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Q: 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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Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

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  • by melissa162,

    melissa162 melissa162 Nov 16, 2011 4:58 AM in response to CharlesJanssen
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    Nov 16, 2011 4:58 AM in response to CharlesJanssen

    I disagree. This is my first iPhone.  I did not migrate from another device. At this moment, since last full charge, my usage is 40  minutes and my standby is 1 hour 12  minutes.  My battery is at 83%. I can't get through a morning with this phone.

  • by CharlesJanssen,

    CharlesJanssen CharlesJanssen Nov 16, 2011 5:07 AM in response to melissa162
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:07 AM in response to melissa162

    Did you update to 5.0.1 and iTunes to 10.5.1? What is your wifi-sync set at? Is it on? Try switching it off ( and press sync ) and post your findings.

     

    Migration from one phone to the next is one way of this bug showing that was actually confirmed.

  • by davidch,

    davidch davidch Nov 16, 2011 5:10 AM in response to melissa162
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:10 AM in response to melissa162

    melissa162 wrote:

     

    I disagree. This is my first iPhone.  I did not migrate from another device. At this moment, since last full charge, my usage is 40  minutes and my standby is 1 hour 12  minutes.  My battery is at 83%. I can't get through a morning with this phone.

    It does not necessarily matter if you upraded or not. Corrupt system level settings created by an iOS 5 bug in the original release that caused battery recalibration issues, etc.  Just installing the update does not fix the issue in most cases.  You need to clear out those settings and recalibate the battery.  Follow the procedure below in order.  It does fix the problem in most cases.

     

     

    Go through these steps to address the battery after updating to iOS 5.0.1:

     

    1. Reset all settings (settings app-> general-> reset)

     

    2. Go through initial setup steps (lang, wifi, siri, enable location, etc) and choose setup as new phone (don't worry your apps, data, contacts, mail will still be there). Do NOT restore from iCloud or iTunes (It can copy back corrupt settings)

     

    3. Turn off system location services timezone and iAd

     

    4. Fully discharge battery  (tilll it shuts off with the spinning wheel)

     

    5. Fully recharge battery (overnight if possible)

     

    In my experience this improves the Standby battery drain issue significantly in most cases.  It reduces drain from 2-4% or more per hr to 0.5% or less. It has worked for many, many users now. If it does not work after a few try's you may have a real battery or hardware issue and should contact Apple.  Good Luck!

     

    More details on my thread here if needed: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3484755?start=0&tstart=0

  • by javidfromlouisville,

    javidfromlouisville javidfromlouisville Nov 16, 2011 5:14 AM in response to davidch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:14 AM in response to davidch

    The page cannot be found that you linked.

  • by Matt Hardy,

    Matt Hardy Matt Hardy Nov 16, 2011 5:15 AM in response to davidch
    Level 1 (140 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Nov 16, 2011 5:15 AM in response to davidch

    davidch wrote:

    Do NOT restore from iCloud or iTunes (It can copy back corrupt settings)

    I think a restore from backup should be fine.

    What a nightmare if a backup can not be used.

  • by davidch,

    davidch davidch Nov 16, 2011 5:18 AM in response to javidfromlouisville
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:18 AM in response to javidfromlouisville

    javidfromlouisville wrote:

     

    The page cannot be found that you linked.

    sorry about that, here it is: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3484755

  • by MikeCam,

    MikeCam MikeCam Nov 16, 2011 5:21 AM in response to Scarface.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:21 AM in response to Scarface.

    Think i've figured out the bug, at least in my phone, my phone when it should be in standby, is being used as shown by the usage screen. I'd have for example, 7 hours standby and 5-6 hours of usage (battery about to die), when in actual fact I would've used it for a few minutes maximum, and i'd have cellular data, brightness, location, notifications completely off. After 4 years of using an iPhone, this has never happened.. pretty shocking coming from Apple to be honest, hope this bug will be fixed soon!

     

    Also, it's native processes that are using up the usage as I have no apps whatsoever installed that are third party.

