iOS 6 iPhone 4s battery drain

I've been following this discussion for a while now and have tried every single "fix" that has been mentioned. Nothing works! Last night, I updated to 6.1.2 and my battery drained 50% in 2 hours today. This seriously isn't right. Why should we pay hundreds for phones that can't last til the end of the day?!

I'm going to try the master reset later and then update it again. I think I know it probably won't work, but I'll report back either way.

I hear you.....

I was using Iphone last year until i found out the battery drain issue. I immediately (well my phone is already over 2 years contract) switch to Android Samsung s3.

It is a better phone, more control, more flexible than iphone. As far as battery draining issue, it also consumes battery. But then 50% in 2 hours?! no way.. that samsung s3 I can use it (on and off) with 9 - 12 hours. (With some app that kills he draining problem)

Anyhow, I still have my iphone just for play sake with wifi only. I think you should switch to android too, you will love it. I did!

Kristin, You do realize that a restore will put your stuff back if you have a backup yes? That is not that difficult of a process and is well worth the time to do it if you are having the battery drain as you mentioned. An alternate solution you can try is settings>reset>reset all settings. When the device reboots select "set up as new". This will NOT remove your apps or data. You will have to run through the wizard to set you settings back like you want and reset up any wifi networks you have. Also it will default your wallpaper back but otherwise all apps and home screens will remain intact.

Maybe users shouldn't have to do this but the reality is if you want your device to work sometimes you wil need to do some basic things to fix it. Thats a fact of owning technology. Its not a big deal to perform a restore via iTunes and allow it to restore your backup.

Kristin22 wrote:

I posted a few days ago. I have a 4s and my battery drains at the rate of 1% per minute. very handy.

I did the update last night. no change.

I refuse to erase and reset my iphone. I don't want to lose data. I've backed it up on my computer and in the cloud, but still, I shouldn't (we all shouldn't) have to go through all that. Apple, have you chimed in on this issue yet? The 6.1.2 update didn't fix the problem.

Sbailey,

I know I should try it. It's just finding the time to do it. I never really know what happens when we reset or reload, I get freaked out that I'll lose stuff.

I'll try it and write back in. Thanks for your support.

Kristin22:

FYI, i did it twice (different times), one time I had no problem with my co-worker's iphone, but the other time I did mine, for some reason, I lost all the apps/data (even I thought I backed it up). So, you should really be careful doing that.

But then I am not using iphone any more. I feel more relief using Android phone now. I still use iphone 4 just for wifi purpose .. (I had to reload many apps though)

Not to worry. If it makes you feel better get backup to iCloud AND to iTunes manually. Of course the restore process will ask if you want to backup first as well. Then you will have options to restore from.

However the iTunes entire process will backup, restore the iOS then restore your backup all automatically. Let us know if it helps. Good Luck!

This is WAYYYYYY beyond rediculous. I have the 4s and have tried EVERYTHING everyone has mentioned, except updating to 6.1.2. I was waiting to see what it did to everyones phones first. And obviously, its not looking like it is helping anyones battery life. I have probably spent at least 30-40 hrs researching or trying something different on my phone, over the last 2 weeks!!! AT LEAST!!! I loved the way my 4s was, before the update, but am soooo afraid to go thru this crap again! Im either going to buy the Samsung Galaxy s3 or take a chance on the iphone 5! But, Im afraid of going thru this bull crap again! There is NO reason to put something out that screws up our phones....unless they are a bunch of idiots, which makes me not want to buy another one....or unless they are doing this on purpose so that we buy the iphone 5. And either way, i dont like it! WHAT THE HE11 IS APPLE THINKING AND DOING!?!?!? They are ******* off a LOT of loyal customers!!!

Miket502

Just fyi, since I was an ex-iphone user.. Samsung S3 is nice, very flexible and there are many apps Google play market has itune store doesn't have.. I am talking about feature and free apps. (For example, can you do record while talking, transfer data to extra sd card, face unlock, wireless microphone, free cable tv and many many more...) , but don't be surprised that the battery also drains!! It drains because of all the fancy stuff.. (live wallpaper, things running in the background), but to avoid that, (just in case you are getting one, get some app called Deep Sleep Battery saver), then it will be okay, i did a full charge on Samsung S3 once a day (other charging, like while driving back and forth... )

However, I do think Iphone is better in idling. that may be better than S3 (but the Deep Sleep battery saver helps out ..) Now I am satisfied with my S3 phone.

Thanks for the info homeflash. I am seriously considering it. I guess i have become soooo accustomed to how the iphone 4s works, it will be about learning a brand new phone again. And i love my apps. I have close to 250! I guess they have something similar to an itunes app, to go into, on your phone, to find all the apps?

