Q: iOS 6 iPhone 4s battery drain

Mine's working now too. So well that it's actually kinda scary - it was at 81% at 7.30 last night and it was at 81% when I got up this morning! I had to watch a long video to use some battery and convince myself the indicator wasn't stuck!

I put it down to your suggestion (GrahameE) about email push. That was definitely using 3G and lots of data while on wi-fi. But for others it seems to be Safari bookmarks (which I can understand, because iCloud is really touchy about bookmarks). It almost makes me wonder whether it's got nothing to do with what we're fiddling around with and the problem is steadily being resolved from behind the scenes!

So courage, mes braves! It can be fixed. Try turning off cellular data and if that improves the battery life then try turning on and off icloud and mail push services. Use DataWiz to see what's using the bandwidth and try turning cellular data back on to see if that data is being transferred through 3G when it should be going through wi-fi. There's definitely an evil bug in there - nothing should use cellular when wi-fi is available - but it can clearly be fixed now, while we wait for the inevitable patch.

Thanks for the feedback..

eellis2.... I finally give up and am doing as you did and setting up my phone as a new phone as I type

Glad to hear that. Following my horrendous battery drain and heat problems, my 4S is now behaving like a kid that just come out of the headmasters office.

Just given it a full charge. Push email off. Fetch on every 30 mins. Location services off. iCloud only on for docs, piccy's and Find My iPhone. Two email accounts - both are IMAP. Even though one is Gmail, I ignored the option of Gmail setup and Exchange, just used 'other account'.

WiFi on. 3G on. Got rid of some notifications that were not needed.

An hour and a half later (email 'fetch' x 3) battery still 100%.

SPOOKY!

Oh! Forgot to say. The iPhone didn't even get remotely hot while being charged. I wouldn't even call it warm. More tepid.

Weird.

Yup. Mine's fixed as of today. Charged to 100% in the car as I knew it would be crap so left it on charge all the way on my trip out. Then happened to glance at it at 4pm (no use during the day) and it was still at 100%. Wow!

Got home, did some usage etc. - still only on 3G as WiFi kills the battery instantly so haven't used WiFi since I upgraded to iOS6 - and it was great. Very little drain. So I chanced things and turned on WiFi and that's all fine now too. So I enabled Safari sync, Passbook sync, Twitter and Facebook and although it's early doors the battery still seems fine - sitting at 77% now.

My guess is that this was actually an iCloud issue and/or push notification server issue interacting with iOS6 that Apple has quietly found and fixed at the server end. It's the only explanation I can come up with for the fact it was absolutely pathetically crap until now when it suddenly is sorted with no iOS6 upgrade.

Long may this last!

But it still leaves me with a very bad taste in my mouth and a total lack of trust in Apple. If they had admitted this and said they were working on it, I would have been OK - bugs happen after all.

Apple's total silence has completely destroyed my faith in the company though. I have loads of Apple kit - 2 Apple TVs, 2 Mac Minis, Mac Air, Macbook, Airport Extreme, iPad, 2 iPhones and until now I have told all family and friends to buy their stuff. But after this I've been telling my cousin in Miami not to touch the iPhone 5 with a barge pole and I will never, ever again upgrade until months have passed after a new release.

Apple should hang its head in shame - not because of the bug(s), but because of their secrecy.

Tim Cook needs to understand the damage this has caused and seriously think about how he would have felt in a similar situation, and whether he really wants Apple's brand to continue. Because you don't need many episodes like this before you're the next Microsoft or worse, Nokia.

Think about it Tim......

Yes I definitely have. Standby is off the hook good now. Its much better for me than any version since 5.0 and I have updated to each version. A few times I had to perform the reset all settings deal I posted earlier in the thread (think maybe when 5.1 was applied) but that was it.  I get better standby and usage doing all the same things I have ever done. I even moved back to push email for my work account just to see and it still is fine. iOS 6 seems to be a lot better so no you are not alone

pendlebum wrote:

 

I've got to be honest, I came looking for a topic to see if anyone had noticed a bump in battery life! I've had no such drainage problems I'm afraid - if anything my battery is behaving much better and I was surprised by that.

Qwen, it happens, not a real explanation why but one item to look at is exchange email. That is known to all of a sudden start a drain. Its like it gets hung up accessing the server and wont stop. Best way to correct that is to delete the account, reboot the phone then add the acct back. The reset network settings may help as well but its easy to just remove the exchange email acct and add it back.

owen-b wrote:

 

I just can't comprehend how I went a full week of no problems whatsoever on the GM, and then overnight it starts playing up at the same time as everyone updates to iOS 6 proper.

 

Does suggest it being something on Appke's end that changed in the last 24 hours, no?

You can turn off the email notifications up top right. That will help with the hundreds of emails from this forum.

OK so this is very common every time there is an iOS upgrade. Its not iOS 6 causing the issue but rather an app or setting that went belly up during the upgrade. Thats why a restore typically will fix it. So with that said here are some items to consider:

1: settings>General>Reset>Reset all settings.. When device reboots select "Setup as new" This will not remove your data or apps. You will have to add back wifi networks and wallpapers etc

2: Let the battery drain totally until it cuts off. Then plug in and allow it to charge past 100% maybe 1.5- 2 hrs

3: settings>privacy>location>system ( all the way to bottom) Turn off diag and usage,location based iAds,Setting time zone-- These items are not needed  and will run GPS casuing drain

4: If the above does not help, see if your email is exchange email. If so delete the account, reboot the phone and add the account back (ONLY if exchange)

Still have issues then a restore as new may be in order. Then test it to see if out of box its works. That will tell you in battery,iOS and hardware is ok or not. If its fine best thing is to add apps back via itunes NOT restoring your backup. OR add a few back at a time to see which one was the offending app.

