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iPhone 5 shuts down with plenty of battery life left

I have been having some serious iPhone problems lately. I upgraded to iOS 7 when it first came out and only had a few issues, now more recently I am having problems, especially with the battery. My battery meter seems to be inaccuriate or the battery itself is jacked. My battery seems to drain very quickly even when I am not using my phone. I have done all the tricks to save the battery; turned off Bluetooth, turn off auto refresh for backgroud apps, turned off the motion screen, no dymanic background, etc. However my battery still drains quicker than normal. Lately my phone completely shuts itself off and shows me the dead battery icon even though I have anywhere between 20 and 40 left on my battery. When I plug my phone back in after it dies the battery icon shows a different and yet higher battery life then what it was at when it shut off. I have also noticed that my phone shuts off after I use my camera. THAT part is really annoying.


Is this an iOS 7 issue or is there something wrong with my phone? I have insurance on my phone so I can have it replaced, but the cost to replace my phone is more than if I were to get a new and DIFFERENT phone altogether.

iPhone 5, iOS 7

Posted on Oct 16, 2013 5:51 AM

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200 replies

Mar 21, 2017 9:31 AM in response to ksprashu

This is the most intelligent approach to this issue that I have read!

I just had a new battery installed in my iPhone 5 TODAY and it shutoff on me at 30%. SO I'm hoping it's that the new battery needs to be "calibrated" as per repair guy instructions (let it charge fully, then drain to 20% & then repeat 2x) sounds like hogwash to me, but I'll do it. If/when that doesn't work I'll try your suggestion.

Mar 28, 2017 7:34 AM in response to cjpsych80

This is crazy - the Apple store in Cape town ran their diagnostics on my battery and it came out 100%!

My phone repeatedly shuts down at 75% battery life and I tried resetting and also restoring my phone.

No luck! There must a simple answer to all these problems?

I am running latest software and after restore a few days ago must be latest firm ware too?


Apple please get back to me - you are usually so efficient?

barrylsack@hotmail.com

Jun 17, 2017 10:40 AM in response to cjpsych80

My wife has an iPhone 5s with the latest iOS (10.3.2) that is shutting down randomly, usually at about 75% battery. To power the phone back on you need to connect to a charger for a couple of minutes, then it comes back on and shows, say, 78% battery, After powering on, you can then use then phone normally (unless it powers down again) until the battery becomes flat at 0%, sometimes this can be a day or more without connecting to the charger again.


When the problem first occurred, I backed up her phone and swapped it for my old 5s that I'd used for a couple of years with no problem. Now my old phone that's had her backup restored to it is exhibiting exactly the same problem.


I've tried changing the clock settings and done the recommended battery re-calibration multiple times to no avail.


From the observations above I think I can rule out a fault with the battery as it has happened on two sets of hardware. I can also rule out battery calibration, as once the phone is powered back on it will continue to work for ages without a further charge. So the conclusion must be that there is a problem in either the iOS or an app. Given that she has only 5 or 6 apps installed, I'm leaning to the former!

Aug 1, 2017 6:41 AM in response to Dishwalla

Your iPhone shutting down isn't due to the battery this is obvious when you mention the fact it is dying with 43% left. The battery itself is fine the problem that you have is that there is a little controller chip within the phone that allows the hardware (battery) to talk to the operating system on the phone. This allows the phone to see how much charge is left in the battery and allows it to function correctly because of this. These chips fail relatively quickly due to something called planned obsolescence all companies do this to ensure that their product has a restricted lifetime forcing customers to upgrade every couple of years to a more expensive model. To keep money coming in. If this didn't happen some of us would still have old iPhone 4's old Hifis etc. All companies do this. So in short the battery is fine in fact that battery in an iPhone is very complex and can handle a lot. It is the controller chip that is the problem nothing to do with the battery or the software.

Aug 12, 2017 9:42 AM in response to cjpsych80

I believe its a fault of the iphone 5s, I had my phone for 2 years, it worked perfectly. All of the sudden it shuts off at 90% power, it stays hot for hours on end, until the battery dies as though it were still running.

Through insurance and warranties, I've had 4 phones in the past 6 months, all with this same problem. Now my new phone is doing it again.

Every time it happens, I was using 5 minutes before and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Usually playing a game or talking to folks on facebook.

