Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

PC TECH PLUS wrote:

 

Well not really but some here will tell you yeah thats normal (because of the drain issue). So follow the "reset all settings" process posted several times here and see if that helps. Hot battery it a sign that something not quite right. Ususally corrupt  network or other settings causing it.

Thanks for the quick response! 

 

I think this one is defective and thus going back to Best Buy.  I also have the "echo" during calls problem that is so frequently reported.

 

If the replacement 4S is no better, it's back to the 4 for me.

 

Shame on Apple for releasing such a problematic device.

Based on your post I am assuming you restored your iPhone 4 backup to your new device? If you did DEFINITELY run that reset process and follow exactly.  That is a known problem restoring from older devices.  The simple fix is below (keeps your data and apps) and the problem typically is resolved. Other option is restore as new and manually install all your stuff. Only takes a few min so I would certainly try before taking back to bestbuy and going through all that hassle.

[credit to Davidch for this fix]

For anyone new to the thread be sure to go through these steps to address the battery after updating to iOS 5.0.1:

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

2 a. 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)

2 b. If you do not get the complete new setup screen with language setup and setup as new phone or restore from iTune/iCloud backup, be sure to go back to #1 and reset all settings again (it should happen the second time)

3. Turn off system location services timezone and iAd (settings -> location services -> system services)

4. Fully discharge battery (until you get the spinning wheel and it shuts off)

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!

Thank you for the tips.  I am going to try that now and will follow up with the results.

Oh, I forgot to answer your question.

Yes, I did do a backup from my old iPhone 4.  I just made a new iCloud account and deleted the old one.  I was careful not to restore from the old one after I did the reset.

Thanks again for your help.

I was having the same problem.  I solved it by double clicking the home button and shutting down all the aps that were running.  Simply touch the app until you get the "shaking mode" and delete each running application. This does not remove it from the phone, it closes the app.  I had more than 20 aps running the first time I did this and my wife and son had more that 40 running. My battery life will last about 18-24 hours now and I charge it overnight.

I have a quick question...

Since consistent manual intervention is required to get around the awful power management algorithms, is anyone aware of an applet that can sit on the Home screen which permits rapid access to the gamut of network settings (bypassing the need to go into 'Settings' > etc?)

By this I mean one-click access into a screen which has toggles for Cell Data, Wifi, Bluetooth and Airport modes. Something along those lines. It would even be worth 0.99 to me

I looked but couldn't find such a thing. If this were made available it would make it easier to deal with some aspects of this headache.

I fully discharged my iPhone 4S last night and it's still charging right now. Let's see what happens.

Is this battery problem only with IOS5 and the 4S? Cos I have a regular iPhone 4, I got it from the store cos I had to trade my original iPhone in after it stopped reading my sim card. I've got the new update just sitting in my iPhone ready to go, but so far I have had none of the battery complaints that IOve seen from others.

The things you have to realise, are free apps: Always install a hidden program called "ADMOB" that is common to a lot of free apps - Well "Admob" does not terminate, it keeps running. So I have kept my installing of free apps to a minimum this time.

Also, what uses the most is icloud, if you are not backing up to icloud at the moment, turn it off, and just stick to syncing your phone using itunes over wifi. Also, go to Settings:General:About:Diagnostics and Usage and SHUT OFF anonymous usage statistics (ie, hit "Don't Send")

quick update:

usage: 2 hours

standbye 11:20 hours

battery: 80%

everything BUT  BT and cellular DATA is on

all  the usage hooked up to  WIFI network (push mails etc. )

so you can't go wrong with that - the new chipset    is the one to blame otherwise iPad2 would be suffer from the same symptoms (and its not , however iPAD 1  still perform  better then 2 regarding battery life)

What you said about the free apps I hope is true, because it does make complete sense. I had a TON of free apps on my iPhone from my previous iPod touch. I removed loads and my phone is performing much better now but I still have a few on there. Highly considering taking the rest of them off now. But there is two questions;

1. Why doesn't my 2 year old ipod suffer from battery problems too with all the apps on there?

and...

2. What about apps that only come as the free option? Are they causing problems too? (e.g facebook etc)

Go here for non-jailbreak of shortcuts available to go straight to settings on your device: http://iphoneza.co.za/IconSettings

My phone was restored from my 3gs on itunes would this be a problem related to the battery ??

I started watching YouTube videos on it afterwards and it kept going until around 1.45am. By that point it hit 6% and I gave up on my attempt to totally drain it. I charged it (with the power totally off), turned it back on while still charging and it was around 96% an hour or so later, then let it go to full, unplugged it, and went to sleep. I woke up at around 11am and the battery was at 100% when I hit the home button, so about 8 hours with no drain. It's currently at 89% and it's 2.28pm. I've never had an iPhone before so I can't vouch, but that's a **** of a lot better than my old Droid.

That is seriously useful, thank you for the redirect! Knowing me, everything would have eventually been left on due to the annoyance of having to click through the settings just to, say, use my BT keyboard sporadically through the day - this addresses it. Thanks again.

Sadly, the settings shortcuts will get disabled in 5.1.  Don't update if you want to keep them.

Thank you for the heads-up.

By your statement are you saying that shortcuts won't be architecturally feasible, or that I would have to recreate them? And for sure I won't be rushing to upgrade till I see the feedback on these boards first.

I hope it's the latter...just when the Apple started to taste a little less bitter.