Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

gabrielgbau wrote:

 

I charged my phone until it reached 95% (I had to leave so I couldn't wait for it to get 100%) and enabled the Wi-Fi, and now, something more than 12 hours, here's my stats: 1 hour and 29 minutes of Use and 11 hours and 22 minutes of Standby, and the battery is now at 69%. I in fact used the internet on my phone for 15~20 minutes, received some messages with iMessage, took something about 20 pictures (5% drained in 10 minutes with those) and received also one call. I don't really think this is good battery life, but I want to share this to see if I'm just being too much paranoid with my phone. Thanks!

Well, many will differ, but to me, as long as I can get through a full day of normal usage (for me), and the battery still has more than 50%, I would be quite satisfied.  Mine does much better than that, but realistically, most cell phone users (smartphones) recharge at least once daily, and heavy users of 4G phones often have to recharge two, ro even three times.  I am quite pleased with my battery life.  Of course, using only 10% per day would be even better, but not a practical need.

Samithb wrote:

 

I replaced my Iphone 4S yesterday. Now the battery life is better than before. But still my 3GS & 4 is better than this

Give it few complete recharges to build up to full power.  The lithium polymer battery needs some initial charges to attain full storage capacity.

I'm having the same problem with my iPhone 4 after I upgraded to iOS 5. I was playing a youtube video and noticed the phone getting really hot. The battery is draining a lot more so that I'm worried it wont even last 2 hours. there were some suggestions in other threads... I'm turning off iCloud & Bluetooth. Let's see if these suggestions helps. I wish Apple would say something about this.

Hey Everyone, i just got back from the Apple Store at Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, WI. I was as well having battery problems with my iPhone 4s battery decreasing at an alarming rate, the guy at the Genius Bar showed me some stuff in the Settings that was causing my iPhone to drain quickly. After he messed with some of the settings my iphone is now running much more effiecient and longer. Here are the things he did to improve my battery life, hope it all can help you as well.

Notifications-(Settings>Notifications) Go through the list of noticfications in your IN NOTIFICATION CENTER and turn off notifications for applications you find unnescesary for your iphone to send you notifications about. Example is VEVO, i dont really need a notification to tell me whos performing on Jay Leno...

Location Services- ( Settings>Location Services) Go through the list of applications that are listed in the Lcation Services tab and turn off applications you do not need your iphone to use your location for.

System Services( Settings> Notifications> Scroll to bottom> System Services) The guy at the Apple Store told me this is where the most critical part of your battery drainage comes from. Turn ALL of the Items listed OFF EXCEPT for the following, (Cell Network Search, Traffic, and Status Bar Icon)

Brightness-(Settings>Brightness) Keep Brightness at the half point to the lowest setting possible. i also kept Auto- Brightness on.

Software Update-(Settings>General>Software Update (IOS 5.0. only) ** IF YOU DONT HAVE IOS 5.0 DOWNLOADED THEN PLUG YOUR DEVICE TO ITUNES AND CLICK THE CHECK FOR SOFTWARE UPDATE AND FOLLOW THE ONSCREEN DIRECTIONS... Make Sure your device is running the most current software, as of MARCH 4, 2012, THE MOST UP TO DATE IOS SOFTWARE IS      iOS- 5.0.1

Siri-(Settings>General>Siri)- Turn off Raise to Speak.

Bluetooth- (Settings> General> Bluetooth) Keep Bluetooth off unless you are using something that requires the use of Bluetooth

Auto Lock- (Settings> General> Auto- Lock) Set AUTO- LOCK to 1 Minute,

Mail-(Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Fetch New Data> Turn Fetch Data Off, make sure Push is Off and the Fetch is set to Manually.

Music EQ-( Settings>Music> EQ) I heard from somewhere that keeping EQ OFF will help conserve battery while listening to your tunes.

One last tip is Multitasking, double click the home button and close all the applications that appear. All the Applications that appear in multitasking at that point ARE RUNNING and are draining your battery. Close them out by holding the app down untill it wiggles and a little minus appears in the apps corner, tap the minus, the application should close.

