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

Seriously.....   This thread has become nothing more than hysterical people trying to grasp onto some last bit of hope that this is a software problem!   iOS 6.1 should be released in the next few weeks.   When everyone sees that it offers no improvment for this situation, MAYBE they will resolve themselves to the fact that the battery simply does not have the capacity to meet the power needs of the phone.

Instead of hand wringing and spending many hours tinkering with settings, take $30 and buy a bloody car charger.   Carry that and your usb cable around with you, then charge whenever possible.

HOPEFULLY, iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 will be released with a larger capacity battery and this problem will be instantly solved.   I'm sure APPLE is regretting their thinner design decision at this point, but it is what it is and they will NEVER admit it.

1. Deal with it

2. Trade your iPhone for something else

Best wishes...........

Jangeles323 wrote:

 

Well duh, the battery will drain slowly when cellular data is off.. It does the same thing to all smart phones. Data = battery drain. If you notice, being on wifi drains battery slower then being on 4g/lte

No i didn't know because i never tried it Mr iphone/battery expert.. It was u that was saying the fix was as simple as downgrading to 6.0.1 right?? So whats all this on pg 217 with the "let the battery run down to 20%, plug it up and if it gains 3% real quick then uplug it and try again. If it does it the 2nd time, repeat the process". I guess one has to try all that jibberish while standing on one foot and chanting in Latin..

Seems to me, ur guessing at solutions like the rest of us.. #StandDown

I didn't say i was an expert or anything. Just stating that what i did worked out for me. Didn't say you have to try it or anything.. And anyone would know that having data off or even a cellular signal will provide good battery. A good example is my atrix 2 is lasting a whole week without charge.. Downgrading to 6.0.1 was just a suggesting since some people were getting good batt on it and then some ppl got ****** batt when upgraded to 6.0.2  

I do this after every charge. I press the the off button. Slide to power off.

Switch back on. Get good battery life all day.

At midnight I have approx 50% after 18+ hours standby and 4+ hours usage.

I started to do this after I one day saw the battery at 99% after all night charging.

I do this with iPhone 5, iPhone 4 and the iPad mini. They all showed this 99% problem.

The 99% issue doesn't happen every morning.  But I power off and on again anyway.

My iPhone 5 is manufactured in week 51.

I had one before that was a week 45 unit.  The older one was definitely defective.

Both on battery life and battery.

The draining issues came with IOS 6.0.2 as everybody is reporting... so COME ON Apple!!!

1. When are you going to release the new IOS 6.1 to fix this issue?

2. How long more do we have to suffer with this for?

Because it is supposed this new 6.1 version WILL FIX  our AMAZING DEVICES, or NOT?

Everybody's getting impatient because of this terrible problem there was not before in the 6.0.1 and the other one is you have to use gloves if you don't want to get burned while you are using the AMAZING IPHONE 5 for a long time thanks to the **** 6.0.2...

All this is completely annoying 

Today, Who guess why? Un plug at 09:00am and now 04:00pm battery is 71%.

Yeaterday at 04:00pm was 12%

Who knows ...

I just want to point out that i got the same problem. I got my new iPhone 5 32gb 1 week ago and the battery life was okay with 6.01. After I installed 6.02 my battery was gone after 12 hours not using the iphone at all. I contacted apple care who told me to reset my settings. I hoped that the factory recovery would bring me back 6.01 but it did not and since apple does not recommend a downgrade im stuck with a new incredible beautiful phone, which i dont dare to use because im afraid that my battery wont last the day in 3g mode. After i resetted to factory image the battery lasts well as long as i use wifi (12h usage and 48h standby with flight mode over night)...as soon as i start using my 3g the phone will heat up and the battery drops quite fast. Since im still a student the purchase of the iPhone had quite some impact on my budget and in case apple will take care of the battery issue i would spend the money again since there is no comparable device in points of materials and haptic. Nevertheless i will go back to the apple store and ask for a new device over and over again in case they wont solve this problem soon. So let all of us hope that Apple did not die along with Steve Jobs....

I unplugged it after fully charge and then immediately did a restart (off and home button at the same time). Battery dropped to 99% after 4 hours of standby and some light use mostly over 4G LTE. Before this, battery dropped to 98% within one hour even with light use over wifi. Unfortunately, the restart right after full charge wipes out the memory of full charge so the phone cannot not show standby and usage time after last full charge.

I have 2 iphones 5 and just had an opportunity to run a side by side wi-fi web browser run from 100% to zero. The brightness was set at maximum. Apple claims 12 hours of wi-fi, I only got:

phone with version 6.0.1 6 hours 45 minutes

phone with version 6.0.2 6 hours 25 minutes

So, 6.0.1 only got 5% more time. But, both were way short (about 56%) of the 12 hours wi-fi Apple advertises.

