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.
BradSK wrote:
Hi all, just posting for some advice regarding a system restore.
It seems as though most people have had success after doing a system restore and setting up as a new phone (when I updates to 5.0.1 I needed to restore but chose iCloud backup instead). I am reluctant to lose too much info, so could someone advise me as to what kind of data would be lost a d what could be recovered from the cloud (not via restore but from my old phone)? I know things like apps and music would have to resynced but that's not a problem.
Thanks
Before doing a system restore, try the steps below. Corrupt system level settings created by an iOS 5 bug in the original release that caused battery recalibration issues, etc. Just installing the update does not fix the issue in most cases (sometime it initially can be worse). You need to clear out those settings and recalibate the battery. For those still having the "standby battery drain" issue follow the procedure below in order. It does fix the problem in most cases.
Go through these steps to address the battery after updating to iOS 5.0.1:
1. Reset all settings (settings app-> general-> reset)
2. 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 photos, will still be there). At this point, Do NOT restore from iCloud or iTunes (It can copy back corrupt settings)
3. Turn off system location services timezone and iAd
4. Fully discharge battery (till it shuts off with the spinning wheel)
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!
After starting my phone as a new device and syncing from the cloud All I lost was my notebook (I don't know if it's just because I didn't have it turned on to sync) it took me about 5 minutes to retype my old notes back in. And my personalized ringtones per person, and some sound and screen settings. Calendar, contacts, texts, emails, pictures, and vms were all there after I went into each app. It took a few minutes for the text numbers to associate with name contacts. It was not a biggie and took a short time.
I mentioned above about battery calibration. I think the problems with settings have led to batteries being grossly miscalibrated.
I am sure you have already calibrated but the specifics of how I have done it have really helped in relation to this fix. I specifically closed out all my apps and put my phone in airplane mode while charging from 0% (shutdown). On top of that, I let the phone charge for about 4.5 hours to make sure the battery got a full charge with it topping off.
If there is nothing else you can think to do, try this out and you might be surprised. Just let us know how it turns out because several of us are probably interested to know. 😉
psyhodelfin wrote:
My battery after iOS5 upgrade is the same or even worse.Surffing now and it is going
Down rediculisly quick.Apple I'm giving you one month
To sort or I want back to iPhone 4 or even 3GS.
Done all what advised, upgraded, restarted all this s...t and 5 minutes on this forum with all notification , location off and from
53% down to 45% in 5 minutes
after updating to iOS 5.0.1, did you try my step by step process:
1. Reset all settings (settings app-> general-> reset)
2. 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)
3. Turn off system location services timezone and iAd
4. Fully discharge battery (until you get the spinning wheel and it shuts off)
5. Fully recharge battery (overnight if possible)
my battery performance has improved following these steps but still not as good as my old 3Gs. I turned off push for my exchange account and only synch when I open it or on demand and the battery life is much improved. it is WAY better now.
there seems to be an issue with push using more battery power than in my old phone, hopefully that will be fixed or improved...
cheers
Shawn
rluu wrote:
Continuing from my original post on page 11, after following the advice from davidch.
Overnight battery drain was originally around 20% is now only 3% which is about the same on my 3GS which I've had for about 2 years and the battery life is still just about as good as when i bought it.
I had 12% remaining today..with:
Usage: 6 hours, 15 minutes
Standby: 22 hours 12 minutes.
I consider this to be very good and thanks davidch for the advice! I leave location services off and only turn on 3g when I need to use it. Most of my usage is iPod, E-Mails, Websurfing, 15 minute facetime, about 3 dozen texts, camera apps such as instagram and in iPhone editing plus a bunch of calls.
rluu,
good to hear it worked for you. you battery looks very good now in my opinion. glad to have helped 🙂
dwgord,
A warm phone during charging is normal since you are rapidly putting energy into the battery. Likewise a rapid battery drain (and you didn't say how rapid yours is) would produce excess heat too. You can get this by having long phone calls for example.
It you are having a rapid 'drain' without heat produced, the phone software may only think the battery is draining, but it may not. Unfortunately, to save a battery, the software shuts down the phone, not the actual state of the battery.
