Q: iPhone 5 battery life is way worse than iPhone 4

Apple must really be hard at work trying to make sure update 6.1 is perfect in order for them to put update 6.0.2 out before 6.1. I know for a fact that 6.1 does not address the IPhone 5 battery issues tho. I'm running the beta 4 and still get no more than 5hr of usage. My phone will last the whole day tho. Ex. After a full charge I've had episodes where the phone wld go 10hr plus on standby before dropping off the initial 100%. Once off that initial 100%, LOOK OUT, the battery drains like crazy. Will update Ipads 3gen and Mini to 6.0.2 just to see how it performs but will not attempt on iphone 5 or ipod.

Updated to ios6.0.2.  Looking promising for battery life problem?  Still too early. At 91% since 3am(was fully charged) this morning on standby! Cell Data ON! LTE  ON!  At 1:00pm shows 8hr. 7min standby?!  HMMMM?

Same here. I want my iPhone 4 back.

I have disabled my cellular data  while I am on wifi and the results are nothing less than magical.

Surely the problem is with cellular data. 8 hours of standby and 1.45 hours of usage. I am left with 89 percent battery.

Also my experience. 

Apple must really be hard at work trying to make sure update 6.1 is perfect in order for them to put update 6.0.2 out before 6.1. I know for a fact that 6.1 does not address the IPhone 5 battery issues tho. I'm running the beta 4 and still get no more than 5hr of usage. My phone will last the whole day tho. Ex. After a full charge I've had episodes where the phone wld go 10hr plus on standby before dropping off the initial 100%. Once off that initial 100%, LOOK OUT, the battery drains like crazy. Will update Ipads 3gen and Mini to 6.0.2 just to see how it performs but will not attempt on iphone 5 or ipod.

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Try to get your battery broken in by letting it go to 0% (dead) before recharging to 100%. Then if it's still bad, repeat going to 0% and then 100%.

After doing this twice here, I now have the normal battery performance.

hth

Then why some iPhone user with their iOS 6 can last up to 6-7 hours of usage? Is that because they have bigger battery capacity?

I'm having this same issue with my iPhone 5 after updating to 6.0.2.

Partial Fix:  Turn off WiFi  (this issue seems only to be related to WiFi)

I did this while traveling the other day, and it immediately improved the battery situation.  I also did this while on a 40 minute, 5 mile run, streaming music and tracking my run, and only used 7% of the battery.

I realize this isn't a total fix, but if you're not needing WiFi, it's a great way to get great battery life back.

I just upgraded my iPhone 4 to an iPhone 5. What a bad decision! This phone's battery died before I was able to make it back home to charge it. I was thinking That it was probably my Dropbox or some other apps that are always syncing, but I always had these and never had this issue with my iPhone 4. Thanks God I only had this device for only 3 days and can take it back still. Reading all of these comments really helps. I think I will just take it back and activate my old iPhone 4, which I never had issues with it's battery life. This is really bad. I have to charge my phone 2-3 times at day just for regular usage. To give you a sense of time, it dropped 4% just in the time it took me to type this comment. This is simply not acceptable for an upgrade.

I forgot to post back that my advice to cycle through dead turned out to not work, even on my phone. I spoke before it starting dropping fast.

For those of you with burning batteries, it almost sounds like your in a super hot climate. If not, you ought to send it back for replacement.

Here's an independent evaluation from Walt Mossberg's iphone 5 review at http://allthingsd.com/20120918/the-iphone-takes-to-the-big-screen/ , specifically regarding battery life.

The iPhone 5’s battery lasted between 9 and 12 hours every day, in mixed use. For most people, the phone would last the day without recharging.

In fact, I don't use my continuously, so I can go into a second day before charging.

If you're not, then you ought to request a replacement.

hth

I upgraded to an iPhone 5 after losing my iPhone 4, and did a simple restore from a backup. I wasn't having severe problems like other people here, but I did notice that my iPhone 5 wasn't doing as well as my iPhone 4, when facebook messaging it was using 1% every 5 minutes or so which seemed very high. On my iPhone 4 I would be messaging for a couple of hours at night on wifi and it would only use 1-2% in total.

I followed the advice of a few other people on the forums and I've improved my usage back to around where my iPhone 4 was at.

Basically these are the steps I took:

1. Remove all mail accounts (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars)
2. Turn off all iCloud features (Settings > iCloud)
3. Reset network settings (Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings)
4. Restart phone (push and hold power button for ~7 secs, slide to power off. Turn back on)
5. Connect back to wifi, add mail accounts, and turn on any iCloud features you use (for reference I only use Find my iPhone and Notes)

This seems to have rectified my issues.

Those coming from an iPhone 4 have to remember that the iPhone 5 is thinner, has a bigger and brighter screen, and the processor is faster and there's 2 of them. So the fact that it's possible to get similar battery life as the iPhone 4 is a feat in itself.

But obviously some people are having real issues (using obscene amounts during sleep and light usage), which I'm guessing won't be fixed by my instructions, but it's worth a shot. If you can't get a day out of your phone then something is definitely wrong.

Umm..didn't they advertise that the 5 has a better battery life?  That means BETTER.  Not better if your adjust your use to help the battery!

Now I'm curious why you're in here in this forum batting down people's concerns, one by one?  Curious hobby.

Nice handle