A better iPhone 4s battery life

spyder2004 wrote:

Maybe it is just me but I really do not see the value of this quasi multitasking of programs. It is not a laptop I wish there was a switch to shut that off

Funny you should mention that. The original iPhone did not support multitasking, and Apple was roundly taken to task (sorry) for this by the trade press and popular media reviewers. Steve Job's position was that if the phone supported multitasking it would drain the battery rapidly and users would be unhappy. But continued pressure (and the appearance of Android phones that did support multitasking) forced Apple to add the multitasking feature.

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. 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 (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!

for more specific details follow thread here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3484755

READ THIS POST AND CHECK IF YOU HAVE YOR INFRARED ON !!!

that drains the battery + phantom usage!!!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3507356?answerId=16782723022#16782723022

Also with these settings I am still having issues ' man this is bad

Well nov is almost over and that new update didn't fix a thing. Man if they can't fix this I sure hope we get some of our money back or something cause this *****.

If on 21st of Nov, you think the month is almost over, you probably need to buy a new diary cos yours is missing a few days.....

My only reccomendation after I tried everything I have read is that switching OFF all email push notifications to fetch manually when email app is open was by far the best result in battery life. I get more than a days worth out of it.

They really need to get this fixed asap!! I dont think I should have to turn everything off on my phone just so it wont die. I paid a crapload of money for these phones and they should work.

I have been looking around and I finally have something which has helped allot for me and that was disabling the Siri sensor , it seems to have made a major difference and it's a feature I don't really use but then again I agree with the message above , apple really need to sort this mess out cause its still pretty rubbish

Hope it helps people

Aaron

Ok going to try this. I just turned siri off. I do really use it. but only when im driving so since im home all day I dont need it. lol

Man they should give us all the apple care + for free or at least at a discount since we can bearly use our phones without them dieing on us. I mean iphone 4 users got free bumpers lol so we should get something for our waste of time. O ya and our eletric bills.

Sorry I didn't mean turn Siri off I use it also , I meant Siri's sensor so when you hold your phone to your head it automatically goes on , turn that off

O ya I did that the other day and it didnt do that much for the battery. But I turned it off so well see if that works out to. I would rather turn that stuff off then things I use like my mail.

That all seems to help, but what's the point? I mean, why spend so much money on a phone that you have to disable to use.

There is no point in turning everything off; if I had to do that I would dump the phone. There are a lot of battery myths about the iPhone, and many well-meaning suggestions that don't actually help and just emasculate the phone. A few are:

• "Turn off WiFi" - this is really stupid. First, WiFi is off already except when the phone is actively being used, specifically to save battery. Even when it is on it is searching every 10 seconds, but this uses practically no power, as it is just listening. And if it connects it uses 30 mw, compared to 60-600 mw for 3G (depending on signal strength). So you really want to be using WiFi whenever possible.
• "Turn off BlueTooth" - Well, if you are never going use it, I suppose...But BT uses no power unless there is a device connected, and then it uses 3 mw. Turning it off might give you an extra 10 minutes on a charge.
• "Turn off Location Services" - Again, Location Services is only active when an app is actually using it, and you will know because there will be an arrow in the title bar. No arrow? Then location services is off. And if you turn it off Find my iPhone won't work.
• "Turn off Cellular Data" - Right. And don't use the phone. They both work to save battery.
• "Set brightness to dim" - Why not just leave it on Auto? It will be dim in bright light, and bright when you need it to be. As most of us work in bright light this tip makes very little difference.
• "Turn off notifications" - Why not just not install apps that use Notifications? If it's off you can't really use them anyway. This is a significant feature of the phone. While it does use some power, you can't get something for nothing. 2nd law of thermodynamics. If you use a feature that uses power the battery will drain.

Is your goal to have a useful phone that you enjoy using, or to enjoy seeing how much battery life you can squeeze out of the phone?

I'm not saying that there are no problems with battery life, but they are PROBLEMS of something not working right. Turning off features is just masking the real problem, and won't make that much difference, anyway. Charge the phone overnight every night so it is 100% when you get up. If you can make it to the end of an average day without having to recharge the phone, be happy. Enjoy the phone.

If you cannot make it through an average day there is something wrong with your phone. Figure out how to fix it. There are some good tips in this thread. But first, think about it. Unusual battery drain is a SYMPTOM, not the problem. The problem is that some app is using too much power. You need to find that app. Once you do the symptom will go away.

After reading all your post on battery woes, I really think Apple is a disappointment. They underdeliver and underperform. Anyway, I am using iPhone 4 (NOT 4S) and am on iOS 5. I need to ask, how do you disable iCloud from performing/doing anything in the background so that it will not drain battery?