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

Jan 17, 2012 10:59 AM in response to AliAR

So let me get this straight.... You have a completely empty phone, with all "vanilla" settings and nothing loaded on it? And you consider that a potential solution? Please tell me what I'm missing here?

AliAR wrote:


This may, I'll say it again, may be the solution to the drainage and again, I didn't investigate it fully but I'll tell you what I did. I restored my iPhone as a new phone and didn't install any third-party application, music, videos, or contacts so basically, my iPhone is 'fresh' or 'clean'. I then noticed a huge battery drainage, possibly 3% in less than 30 minutes and I then checked every single setting in settings to see if anything's wrong.


I went to [Settings>General>Restore] and then Erase All Data And Settings. So that's all. I think this is the fix. I will check my phone tomorrow morning, it's 10:52PM local time now.


(To make it clear: I restored as a new phone from iTunes, then erased all data and settings from the iPhone.)

Jan 17, 2012 11:02 AM in response to 1AppleADayNoWay

1AppleADayNoWay wrote:


sbailey4 wrote:


[...] Otherwise if you dont add a particular city (your home or work) every time you fire off weather it uses GPS then updates weather. [...]

This is a perfect example of "aggressive factory settings" and of the "Apple experience" going too far. The data should be extracted from asking you during the 1st config/activation, and GPS guessing should be an option. When you install an OS it asks you for your city. I don't get Apple.

They are just trying to make use of the phone's features to ease your life. Needless to say, if you travel a lot, this feature would be quite handy. But Sbailey4 has a good point. I have several cities in the list, including my home, so the GPS check is redundant most of the time. On the other hand, even using the GPS when I look at weather (once a week or so in my case), would use some battery power. It's just not significant in MY usage.

Jan 17, 2012 11:05 AM in response to Jameson!

Jameson! wrote:


So let me get this straight.... You have a completely empty phone, with all "vanilla" settings and nothing loaded on it? And you consider that a potential solution? Please tell me what I'm missing here?

AliAR wrote:


This may, I'll say it again, may be the solution to the drainage and again, I didn't investigate it fully but I'll tell you what I did. I restored my iPhone as a new phone and didn't install any third-party application, music, videos, or contacts so basically, my iPhone is 'fresh' or 'clean'. I then noticed a huge battery drainage, possibly 3% in less than 30 minutes and I then checked every single setting in settings to see if anything's wrong.


I went to [Settings>General>Restore] and then Erase All Data And Settings. So that's all. I think this is the fix. I will check my phone tomorrow morning, it's 10:52PM local time now.


(To make it clear: I restored as a new phone from iTunes, then erased all data and settings from the iPhone.)

He is trying to isolate the cause of his problems. If he gets good battery life now, then he knows it isn't the fault of the phone itself (hardware), but something added after getting the phone. Good troubleshooting procedure.

Jan 17, 2012 11:10 AM in response to Jameson!

I will be installing an application or 2 a day to see which affects the iPhone. I previously had a restore as a new phone restore and battery still drained as it was obviously using something in the phone and you don't know about this because you haven't read previous posts!

Jameson! wrote:


So let me get this straight.... You have a completely empty phone, with all "vanilla" settings and nothing loaded on it? And you consider that a potential solution? Please tell me what I'm missing here?

AliAR wrote:


This may, I'll say it again, may be the solution to the drainage and again, I didn't investigate it fully but I'll tell you what I did. I restored my iPhone as a new phone and didn't install any third-party application, music, videos, or contacts so basically, my iPhone is 'fresh' or 'clean'. I then noticed a huge battery drainage, possibly 3% in less than 30 minutes and I then checked every single setting in settings to see if anything's wrong.


I went to [Settings>General>Restore] and then Erase All Data And Settings. So that's all. I think this is the fix. I will check my phone tomorrow morning, it's 10:52PM local time now.


(To make it clear: I restored as a new phone from iTunes, then erased all data and settings from the iPhone.)

Jan 17, 2012 11:11 AM in response to rphunte42

I found a fix!!!!!!!!! Returned the IPhone bought a New Windows based Nokia and do not have to turn anything off the battery last at minimum of 24 hours. I also saw at the ATT store a whole box of returned I phones. The store manager was very honest and since they have 30day refund policy he stated they were from people who had 4 s models and battery problems so it is happening all over. Apple is again showing there true colors as a corporate pig... They have not came out with a fix, nor have they offered a buy back program. I am sure all of the people on here singing their praise even though they know of the problems must be Apple troll employees. I must laugh at all the people on here willing to pay the high price for an I phone and then willing to turn off all the functions that you pay for just so you can say you own an I phone ...It is hilarious....

