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iPhone 4S turns off when using camera without battery being drained

Hi,


When using the camera on my iPhone 4S IOS 5.1, the phone will shut down eventhough there's plenty of battery left. Today it turned itself off at about 40%. When trying to turn the phone on again, the "no battery power remains" pic shows. I then plug in the power cord and the phone turns on. Battery indicator now shows 42%.


This happend many times on IOS 5.01 as well, where battery indicator would show anywhere between 20 and 40% when the phone would shut down.


Is this normal behavior?

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1

Posted on Mar 10, 2012 1:26 PM

Reply
33 replies

Mar 11, 2012 4:04 AM in response to Halkier

I've been experiencing the same although it seems to be random rather than camera-related for me. I'm not 100% certain if it started after the 5.1 upgrade or just before. Same symptoms - shuts down due to empty battery (even had it at 100%) then shows empty when I connect it to the power. Once it boots it shows the real battery level again. It has made the phone (4S 32 GB) unusable because it's happening multiple times per day and I can't rely on it to be switched on when an incoming call arrives.

Mar 11, 2012 4:54 AM in response to gerardk

That sounds even worse! My problem is purely related to using camera (or so it seems). However, on IOS 5.01 I experienced that my 4S would shut down anytime below 15% - could be at 1%, could be at 12% and that was without using anything "heavy" and no background apps running (I usually shut things down when not used), but just reading a text or a mail. With IOS 5.1 I haven't experienced that. The phone will turn off at 1%. Yesterday I had tomtom and tunein running and the phone went all the way to 5% before I got home - and didn't shut down. Those are both pretty intensive apps. However using the camera it will shut down way before that. Btw, I'm not using flash, this happens the moment I'm taking the picture. I can have the camera app running with no problems. Also, it happens whether I'm using the native app or e.g. camera awsome. So maybe it's related to the actual shutter thing...

Mar 15, 2012 12:02 AM in response to Halkier

iPhone 4S - 64GB - White. iOS 5.1

When the phone is at 20 -25 % battery and I'm photographing in Instagram - recently when attempting to re-open the camera on the app, the phone has been force-closing.

Once shut down, pressing the power button shows the plug in charger symbol. Once connected to the power the phone reboots at the same percentage remaining.

I think I need to back up the phone and take it for a trip to the local apple-retail-experiance. I don't believe premature shutdowns at 25% battery are normal or acceptable - I have not noticed this behaviour when not using Instagram. I quite often find that I take it to 1% battery - 5.1 does not appear to be giving for me the same battery life as what I was getting when 5.01 was installed.

All I know is that I cannot keep having the phone fail at 20-25% battery, especially as its only 6 months old.

Jul 10, 2012 10:22 PM in response to Halkier

I have the exact same thing! The last time I did it, it came up with the battery exhausted thing, and once I plugged it in, it came up with 85% battery, which is what it had when it turned off. Once plugging it in, I can only take pictures that way. Did anyone else plug their phone into itunes before it happened? Thats the only thing I have done since its been happening.

Oct 17, 2012 8:26 PM in response to Halkier

This too is happening to my iPhone 5 16GB black when using the camera. The phone is 2 weeks old and is frustrating as I use the camera regularly. For such a top of the range phone one would expect bugs like this to be eradicated, it seems to be happening on numerous versions of iOS? Is there any fix for this as of yet?

Oct 24, 2012 1:35 PM in response to Halkier

34% Zap, Gone! I think it is happening when I use the camera, but still need to double-check that. Any ideas would be great. I am currently doing an overnight charge with the phone fully off to see if it somehow resets itself ref the battery. Very frustrated as I am away from 'home base' on hols hoping to use/ play with the GPS, photos etc etc, but in reality have been let down by the Apple Eco-system.

Nov 25, 2012 11:51 AM in response to BanchoryJohn

Same thing happening here.

iphone4s 64gb switches off when taking pictures (sometimes) (often enough to be annoying!)

always with 10-40% of battery remaining

it shows flat battery animation and will NOT switch on, even if holding both buttons for 2mins+

but it turns on immediately when i connect charger, no waiting to charge

and immediately shows 10-50% of battery that i knew it had

it also did it once when playing music and then someone called me

device switched off when i pressed answer button


i am on 5.1.1 but know others on forums running 6.0.1 with same problem

so telling me to update will be pretty stupid advice

it did not happen on 5.0 (but that was when battery was new - 4 months old!)

had device for 13 months so warranty/swap is out of the question


as i paid £270 upfront for the device and still have to pay £37 per month to o2-UK for another year

i find it disgusting that i would have to pay to have it fixed/swapped considering its not my fault

im actually looking for a definite fix for this

NOT the usual 'take it to apple store' babble as i cant afford that


but we all know im not gonna get one....

Feb 1, 2013 11:46 AM in response to klackenstam

its NOT battery related

had apple fit a new battery 10 days ago

problem remains


i'd continue to take it back over and over again but we all know apple will never acknowledge the problem even exists


still paying £37 per month for a faulty device + battery replacement fee


only solution is never let battery drop below 50%


which gives the iphone 4s the worst battery life on the planet, talk time is halved


its my first (and last) iphone but aint they great fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jul 8, 2013 3:51 PM in response to Halkier

Me too. My iPhone 4s intermittently shuts down and displays the no power plug in symbol. It's dead until I can plug it in. But when I plug it in, it can show 70-80% power remaining, and if I then immediately unplug it, it works fine for ages before needing a recharge. It's hard to believe that this is a battery charge issue.


It has always happened to me when I use the camera app to take photos while GPS is on (tracking with the Cyclemeter app). But it's frustratingly intermittent. Usually I can take photos fine with Cyclemeter tracking, but perhaps once a week, this combination kills the iPhone.


It's **very** annoying. I'm now reluctant to use the camera app when the GPS is running, and I'm contemplating always carrying an external battery with me so I can restart the thing when it crashes.

iPhone 4S turns off when using camera without battery being drained

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