iPhone 4S 5.0.1 Update Improves Battery w/ Settings Reset

Hi everyone, I do not know if this has been posted before, but I found something that dramatically boosted my battery life.

A little back story: my phone would only last about 8-12 hours under moderate usage. I would lose around 30% overnight if I wasn't plugged in. I would also put my phone on airplane mode from 7:30am-11:30am, and again at 1pm-4pm. I would have to charge 2-3 times a day, each time running down below 10%. I didn't notice any phantom usage though, maybe a little. My usage time seemed about right though. My screen brightness is also almost completely down.

Anyway, on to the fix: All I did was reset my network settings.

Setting/General/Reset/Reset Network Settings

I unplugged last night around 9:30. I checked this morning to see I was at 93%, and I had used it in the middle of the night to check texts a couple of times. I did not put my phone on airplane mode today at work, and I didn't use it until around 11:40. I was still at 87%! I then used it to text over the next hour, and I streamed a podcast for about 20 mins. Went back to work, leaving airplane mode off. When I got off, I was around the mid 60's%. I streamed podcasts for another 1&1/2 hours and texted during that time. You can see my usage stats in the picture below: BTW - I was also sending pictures.

As you can see, alot of my usage time was spent streaming audio (all but about 30 minutes was on 3g).

I don't know if this will help everyone, but I hope it helps someone. I'm sure if I wasn't streaming the audio, I would still be around 60%! I will give an update with my normal moderate usage (ie. text, light calling, picture message, check email, light amount of games, and airplane mode.)

Did you setup as new or restore the backup you had before you restored in iTunes? Best fix is restore, setup as new, then sync iTunes to get your contacts back etc.

However if you restored firmware (via iTunes) then restored a backup you can try the "reset all settings" option Davidch outlined. That will sometimes solve the issue after you restore the corruption from a backup. Keeps your data intact as well

i recommend you try my process below with your iPod touch 4th generation. you mention upgrading to iOS 5. if you have not updated to 5.0.1, be sure to do that first. then follow my process step by step and in order.

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 do it from any state of the battery other than almost dea. You do want enough power to get through the reset and wizard after it reboots. Also it will retain your data and apps but you will have to reconfigure your settings.email signature and who you are to Siri.

Caro16 wrote:

Thanks for replying, should I do this from a fully charged battery or what level ? Also will I lose anything or will EVERYTHING be exactly as it was ? Thanks for your help:)

David i'd like to add this to the point as it worked for meas The FINAL solution.

For those who don't see any improvement by resetting all settings (which is the starting point for the battery issue) try to check with NETSTAT (a free app) if there is a constant stub opened to push.apple.com which is the apple's push server.

Sadly it seems it is constantly pinged and polled byt the AppStore app and Gamecenter app, this means your data connection is always on and off, on and off.

The solution is to SIGN OUT from the applestore (Settings -> Store -> SIGN OUT) and stay logged off.

Every time you log in again you'll get this polling start over, so check it every time you buy something on the appstore.

Also in General -> Restrictions disable ITUNES and PING. if Gamecenter is available disable it too, if not prevent it to check your location in location services

If push.apple.com is still on (check it with netstat) , wait a little, powercycle, and check that your mail app is not in the background, disable push from email as well if you want to be sure it doesn't connect with push servers....

This seemed to work for me (today is the first day i'm checking, but it seems to discharge ona regular fashion) in partnership with all your suggestions (which sadly didn't suffice to the cause on my 3gs).

For fariness sake : THIS IS NOT A THING I DISCOVERED MYSELF:

I read it somewhere by a guy from IPHONEITALIA.com about 3gs battery issue on 4.X firmware but i can't find the original link by now.

Hope this helps

Hi everyone,

I want to update everyone on my battery status... After downloading and installing the iOS 5.1 update, my battery life got worse. My battery life was better with 5.01 update after using David's tip. I tried using David's tip again after 5.1 was installed and no luck. My coworker told me that he did a full restore on his phone and it improved his battery life greatly. I tried out what he did and added it in with David's tip and sure enough the battery life improved! A few days ago I got about 7 hours of usage and 19 hours of standby. On the current charge, I am getting even better results! I am currently at:

Usage: 4 hours, 14 minutes

Standby: 1 Day, 7 hours

Battery: 29%

After last full recharge, I was at 100% for about 6 hours of standby and 17 minutes of usage. I was shocked! Here is what I recommend doing:

1. Backup your iPhone to iCloud (make sure you select everything you want to backup)

2. Settings>General>Reset>Erase All Content and Settings (This will fully wipe out your iPhone back to factory settings)

3. Set up your iPhone like you just bought it. Go through your settings and choose "Restore from iCloud backup"

4. Wait until your phone is done backing up from iCloud. (This may take quite a bit of time especially if you have a lot of photos and videos on your phone.)

This is where some of David's tips comes into play...

5. Once your phone is fully restored from iCloud, play games, watch videos, or use as normal until you fully drain your battery. Do this UNTIL your phone fully shuts off by itself.

6. Plug in your iPhone to fully charge until 100% and unplug.

7. Use the phone as you normally would and let it drain again until phone fully shuts off by itself.

8. Plug in your iPhone to fully charge until 100% and unplug.

9. Enjoy your improved battery life!

Note: You will have to re-enter your WIFI info. You might have to sync your iPhone to iTunes for some of your apps after the iCloud backup is done reinstalling on your iPhone. I would fully drain your battery and recharge to 100% at least 2 times after the restore. After that, it is recommended to do the drain and recharge once a month.

Good luck everyone! 🙂

you may need to dial *228 and reprogram for Verizon. After I did a reset all, I had to do the *228 since all my contact phone numbers did not have the area code recognized correctly. I found that fix in another discussion that I can't remember. I believe you answer with "1" to program when prompted. But wait a couple minutes to take affect. I had to wait maybe 2 or 3 minutes then all was ok.

You may also want to consider a hard reset too. I did that yesterday and I noticed my standby time is improved. Unfortunately it is the weekend so the activity is too low for me to quantify. All I can say right now is that I am past 1 day standby and about 1.5 hrs usage (light, email only, no phone calls or texting) and the battery is at 75%. I have never been at that point before. Up to now I have been controlling the changes and so far biggest improvements for me have come from: a) changing exchange mail from push to fetch every 30 min (this upcoming week I will be going back to push to see the performance); b) reset all settings; c) hard reset. Along with these, I have followed all suggestions in the forums (no bluetooth; turn off set time zone under location; and did a full battery drain/recharge 2 times).