Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

Sob...I solved my phantom usage issues (for me it was necessary to: turn off siri raise to speak + reset, logoff appstore, remove all accounts including icloud, reset network settings and then re-add).

Now my drain in 1-2% hr or less (in standby, no difference if I use wifi or cellular data), but when I use the iPhone (checking mail, surfing web) the battery drains very fast.

I tried to measure it: 1% every 2 mins in 3g (only 200 min total with a full charge)

I tried to put in airplane mode and use wifi --> 1% every 6-7 min (it seems correct, 10 hours)

If I use wifi but leave the cellular data on, the drain is always 1% every 2 mins. It seems to stop when I put in airplane mode.

Any ideas?

I bought an iphone 4S 16GB on 5.0 on Wednesday, and I found about this tread today. Here is my status after 2 completely charging cycles.

Always OFF - bluetooth, push, setting time zone, location-based iAds , celular data, iCloud

Always ON - WiFi , Siri (with raise to speak) , all other location services

Usage - 2Hours, 29 minutes

Standby - 8 hours, 27 minutes

Battery % - 65%

what do you think guys?

Not sure 100% but seems like a normal...

Yeah! Thanks for the tip and hope it helps more people.

I think this was the first and the last time I bought an iPhone!!!

My wife and I both got new 4s iPhones a couple weeks ago..  Both have battery life that is far worse than my 4 year old OG iPhone.  Mine is a clearly worse than her's. Last night we plugged in at the same time.  Even though my bat was 20% lower than hers - my charge was much more rapid.  Went from under 10% to over 80% in less than 30 mins while hers was still around half.

I think my battery is reporting a full charge before its actually fully charged.  No fun.  I am worried about the long term impact on my battery life.

I've had it since the week after release. I've had my battery changed just in case it was the battery rather than the software, and i've found that 9 times out of ten, my battery will go from 100% to 20% in 3 hours and 30 minutes of usage. Neither the changing of the battery nor the 5.0.1 update has solved this problem.

I know those estimates are never accurate, but it's down from the quoted 8 hours from apple by more than 50% that's ridiculous!

Turning on your iCloud on your iPhone or any other iOS device can also be the cause of decreasing battery meter dramatically. Because its always checks whether you have added or changed any setting or not in you iOS device.

And it also uses location based services. So turn off all location services and iCloud. Switch it on when you needed.

Hope this will help you to increase the battery life a bit.

casey2008 wrote:

 

My wife and I both got new 4s iPhones a couple weeks ago..  Both have battery life that is far worse than my 4 year old OG iPhone.  Mine is a clearly worse than her's. Last night we plugged in at the same time.  Even though my bat was 20% lower than hers - my charge was much more rapid.  Went from under 10% to over 80% in less than 30 mins while hers was still around half.

 

I think my battery is reporting a full charge before its actually fully charged.  No fun.  I am worried about the long term impact on my battery life.

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

Hey david,

how could my device (4S) remember all the apps, mails, contacts after a setup as a new iphone?

Does it really work without a backup in cloud or on my pc?

I have a strong battery-drain in my office, where only a bad network, esp. Data-network exists. When i turn the mobile data off, the battery lasts much longer (which has to be). Outside and at home the network is much stronger, so i dont have a drain there.

I want to to the reset, but iam not sure about all my apps and how i arranged them onthe different screens and so on ...

Thx

Well, I did everything posted here to save what battery life I could. In the end, I called Apple and had my iPhone replaced. New serial number C39GM******* the iPhone I received was a brand new one. I've had no issues at all. The battery lasts twice as long now. I knew it was more of a hardware problem on my end. The battery on my old phone was discharging very quickly. Now it's up to par with my old iPhone 4. For those of you still having issues, contact Apple directly. Tell them everything you've done to remedy the problem. Good Luck...

My old serial was: C39GL******

Reset All Settings does NOT erase data. It only re-sets personalization and network settings. Data and apps remain intact.

Erase All Content and Settings WILL ERASE EVERYTHING. Without a backup, you can't recover from it.

buxbuster wrote:

 

[...] I am trying to find the culprit by looking from the outside-in. All the people trying something and posting their experiences online are looking at the problem from the outside-in. A very valuable resource I might add which isn't harvested enough by Apple ( in this case )

Indeed.

It's also time for a simple reminder for new folks:

Standby drain issues (easier to isolate because there is no user interaction):

• Achieving a no drain whatsoever scenario during standby is impossible - there is at least 0.5% standby drain per hour, on top of which you have to further add automatic usage drain(from network-centric apps, mail autocheck etc) as background processing counts towards usage time as per Apple's definition.
• Idle no drain at all for hours simply means a faulty battery indicator which will behave in a non linear way i.e. sudden drops, weird charge cycles and such
• The types of drain that were a real problem were in the 7-10%+ range per hour. 1-2% with a complex setup is quite reasonable. One should then note that with a problem drain, 10% will drain the phone in 10 hours, so if someone has a combination of standby/usage hours beyond 8-10hrs he cannot be having the problem i.e. for instance someone with 20hrs+ standby has no problem whatever is the usage time.

Considerations:

• Logically, a problematic drain condition will most likely exist irrespective of standby or use and hence will of course affect usage time, on top of the specs. The specs are 6hrs 3G internet.
• The more the setup polls the internet frequently (apps, settings, mail), the more this will cristalize those 6hrs right after disconnecting from the charger i.e. contiguous hours. Data push/pull is 3G internet use - you don't need to be browsing a web page per se. Using airplane mode/cellular data off might alleviate some of that when you're not using the phone.
• Weak signal/coverage will further drain the battery. Someone entering a location with lower-weird coverage might benefit from resetting the phone if he remains in that zone for some time.
• Of course, closing background apps/turning stuff off will lower processing and network access, which will lower drain - that goes without saying. http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

Things that will most likely help when you have an out of spec drain - see Rolandmirenda/Buxbuster/davidch/Miless posts for actual steps:

• Reset with full discharge/charge
• iCloud reinitialize
• Full 5.0.1 release reinstall
• Proper sim card
• Apps being corrected by respective devs
• Knowing Apple's specs and having reasonable expectations - there is no magic.

Good luck!

How can i know if my problem with battery is software or not??

davidch wrote:

 

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

Although your stuff has helped quite a few users, be real. The standby spec is 200hrs so that means 0.5% per hour (100%/200) - bare - so the drain will never go under that, even less so with additionnal polling etc. I have never seen anyone with <0.5% drain per hour. I mean, have you ever seen that?