Q: iOS 6 iPhone 4s battery drain

I have 4 different CPU apps already actually. Most of the time my processor says its usage is around 10-15% just sitting there, which isn't as bad as it seems, but still shouldn't be that high. It seems to fluctuate from 5-15% most of the time. I shall try the resets though.

I meant to say my usage is between 4-15% when just sitting there with that specific app open, all other apps killed.

Caleb, mine shows the same percentage when all other apps shut down.  I would guess that's pretty normal.  The phone still probably polls cellphone towers etc.  If I have used Safari the percentage reads 100% until I quit Safari and turned the phone off and then back on. 

Yes JoeMenRod, that has been a common occurrence in previous iOS too. Sometimes simply deleting the account, rebooting the device then adding it back solves it. Other times simply setting the fetch option instead of push works . I am actually using gmail in exchange mode and push is enabled (just enabled push recently to see how it worked) and all is well. On iOS 6 too.

However my theory/advice from a while back was to set email up to fetch/manual. Then it will fetch your mail whenever you open the mail app to actually read it.  I had no reason for mail to come in constantly and just sit there until I had time to read it as I had other things going on. I would not read it that second anyway (that's all I would do all day if i looked every time a push email came in). So if push email is killing your battery try the tips i mentioned above. Thanks Joe for the additional confirmation.

Caleb, When you see the usage and standby staying the same that is a classic symptom that you need to perform the  settings>general>reset>Reset All Settings and select set up as new when it reboots ( it wont erase your data or apps) or if you are using exchange email delete the account and reboot and see if issue stops. Then add back the account. Some app or your email or a setting has taken over causing no standby.

BTW do NOT choose "erase all content and settings" That will erase your apps and data. The reset all settings will not. And be sure to select "set up as new" when it reboots. You will only have to select your walpaper and wifi networks etc again. Any particular settings you changed (like turning off most of the junk in  location- system settings)

CalebM39 wrote:

 

Just another update to trying to figure out any way to slow the drain down so I can actually make it through a day with SOME usage of my phone. Gonna do a test tonight and see where we are at in the morning. Here is a screenshot of what my phone says has gone on since it was fully charged:

All I have done is listen to 25 min of a continuous podcast and sent 3 text messages in that time. Nothing else. But this still shows up. Anyways, I'm just going to let my phone sit overnight without charging and see how much it drops. Will post results in the morning at 6:30 am when I'm up.

So as an update....my battery life in my newly replaced iPhone 4S still is draining. It gets worse everyday.

Screenshot of how bad it is.  I can't even get through a full day at school!

I am having the same battery drain issues on my 4s my question is witch is the best system activity monitor to install on my iphone thank you for any help.                   Tom

I think I may have found a solution. Also, this is where Apple dropped the ball big time IMHO.

1. Disable Safari bookmark syncing in your iCloud preferences.

2. Switch off the Do Not Disturb-feature.

3. Reset the network settings by going to the Reset menu in the preferences pane.

I noticed a major increase in battery life since I disabled these two "features" and made a reset, both on an iPhone 3GS and an iPhone 4.

As far as the Safari bookmark syncing goes, I found a bug in this feature where the iPhone endlessly creates copies of my bookmark set every time I sync. This may cause the aforementioned battery drain. Let me know how you guys and gals manage.

I have done that before but I shall do it again. When I did it, however, I never got an option to "set up as new". My phone is charging now and I will see if it helped/changed anything once it's fully charged again.

So I reset and these are my stats since last charge:

Doesn't seem to really make a difference as I only used my phone for like 20 min tops watching a 5 min youtube video and checking the football game score periodically, yet it still says it's pretty much in constant use. So weird.

There's definitely something wrong when cellular data is on. I see excessive battery drain even with icloud turned off, limited location services and mail fetch switched to manual. Dropping 1% every few minutes. Charging all night and 96% just after few minutes without usage. Switched to wifi only (cellular off) and it's now working much better.

Much better with WiFi only and nearly but not quite as good as official claims, what others have shown (usage screen shots), etc.

if it doesn't immediately present you with the option to setup as new do the reset all settings again as soon as it comes up and it should do it the next time. Sometimes it requires twice in a row to present that option.  The good  news is you can perform the reset all settings rather easily if you dont take the time to reset your settings in between.

Just reset three times in a row and no "set up as new" option appeared. Today has been my worst day to date of drainage yet and it's also one of the days I've least used my phone. I'll post the screenshot later to give you an idea.

Caleb, what is your CPU percentage usage?  Are the processes which are taking most of the CPU associated with any specific app?  Are you using 3G or wifi?   If you are using wifi, have you tried turning 3G off to see if that affects battery usage?  I believe you've said before that you are not using iCloud sync for anything, no Facebook or Twitter, no Safari.