Iphone 5 turns off at 30%

Hello Chris,

I would be concerned too if my iPhone was powering off unexpectedly. I found an article with steps you can take when you encounter an issue like this. I recommend following the steps below:

Will not turn on, will not turn on unless connected to power, or unexpected power off

1. Verify that the Sleep/Wake button functions. If it does not function, inspect it for signs of damage. If the button is damaged or is not functioning when pressed, seek service.
2. Check if a Liquid Contact Indicator (LCI) is activated or there are signs of corrosion. Learn about LCIsand corrosion.
3. Connect the iPhone to the iPhone's USB power adapter and let it charge for at least ten minutes.
4. After at least 30 minutes, if:
   • The home screen appears: The iPhone should be working. Update to the latest version of iOS if necessary. Continue charging it until it is completely charged and you see this battery icon in the upper-right corner of the screen . Then unplug the phone from power. If it immediately turns off, seek service.
   • The low-battery image appears, even after the phone has charged for at least 20 minutes: See "iPhone displays the low-battery image and is unresponsive" symptom in this article.
   • Something other than the Home screen or Low Battery image appears, continue with this article for further troubleshooting steps.
5. If the iPhone did not turn on, reset it while connected to the iPhone USB power adapter.
   • If the display turns on, go to step 4.
   • If the display remains black, go to next step.
6. Connect the iPhone to a computer and open iTunes. If iTunes recognizes the iPhone and indicates that it is in recovery mode, attempt to restore the iPhone. If the iPhone doesn't appear in iTunes or if you have difficulties in restoring the iPhone, see this article for further assistance.
7. If restoring the iPhone resolved the issue, go to step 4. If restoring the iPhone did not solve the issue, seek service.

You can find the full article here:

iPhone: Hardware troubleshooting
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2802

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Sheila M.

The most likely causes are either battery failure or battery gauge errors. To correct battery gauge errors do the following:

• When the phone shuts off above 1% charge it for a short time (1-2 minutes), the turn it back on.
• Run the battery all the way down to 1%, then until it shuts off.
• If it shuts off above 1% again repeat the first step.
• When you finally get to a 1% shutdown charge it for 4 hours with the wall adapter.

This will usually fix the problem, unless it is a bad battery. To prevent it in the future about once a month run the battery all the way down, then charge for 4 hours with the wall adapter.

I have exactly the same problem.

iPhone 4S. But I actually charged it a lot lately. Maybe that’s the reason.

Will try do like Lawrence wrote.

Hi Chris,

I'm glad it's working again, and thank you for updating the thread with what resolved the issue!

All the best,

Sheila M.

I will try the charging-recharging solution but it is definitely not the version of iOS as a solution. My iPhone5 is on 7.0.4 and it is also shutting off at 30% charge

I confirm that iOS 7.0.4 does not fix the issue. I tried to restore my iPhone 5 a few days ago, just in case, but no change, it still shuts down at 30%.

Hi, I'm having the same problem as well. It shuts off after reaching 20-30% and asks for recharge, then after 5 minutes I can turn it back on, but it keeps shuting off unexpectedly

Bad thing is that my warranty expired 130 days ago. Apple doesn't want cover a new battery replacement (and it costs $400 here in Brazil)

Clearly it's a manufacturer malfunctioning.

How did you proceed with it? Did you solve this problem? I have an Iphone 5 with iOS 7.1

Thanks

Actually I'm now under iOS 7.0.6 and the problem seems to have been fixed. The battery remains sensible to cold temperatures, and the level drops faster when it's cold, you can boot it up just keeping your phone in your hand or in your pocket for a few minutes. As the weather is less cold these last weeks I can't really say if it's the update or the rise of the temperature that fixed the problem.

Well, here in Brazil it's about 30 deg C everyday and 20 everynight, so I think that in my case temperature is not the root cause

My iphone went off at 30% today as well. May have contributed to me getting in a bike accident (no, I wasn't using the phone while cycling - I was using it whilst off the bike to find a place). Could turn it on every so often for a few seconds until I reached my destination after which the phone magically started working fine again. Should've gone to the apple store a long time ago to get this fixed. Will do it this weekend. ******* ridiculous. If I could prove a direct connection between iphones going dead long before expected and real life accidents and issues, I would sue apple's *** off.

I have the same issue with my iPhone 5 when the temperature is around 10°C (50°F). I have it almost 1,5 year now and last winter there was no issue, even though the weather here (Paris) was much colder.

I also found this discussion in the forum:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4742928

People say there that iPhone shouldn't work out of its enviromental specs. Operating ambient temperature is 0°C to 35°C (32°F to 95°F) though!

Next time it happens I'll try Sheila's idea, but I'm not very optimistic about it.

My IPhone 5 has none of the issues you suggested checking and started doing this power off @ 30% or so after my latest upgrade to 9.3.2