  • by melissa162,

    melissa162 melissa162 Nov 16, 2011 5:21 AM in response to CharlesJanssen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:21 AM in response to CharlesJanssen

    I did upgrade it 5.0.1 because I thought it would fix the issue. My battery issue has been from day one.  I also did all the things that davidch said to do above. I have been following this thread from the get go for possible solutions because I am by no means a tech expert.  Nothing has worked. Went to the Genius Bar and they did a test of the battery and said it was fine. I know that some things are working for some people, but unfortunately nothing is working for me.  I have to charge this phone every couple of hours and forget it if I want to take it out for the day with no charger available.  Since the battery was "fine" at the Apple store they would not give me a new device.  I may go back and see them again and talk to another Genius, and have him/her sit there with me and watch the phone drain to nothing while it sits on the counter (this would only take about 5 minutes of their time...lol). I don't know what else to do. You  have all been very helpful but I'm at my wits end now.

  • by Jameson!,

    Jameson! Jameson! Nov 16, 2011 5:24 AM in response to davidch
    Level 1 (40 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:24 AM in response to davidch

    I'm quickly becoming convinced that this battery issue is more focused around the new antenna configuration, or how iOS 5 deals with managing cellular signals.   During my one hour commute, I am losing about 5% of battery life, with the phone sitting in my pocket.   When in the office or at home, I'm connected to Wifi and battery life shows no similar drops at high rate.   I left the house at 100% this morning.   An hour later got to the office at 95%.   Now, after yet another hour has passed here in the office, I'm still at 95%.   Yes, I did the restore settings thing a day or two ago, and it really didn't seem to make a difference on my 64gb 4s.   I got the phone on day one.

     

    Frankly, I get through the entire day with at least 20% battery remaining when I hit the sack, so I'm content to deal with my 4s as is.   I have always charged every night and simply contiue to do so.   I have everything on, except for the Time Zone setting.   Push for Exchange (office) and Yahoo mail.   Fetch-15min for Gmail.

  • by davidch,

    davidch davidch Nov 16, 2011 5:24 AM in response to Matt Hardy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:24 AM in response to Matt Hardy

    Matt Hardy wrote:

     

    davidch wrote:

    Do NOT restore from iCloud or iTunes (It can copy back corrupt settings)

    I think a restore from backup should be fine.

    What a nightmare if a backup can not be used.

    backup can be still used, "but" you need to go through this process afterwards.  all your apps, contacts, email, data, etc will still be there as before.  only basic system level setting are set back to default (i.e. wallpaper, network, screen brightness, etc).

  • by MikeCam,

    MikeCam MikeCam Nov 16, 2011 5:29 AM in response to Jameson!
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 5:29 AM in response to Jameson!

    I thought that also! until I tried doing the exact same things with airplane mode on which supposedly pauses all antennas from sending/receiving signals went down just as fast, which is pretty weird

  • by LauraMackie,

    LauraMackie LauraMackie Nov 16, 2011 5:36 AM in response to MikeCam
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 16, 2011 5:36 AM in response to MikeCam

    Im going to try turning off cellular data in location services.  We'll see I'd that pinpoints the antenna issue   At this point I'm giving up hope and my 30 days are up tomorrow.

  • by Matt Hardy,

    Matt Hardy Matt Hardy Nov 16, 2011 6:16 AM in response to davidch
    Level 1 (140 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Nov 16, 2011 6:16 AM in response to davidch

    davidch wrote:

     

    Matt Hardy wrote:

     

    davidch wrote:

    Do NOT restore from iCloud or iTunes (It can copy back corrupt settings)

    I think a restore from backup should be fine.

    What a nightmare if a backup can not be used.

    backup can be still used, "but" you need to go through this process afterwards.  all your apps, contacts, email, data, etc will still be there as before.  only basic system level setting are set back to default (i.e. wallpaper, network, screen brightness, etc).

     

    I followed the advice of one person, to do a full restore of the phone that is losing battery charge fast.

    After full restore I set up new phone, and synced apps/data from icloud.

     

    First report is:

    100% battery life.

    7Minutes usage

    2hrs standby.

     

    So far so good...

  • by CharlesJanssen,

    CharlesJanssen CharlesJanssen Nov 16, 2011 6:21 AM in response to melissa162
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 6:21 AM in response to melissa162

    Did you also try to completely wipe your phone and install with default setup( you can use iCloud and all location settings )? Don't sync with iTunes and see what that does for your battery.

  • by atti636,

    atti636 atti636 Nov 16, 2011 6:24 AM in response to SirJ4ck
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 16, 2011 6:24 AM in response to SirJ4ck

    Don't do anything. Wait for the next IOS update. :-(

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