Iphone4 battery life - all of a sudden it's terrible! iOS 5.0.1

The steps at this page are fairly comprehensive:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

If you are still experiencing worse than expected battery life, consider restoring the phone as new and leaving the phone unplugged overnight to rule out issues with third party apps and corrupt software.

iOS: How to back up your data and set up as a new device

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4137

If you have poor battery life even on a phone set up as new, I would recommend contacting AppleCare:

1-800-MY-IPHONE (1-800-694-7466)

Hours: Monday - Friday from 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., or Saturday - Sunday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.

Seth

Not a problem, enjoy the Holidays!

Seth

Try a hard reset, hold on to the home and wake button and only let go once you see the apple logo. Do it once every day for 4 days. This works for me🙂

In general, a hard reset is harder on the phone than simply shutting down and restarting the phone, which achieves the same results in most circumstances.

Both restart the phone hardware and software, but the reset forces the hardware to disconnect, similar to unplugging a computer.

When possible, I would advised a restart, rather than a reset.

More information can be found in this article:

iPhone, iPad, iPod touch: Turning off and on (restarting) and resetting

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1430

Seth

But a hard reset really helps me improve my battery life on my iPhone.

Right, I was simply stating that generally a restart achieves the same thing, and is less hard on the phone.

If a hard reset helps where a restart doesn't, then that is strange, but certainly possible.

Seth

It is possible it could be an app that just isn't up to scratch with 5.0.1 yet.

I had a similar problem a while back.

If you have the time,

Reset your phone and add apps back 10-15 at a time and see which ones start causing problems.

It is no harder on the phone and does no damage to the phone by doing a hard reset. They do not do the same thing.

A hard reset temporarily removes power to all the phone hardware, similar to pulling the plug on a computer. It is not harder on the phone itself, but can cause issues in the phone software over time, which can be resolved with a restore as new.

A power off and restart shuts down both the software and the hardware through the normal operating system procedures.

The main point of what I am trying to convey is that issues that can be resolved by a hard reset can often also be acheived through a power down and reboot. If that has not resolved the issue, certainly then do a hard reset, but in troubleshooting, a restart should generally be attempted before a reset.

Seth

Where did you get the information that hard resets damages software?

I did searches on google and it seems like it causes many problems on ANDROID.

It is part of the very definition of a hard reset that it has the potential to damage data, as it very abruptly stops all software processes via a temporary removal of power to the components.

Seth

For anyone new to the thread be sure to go through these steps to address the battery after updating to iOS 5.0.1:

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 check details on my thread along with numerous successes here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3484755

You could chose not to do it while the phone is in the middle of doing something else. You could turn on Airplane mode, make the iPhone go to sleep and then do it from the lock screen. There is nothing wrong in doing it like that for me.