Battery draining really fast- 100% to Zero in 20 minutes

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Battery draining really fast- 100% to Zero in 20 minutes

Today my iPhone 4 S (3 months old) is having some kind of battery freak out. It went from around 60% to 1% earlier today, in 5 minutes. I plugged it in, said it was charging, but I still had the "red" battery indicator on the screen. I got home, plugged it in to a wall charger and let it charge. It read 100% after a short time. I did a hard reboot and it read 100%.

Unplugged it and tried to use it. As I have been searching for solutions, I have watched the battery drain from 100 down to 1 again- in a matter of 20 minutes. What the heck is going on?

I have turned it in and off, toggled airplane mode... Those are the only go to fixes I know!!

I haven't purchased any apps recently and my software is up to date.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks-

Heather

Posted on Dec 3, 2012 5:22 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 3, 2012 5:26 PM in response to HBChicago

If the phone gets hot while discharging there's a runaway app on it trying to send data and failing. If it does not get hot you've got a bad battery. Take it to an Apple store for exchange. Make an appointent at http://www.apple.com/retail.

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Answer 2

HBChicago Author

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Dec 3, 2012 7:01 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks Lawrence! And now it won't charge (and I know it isn't my chargers, as they all are charging my old iPhone and iPad just fine). So I imagine you are correct- apple store it is:-(

And it is not running hot, must be the battery. Thanks for your help,

Heather

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Answer 3

HBChicago Author

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Dec 4, 2012 3:01 PM in response to HBChicago

So, to update- my phone continued to act up last night and then this morning. Plugged it in when I got to the office, it sat with the "red battery" all morning. It finally woke up at around noon, showed 100% and I watched it drain while sitting on the charger. I left it plugged in and when I left for the apple store, it read 100% again.

Of course, I arrive at apple store- it won't do it. Acting totally normal. Argh!!! So here is hoping it magically fixed itself...

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Answer 4

HBChicago Author

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Dec 9, 2012 12:24 PM in response to HBChicago

And suddenly today ( 5 days later) it won't charge again. Quick drained again, so plugged into the wall charger- shows that it is charging, but it continues to drain. Fricking awesome.

Has anyone had this happen? Supposedly the battery diagnostic said it was fine (at the apple store). So frustrating, I never had any issues with my 3GS ( it just got old and slow).

:-(

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Answer 5

Dec 9, 2012 1:21 PM in response to HBChicago

It is most likely a rogue app draining the battery, if the battery tests OK.

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Answer 6

Dec 9, 2012 10:31 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

please help me im suffering right now with my iphone because my battery is easily to drain. please help me. what will i do 😟

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Answer 7

Dec 9, 2012 10:37 PM in response to HBChicago

please 😟

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Answer 8

Dec 10, 2012 7:11 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Look at the "More like this" box on this page, and read a few of the 20,000 or so posts on this subject in the forum.

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Answer 9

HBChicago Author

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Dec 10, 2012 11:02 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks for your suggestion Lawrence. I am wondering if there might be an issue with the battery indicator itself- as I said, it would not charge at all yesterday, kept showing me the red battery of death and wouldn't wake up.

Just for kicks I plugged it back in this morning and it has now come to life- but will not charge past 1%. But I have had it off of the charger for over 2 hours now, and it is still functioning. Odd.

I am heading back to the Apple Store later, figured I would update. Thanks

HB

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Answer 10

Dec 10, 2012 11:12 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

please help me lawrence i dont know what to do. i really dont know how to do what they are saying that i need to delete all the accounts in mail that i have. please teach me what to do step by step. it will be a big help if you will response to this message 😟 thanks.

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Answer 11

Dec 11, 2012 5:47 AM in response to stefannie

First we need to see if your phone has a problem, or if it is normal usage. If you charge the phone overnight so it is full in the morning, how long does the battery last? How do you use the phone? What apps do you use most?

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Answer 12

Dec 16, 2012 11:33 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

my battery last for up to just 12 hours. sometimes it last for upto 1 day without doing anything like texting and what so ever. a maximum of 1 day only without holding my phone. my phone is continuing to drain even im not using it. 😟 if im playing, it just last for up to 10 hrs 😟. i usually play subway surfer and as ive said, it just last for up to 10 hrs 😟 i'm just using it when i need to talk to somebody.😟 please help me. i really dont know what was the problem of my iphone. thanks for your time by replying my message. help me 😟

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Answer 13

Dec 17, 2012 6:46 AM in response to stefannie

You are getting normal, expected life out of your battery. There is no problem with your phone. The battery life is in http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html, and is repeated here for an iPhone 5:

Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G
Standby time: Up to 225 hours
Internet use: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 8 hours on LTE, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 10 hours
Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

There are always things running in your phone, even when you are not using it, unless you have no apps installed, no email accounts, and you never use twitter, facebook, or other social networking apps. Interactive games consume huge amounts of energy.

You can see where your power is being used by going to Settings/General/Usage and noting the Internet Usage time.

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Answer 14

Dec 17, 2012 6:20 PM in response to HBChicago

So if you do have a rouge app, then the best thing to do would be to do a full factory reset. That might solve the issue.

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Answer 15

Dec 17, 2012 8:25 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

what will i do t make my battery last lawrence? should i need to delete akk my apps? even im closing facebook twitter and other social networking site it still consume battery? but why? last time i tried to do what other did. i delete my account in icloud then reboot my phone . but when i open my iphone the account still there 😟

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