Q: iPhone 5 battery draining very fast

Day 2 testing results:

Some signs that this may indeed be a software and not hardware issue (as far as the ip5 i'm testing on - my brother's).

As mentioned, i DFU wiped and started using the phone as a totally clean phone (ie. iPhone 1 style with no apps, no address book etc).  So in idle, the battery is very good, zero to 1% drop only when idling for hours - i went on standby for a day no problem.  This was with LTE on all the time.

On Day 1 i turned on Mail to test if this affected things.  Mail was only set to manual, not push.  No effect, idle drain was still good ie. 0-1% only.

So that eliminated Mail as being the culprit.

On Day 2:

LTE on.

Mail on.

iCloud OFF.

No addressbook nothing.

I downloaded 1 app, Whatsapp (bec the Genius said this is prob what was causing the drain).

I set Whatsapp to send me notifications (that's how the app is suppose to run rite?). Also allow it to access my photos and addressbook (haha).

Result?  No effect.  Idle times still great.  So whatsapp isnt the culprit.

Tomorrow Day 3 I was thinking of trying Facebook (my next most used app in that order after Whatsapp).  But I'm starting to think I will encounter problems not when I download standalone apps (i doubt they cause problems).  I reckon it will be when i activate iCloud.

So Day 3 will be iCloud.  Will keep you guys posted.

(in between the above Days, I run the battery down to 0% and let it die.  Then recharge all the way back to 100% without interruption)

One downside i still see is that although idle times are great (how ironic we are happy about battery not running down when we are not even using the ph), whenever i actually use the phone, the battery does fall quick rapidly (say 1% every 3-5mins), although not as rapidly as before (1% every 1-2 mins).  I deliberately dont use wifi and just use LTE to test the "upper limit".  So looks like LTE is a real power zapper.  Not sure if this is considered "normal" or still a battery issue.

I'll be back.  (I see Apple still refusing to contact me)

Yesterday 17 Out

Hello. I solved the batery drain problem...restoring the iphone to factory settings anda clean of data, sync my contacts and don't install any old application, only new facebook, full charge the batery and use it normally with mobile data on but 3g off and it dies before one day and a half, yssterday i full charge before died and unplugged at 5pm with 100% batery and mobile data off today at 5pm have 70% batery...i'm waiting to see when we dies, but seems he is now ok...and o makes drain is old applications...

Today 18 Out

At this time my iphone 4 don't died yet, and have 22% of batery and 2 daya(48hours) and 3 hours...i think i solve the problem it is the old applications who are not compatible

My battery:

BEFORE:

Percent: 50%

Usage: 2 hours

Standby: 10 hours

AFTER:

Percent: 50%

Usage: 5 hours 30 mins

Standby: 9 hours

Today i have used my phone for taking photos, sending lots of messages, watching movie trailers on the web, watching a film for 45 minutes (battery drained 5%), listened to music, and played games

THE REASON I BOUGHT THE PHONE! TO DO THIS I HAD TO CHANGE MANY SETTINGS, WITHOUT LIMITING THE FEATURES OF THE PHONE, you will be remarkably suprised how much of a difference it makes.. one in particuar which no one has seemed to mention

DONT GET ME WRONG IT IS STILL VERY UNACCEPTABLE THAT WE SHOULD HAVE TO CHANGE ANY SETTINGS BUT UNTIL APPLE RESOLVE THE ISSUE IM ABLE TO USE MY PHONE THROUGHOUT THE DAY, without it dropping 1% on standby

Dave11011, could you tell us what settings you changed to achieve this result.  Thanks!

Yeah sure, il tell you now, but it will take me a while because il be very detailed ok? ...

Yea just hurry up before my battery dies :p

Yes, I am having the same issue.