Jan 17, 2012 11:29 AM in response to rphunte42

rphunte42 wrote:


1AppleADayNoWay wrote:


@AliAR - The target is about 0.5% per hour in standby. If you think you'll get 0.15% ever you're simply out of your mind. No trick will yield this... except a flaky indicator lollll.


Well, power off would probably get you there. Of course that severely limits useability....

Ah, the theoretical limits of meaninglessness. I thought there wouldn't be much a difference between standby time and off time but I guess I'm wrong. Someone should test it. Then Apple can add it to the spec sheet - 600hrs off!! I hope in iPhone 5 they add a tiny liquid crystal display so that you can still use it for time/clock when it's off... further value!

Jan 17, 2012 11:33 AM in response to AliAR

AliAR wrote:


1AppleADayNoWay - I never said anything about 0.15% per hour. 2% battery drained yesterday per hour on standby, that is 4x more than it is supposed to. But right now, I think its all good.

I know. But you were left in awe about Beetch18's 1% over 6.5 hours and wanted to know how to emulate that. Well, that's 0.15% per hour i.e. 600+hrs standby. That's why I was saying that.

Jan 17, 2012 11:46 AM in response to rphunte42

rphunte42 wrote:


[...] Weather+GPS use

They are just trying to make use of the phone's features to ease your life. Needless to say, if you travel a lot, this feature would be quite handy. But Sbailey4 has a good point. I have several cities in the list, including my home, so the GPS check is redundant most of the time. On the other hand, even using the GPS when I look at weather (once a week or so in my case), would use some battery power. It's just not significant in MY usage.

Yep, the other day my gf wanted to make my life easier. So using a Kinect sensor, and openkinect, she built a system which automatically raises the toilet seat when it detects me entering the toilet, all developed using the Processing language.


But somehow it seems to me some things are better left off relying on people's brain and basic knowledge. Plus the advantage must be weighted against energy efficiency - clearly - and that's really what this is about. It may be one day people rely on GPS for figuring out where they are as their cluelessness trumps all and they can't even select their city name in a drop down list let alone write/read it right. I hope I'll be dead by then.

Jan 17, 2012 11:53 AM in response to AliAR

Aliar, That is definitely a known fix. Some folks cant get any results until doing just that. I was under the impression you had already done so. Sorry if I misunderstood. I suspect you will see favorable results, Unless you in fact have some underlying issue like bad sim,battery or in a no 3G area trying to get 3G service, Things like that.



AliAR wrote:


I restored my iPhone as a new phone and didn't install any third-party application, music, videos, or contacts so basically, my iPhone is 'fresh' or 'clean'. I then noticed a huge battery drainage, possibly 3% in less than 30 minutes and I then checked every single setting in settings to see if anything's wrong.


I went to [Settings>General>Restore] and then Erase All Data And Settings. So that's all. I think this is the fix. I will check my phone tomorrow morning, it's 10:52PM local time now.


(To make it clear: I restored as a new phone from iTunes, then erased all data and settings from the iPhone.)

Jan 17, 2012 11:56 AM in response to Vomgottsland

Vomgottsland wrote:


I found a fix!!!!!!!!! Returned the IPhone bought a New Windows based Nokia and do not have to turn anything off the battery last at minimum of 24 hours. I also saw at the ATT store a whole box of returned I phones. The store manager was very honest and since they have 30day refund policy he stated they were from people who had 4 s models and battery problems so it is happening all over. Apple is again showing there true colors as a corporate pig... They have not came out with a fix, nor have they offered a buy back program. I am sure all of the people on here singing their praise even though they know of the problems must be Apple troll employees. I must laugh at all the people on here willing to pay the high price for an I phone and then willing to turn off all the functions that you pay for just so you can say you own an I phone ...It is hilarious....

I am VERY glad you are happy, but I just can't deal with the Windows Phone 7 'metro' interface. I have read that the phones approach the iPhone for ease of use, and stability of the OS. However, having had a Windows phone for two years, and receiving NO SUPPORT in the way of OS upgrades, or ANYTHING, to improve stability or usability, I went with the iPhone 4S this time and I am very happy with the choice.

Users who are spending a lot of time bashing Apple about battery life should be aware that other smartphone users are seeing the same thing.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/17/samsung-commits-to-improve-smartphone-battery -life-in-2012/

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