After you do these do a MASTER RESTART OF THE DEVICE. HOLD THE HOME BUTTON AND SLEEP/WAKE BUTTON UNTILL THE SCREEN GOES  BLACK AND CONTINUE TO HOLD DOWN UNTIL THE APPLE LOGO APPEARS THEN DISAPPEARS, ONCE THIS HAPPENS RELEASE THE BUTTONS THEN PRESS DOWN THE SLEEP/WAKE BUTTON UNTIL THE APPLE LOGO APPEARS ON SCREEN THE DEVICE STARTS UP.

HOPE THIS HELPS ALL OF YOU, SURELY DID HELP ME!

If Apple knew who that so called "Genius" is, I think he would be fired...basically he told you how to NOT USE the phone lol If I were you, I think I would have told him that I bought a Smartphone, not a Dumbphone!

It's ridiculous that an Apple employee even gives these kind of advices! Even they don't believe in their own product! Has it come to this?! Really??

Tell me one thing: how much does your battery lasts now?

It's just that I have all of those changes made (and some more), and it lasts me 1 day with pretty much no use at all...just curious...

I had a 3GS until December of last year (2 full years with it) and I had to charge it EVERY single day, and I just used the EDGE connection (not the whole day), because with 3G enabled it wouldn't last half of the day. Fortunately I spend most of my time at home with excelent wi-fi signal so I don't use the carrier's network that much. I'm just not happy because my first 4S (before I replaced it) had twice of battery life than this one has. I really really hope Apple releases the 5.1 this week and this solves everything.

Thanks!

It's not really not that he told me how NOT to use the iPhone,  some of the stuff like turn off location services or notifications for some stuff is actually good because some apps do send you stupid information that's unnecessary and a waste of the phones power. Also, what do you mean by the employee dosent believe in their own products, I don't really get what you mean. And I will let you know tomorrow what my battery is standing at, I didn't go to the store till later in the day and so my battery has a mixture of old settings and newer settings so I will post that tomorrow. Also, I think Apple should be releasing something tomorrow, for some reason within the last few days the check for new software on iTunes has been saying check back on 3-5-12 so hopefully there's something tomorrow, idk, but hopefully it saying that same day for the past few days means something. Sorry if it didn't work for you, but it seems that has been the way for most iPhone users, one way works for some people but not everyone else, Apple better say something on Wednesday when they release the iPad 3.

in page 744, i made a long post about my battery life. check it out there.

at 56% battery left, i got 9 hours usage with some calls, listening music through headphones, browsing with wifi, sms, checking mails. And the standby time was 20 hours.

note that location services and siri were turned off.

Iphoneowner99999 wrote:

 

It's not really not that he told me how NOT to use the iPhone,  some of the stuff like turn off location services or notifications for some stuff is actually good because some apps do send you stupid information that's unnecessary and a waste of the phones power. Also, what do you mean by the employee dosent believe in their own products, I don't really get what you mean. And I will let you know tomorrow what my battery is standing at, I didn't go to the store till later in the day and so my battery has a mixture of old settings and newer settings so I will post that tomorrow. Also, I think Apple should be releasing something tomorrow, for some reason within the last few days the check for new software on iTunes has been saying check back on 3-5-12 so hopefully there's something tomorrow, idk, but hopefully it saying that same day for the past few days means something. Sorry if it didn't work for you, but it seems that has been the way for most iPhone users, one way works for some people but not everyone else, Apple better say something on Wednesday when they release the iPad 3.

What I meant was:

- If an Apple employee tells you that the solution for the battery drain problem is to do those changes (even though probably he didn't say it like that, but by suggesting these changes, that is what he is doing!), then we are facing a real problem!

Those changes are meant to optimize the battery life. Those kind of changes are the ones that a person should make (accordingly to ones needs) in order to squeeze the max out of the battery. But those changes should not be pointed out as the only responsible for the miserable lifetime of the phone's battery (when I say miserable, I'm refering to something like 1day from 100% to 0% with EVERYTHING turned Off). See the difference? Even he (an Apple emplyoee) doesn't believe in the specs that Apple advertised and that is why he told you to turn those things off when it should be all the way around! Those are the features that should make you want an iPhone! You should be able to use those features (in a moderate way) and get a reasonable battery lifetime.