I would ignore the apple genius advice, and not due a restore. Rather follow davidch method instead. A full discharge/recharge should be done afterwards, and after that about once per month or few months (as per apple recommendations, and dell, HP, etc, etc).
Rumors are that 5.0.2 will be out late next week...but try davidch's method now if you are having big problems.
davidch, Thanks for the advice. After I did the reset my battery life improved significantly. I used to be able to watch the battery drain 2-3% in 15 minutes while in standby. After the reset I got 6 hours 44 minutes usage 1 day 22 hours standby and 5% battery left. I'm happy with this result.
I did let the battery drain not once but twice after the reset and I think it may have even improved further after the 2nd battery drain.
Thanks again davidch.
lindafromgreenport wrote:
davidch, Thanks for the advice. After I did the reset my battery life improved significantly. I used to be able to watch the battery drain 2-3% in 15 minutes while in standby. After the reset I got 6 hours 44 minutes usage 1 day 22 hours standby and 5% battery left. I'm happy with this result.
I did let the battery drain not once but twice after the reset and I think it may have even improved further after the 2nd battery drain.
Thanks again davidch.
linda,
good to hear it is working out for you. your results sound very good. your welcome and enjoy your phone 😎
Barry1616 wrote:
Update:
51%
3hrs 45min Usage
16hrs 50min Usage
Left in Standby/lock mode for approx 10hrs over night, went from 69% to 58%. So approx 1% drop per hour, which would translate to 100 hours of standby time, not 200. I'm not so much concerned about that, but about what my usage is getting.
Do the numbers above seem ok? Any other thoughts to what is a reasonable average?
Thanks
Thanks davidch, for taking the time to help so many people and discover a useful procedure to help out.
Barry1616, the expected 'usage' time ( a unknown mixture of calls,browsing, txting, etc) is about 7-8 hours. So at 51% your expected usage time would be 3hrs 45min/(1-0.51) = 3.75hrs/0.49 = 7.6 hours. So as davidch said, you are right on target if your standby time is 16 hours.
However, the other item to take into account is whether or not your 'usage time' seems reasonable to your feeling on how much you have used your phone and compared to your standby time (your 16hr 50min in your case). If you are using the phone very lightly over a 5 hour period (for example), you might have 50 minutes of usage time over 5 hours of standby time. I found that before using davidch's procedure, my 'light' usage time might be 1 to 2 hours over 5 hours, with a corresponding lower battery % percentage. The calculation would still come out to 7 hours or so...but the battery would be down to 30-40% at the end of my day. Something just didn't seem right, even though my phone was lasting throughout the day.
Now it is more likely to be at 60-70% at the end of the day. The ratio of standby to usage is much higher than before, and seems reasonable to how my other iPhones worked and more normal for me.
sflomenb wrote:
viewfly wrote:
Barry1616 wrote:
Update:
51%
3hrs 45min Usage
16hrs 50min Usage
Left in Standby/lock mode for approx 10hrs over night, went from 69% to 58%. So approx 1% drop per hour, which would translate to 100 hours of standby time, not 200. I'm not so much concerned about that, but about what my usage is getting.
Do the numbers above seem ok? Any other thoughts to what is a reasonable average?
Thanks
Thanks davidch, for taking the time to help so many people and discover a useful procedure to help out.
Barry1616, the expected 'usage' time ( a unknown mixture of calls,browsing, txting, etc) is about 7-8 hours. So at 51% your expected usage time would be 3hrs 45min/(1-0.51) = 3.75hrs/0.49 = 7.6 hours. So as davidch said, you are right on target if your standby time is 16 hours.
However, the other item to take into account is whether or not your 'usage time' seems reasonable to your feeling on how much you have used your phone and compared to your standby time (your 16hr 50min in your case). If you are using the phone very lightly over a 5 hour period (for example), you might have 50 minutes of usage time over 5 hours of standby time. I found that before using davidch's procedure, my 'light' usage time might be 1 to 2 hours over 5 hours, with a corresponding lower battery % percentage. The calculation would still come out to 7 hours or so...but the battery would be down to 30-40% at the end of my day. Something just didn't seem right, even though my phone was lasting throughout the day.
