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 18, 2012 12:34 AM in response to enx23

enx23 wrote:


@ricky_tang



Few smartphones will last a full day on one charge with heavy use.


Almost all Nokia's smartphones last more than a day on one charge with heavy use! Nokia's smartphones are around 20-30% percent of the smartphones worldwide!

Sorry guys, I CAN'T resist this...


So, how much is Nokia going to send you for all this? Are you a Nokia employee? Stockholder?

Nokia lost 5% market share last year, and Apple almost doubled theirs. Nokia is somewhat in danger of exiting the US market entirely if their Windows Phone effort doesn't meet with some response.

Jan 18, 2012 12:37 AM in response to 1AppleADayNoWay

1AppleADayNoWay wrote:


You do miss your engineering days it seems lolll. Don't worry about my expectations, for I have none. I don't have, nor plan on having a smartphone anytime soon. I don't want a "little computer" in a phone form factor that can't even do excellent call quality. I have a real computer and that's enough. I no longer own a TV, and I haven't had cable or any such thing for a decade now. I'm never buying a blu-ray player. I'm never going back to social networking. I'm analyzing the possibility of going internet-less now and relying on hotspots for "just in time" access lollll. I might try the Nokia C1-01 because I can appreciate call quality engineering and low cost prepaid for casual use. Less is more.

Then why don't you just go buy your Luddite special phone and leave us alone. You say you have no need of social networking, yet, here you are, doing just THAT.

Jan 18, 2012 12:41 AM in response to Chris_Germany

@Chris_Germany

I called you a liar, it is not a big secret...your messages are not coherent.


Let's say i'm wrong and your test is real and not a trick...

You didn't answered my question: what is you test good for? which is the help for the users who want to use their iphone (not buying one and drive for holiday, shut everything off and don't use it)?


Thank you!

Chris_Germany wrote:


ALiAR \

this is the same way which I've made.

See my post and screen shot on page 602.


My try with "do nothing test" shows that my iPhone 4s can by on for 8 days!

(For some users I am a liar but I don’t care. They won’t to believe me.)


These are the results: 0,2 - 0,3% per hour in standby

Normal using = 3 days and I am really happy with it.

Jan 18, 2012 12:43 AM in response to sbailey4

sbailey4 wrote:


Speaking of, how is the return/exchange of the 4s coming so you can sell it and get one of these cheaper ones you mention or even the iPhone 4? You are aware you have a 1 year warranty yes? And Oct to Jan is not a year remember? Just curious.


Maybe he works for an insurance company and thinks that because October was last year, his warranty has run out like you have to pay a new copay for anything after Jan 1 of the new year...

Jan 18, 2012 12:49 AM in response to enx23

Since you broght up Nokia, how about the N9? Do you honestly expect a phone to make it an entire day with only 5 hours of HSDPA browsing time? That phone would die under my use. Nokia and Motorola phones are known to have great talk time. Unfortunately for them, smartphones aren't used only for talking.


If you're going to troll, try something more sophisticated. You're beginning to sound like a Nokia shill.

Jan 18, 2012 12:51 AM in response to Jameson!

Jameson! wrote:


Oh for crying out loud....... iOS 5 created battery drain problems on any iPhone model it is installed on. How can it possibly be a hardware problem? This panic has caused everyone to put logic and common sense aside and run wild to any possible answer.

My wife, who uses the 3GS, is a heavy user, and complained about short battery life when I updated her phone to IOS5. I went through and turned off all the stuff that she wouldn't be using, and was defaulted to ON. Now her battery use if pretty much similar to mine, although she uses her phone more. On the other hand, she doesn't have a dual core processor, and she doesn't have Siri, or a number of other hardware things that, presumably, must be powered to be useful. You just can't get something for nothing. IOS5 added a number of additional features, some that may be very useful for some users, and not for others, but leaving those on does incur some additional battery use. It probably wasn't a good idea for Apple to default everything to ON, in retrospect.

Jan 18, 2012 12:53 AM in response to 1AppleADayNoWay

1AppleADayNoWay wrote:


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.

Better start those funeral arrangements, because there are a LOT of people that are that clueless right now, and who can't read, ro write their native language.