Miket502

If you want to know your apps are in google play store. Go to www.google.com, click on play, it shows all the apps that you may need. At first, I thought itune store has more apps than Android, not true, after I got my Samsung s3, I found out that it is other way around

of course, you may give up one or two apps. (highly unlikely.. but there are free app replacement.. for example..I used to have this app. in iphone called vehcal, but not in googly play any more. I found other app just for that... also free... but of course, if you still keep your iphone, you can stilll use it , just use it as device... Another example, i know you can do it from jail-breaking it, Teamviewer has something called quick transport where you can remote your phone from your pc. Can iphone do that?! Yes, only if you have jail breaking phone.

On and on.. you can check it out first from google play store before you make your decision. I actually checked it out before I switched and Android tablet.

Besides, S3 does have bigger phone, you just have to get used to it. I say S3 is a smart device with phone and countless functionability, while Iphone4s or 5 is a smart phone with limited functionality.

I guess I have more apps than you in my Android apps! ah..yea, if you do play games, they got free ones too!

Good luck !

I would read about the iP5 issues before going there. The 4s typically is a very stable device. Looks like iP5 has more wifi issues and case scratches easy and apparently battery not a lot better than the 4s.

My 4s has always been stellar. No battery drain since iOS 5.0.1 ( 5.0 was bad and could not make it through a day, charging by 6PM) However now I get like 1day 15hr stdby and 7.5hr use typially (dependingon what type of usage of course) and the phone and battery is 15 months old. Have you tried a DFU restore or seeing in Apple store can assist?

Im also having the exact same problem! I did the ios 6.1.2 update last night while the phone was plugged in to charge and after unplugging it this morning, the battery was at 50% within 3 hrs!!! nnedless to say it died pretty soon after and I was running around trying to find a charger as I normaly dont take one to work because it usualy lasts me good 12 hrs. I didnt notice any significant changes in battery life when i did the 6.1.1 update. But this is beyond ridiculous.

So straight after work, I went to the Kingston upon Thames Apple store to speak to someone about this problem but they seemed pretty clueless other than saying to me you need to book an appointment with one their tech guys and come in another day. Then the guy who I was speaking to said he'll go and see what he can do and disappeared for a few mins and then I see him helping another customer... I was fuming at this point, and just when I was about to go looking for the manger, a very nice young lady came and spoke to me and actualy tookan interest in my problem. She plugged my phone in and did a complete reset of the phone and did a backup from icloud, which was last backed up yesterday before the update. But unfortunately, when the phone was backed up the ios 6.1.2 was still there. So it has not sorted out the issue.. Which means I have to book an appointment and go in again and see a tech guy. What is worrying though is the fact that the young lady asked if my phone was less than a year old and i said im not sure and it might be just over a year, she said that if the phone is over one year old, then it wont be covered by the apple warranty! I couldnt believe what i was hearing! They expect me to pay to fix their screw up???? If that is customer service that apple prides themselves on, they really have lost it...

Anyway at this point I was still hoping the reset had worked and thanked the young lady (I believe her name was Ella) for actualy taking an interest in my issue and trying to do something about it, unlike the previous apple employee who had abandonned me and went on to serve another customer while i was told to wait. I wanted to speak to the manager and mention Ellas helpfulness. To my surprise, the guy who had left me waiting, turned out to be the Manager!!! Just says alot about apple customer service... He did then come and appologise to me once Ella had spoken to him about my frustrations and asked me to book an appointment and that they will see what can be done... Needless to say I certainly wont be paying a cent to get this fixed and if that is the case, I will ask the store manger to shove my phone where the sun dont shine and would go straight to another shop to buy anythng other than an Apple!

I charged my phone overnight and unplugged it this morning at 6am. When I went to check it 20 minutes ago (at 11am) it was completely dead!! I've been having battery problems since Thursday last week when I tried to take a quick 3 minute video. I had 20% and shortly after starting the video it died. I called Apple support, (WHO WANTED TO CHARGE ME $35 EVEN THOUGH MY ORIGINAL WARRANTY IS GOOD UNTIL MARCH 10) I did a reboot, AND upgraded to iOS 6.1, AND iOS 6.2 this week alone, with no results. I don't have applecare right now, so is there anything else to try before I phone and request a new battery/phone?

After I updated my phone this morning, my phone doesnt recharge completly... the maximum that i got was 37% but after 30 minutes that I unplugged it, the battery died again...

Reporting back from my last reply... Resetting everything and installing the latest update DOES NOT WORK. Don't bother trying it - you'll be disappointed and might lose all your stuff. I wish there was a way to go back to iOS 5 because this is just terrible.