Now it is more likely to be at 60-70% at the end of the day. The ratio of standby to usage is much higher than before, and seems reasonable to how my other iPhones worked and more normal for me.
Is that usage time (7-8 hours) on 3G or Wi-Fi? I can get near that on Wi-Fi (by doing your calculations), but nowhere near that on 3G.
I use a mixture of wifi and 3g. Today it was mostly wifi, but a couple of few hours of 3G too.
For today:
2 hr 22min of usage
15 hr 26 min of standby
battery at 65%
Usage time will vary a lot. For example iPod'ing consumes very little power, while camera, LED's on, GPS, consume a huge amount. You can use a program like Battery Doctor to help you figure out , what are the battery hogs.
I have push on 3 email accounts (and a lot of emails from this thread!), plus exchange calendar. I did browsing, a few phone calls today,and a few photos.
It seems to me that you are doing well.
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.
I belive this fix worked for me.
I've been using wifi and bluetooth on and off only when I need it.
Location on just for maps
Email push set to manual
I just hit 2 days standby with 5 hours usage and I have 14% battery left.
I can live with that 🙂
Thom_D wrote:
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I was getting better battery life losing about 3% an hour with no use and most everything turned off. I saw a post where the poster mentioned getting much better battery life after his 3rd Reset All Settings reset. So I thought I would give it a try and do one more Reset All Settings. Once I got everything back to where is was, i.e. locations turned off, notifications other then messages turned off, Mail set to manual fetch, Siri Raise to Speak turned off etc.etc. You know all the things we wanted our new iPhone to do but can't because in combination they suck the life out of the battery.
Then I did a network reset and turned off the WiFi and Bluetooth.
Anyway, the battery is dropping at at least 8% an hour. I will let it drain and recharge over night to see if that helps. I really think that there is a problem with the battery meter algorithim on new phones that doesn't settle down until the phone has been run through at least two full recharge cycles. That is just my oppinion.
yes... you need to not only "reset all settings" but also drain the battery completely and fully recharge for this process to work correctly. read my recommendations carefully and follow step by step. good luck
prkgs982 wrote:
Hi Davidch,
The new phone I have now is still on OS 5.0. I did a fully discharge yesterday morning and I got 5 hours 19 minutes usage with 23 hours 28 minutes standby. The first fully charge I charged it through wall charger. Then I let the second full discharge today at noon and fully charged the second time through PC. i will see how long it will last this time. I have most of the stuff on except iCloud. I have email fetch manually, location service on except some off in system. Wifi off, Bluetooth off. Siri on. Notification center on for mail, calender, reminder. Find my iPhone is on too.
Should I update to 5.0.1?
those are good results in my opinion. if your not having any issues, i would stay with 5.0.0
Thom_D wrote:
@davidch - You are right about the drain and recharge. I ran my phone down to 12% last night by the time I went to bed at midnight and plugged it into the charger. I'd have run it down further but I was tired and it was late. At least I managed to get through the day without a recharge. But I was pretty cautious about how much I used my phone. I shut down all the apps in the multitask tray and started Battery Doctor Pro when I plugged it in. I then shut the phone off to make sure it would get a full charge. Took it off the charger at 6am and was at 100%. an hour and a forty minutes later with normal use, i.e. checked email, twitter, facebook and Free App A Day and still sitting at 100%. Yesterday just driving to work with the phone locked and in my pocket it dropped over 10% in about 30 minutes and was losing at least 5% an hour with no use.
Hopefully draining and recharging the battery helps to get the battery meter to do what it is supposed to and I won't end up with a dead phone by noon. I plan on using it normally today to see what happens. This is my third round of Reset All Settings so hopefully third time will be the charm for me.
thom,
good to hear everything is working well now. yes, my process of resetting all settings, completely draining battery and then fully charging battery does seem to dramatically improve the standby drain issue for most from typically 2-4% or more to 0.5% or less an hr.
]P.S. Thanks for the encouragement. There is so much negativity in these threads lately it is nice to see someone with a positive attitude.
your welcome. yes it is shame how negative folks can get which typically makes things worse. i am just really glad it is working for so many folks and they coming back and expressing their success and improvement. 🙂
iPhone 4S 5.0.1 Update Improves Battery w/ Settings Reset
