iPhone 4S 5.0.1 Update Improves Battery w/ Settings Reset

After installing the update make sure you reset all setttings. I have done a few updates now and have had much better sucess after settings reset all. Standby drain has been virtually eliminated from 2-4% hr before update. It is located in settings/reset//reset all settings. You loose some wifi and desktop settings, but data, apps, etc remain intact.

Posted on Nov 11, 2011 5:33 PM

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1,080 replies

Nov 20, 2011 8:40 PM in response to chaboogie

chaboogie wrote:


I think i need to follow these steps because i think something may be wrong with my battery. I did notice today for aobut 3 hrs on standby it only dropped 1% but as soon as i picked it up to use it, i started to notice the drain. I used my phone for about 7-10 mins... made 1 call, went on twitter and facebook for aobut 2-3 mins each tops, and i dropped all the way down to 94%. is that normal? what should i do? it seems like my standby time is decent but as soon as its in use the battery drains awfully fast. HELP ME PLEASE!

Sounds like my battery.

Nov 21, 2011 5:31 AM in response to davidch

After third battery drain here are my results


battery percentage 2%

Usage 8 hours 14 minutes

Standby. 1 day 7 hours


I run on wifi 95% of the time. My location services are on for camera, weather and find my phone. 8 plus hours of usage included web surfing, checking emails, playing games, listening to music and texting.


Follow davidch's instructions and keep letting battery drain. I found that after each battery drain my battery got better. Loving this phone now!

Nov 21, 2011 7:47 AM in response to lindafromgreenport

lindafromgreenport wrote:


After third battery drain here are my results


battery percentage 2%

Usage 8 hours 14 minutes

Standby. 1 day 7 hours


I run on wifi 95% of the time. My location services are on for camera, weather and find my phone. 8 plus hours of usage included web surfing, checking emails, playing games, listening to music and texting.


Follow davidch's instructions and keep letting battery drain. I found that after each battery drain my battery got better. Loving this phone now!

Your results look very good.


I did some research on battery life/meter calibration a while back (from research papers/apple printed advice/Dell, HP, etc).


The rule of thumb is for a new phone/battery, is that 2-3 cycles as you have done, will optimize the battery meter calibrations. After that, once a month is recommended, although personally, I let a few months slide by. The reason is that today's batteries have 400 full charge/full discharge cycles to their lifetime, but a much, much greater tolerance for partial discharges and then full recharge. So it is better to go to bed with a 40% battery left and let it charge over night, then just letting go to 0%,if there is no reason to do so (i.e. you are sleeping anyways).


But once every 1-3 months a full cycle is necessary to calibrate the battery meter. Otherwise the phone shuts off due to the software...and not because the battery is drained. Which is what I think happened under 5.0 and 5.0.1, until Davidch fix. For myself, I only do the full discharge if I notice significant changes in my battery usage/standby ratios.


Hopefully, Apple will have a 5.0.2 fix for this problem, without having to do davidch's procedure, and bring us back to how things worked prior to 5.0. Clearly, for most people, it is not a hardware problem.

Nov 21, 2011 8:17 AM in response to davidch

First time posting, just got my iphone 4s and it has horrible battery life, guess ill try this.


Literally from the time I wake up and go to the gym and leave to get back home and take a shower (elapsed time of 90 minutes) my iPhone 4s is at 70% down from 100%, my old iPhone 4 would be at 98%.


Now at work it is sitting at 59% I haven't done anything intensive at all, fustrating issue. i don't know what else to do, i may return it and stick w/ my old iPhone 4.*sigh*


What I have done:

restored as a new iphone

updated iTunes to latest version

running on an iMac w/ OS 10.7 fully updated

Nov 21, 2011 8:42 AM in response to chaboogie

chaboogie wrote:


I think i need to follow these steps because i think something may be wrong with my battery. I did notice today for aobut 3 hrs on standby it only dropped 1% but as soon as i picked it up to use it, i started to notice the drain. I used my phone for about 7-10 mins... made 1 call, went on twitter and facebook for aobut 2-3 mins each tops, and i dropped all the way down to 94%. is that normal? what should i do? it seems like my standby time is decent but as soon as its in use the battery drains awfully fast. HELP ME PLEASE!

It doesn't seem that bad. The meter usage may not be that linear through its range, esp. at the greater than 90% range. Better to look at the bigger picture (how much average usage over the day) then little snapshots of time.

I can certainly OCD on the details, but it is best to look at the total usage. Your experience reflects mine.

Nov 21, 2011 11:13 AM in response to lindafromgreenport

lindafromgreenport wrote:


After third battery drain here are my results


battery percentage 2%

Usage 8 hours 14 minutes

Standby. 1 day 7 hours


I run on wifi 95% of the time. My location services are on for camera, weather and find my phone. 8 plus hours of usage included web surfing, checking emails, playing games, listening to music and texting.


Follow davidch's instructions and keep letting battery drain. I found that after each battery drain my battery got better. Loving this phone now!


that look very, very good linda. enjoy! 🙂

Nov 21, 2011 12:15 PM in response to chaboogie

chaboogie wrote:


right now my usage is 2 hrs 12 mins 14 hrs 17 mins standy with 70% battery and dropping smh... i really hope 5.0.2 helps out because this is ridiculous.. i shoulda stayed with my android

At this rate you will get 7 hours of 'usage time' over a 48 hour period. How is that ridiculous? It is right on with what to expect, and what others normally get with iOS 4.x with an iPhone 4 or 3GS. The 7 hours is right on spec with Apple documents.

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iPhone 4S 5.0.1 Update Improves Battery w/ Settings Reset

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