Jan 18, 2012 12:56 AM in response to Scarface.

For the people who are having static and battery problems: The iOS 5.0 betas introduced a battery bug during development. It happenened to me sometime during the middle of the releases, but it was fixed (for me at least) before the GM was released. If you can, return your phone and get a refund. If you're not in your return window anymore, wait for a fix or use your phone's warranty to get a replacement.

Jan 18, 2012 1:14 AM in response to ricky_tang

I am not a Nokia employee, I have never been one, and I will never be one. I have never gotten any payments, or financial benefits from Nokia and I will never get either!


Nokia has not been in USA market for years. I do not see how Nokia can exit from a USA market when it has not been there for years! I know that Nokia is trying to get to USA market but let's see what will happen!


@ricky_tang


ricky_tang wrote:


Since you broght up Nokia, how about the N9?

I do not know about N9. I know about E51 and E52.



Do you honestly expect a phone to make it an entire day with only 5 hours of HSDPA browsing time?

I didn't write in my posts about doing HSDPA browsing the entire day on Nokia smartphones.


This is a forum about complains regarding the iPhone 4S and its battery life issues! Let the complains begin!

Jan 18, 2012 3:09 AM in response to {Jackol}

Hey Jack,


Now thats called 'stats'....Quite amazing for a 4S....But still I would have 16 hrs usage and 3 days standby on 3gs sometimes and that was amazing....

Anyway coming to your screen shot, your usage and battery life depends on what you have used...If you have used wifi and mobile data with location services on for camera and few other stuff and with few phone calls, then this is an awesome result....I would personally fly to your place connect my phone to ur mac and restore my phone and go...

My 4S lags a day behind in standby and 1 hr in usage from your phone....

Good luck....Do not meddle with your phone anymore....

Jan 18, 2012 3:22 AM in response to Scarface.

Okay here's some results.


Cellular Data ON 3G

7 hours standby

2 hours usage

Most services on - 3G, location services, no WIFI, no mail sync at all.


Cellular Data OFF

Occasional WIFI usage for browsing

Occasional Location Services ON for looking up where I am on a preloaded (via wifi) google maps.

Approximately 1.5 hours of music in the car with cable, not loadspeaker


Battery usage results


Still doubts? For me (and apparently many others) it is obvious there is an issue with the cellular data chip.


User uploaded file


And not only with that cellular chip to be honest, because:


  • Out of those 6 hours usage, no more than 2.5 hours are real, maximum 3 hours. I could consistently see the usage time going up, without me using the phone AT ALL. That is a software issue for sure
  • I noticed when listening to music in my car the phone lights up from time to time, every few minutes, for no apparent reason. Then I looked carefully (as much as possible while driving) and it seems the phone does NOT transition smoothly from one cell to another and loses it's connection, then reconnected to the next accessible cell, lighting up the screen.
  • Probably because of the above problem of switching between cells, I get often dropped calls, where I did not at all with my 3G doing the same road to work.


I think this clearly shows there is a problem with iPhone 4S, as much as I'd hate to admit it. I paid 750 euro for my phone, that is slightly above $1000.

Jan 18, 2012 3:24 AM in response to enx23

enx23 wrote:


I am not a Nokia employee, I have never been one, and I will never be one. I have never gotten any payments, or financial benefits from Nokia and I will never get either!


Nokia has not been in USA market for years. I do not see how Nokia can exit from a USA market when it has not been there for years! I know that Nokia is trying to get to USA market but let's see what will happen!


@ricky_tang


ricky_tang wrote:


Since you broght up Nokia, how about the N9?

I do not know about N9. I know about E51 and E52.



Do you honestly expect a phone to make it an entire day with only 5 hours of HSDPA browsing time?

I didn't write in my posts about doing HSDPA browsing the entire day on Nokia smartphones.


This is a forum about complains regarding the iPhone 4S and its battery life issues! Let the complains begin!

Gee, now you can see the future. How do you know that you will never, for instance, be given a few shares of Nokia stock?

As for the USA market, Nokia was my FIRST cell phone, and I still have in a drawer.

