how to fix battery drain in iphone 4s

If you look around the forums, you will see there are several threads on this topic. For some people, 5.0.1 fixed their battery problem. For others, it made it worse or created a problem where one didn't exist. For others, it made no difference at all.

There is a rumor that Apple will be pushing out a 5.0.2 update in the next week or so intended to deal with additional issues causing battery drain. The website that first reported the rumor has been pretty hit or miss with their predictions in the past, so there is no way to know if this rumor is true or not. We will just have to wait and see.

sajith5 wrote:

I have recently brought an iphone 4s and the battery is draining even without much use. please advice if any one is able to fix it with some patches or updates iOS 5.0.1

I have personally seen the problem and corrected it on numerous models now including the 4S, 4, 3GS and iPad 2s. 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 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... not all, but most. 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!

More details on my thread here if needed:https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3484755

I thought that the more iphone 4s users who write in with battery issues the more weight it will add to Apple addressing the battery drain. Recently i upgradedto OS5.0.1 which increased my battery life from about 10 hours to about 24 hrs. This is moderate use. I have read the threads re turning of location services etc but really!. The reason i want an iphone is for these reasons. Have also tried recharging from full turn off / turning location on / off. In the end it doesnt seems to make any noticeable difference.

Regards

Thank you for posting this...too bad APPLE won't!!!

This seems to work. Browsing on 3G for 30 min lost 1%. Before it would have been 4'ish. I'll test a little more today. Thanks! Was sick of carrying my charger around!

mcabe wrote:

This seems to work. Browsing on 3G for 30 min lost 1%. Before it would have been 4'ish. I'll test a little more today. Thanks! Was sick of carrying my charger around!

your welcome and glad it worked out for you. it seems to fix the standby battery drain for most users improving it from 2-4% or more per hr to 0.5% or less per hr. enjoy your new iPhone 😎

Just an update: the battery fix noted above did work, for a while. As soon as I activated iCloud syncing the battery drain continued. Still using my iPhone 4s as I would the iPhone 4 (with ios 5). But it might seem like iCloud is the culprit. Can anyone confirm this?

Hi

I have a iPhone 4S i had the same issue but the new update does improve it; also try going to mail and switching of push services so if you want to check your mail just click on the mail app and it will check for new ones otherwise in the background it will keep checking ever few minutes

Reportedly the update (I assume 5.01) fixed the issue for some, made it worse for others, and made no change for still others. The point is that I should be able to use my 4s the same way I used my 4. That includes push mail. But I did change it to only check every hour. But the battery drain is still exceptional compared to the iPhone 4 no matter how you cut it.

when doing the reset method, does it matter when you do the reset? for example, i fully charged my phone overnight when my battery was at around 10%, my battery is currently around 80%, i wasnt sure if i should go a full charge cycle before i do the reset

@sajith5 - Many of us have had this same problem. Apple is working on a fix and is in the second beta of the next update. I followed davidch's advise and got better results. I think that there is still a problem with the phone / software combination because I have very few bells and whistles turned on and I am only getting a day out of my phone. But before I did all the things that davidch recommended I was only getting a few hours out of my phone.

So I would recommend you try what david has to offer and see if that helps. We are all waiting with baited breath for Apple to release the next iOS update to see if the problem gets fixed. Hopefully it will and this problem can be laid to rest.

I have solved my issue with the battery drain on my 4s. I had purchased a new white 64 gig iphone. When I set it up it asked me to migrate my mobile me account to icloud. I did this even though I have been using another account for itunes. Well the icloud would work on my mac and pc but not the iphone. Only my photo stream seamed to work. The battery drain was constant. I tried everthing from wiping it clean and reinstall three times. Still did not stop the battery drain. I finally called apple and requested a new iphone. Got the new one and restored from a backup. Battery drain was still there. I finally had an idea to wipe the phone and restore as new. The only thing I did different was to sign up to icloud with my itunes account information. Well what do you know I have a functioning iphone now. I am on my second day with 37% 3 1/2 hrs usage and 1 1/2 days standby. I had thought there was a problem having two apple ID accounts and even asked tech support about this but they said it did not matter. I am so glad I fixed my iphone. Not sure if this applies to other people having problems with the battery and icloud but this solved my issues.

I will try this. I went out and paid $5O for one of those MyTech external charge cases and it helps but why the **** should I have to do this in the first place?

I am amazed when I hear people talking about batteries that last for DAYS. If I leave mine on for 8 hours and do absolutely NOTHING with it and turn off every app possible, except my app killer, the battery is dead. I will try this fix and if it doesn't work then I will request a new phone from Apple.

I hike a lot and there is no way I would use the 4s while hiking because of the short battery life. If I needed to call for help I'd be screwed. I carry my old Tracfone with me. That things lasts WEEKS on standby!

i had this problem big time when I bought my 4S 2 months ago. i did a reset and reduced the problem. Then the other day I tried the sequence recommended here and for the first time my phone was working as it should!

Then I stupidly didnt leave well enough alone and upgraded to OS 5.1. The problem reappeared worse than ever. ive tried resetting several times with no luck. I had a full charge 2.5 hours ago. i have made a couple of short calls, fetched my mail and came onto the net to this post (again); now 59% charge -- 2.5 hours!!!

Can you imagine how stupid I feel! Especially because I avoid all upgrades until I read about the problems theycause anf feel they are safe. Oh well.....

Any thoughts?

FYI: push mail is off, time zone is off, locations are off. Im running a bare bones config and the phone is still skinning me alive! indeed the battery charge has dropped 3% while I was writing this note (and I type fast).

You should contact Apple support for a new iPhone. When reading forums it seems to me that few people have a battery drain as serious as yours, which definitely justify a replacement, where hopefully you will only experience battery drain similar to mine which seems more typical. My iPhone still drains when locked and not "doing anything" but not nearly as fast as in the beginning. Unless I play music, watch video or browse for hours at a time, the battery will hold out for the entire day with about 20%-40% when I go to bed. mind you with the iPhone 4on ios5 this was NEVER an issue, 60% battery? No problem and no need to charge over night.

As others have posted there seems to be a hardware/software combination on the iPhone 4s and as with any new model line (of any product) there will be a few iPhones (like yours) that are faulty and others just a little buggy. I believe mine falls under the category buggy while yours clearly has a fault!

Demand that apple gives you a buggy iPhone 4s!

Or try the procedure explained above, it did work for me, at least a little.

Ps. I'm running iOS 5.01, using iCloud, photo stream etc.