ycooreman

Q: 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%

 

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

 

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 7:43 AM

Close

Q: How I fixed my 4S battery problem

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 4 of 4
  • by farlleidrums,

    farlleidrums farlleidrums Dec 22, 2011 1:53 PM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2011 1:53 PM in response to ycooreman

    hello ,

    I´m sorry to bother, but as I´m brazilian, non-speaking english country, I honestly didn´t get what tricle charger means, and all that doctor pro information means exacly.

    is it an app that you can get on apple store or some other battery recharger device.

    sorry! I would be more than happy if you could enlighten me! sorry for the poor english!

  • by Core23,

    Core23 Core23 Dec 22, 2011 2:37 PM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Dec 22, 2011 2:37 PM in response to ycooreman

    Hmm.  I downloaded Battery Doctor Pro, to try it out.  However I am wondering....why under status does it list apps and services I don't have, or ever have used? 

     

    Kindle Reader - Not installed, yet 15hr 25 min

    Airplane Mode - Never used, yet 67hr 20 min

    Hotspot - Never used, yet 7hr 3 min

     

    EDIT:

     

    I found that you can uncheck them, but still does not explain were the numbers come from.

  • by Core23,

    Core23 Core23 Dec 23, 2011 6:05 AM in response to Core23
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Dec 23, 2011 6:05 AM in response to Core23

    Ahh..I guess they are estimates for total time to use a feature.

  • by elliebean,

    elliebean elliebean Dec 24, 2011 9:44 AM in response to Core23
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 24, 2011 9:44 AM in response to Core23

    My iphone 4s battery hasn't been great with ios5, but it didn't seem as bad as what many people were experiencing, especially on standby. Until a couple of days ago I was only losing about 4% on standby overnight (about 7 hours), but suddenly yesterday it got dramatically worse. Last night I lost 24% overnight on standby. I hadn't downloaded anything new or changed anything, but even more bizarrely since I recharged it this morning my usage time and standby time are exctly mirroring each other! I have tried "reset all settings" and turned off Siri, location services, most notifications and my emails download manually only. But still my usage and standby times are exactly mirroring each other, currently both reading 6 hours 40 minutes.

     

    Has anybody else experienced anything similar? Not sure what to do.

  • by Vormund,

    Vormund Vormund Jan 18, 2012 7:54 PM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2012 7:54 PM in response to ycooreman

    Going to try this when I get back home tonight.

     

    ycooreman, your iphone 4s battery life sounds amazing. Hope it can help me and others as well. Will try and keep this post updated

  • by Core23,

    Core23 Core23 Jan 18, 2012 8:08 PM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Jan 18, 2012 8:08 PM in response to ycooreman

    Tried this program....made no impact on my battery life.  Stuck with 6 hours or less all the time total use.

  • by ycooreman,

    ycooreman ycooreman Jan 19, 2012 1:41 AM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 19, 2012 1:41 AM in response to ycooreman

    I have to write an update to this, which maybe sets some people's mind at ease a bit..

     

    Ever since I updated to 5.01 battery life went down the drain and this time none of the things that worked before have worked since.

     

    My battery will now drain almost 20% overnight, even in airplane mode. I hardly get to the afternoon doing a medium amount of calling, browsing and email checking without loosing 50% battery life. Which, officially, makes t worse than that horrible Nexus I had for a few months last year. Well done Apple, you made something worse than Android.

     

    I guess, on the bright side, this is obviously a software problem as, before the update, everything was perfect for me.

     

    I do have to admit, if the next update doesn't fix the battery problem, I will drop the iPhone as I already can't use it as a business phone anymore. I just can't trust it to last the day. Actually, not even half a day on business use.

     

    I better start checking out other phones, just in case.

  • by Core23,

    Core23 Core23 Jan 19, 2012 5:58 AM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Jan 19, 2012 5:58 AM in response to ycooreman

    20% overnight is not right.  I drain 2-5% at most.  It's just the standard phone use that drains down very quickly.  I used to get upset my 1st generation Droid only lasted 24 hours before it needed to be charged.

     

    As far as I know, all the battery fixes were to address the constant drain when not in use.

     

    Personally I leave bluetooth off, turned off iCloud photo stream, turned off Ping under Restrictions, and turned off all System services Locations.

     

    Mail is set for Push off, and fetch hourly.  I get 5-6 hours of general use out of the phone total.

  • by Vormund,

    Vormund Vormund Jan 29, 2012 6:50 PM in response to Core23
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 29, 2012 6:50 PM in response to Core23

    My Settings:

     

    Location: OFF

    Data: OFF

    WiFi: OFF

    Siri: OFF

    Notifications: ON

    Mail: Manual, no Push.

    iCloud: Not signed in.

    Bluetooth: OFF

    Set Time Zone automatically: OFF

     

    Overnight, from 12am - 8am: Lost about 2-5% like Core23.

     

    Around 10-12 hours of usage and 16hours+++ of standby for a total of 100% battery.

     

    Is it ok?

  • by Core23,

    Core23 Core23 Jan 29, 2012 7:59 PM in response to Vormund
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Jan 29, 2012 7:59 PM in response to Vormund

    How do you use your phone with both Data & WiFi off?

  • by ycooreman,

    ycooreman ycooreman Jan 30, 2012 1:32 AM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 30, 2012 1:32 AM in response to ycooreman

    My battery life is still unacceptable under 5.0.1 but I have seen improvement by uninstaling Facebook. It constantly pings even when shut down it seems.

  • by Vormund,

    Vormund Vormund Jan 30, 2012 1:33 AM in response to Core23
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 30, 2012 1:33 AM in response to Core23

    I had both of them off just to test out the battery drainage overnight.

     

    I usually have EITHER WiFi or Data on, depends whichever is available first.

  • by ravingmad,

    ravingmad ravingmad Feb 1, 2012 4:06 PM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iOS Apps
    Feb 1, 2012 4:06 PM in response to ycooreman

    Hi,

     

    I was having some issues with my 4S which I bought sim free from the USA (I live in the UK). It's never been too bad but in standby I would sometimes lose 3-5% battery. I have just completed the reset as you described in your first post and it has seemed to have made the battery life better. I am now draining 0.5% on average. I'll see how it gets on tomorrow.

  • by noelia perez,

    noelia perez noelia perez Sep 4, 2013 11:51 AM in response to ycooreman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 4, 2013 11:51 AM in response to ycooreman

    Hola tengo un iphone 4s con la ultima actualizacion del sotfware, pero ultimamente esta que se carga completa y cuando esta por un 80% o 90% se apaga solo, que le pasara? Necesito ayuda por favor.

  • by Core23,

    Core23 Core23 Sep 4, 2013 12:06 PM in response to noelia perez
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Sep 4, 2013 12:06 PM in response to noelia perez

    At this point I would simply upgrade the phone.  Next iPhone will be anounced on Sept 10th, making the iPhone 4s 2 versions old.

first Previous Page 4 of 4