Troy, il give you my exact settings and then you can tweak them:

1. Turn OFF 'Auto Brightness' as this is constantly using the sensor and then mine is always on around 50%-60%
2. Turn OFF 'WIFI' when using 'Mobile data'
3. When using 'WIFI' Go to General, then 'Mobile Data' and Turn OFF 'LTE' and then 'Mobile Data'
4. Turn 'Bluetooth' OFF until needed (not very often for me)                                                                            Notifications:         
5. Turn OFF all Wigets - They eat your battery (i dont use them)
6. Remove all the apps you dont want showing in the 'In notification centre' by selecting 'OFF' - I only have my social apps in their, reminders, messages and Phone, for these choose the setting 'Badges' and 'Banners' with badge app icon 'ON' and 'View in Lock screen' 'ON' and choose sounds.
7. For your apps that are not in the 'Notification centre', I would set everything to off e.g Alert Style 'None' .. I have                                                                                                                                                             General:
8. Go to 'About' ..scroll.. 'Advertising' ... Turn ON 'Limit Ad Tracking'
9. Go to 'About' ..scroll.. 'Diagnosis and usage' ... choose 'Dont send'
10. Go to 'Siri' ... Turn OFF ..... I only use it when playing golf
11. Go to 'Spotlight Search' Turn everything OFF
12. 'Auto Lock' .... 1 or 2 minutes
13. Go to 'Accessibility' and make sure 'Led flash for Alerts is 'OFF'                                                                     Sounds:
14. Turn OFF 'Lock Sounds'
15. Turn OFF 'Keyboard Clicks'                                                                                                                            Privacy:
16. Go to 'Location Services' .... Turn OFF every single application that doesnt really require your location
17. Go to 'Location Services' then 'System Services' Turn OFF: 'Diagnosis and usage' , 'Genius for apps' , 'Location based iads' , 'Mobile Network search' , 'Setting Time Zone'                                                                 iCloud
18. I turned everything OFF because i dont use icloud now all my contacts are on my phone and whatever             Mail:
19. Go to 'Fetch New Data' and Turn OFF 'Push'  set 'Fetch to manually or hourly                                                   Music:
20. Make sure 'EQ' is OFF

One thing i would say is if you watch a movie on it turn WIFI and mobile data OFF along with all those others and your battery wil drain like 5% an hour

All those changes havnt really restricted me in anyway at all because i get all the notifiations i want, i turn Siri on when i want, and i check my emails when i want

I would advise you to do every single one, because believe it or not every single one makes a difference especially some of them so if you decide not to change any of them just reply to me and il tell you whether it will make a big differece or not.

Once you have made those, charge your phone from dead to full battery, and im telling you now your battery will last so so so so so much longer it is incredible...... PLEASE let me know how you get on and tell me the results of your battery life before you made those changes and after Thankyou Troy! Enjoy!

Could everyone that makes those changes just let me know how their battery is because my battery is now:

Usage: 6 hours 30 mins

Percent: 45%

Standby: 11 hours

So they are well worth making! I hope you have the same result, because my battery was draining 20/30% an hour before

Thank you Dave11011!  There are certain items that I do use, but most I don't.  I will make the changes and report back once I have a full charge.

I am dismayed that the so called "Best thing to happen to the iPhone since the iPhone" requires users to turn features on an off as we need them just to preserve battery power until the end of the work day.  This is not progress.  I am actually considering returning it and buying a 4S. 

I am so sad because the phone is beautiful and the software operates perfectly and the screen is amazing and the video is smooth and clear.... You can only use it for about 2 hours...  I would be happier with the thicker form factor and getting through the day without a power cord.  Thank you again, for your advice and for listening!

T

I know, I find it just as frustrating as you do! i just hope that apple do something about it so that we get the full use of it! i have had several rants if you look at my previous posts ahahahaaaaaa, so i wont start again, but it is so anoying

The main settings to try and turn off are as follows:

icloud (makes a big difference)

Spotlight search (no one has mentioned this but it made a big difference)

System services (big difference)

Siri (not sure if it drains the battery when not in use)

Wigits (big difference)

to be honest going through them they all make a massive difference so just make the changes that you can without restricting yourself too much and yeah just report back, I am glad to be of help

Did you change them in time?

Seriously! Take a look at this!

Down %50 after less than 2 hours of standby. Sheesh! I am finding myself in that awkward position of not wanting to recommend an apple product.

Having the same issue. Turning off iCloud seems to have worked so far. Before I would lose about 3% every 5 minutes or so, now I can actually get up to 15 minutes without it dropping this far. Completely deleted my iCloud account, not sure if that means it's lost forever or if i can sign back in but until they fix this issue, I won't be using this service.

Nevermind, battery life still sucked even after turning off iCloud. I'm going to try a restore if it continues like this...