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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

May 17, 2012 10:32 AM in response to Mosab Osama

You cannot compare the iPhone 4s to an older Blackberry. Very different phones and the iPhone is much more data intensive, so will use a lot more power.


I would absolutely recommend that you update to 5.1.1


Do it OTA and it should be quicker as it won't download and install the entire OS, just the update. Just be aware the 5.1.1 fixes a number of bugs, but does nothing to increase battery life. Don't expect anything different in that area.

May 17, 2012 5:55 PM in response to Scarface.

OK - I'm new to this forum and trying to read through all this to see if someone could help.


I have iphone 4s; updated it to 5.1.1 the other day and my battery life has tanked. Before it, I could use the iPhone all day and rarely got down to 10% (let alone use my Mophie Battery pack) - since the update, I've had to recharge it after a couple of hours, it drains Mophie and an hour later it's already down 25% from the recharge.


I reset all settings and reset the network and I don't see an improvement. Anyone else got some helpful suggestions?


Thanks, Jim

May 17, 2012 8:16 PM in response to chernjam

A few things that people have tried here:


1. Delete any exchange email account, reboot phone, and reinstall the exchange account


2. Reset network settings


3. Reset all settings


4. Do a few cycles of drain to 0% then charge to 100% and leave it charging past 100% for an hour or so.


No convincing evidence that any of these work though. Works for some and not for others

May 18, 2012 3:54 PM in response to johnEavocado

johnEavocado wrote:


that was certainly a long read and now at the end we are getting the usual internet ******* match. whats funny is that the only thing in this thread that has actually helped battery life is ace's method i dont get texts at night, because most people know are sleeping, its an effective method, epsecially if you are away from any sort of charger ie camping/long bike trips/ fishing trips etc

And, if you know you are going to be out of range of a cell, turning the radios off will save your battery power until you really need to use it. A good thing to note when traveling in remote locations.

May 18, 2012 3:57 PM in response to Jameson!

Jameson! wrote:


Really? At 8+ days, Ace says his usage on the phone is ~~2hrs. Ace is barely using his phone at all and is turning it nearly off for many hours per day. Not my definition of effective.


I have most everything on, 24/7 (Wifi, BT, 3G, Push Email for Exchange, 3 email accounts, most location sevices). I charge every night while sleeping. I followed the numerous suggestions in here which suggest restoring the phone as new when setting it up. I get 2 days out of a charge, if for some reason I cannot charge on a given night. I actually USE the phone all day and am satisfied with that 2 day capability. I spent $400 for my iPhone and prefer that it be more than a decorative item on my table or belt clip.

Who put you in charge of deciding how ACE can use his phone? If that's how he wants to use it, that's fine. Some people enjoy seeing how fast they can play a game of solitaire, I like to go slow, because the idea of solitaire is to take up slack time. Who's right? I get about the same battery life as you, except for Push email. I don't use email on the phone much, so I don't need to know exactly when the latest spam arrives..

May 18, 2012 4:11 PM in response to Jameson!

Jameson! wrote:


It is nonsense to turn your phone off, then claim extra long battery life. zSkeptic was being sarchastic and that fact went right over your head...... Not surprising!

That's my sister-in-law's approach to extended battery life. She just turns her iPhone 4 off at night. Makes it hard to locate when she forgets where she put it, though. Grin.

May 19, 2012 3:30 PM in response to Scarface.

All this talk about the 3Gs getting equally crappy battery life has got me thinking.


What if all .5 generation devices are going to be like this for Apple? After all, when they release these interim devices they almost always tout new features etc.


So....my thinking is that the original R&D was not really performed with the foresight of a new phone later down the line. Especially a new phone that does not change in physical specifications.


Think about it...new things are added, yet no larger battery added. I think it's going to be a continued and inherent issue with intermediary mobile products in Apple's line.


Looking back, this makes sense as I didn't own the 3GS and only owned the "new" models.


The iPhone 4 to iPhone 4S transition was my first time, and even then I noticed slightly decreased battery life on the 4 with iOS 5 - but nothing like what I am experiencing on the 4S also with 5.0.


The truly alarming part is that it's all down hill from here, as the phone's battery will continue to deteriorate.

May 19, 2012 5:51 PM in response to Scarface.

Hello, everyone. Could you tell me if my battery usage is good/average or not for the iPhone 4s? Thanks.


Note:


-Location Servive "On" for only FaceBook, Siri, another app I use, and the Waze (GPS) app.

-System Services all off except "Cell Network Search"

-Bluetooth off

-Auto-Brightness on, but on low setting

-Cellular Data on

-Romaing: Voice Only

-Everything on iCloud off except "Find my iPhone" (never use iCould)

Also: I got FB (FaceBook) notifications here and there over 3G and throughout those 7 hours of usage, it was all 3G except a restaurant's Wi-Fi, which I used for about maybe 35mins total. Didn't call anyone or use phone to talk. I texted here and there as well. Took a few photos and maybe 2-3 short (less than 30s) videos. I also listened to music the entire time, except probably 15mins max. Anyway, picture below:


User uploaded file


Thanks!

May 20, 2012 12:14 AM in response to Scarface.

Well this is what worked for me.....Go to Settings>Carrier. Turn "Automatic" to Off. The phone will start searching for available carriers. Select your carrier manually, and yeap........problems solved (for me at least).... I saw an instant battery spike. From 60% it went up to 78% in a moment and stopped restarting completly ...I hope this helps!!!!!! Geettings from Greece!

iPhone 4s Battery Life?

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