Q: iPhone 4S 5.0.1 Update Improves Battery w/ Settings Reset

davidch,

Thank you so much. I have followed your procedure and I currently stand at:

1 hr 53 minutes usage

1 day 0 hours standby

70% Battery remaining

That's an average of 1.15% battery used per hour even with some usage consisting of an even split of shooting photos, shooting video, and surfing Safari.

The setup:

• iPhone 4S 64GB officially unlocked directly shipped from Apple store that arrived on December 2 (Yes, the $849 USD + tax phone!)
• Network is AT&T USA. There is an AT&T tower about 300 yards from house and I have full signal on every floor of my house and even in the basement.
• Cell data (3G) is on
• WiFi (802.11 N) is on
• Bluetooth is off
• WiFi Ask to Join Networks is off.
• GPS Time Zone is off.
• Location is on
• Location iAds is off -- (Who in the world would want this on?!  Don't forget who your real customers are, Apple. You are not Google.)
• Don't Send Diagnostic and Usage data is selected
• No push email, one IMAP email account manutally fetched
• No iCloud anything [Do Not Want!]

Prior to the 4S, I used an original 8GB iPhone (2G) from September 2007 until December 1, 2011. Until its final day on December 1, that original 2007 iPhone on its original battery would still go 2 days without charging. This shows that I know how to treat a battery and optimize my usage.

When the 4S arrived, I charged it fully and restored my ancient iPhone 2G backup to it. The 4S promptly began losing 2% to 4% per hour on standby.  Dismayed, I scoured them intarwebs until I came across your post. Following your directions -- Reset All Settings, Set Up As New iPhone -- appears to have achieved reasonable battery performance.

The battery life is no better than my original 2007 iPhone, but at least it is not much worse.

Apple -- if you are listening -- I would happily buy and prefer a 50% thicker iPhone that had a larger battery.  I would even pay more.  I know I am not alone -- look at how many people put their super slim iPhone in an enormous bulky case.

-Walter

Thanks again David !!!   You ... are.. The.. Best !!!

I shall let my battery drain out and recharge a couple of times and report back later in the week.

Apple owes you.. big time !!!

Susan

YES. I have had wifi sync on since day one just because its easier (well sorta of) I am still at the PC and starting iTunes. Anyway I was getting much better battery life since 5.0.1 and I have also completed Davids reset method since the 5.0.1 OTA update. So battery actually working pretty well. I do charge daily when i go to bed at night. Anyway yesterday I turned off wi-fi sync, I am still working on the same charge with  3.5 hours use and 1 day/4 hours standby and 33% remaining. Never even close to that before.  Best ever was like 5 hr use and 22hr 22 min standby and 6% left over. So I would say definitely turning off wi-fi sync has helpd. Also I now notice wi-fi turns off  when phones goes to standby now and comes back on then lock screen comes alive.  I deduct its technically just as easy to just plug it in to sync since already as the computer to start iTunes.

I guess the real benefit is for those folks who leave the PC on all the time and iTunes open all the time, then when they go to bed and plug in phone it syncs. Otherwise no real benefit. I was sitting at PC and pressing the sync in itunes or from the menu option on the phone once in a while when i wanted it to sync.  So just no cord haha so what right. But the phone was ALWAYS looking for iTunes the rest of the time apparently and draining battery unneccessarily. BTW I am backing up to iCloud automatically nightly anyway no daily sync for me needed anyway. So unless you have some compelling reason you HAVE to sync wireless, try turning that off and see if it helps you!

Just wondering, will a "Reset All Settings" affect the layout and folders of Apps?

After performing a "Reset All Settings", aside from setting up my wifi network again. What other settings do I have to pay specific attention to?

Thanks for the reply in advance!

It does not. It keeps all data and apps intact. Other than entering your wi-fi there are a few others areas such as the who you are for Siri and email signatures seem to default back so those needs adding back typically. Mostly its all back once you run through the initial wizard.

You lose all your settings in the Settings app -- wallpaper setting, a changed font for notes, etc.  But your data remains -- I still have all my text message history.

Here's the thing -- if you're worried, just use iTunes to make a backup of your iPhone before doing Reset All Settings.  You can always restore that backup!

Thanks for your prompt reply!

So can i safely say that if I were to perform a "Reset All Settings" it would mean a reset of the following :

• Reset Network Settings
• Reset Keyboard Dictionary
• Reset Home Screen Layout
• Reset Location Warnings

Cheers!

Ah, thanks walter.penn! I think that addressed my worries. Sorry I am still unfamiliar with the use of iphone because I am a new user.

I stand corrected a little, if you have some other wall paper and such then it will  most likely default it. But your apps will remain and if they are in groups they will also remain (mine did). I am using default wall papers so of course they stayed the same but also the icon order and groups I have setup stayed as well. And as Walter stated get a backup in iTunes or iCloud just to be safe. Good call there!

Also, if you are doing an over the Air Update you should plug the phone into the wall, similar to how you would do it on a Laptop.

Thanks,

Oh, and David, thanks you really helped out real users with real issues.

Oh another issue regarding the backup.

I think David did mention not to restore from itunes/icloud. Would that mean that I shouldn't actually use my old backup pre-update?

Just to clarify.

After updating, iTunes will probably do an automatic backup before you perform the reset.

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)

After the reset, at this point here, should I attempt to restore from backup (to get back my preferred settings such as network, keyboard, homescreen layout etc.) or manually set my settings again?

Has anybody done davidch's method while on 5.0?  I'm reluctant to move away from 5.0, as I don't want to update to 5.0.1 with all the negatives I've heard about doing so. 

You can do Davids fix with 5.0 as well. Jusy dont download 5.0.1 if you dont want to try it for now. The reset  will just reset the system settings and calibrate the battery (the drain and recharge). That does as much good as the reset I believe. my opinion only!