? I never had to do all that crap on my iPhone 4, so if I have a new and improved iPhone 4S (S for '***** the life out of your battery') then I shouldn't have to do this. My phone died at 4:00 pm yesterday and I had a full charge at 7:30 am. I think I'll be returning mine unless Apple comes up wit a fix real soon. Bye bye Siri, it was nice meeting you.

Oct 18, 2011 9:06 AM in response to Scarface.

I woke up this morning to find my 3day old iP4s DEAD. I left if at 100% charge before going to bed at 11pm last night so it is a real concern. I mean, it happened a lot to my 3yr old 3G before, but this? Push and Send to Apple settings are off. Sure, I have wifi on all the time when i'm at home, but for it to go from 100% to zero in 6 hours without doing anything?? I think I am going to take it back. It's unsettling that a lot of other 4S users are experiencing the same. Uh oh.

Oct 18, 2011 9:24 AM in response to zcrable

@zcrable: According to Apple you should get 200 hrs of standby time on the 4S, not 6:


Maximum Battery Life1

iPhone 4S offers up to 8 hours of talk time on 3G, 14 hours of talk time on 2G (GSM model only), 6 hours of Internet use on 3G, 9 hours of Internet use on Wi-Fi, 10 hours of video playback, or 40 hours of audio playback on a full charge at original capacity. In addition, iPhone 4S features up to 200 hours of standby time.

Oct 18, 2011 9:45 AM in response to Scarface.

Same here. I updated my 3GS to iOS 5 and it had horrible battery life. I got an iPhone 4S on the 14th and it loses it's charge even when not in use (i.e. Asleep). I've tried toggling setting but nothing helps. I've even done a factory restore and it didn't do anything either.


I think it's a software problem. It seems that Apple always fixes these things with a software update as they did with iOS 4.3 and iOS 3. We just have to wait on the update. Apple? Are you working on it???

Oct 18, 2011 9:58 AM in response to KimoChristy

Received two 4S's (my wife and I) on Friday and set them up with the"whole shabang" of new iOS options and saw the same battery drainproblem as everyone over the weekend and yesterday (with only moderate usage).


Did the common steps that everyone has discussed yesterday (diagnostics-OFF, time zones-OFF, disabled most locations services that I didn't need, did a network settings restore, etc) and finally decided last night to do a battery conditioning - full discharge/re-charge. Started today with the basic settings that I want- bluetooth -ON and the new find my friends-ON. I also have iCloud sync running but no push for e-mails (that's always been a big drain).


By noon today, after a few of phone calls, some music on my way to work and a couple texts, I'm still at 100% and I've been off the charger forabout 4.5 hours. I realize alot of just standby time but even with standby over the last few days it was draining fast. I'm hopeful that the battery has "settled down". We'll see.

Oct 18, 2011 9:51 AM in response to Scarface.

Hi All,


I found a solution that might apply to you as well. My phone was heating and the battery draining evening without using the phone. I tried all the suggestion above but no luck. One thing I noticed is that my phone will heat up and the battery drains if I put my phone in the belt case that has a magnet in it. I took the phone out without even turning it on and the phone cooled down and the battery went only 1% down after 45 min. I put it back in the case again and the phone was warm and the battery went down 20% after 30 min.

Oct 18, 2011 10:14 AM in response to Scarface.

turn off GPS apps and go to clock settings to turn off time zone setting unless u travel to different time zone. when u go to settings tap location services go down to system services and turn off just setting time zone that always uses GPS and must of all Data and if u have 3G on while GPS is on bye battery and Data plan usage. leave the find my Iphone alone dont turn off.

Oct 18, 2011 10:16 AM in response to hanoudi

I just want to join this conversation. I too bought an iPhone 4s on Friday and tried to do all sorts of things that you all have already mentioned (reset, turning stuff off, "calibrating" and so on) and nothing really helps. The battery just goes down rapidly. But, I noticed that happens only when I'm actually using the phone, I mean when the screen is on. It doesn't matter if I'm just typing a text or browsing the web, whenever screen is on - battery goes down. For instance, I lost 2% while I was typing this. My screan is on auto brightens, nothing fancy. That leads me to belive that either my battery is malfunctioning or A5 just ***** life out of this battery. But on the other hand not everybody who has got an iPhone 4S is complaining. Does that mean that we were unlucky and that we just need a replacement ? I would like to hear if someon got a replacement phone and whether that solved the problem ?

Oct 18, 2011 11:14 AM in response to Scarface.

On my second 4s - sent it back to Covent Garden Store. More than happy to exchange; and they do have a back up supply for faults just incase if anyone was wondering as I do know there is a shortage of 4s in the UK.


I charged the 4s twice in one day from 0% and also it would not charge upto 100%; only too 98%.


Also i was getting no SIM or invlaid Sim - 2 to 3 times. Now that is another issue!!


Everything seems fine now however battery life is not as to be expected.

iPhone 4s Battery Life?

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