Q: 5.0.1 update--even worse battery life

I'm definitely not turning everything off. I use most of it. Ive had all 5 iPhones and have never turned anything off. I'm not about to start now.

Fair point. But I wasn't necessarily offering it as a solution, just an example of a conservative usage scenario. I think at this point the best lead we have is multiple cases of cause and effect.

YES I notice it too on my 3GS. I know it's a 3GS but before IOS 5, it was terrible, then the first install of IOS 5 fixed it. It was amazing. Like a new phone. Then I made the mistake of installing the latest IOS 5 update and now it stainks again. WORSE than before, I am sure of it. And I have ALL of my "location services" OFF! And I don't play games during the day. I hardly even USE my phone during the day. Even stranger is that my car phone used to actually charge it back up pretty fast, it doesn't seem to do ANYTHING even thought the "charging" sound and lightening bolt come on when I plug in. It's like I am not plugged in at all. I have to plug in with my regular at home charger and it takes forever to put any juice back on it. I hope they fixed this ASAP. This is VERY annoying. I would rather it be like it was than WORSE!

Tried it and no luck.  Had a full charge when I went to bed and doing nothing overnight other than sitting there, it was totaly dead.  I can't get more than 3 to 4 hours on a full charge and the thing heats up like crazy periodically, to the point where I can't keep it in my pocket at times.  Praying for an iOS upgrade soon.

My wife and I each upgraded from the 4 to the 4S in early December and experienced the battery problems described in these posts - the battery would discharge after 8 to 10 hours even with light use.  We tried most of the suggestions for fixing the problem and nothing worked.  Then, a few days ago, I updated about 16 apps and suddenly the battery life became extraordinarily long.  After 12 hours, I still have a charge of about 88%, even with all my location services on and using wi-fi.  My wife continued to have the battery problems until she updated her apps the following day, and since then she also has long battery life.  So, I assume that there was a glitch in one of the apps that caused the battery to discharge.  It's been four days since I updated the apps, and the battery continues to work well.  I don't understand why, if a fix actually has been found, it hasn't been announced, or if we are just very lucky, but I'm happy as long as it all works.

iPhone 4 never had battery issue before. After 5.0.1 I can barely get through the day after tweaking all the settings to preserve battery life. Really makes me think I do not want a 5 when realeased if EVERY update has a new bug to be worked out. Is this company getting too big for it's britches? Is the "Safari safe browsing data" that Big Brother is collecting the big drain on the battery?

Apple: the most popular phone in the world is turning into a very popular complaint. Please fix it.

I performed a second time the reset instructions, letting the battery drain before recharge, all to the letter. This did seem to work wonderfully, until the second day, when the battery dropped 40% in three hours. Wondering if this is some sort of battery monitoring problem.

Whatever, the 2 resets did make it so that I can go an entire day easily. I'm not doing another and risking a setback. I do not have a lot of apps, nothing fancy, all are up to date. I use my iPhone mainly for email, internet, texting, entertain preschoolers, read the Bible, and flashlight. Oh, yeah, on rare occasions I use it for a phone. I try not to expect too much from electronics.

I also find that "Do not use as intended" to be a poor solution to a complaint about anything. We would not accept "Don't drive the car, just use it to listen your favorite radio stations," or you can't use the refrigerator to keep food fresh but you can hang your coat in it," as solutions. Why is Apple getting away with this ****? 

I bought the iphone so I could make us of its features, not to make my purse heavier. I use bluetooth and wifi all the time. I use location services often. I'm not turning them off. Of course they all get turned off when the battery dies.

This iPhone 4 is a fewonths old and had terrific battery life on 4.3.3 and then once I updated to ops 5.0.1 I can only AirPlay Internet radio and play games for no longer than 3 hours and that's with all the fancy settings already turned off.  Fix this APPLE!!!!

I am having the same problem - as well as all of my friends and collegues at www.MyEdu.com who own the iPhone 4. We are all not happy with the draining battery life at all and cannot make it through a day without having to charge.  Please please fix this bug that we think was a result of the latest software update Apple released. This is taking away from Apple pride and creating Android ego in the office.

Really iOS 5.0.1 didnt fix any battery issues but has made it worse! even i have the same problems on my ipod touch 4!

I dont think it is app related because some nights my phone drains 30% in 7 hours, other nights it drains 10% in 7 hours. I do not understand why the drain is so inconsistent. Apple has had months to fix this, I do not get why this company is so highly praised. I have had nothing but problems with my iphone.

Patrick - this is the most inflammatory statement one could make.  There is a problem...own up to it and fix it without making excuses.  This passive aggressive attitude is shameful.   If Apple is the great company they claim to be an upgrade would not cause problems. I wish software companies would complete full testing before releasing upgrades instead of letting the general public finish the testing for them.   How would you feel if your family doctor graduated from med school and could start practicing without completing all the training??  It sure would be cheaper and easier to let doctors practice on their patients and then you could apply the same passive aggressive attitude and tell people to just be patient while doctors figure things out cuz eventually you will get the great care they promise.

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!

You can check details on my thread along with numerous successes here:https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3484755

I put off updating my iphone 4, which is only about four months old, to ios 5.0.1 until a couple days ago. I didn't have any battery problems before updating btw. After updating there seemed to be a slight decrease in battery life but very small if any. Then yesterday the battery seemed to drain even more than usual so I did a reboot and after that it drains 10% per hour with no apps open and no use.

I will try the steps above but how in the world could something like this happen. If the steps mentioned above don't fix it I think I'll get a new phone.