iPhone 4S battery life is half of what it should be.

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Level 3

869 points

iPhone 4S battery life is half of what it should be.

My wife's iPhone 4S battery life is half of what it was with her old 3GS and half of what I get with iPhone 4. She can't get through a day's light use on a single charge. No games, no videos.

This is either a defective phone or a bug.

If it's a bug I wonder if it's a MobileMe problem. Both her old and new phone have Google ActiveSync (calendar), MobileMe (find my iphone, sync Contacts), and IMAP (because Google's ActiveSync email archives what should be deleted). Of these 3 MobileMe would be least tested.

Anyone have any ideas on the cause of this dramatically shortened battery life?

If we don't come up with a software fix I'll take it to the Apple store. Software fix would be more convenient, which is why I'm asking here.

PS.

32GB,

Bluetooth disabled

WiFi autoconnect disabled

Posted on Oct 16, 2011 2:41 PM

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Answer 1

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jfaughnan Author

Level 3

869 points

Oct 16, 2011 3:07 PM in response to jfaughnan

Responding to my own post.

This stream has the same question (surprised Apple's question algorithm didn't find it):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3397752

Emily has an IMAP account, and there's a longstanding iOS bug with restoring from backup when an IMAP/POP account is part of the backup. Amazingly the bug appears to be current!

I deleted and restored her IMAP account. We'll see if that does the trick.

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Answer 2

Kyu Kim

Level 1

54 points

Oct 16, 2011 3:12 PM in response to jfaughnan

I suspect it's a location services issue. Make sure she doesn't have any apps open that consume full time location services. Best of luck.

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Answer 3

Oct 16, 2011 3:14 PM in response to jfaughnan

Why don't you give a few days. There is alot going on the the backround with ICloud and may take a day or two till it is done. My 4S appears fine 66% at 6PM that's 12 hours off charge. Just a thought

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Answer 4

jfaughnan Author

Level 3

869 points

Oct 16, 2011 8:57 PM in response to jfaughnan

It seems better following a power down restart (forgot to say I'd done that) and removing and restoring the IMAP account.

I've seen mention that Exchange accounts can consume a lot of power. That may be true, but the 4S was using much more power than the 3GS was with the same accounts.

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