It seems that most smartphone users are more or less non-plussed with their battery life. It remains to be seen if the hugh battery on the RAZR Maxx will satisfy users who want more and more features, and thinner, lighter, phones.

Jan 18, 2012 3:36 AM in response to tutin12

What it clearly shows is that you really don't understand the technical aspects of a modern smartphone. Just because the phon is sitting around with the screen off, doesn't mean it isn't doing anything. It's a small computer, and is always doing something. When it checks for email, or communicates with the cell network, or gets a signal that a text message is coming, or is checking each minute to see if any alarm is set for that minute, or it is checking to see if you have moved since the last check, that is considered 'usage'. Not ALL internal functions increment usage, but many do. In the absence of clear definition of just what increments usage from Apple, we just have to guess. However, there SHOULD be a significant difference between usage and standby times, so if your are essentially the same, you probably have a rogue process that didn't terminate, and is continuing to use the processor. There are some issues with the cell phone tower switching it would seem, which I hope are addressed by IOS5.1.

BTW, you paid way too much for your iPhone.

Jan 18, 2012 4:09 AM in response to Scarface.

Apple please fix our iphone4$ the battery life is disappointing and the static noise problem makes it seem like a cheap piece of .... I can definitely tell that call quality on my 4S is poor compared to any phone I have used.

And yes, this forum and posts are meant to complain about apple not providing what it promises/advertises!

The update 5.1 better be good otherwise iphone 4S will be the biggest scam. Few people complain about batterylife because they don't understadn what they should be getting, their mentality is "this is a smartphone, it should be charged frequently because it is a small computer.. :O" and thus don't understand the game apple is playing.

Jan 18, 2012 4:30 AM in response to rphunte42

@rphunte42


Hey man, you seem to be consistently agressive in your answers. I don't really need this virtual arguments, I got enough troubles to solve on daily basis already. I am providing obvious info, backed with screenshots and yet you explain to me how-things-work.


"Just because the phon is sitting around with the screen off, doesn't mean it isn't doing anything. It's a small computer, and is always doing something. When it checks for email, or communicates with the cell network, or gets a signal that a text message is coming, or is checking each minute to see if any alarm is set for that minute, or it is checking to see if you have moved since the last check, that is considered 'usage'."


I don't argue it does nothing when sitting around, clearly it does (though you did not read again, I have no mail sync, no locaiton services etc), but I somewhat speak english - the word USAGE means when you USE the phone, not CPU TIME consumed by background processes. I am a senior IT architect and country manager in a multinational IT company, do you really want to argue over the meaning of the word "USAGE"? Nothing to do with mobiles though, but user interface and thereof wording is aimed to the USER's perspective, not technical terms. At least in that Apple are for sure quite good.


"Not ALL internal functions increment usage, but many do."


Okay could be, and probably is, but you do realize we're talking of a difference in hundreds of percent? If I have 2 hours of usage and it says I used the phone for 6 hours, there is clearly something not okay in the background. Or you don't agree?


"However, there SHOULD be a significant difference between usage and standby times, so if your are essentially the same, you probably have a rogue process that didn't terminate, "


You must have at least looked at that big screenshot there, I have 4 days of standby with 6 hours of usage with cellular data off and thereof as result anything that data access caries with it (weather checks, time zones, whatever the phone may be doing in the background that I am not alerted of).


Man, you need to relax, I love my apple devices, likely I have more of them than the average Apple customer (many iphones of ALL generations, 27" mac, 2 ipads etc etc) and I hate the fact there are problems with my phone's battery life. But there ARE and it is a FACT. My Ipad 2 is also on iOS 5.01, with 3g and all bells&whistles enabled lasts forever, I've never even looked at the usage stats, it lasts literally for weeks. Even with Skype over 3G always enabled it still lasts like 4-5 days, I don't know. That is NOT to say I compare the battery of an iPhone and an iPad, cause I feel this is your next argument coming up with highway speed 🙂 It is just to note that iPad2 does not seem to suffer from the same issues, whilst running the same operating system level.


"BTW, you paid way too much for your iPhone."


This is how much it costs in Europe, there's no too much or not enough. 650 to 850 euro or so for the different capacity.

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iPhone 4s Battery Life?

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