He could tell you that, in order to get a few more hours, you could perform those changes. That's a completely different thing! "Turn off the things that make the iPhone a Smartphone"? That cannot be the answer and reveals something that is concerning me now: maybe it's supposed to last so few hours, even with everything turned off! That is what I felt was implied in the Genius answer that you exposed here...

BUT if that's the case, then we have been fooled by false advertising and Apple should come clean and admit that! They should put the cards on the table: "iPhone 4S offers many amazing things, but lasts only a few hours" - something like this...then the customers would buy it (or not), but knowing what to REALLY expect...

Of course I understand what you're saying: there are also notifications that I disable, I turn off bluetooth when not in use, etc...I don't think that "If I have an iPhone, let's just turn everything on, just because it's there, even if I don't use it...".

I'm just saying that, even with many oh those things on, that shouldn't prevent me of getting reasonable battery lifetime, like it's advertised by Apple...

Another question rises: "What is reasonable battery lifetime"?

To me?

The only objective thing I can think of is: With everything turned off, only a few phone calls and text messages, no web surfing, no wi-fi usage, no games, no photos, no music, it should last 2/3 days...instead, it lasts 1 day...I can't even imagine if I started to turn things ON and actually USE THE PHONE...lol God forbid that!

I'm sorry for the long answer, and I couldn't quite express what I think because English isn't my native language.

Well, let the forum know what are the results of the changes. Hopefully that solved your problem!

Cheers!

gabrielgbau wrote:

 

I had a 3GS until December of last year (2 full years with it) and I had to charge it EVERY single day, and I just used the EDGE connection (not the whole day), because with 3G enabled it wouldn't last half of the day. Fortunately I spend most of my time at home with excelent wi-fi signal so I don't use the carrier's network that much. I'm just not happy because my first 4S (before I replaced it) had twice of battery life than this one has. I really really hope Apple releases the 5.1 this week and this solves everything.

Thanks!

I am sure the IOS 5.1 will NOT solve everything.  If you sell 40 million of ANY product, some of them will have problems, be DOA, or have strange glitches because several components are at minimal standards, and if they combine into one device, it may not work well.  Apple is currently sourcing some components from more than one company, such as the batteries.  That suggests that there may be some inconsistencies, and that spells trouble.  So, I am sure that IOS 5.1 will HELP some people, but not others.  Will it solve everyone's problem, NO.

j_brahma wrote:

 

in page 744, i made a long post about my battery life. check it out there.

 

at 56% battery left, i got 9 hours usage with some calls, listening music through headphones, browsing with wifi, sms, checking mails. And the standby time was 20 hours.

 

note that location services and siri were turned off.

Location services can eat a lot of battery power, but I doubt Siri uses any unless you USE it a lot.  Those who like to play with Siri will probably notice a drain.  I use it rarely, but there are some things it does superbly, and other things it doesn't do very well, and some rather surprising things it COULD do, that it doesn't, like "please turn down the volume 2 levels', or 'turn off the bluetooth, please'.  One wonders WHY it doesn't do those rather obvious things.  Maybe with IOS6.....

I have three problems with my 4s. First, phantom usage. Secondly battery drain 30% a night on airplAne mode.finally  when I shut it off, it automatically restarts. What can I do?

Exchange it for a new one.

Are they gonna exchange it . I am in Greece .

Stated generally, I think those of us in here fall into two categories:

1. Those iPhone users who are disappointed with what they can do on one full battery charge, because, for them, the battery simply does not last long enough, and;

2. Those iPhone users who are experiencing one (or more) design or operating system problems that manifest themselves most visibily in the phone draining a full charge in, say, one day, even with it not in use.

To draw an analogy: My car has a hole in its fuel tank which, obviously, has a profound negative effect on my fuel efficiency; I go through a full tank in 24 hours. Not running my air conditioner in the summer will save fuel, and may be something to consider if I want to maximize efficiency, but doesn't do anything to help the problem; I can shut off my headlights, radio, A/C, ****, I can leave the car parked in my driveway, and it'll still go through a tank of gas in a day.

Apple needs to fix the hole in my iPhone's tank. If I want to do things like calibrate the battery, take care to shut off when I'm not using them all things that'll use power, fine, but those things will have little to no effect on my phone's functionality as long as its problems are so foundational.