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Level 1

4 points

How I fixed my 4S battery problem

I do understand that most people will not have the time or will not bother reading through all the advice given in the massive battery problem thread. So I just want to repeat my experience here and I hope it will help someone.

-------------------------------

Ok, my 4S is now working completely as expected.

I'm not sure which step did it in the end, so I'll just repeat my experience.

FIRST ATTEMPT:

I did the 'recovery mode' restore first (google for 'iphone boot recovery mode' to learn how to do this). After which I started from scratch (using a 4S backup should work as well) and disabled the often mentioned notifications (disable calendar) and location services (disable time zone) that seem to cause trouble.

After that I did a full discharge and charge of the phone.

That made a huge difference. The phone still discharged too quickly but it was A LOT better than before, especially when actually using it (as opposed to it being on standby during the night)

SECOND ATTEMPT:

And this is where the magic probably happened.

I did a 'restore settings' (which doesn't wipe the phone: General > Reset > Reset All Settings), disabled the usual notifications and location services again (see above).

I then used 'Battery Doctor Pro' to do a charge with trickle charge.

Went to bed, phone 100%.

Woke up, phone 98%

4hrs later with moderate use (email, texting) but lot's of driving (so network searching)

Phone 93%

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Latest update:

I did my second trickle charge yesterday evening. Went to bed (battery 100%) woke up in the morning with the battery still showing 100%

8hrs later with fairly heavy use (emails, calls, text) and mast jumping (driving), notifications, Siri and location services switched ON.

Battery 80%

Posted on Nov 2, 2011 7:40 AM

59 replies

ycooreman Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 3, 2011 2:38 AM in response to Waynejd

I think either a 'settings reset' and/or a trickle charge will improve on that even more.

Nov 3, 2011 6:51 AM in response to ycooreman

BAD NEWS.

I was wrong, it has not worked for me.

8% battery

Usage 3 hours 32 minutes

Stand 5 hours 12 minutes

ycooreman Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 3, 2011 7:03 AM in response to xconfusingboyx

That doesn't look good!

Mine is still going strong.

Nov 3, 2011 10:35 AM in response to ycooreman

Mine seems to be a bit better after the first stage, will try the settings reset/battery pro once it's drained. Hopefully a future software update will help things as well. I'm not getting anywhere near the life that ycooorman is yet. I'm at 3.2 hours useage, 15.5 hours standby and already down to 53%. So nearly half the useage/standby but almost the same battery level.

I wonder if it's not only a software issue but perhaps some bad batteries as well. I know the cellular dealer I purchased my iphone from said many of the 4s Iphones they are getting are stone dead out of the box, won't even boot up, and they haven't seen that in any past iphone releases. It was an annoyance for them because it takes longer to charge/setup the customers phones but I wonder if some of those batteries are defective or at least subpar from the factory.

I'd also bet even if Apple thought it was possible hardware/battery problem, they'd try to massage the software to increase battery life to appease customers as that's certainly much much cheaper than replacing batteries.

ycooreman Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2011 7:22 AM in response to Todd308911

I hate to say this (considering you guys still have problems) but my battery only ran out this morning (so more than two days of use). It only discharged 1% over night.

Anyway, hopefully the official fix arrives soon for everyone who didn't manage to solve their problem.

Nov 4, 2011 8:01 AM in response to ycooreman

could you say your usage and standby times this morning? (more or less)

It could be that the batteries get stronger if you let them discharge full, and charge full?

ycooreman Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2011 9:00 AM in response to xconfusingboyx

I didn't check but based on yesterdays numbers it was probably something like:

Standby: 2days 10hours (certain)

Usage: 8hours+

And that includes me running the battery down yesterday evening playing videos and browsing internet.

I still had 19% left this morning btw.

Nov 4, 2011 9:05 AM in response to ycooreman

how many minutes did you use the "tickle charge" with Battery doctor pro??

ycooreman Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2011 10:51 AM in response to xconfusingboyx

The whole charge lasted 2h34min

the trickle charge is only about 10min I believe

Waynejd

Level 1

15 points

Nov 4, 2011 3:38 PM in response to ycooreman

Just got up a few minutes ago, so here's my latest update - still using all the same settings as above.

Have not done a reset of settings yet but have done a full charge followed by a 60 minute trickle charge.

Usage now 4 hours, 52 minutes (so almost 5 hours)

Standby now 1 day, 9 hours

Battery left 27%

On top of what my settings are doing by themselves, that included about 6-7 hours on 3G, the rest on Wifi, a few short calls, location based reminders, loads of notifications, about 2 hours on the net browsing, checking Twitter and Facebook and about an hour playing with Siri teaching trying different ways of instructing her.

When I get down to less than 20% I'll do another charge and maybe a 2 hour trickle charge. Going out later and will need the phone so can't let it run right down but based on the figures so far if I did let it run down I would expect to get another hour or so usage and about another 10-12 hours standby. That would be getting close to what Apple says possible usage times.

Nov 4, 2011 4:24 PM in response to ycooreman

well... two questions, because your stadistics look good:

1. Are you doing the trickle charge with the Battery Doctor Pro APP??

2. Is good for the battery to do big trickle charges??? I mean, 60 minutes, is it good? (I'm only asking, in fact I don't know what is exactly the "trickle charge" and I'd like to know if it can damage the battery or not

ycooreman Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 4, 2011 4:38 PM in response to xconfusingboyx

I don't think a long trickle charge is necessary. In BD pro it only lasts 10 minutes or so.

And don't forget the settings reset as well. I'm sure that's one of the steps that killed off a process that was draining the battery. Properly conditioning the battery is probably only one part of the story.

Waynejd

Level 1

15 points

Nov 4, 2011 4:43 PM in response to xconfusingboyx

Yep, using Batterry Doctor Pro. It seems to get the best reviews and reports.

It does seemed to have made a difference but maybe it is the battery improving with conditioning.

There seems to be some argument about whether or not "trickle charge" or any battery apps actually do anything at all, I haven't seen anything negative so I guess it can't hurt.

I'll see how it goes after this charge cycle (4 hours to go) and let you know.

Waynejd

Level 1

15 points

Nov 4, 2011 5:13 PM in response to ycooreman

BD Pro suggest 120 minutes trickle for "deep maintenance" - whatever that actually means. So it can't hurt.

Regarding the reset of all settings, i guess I'll just need to take the time to note everything the way I currently have it.

Will the reset mean I have to start re-training Siri all over again?

4n6doc

Level 4

2,323 points

Nov 4, 2011 5:16 PM in response to Waynejd

Waynejd wrote:

Will the reset mean I have to start re-training Siri all over again?

No, the information Siri collects to improve voice recognition and give context-sensitive responses is stored on the Siri server, not on your phone (which is why you need a network connection for Siri to work).

How I fixed my 4S battery problem