When I talked to AT&T, they send me in circles, and then just replace my phone again with the same phone model. I could care less about getting a new phone, I just want it fixed. Seriously considering leaving and going to verison, maybe they won't give me a piece of crap for a phone.

Nov 14, 2017 8:10 AM in response to cjpsych80

My phone says I have 75-80% when I turn it off for the night and when I turn it on the next morning the phone is dead. My wife's phone is doing the same thing. Or I have a full charge and I open google maps to look something up and when I am done (maybe 3-5 min) the phone has discharged battery life to below 50%-30%. It shouldn't be losing battery life so quickly.

Oct 24, 2013 1:10 AM in response to cjpsych80

I know Apple says you don't have to calibrate the battery for our phones, but it seems that since the ios7 update, it's a must. Here's how i do it, and so far it worked, my phone shuts down at 1%.


1. Charge your phone till 100%.

2. Use it until it shuts down. (When it shuts down, try to power it on a few times over the course of an hour just to make sure it doesn't start)

3. Connect it to the charger, shut it down the moment it powers on and leave it there for about 4-6 hours.

4. Power it on and use it normally,

5. Drain your phone, use it until it turns off then repeat steps 3 and 4.

6. Return to your regular charge cycle.


Hope this helps.

Oct 24, 2013 6:08 PM in response to cjpsych80

Same issue here, but mine iphone 5 has not been upgrade to the new iOS and is still on the iOS6. Today I was using the camera and it shut down with the dead battery screen. I plugged it into the charger to get the phone to power back up and it showed 52% and I was able to immediately unplug the phone and continue to use it. I did see how much battery was showing before it shut down, but it was certainly over 45%.


This is the third time this week this has happened. Don't believe the other two times it happen I was using the phone, but doing other tasks.

Oct 25, 2013 8:49 AM in response to cjpsych80

I have had the same problem twice in the last three days.


First instance, at 15% reported on battery life, the phone shuts down, and the out of battery need to connect screen is shown. I had to connect to power, and when it came back on, it reported 15% battery left.


Second iinstance was at 35%, same thing, powered down, upon connect to power source, when it turned back on, it was at 35%.


Both instance will not let me turn on the phone without connecting to power.


iPhone 5, updated to iOS 7.0.3.

Oct 25, 2013 9:25 AM in response to cjpsych80

I was able to find out the issue with my phone. Turns out the battery was depleted. I ran a diagnosis online and the results showed my battery was depleted. Same thing happend when I called Apple Support and they ran a diagnosis. I had to go to the Apple store and have the battery replaced ($79 + tax charge). Naturally, I was just a few days outside my warranty otherwise it may have been free.


I think this is more of an iPhone 5 issue rather than an iOS 7 issue, but the combination of the two seem to be a real problem. This is probably why Apple is no longer offereing the iPhone 5. I had the 3 and 4S longer than the 5 and I never had an issue with the battery.

Oct 30, 2013 9:17 AM in response to cjpsych80

had same issue today, just for another data point.


40% left on battery (it was reporting)

was taking pictures

it shutdown and locked me out until i could plug into power


as soon as i plugged in, it said it was at 44% power.

this is an iphone 4s.


btw the camera on ios7 is complete death to batteries. i can drain a battery in 2 hours just by leaving the camera on, unused.

Oct 30, 2013 1:23 PM in response to cjpsych80

I have the same problem every since the iOS7 update. It's ridiculous! It will shut down from 13 % up to 30% and when I try to turn it back on (lock button) it will show the 'need to charge' photo.When I press the home button & lock button though it turns on and shows the battery % only to shut down a few minutes later. I have my iphone (5) for roughly 10 months and it's in perfect condition, never dropped it, not one scratch and it makes me angry seeing little annoying bugs like this that ruin an otherwise great phone. Please Apple, fix this soon!

Oct 31, 2013 10:52 AM in response to cjpsych80

Definitely add me to this too. Had my phone cut off (multiple times in the last couple of months) showing anywhere between 27% and 38% battery remaining and would not turn back on until I plugged it back into a charger, when it would fire up showing 20% to 40% (sometimes more than the charge showing when it cut off.


Really p****ng me off as its usually in a spot where I don't have a charger immediately to hand and its starting to feel unreliable, which is exactly what you need a mobile to be should an emergency ever arise.

iPhone 5 shuts down with plenty of battery life left

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