Obviously, the full brightness caused a lot of this reduction. If I get time, I'll try running it again with the minimum brightness.

My test on wi-fi with the brightness set on dimmest gives:

phone with version 6.0.1 18 hours 8 minutes

phone with version 6.0.2 17 hours 53 minutes

The iphone with 6.0.1 only lasted 1% longer.

Both were much longer (50%) than Apple's ads for the iPhone 5 (12 hours).

Now I know why Apple advises dimming the screen to extend battery life.

I guess I'll try shutting off Auto for brightness and set the slider below the B. Seems like that should give a bit more life.

hopefully they fix this issue soooon

I can tell you I tried pretty much every thread on here on "fixing" the problem and none worked for me. What did work was calling Apple, explaining what I'd tried and getting a new phone sent to me. My old one was using about 1% every 2-3 minutes, regardless of what was, or wasn't turned on. So new phone in hand, wifi, Bluetooth, LTE, and a majority of location services, push notifications ect on , and I don't have to charge it every few hours, or even every day. I'm very happy with my new one.

Hmmm...mine is loosing about 1% per hour. Is it safe to assume that my device has nothing wrong (and so a replacement is not possible) and better wait for 6.1 version of iOS to see if that will change ?

By the way, with medium usage, i can achieve 2 days until it needs charging. I have the device for less than a month.

Hello everyone...first, I have been a loyal Apple fan for years and have owned every iPhone to date.  However, one thing I learned during my 12 year military career was to keep an open mind and always be willing to adapt to change.  Therefore, after purchasing an iPhone 5 on launch day, and subsequently returning it for a replacement within one week, and then replacing that phone with a 3rd iPhone 5, I realized that the one obvious flaw this phone has over its predecessors is subpar battery life.  I, like many of you, have been very frustrated and have tried every conceivable option to optimize battery life.  So, I recently sold the device and utilized my upgrade eligibility to test drive the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.  Essentially, my reason for doing so was mainly battery life.  I try not to complain about much as I am breathing oxygen and am very blessed and fortunate.  And, I find myself at times trying not to get too uptight about a luxury device that is basically a communication tool and ultimately unimportant in the big scheme of things (family, love, health, etc.). 

Anyway, I apologize for being philosophical....bottom line, as a consumer who utilizes this communication device, I had simply hoped to get a full day out of my iPhone 5 without having to inconveniently charge it multiple times.  But, as with any device, the hardware and specs will play a part in how the device operates.  Obviously, usage via games, texting, talking, and browsing will play a huge part no matter what size battery or device.  However, I would classify myself as the "average" user and still found myself having to search for a charger around 2-3pm each day after unplugging my iPhone at 6:30am each morning.  Again, only casual browsing, emails, and texting/calling drained my battery to under 10%.  Finally, I realized that (and this is only my personal opinion) no update from Apple (iOS 6.1) will aid this device simply due to its form factor and hardware.

Bottom line, this is a very powerful, and wonderfully engineered phone with 4G capability and when used, will drain power from the 1440mAh battery...its a inevitable reality that I couldn't accept.   I do miss the fluidity of iOS and the simple nature of the iPhone 5.  However, I must admit that with my Note 2's 3100mAh battery, I am not having to compromise on what I turn on/off and how I use the phone.  Yes, its bigger, glitchy, and simply not Apple.  But, it works and I don't have to worry about battery life which is a huge factor for me (I'm not always around a wall/car chager).  Maybe a battery case will help some of you and its a shame that you might have to invest another $100 into accessories after shelling out money for your iPhone 5.  But, to me that was the only option when deciding to keep or sell my iPhone.  So, I invested the other $100 into the Note 2 and ironically, I really like it.   I miss the form factor of the iPhone 5 and its simplicity...and, even caught myself this morning second guessing my decision to keep the Note 2, or go back to my beloved iPhone 5 and buy a case.  Ultimately, it's unfortunate that Apple made a product that is powerful and fast without substantially increasing the size of the battery...yes, its light and beautiful, but very frustrating to constantly monitor usage and settings.  However, because of the small 1440mAh battery, the iPhone 5 is simply a Ferrari with a 5 gallon fuel tank.  It's awesome to drive...but the ride is over so quickly before refueling begins.  Apple, I appreciate your willingness to create a thin, light, and beautiful phone...but, couldn't you have sacrificed a little thickness and weight for a 2100mAh battery?  I hope you're listening.......

@paulphilly -   You hit the nail right on the head bud.....    A few paragraph breaks would have helped though!