Sometimes restoring a backup will put back whatever was wrong back in the device so it does not resolve the issue. If you cannot let apps restore via iTunes or downloading them again or refuse to  go without restore from backup then restore your backup BUT then perform items 1-3 above after you restore your backup.

These items are proven to help a lot of folks from past iOS upgrades. Again its not iOS 6 that is at fault but rather settings, apps or the upgrade process itself causing the majority if these issues. I hope the above helps some of you guys start enjoying your iPhone again.

BTW there is apparently an issue with wifi and cellular data that is being worked on. Verizon issued a carrier update for the iPhone 5 to resolve it. That will also cause battery issues I would guess but worse cause you to use your limited data. Verizon has stated they will not charge folks for the data use these issues have caused. You can see their statement online if you look for it. So yes iOS does have a few issues for some folks not all. The above steps will work for a lot of you out there but unfortunatly I am sure not all of you.

Sound advice, certainly, but actually I think it is iOS6 that's at fault. I'm 100% certain that my iphone 4 was transferring unnecessarily large amounts of data through 3G (AT&T rather than Verizon) while I was solidly connected to wi-fi. It's not supposed to do that. The constant data flow was keeping the cell radio alive and that was what was eating the battery (not to mention sending me over my data limit). It was push email that caused it (and no, I don't have any Exchange accounts). All other o/s services seem to be using wi-fi correctly, but having push turned on was exchanging data via 3G while I was sitting three feet from the router. That's an o/s fault, but I'm not surprised it didn't show up in beta, because it only seems to cause battery trouble when combined with certain email configs or iCloud issues.

I think it's a wider fault than apps.

I have now had FOUR replacement iphone 4s handsets. They all have exhibited the same problem.

As someone has said - switching off cellular data/3G will help. Congratulations on giving yourself an iPod Touch.

I think it's iCloud and cellular. I had no apps on my replacement phones - and as soon as I popped iCloud on.. the drain happened.

Also - as someone else mentioned they get 100% for about an hour and a half. So do I. This has been common on all the handsets I've tried. It stays at 100% for about 90 mins and then rockets down.

If I dont touch my phone I can get it to be at 100% for about 2 hours. I think some services are starting up once I swipe to unlock and then the drain happens, so this is why it holds at 100 for a while.

I feel paranoid to use my phone.. like it's some sort of contest to see how long I can get out of the battery rather than enjoying the handset and just getting on with my life.

Anyway- I've just upgraded to an iPhone 5 and giving my wife my 4s so she's happy.. (she's never owned an apple product)

Partially correct. Yes iOS 6 apparently is causing wifi/cellular data issues. Verizon/Apple has issued an update to rectify it on iPhone 5 only. So potentially 4s and any ATT phones could have this issue.

As for the battery issue, well the majority of users in the billions of devices are not having the battery drain and the fixes I mentioned solves it for many who did after the update (iOS5 as well) So if iOS 6 or 5 had inherent issues in the code causing this then those fixes would never work for anyone agreed? I mean resetting the device or getting rid of rougue apps does not rewrite bad iOS code. Thats all I am saying. Hopefully soon there will be an update to address the wifi deal and perhaps that will also get the battery reset for folks who are still having issues. For me the battery is the best its ever been on a 1 year old 4s (better than when it was new) with this iOS version with all the same setup and apps. Strange I know but its a fact.

OH and if you are using any accounts with push (gmail in exchange mode is included as exchange) you may want to try that tip.

Yeah, I don't mean to cause an argument, but my point is that there's a very SPECIFIC battery problem going around at the moment and this very specific problem (not poor battery life but absolutely horrendous battery life) is in many cases at least, also associated with a sudden and inexplicable jump in data consumption, taking many people over their data limits (see other threads). My point is that the data problem IS the battery problem - something is stuck sending or receiving large amounts of data, and this is going through 3G instead of wi-fi, causing people's batteries to die and their phones to overheat.

I'm sure there are many reasons why different people complain of poor battery life and your tips may work for some, but many of the complaints on this thread appear to be this very specific problem. It's worth making this clear because telling people to cycle their batteries and all the usual stuff is going over old ground and clouding the issue again. Some of us have been working through the problem on this thread and others for a couple of days now, and we've already got past the "turn it off and on again" stage!

> So if iOS 6 or 5 had inherent issues in the code causing this then those fixes would never work for anyone agreed?

Uhuh. I've been a computer scientist and programmer for thirty years, so I'm not as dumb as I look. But I don't think these fixes ARE addressing the particular issue that's currently clogging the forum.

After about 2 weeks, many hours of futile effort, trying everything I could think of and find on the web... I restored and setup my phone as a new phone. Things seem to be working. No iCloud, sync, or bookmark issues. I'll be able to tell about battery life soon. There has been one other benefit... Before restoring I noticed that when I clicked on the x to delete an app there was about a 6 second delay before I got the prompt to confirm deletion of the app. Now it's immediate.

i too am frustrated to see my battery drain go down like this and i think the next time theres a  update available I'll pass  

Message was edited by: christina44