Iphone 5s battery drains fast after ios 7.1 update.

Am I the only one who seems to be experiencing this? My iphone 5S battery seem to drain much faster than usual, and charge longer. I heard that the new update is supposed to increase battery life, and read comparison threads regarding other iphones that are capable of a much better battery life than mine.


I've had my phone for 3 months, never have dropped it once or anything of the sort, if that matters. My battery drains to 50% within an hour or so after intense use on the lowest level of brightness, and I seem to lose about 5-7 percents when on standby for 5 hours or so. Is this normal? Is it perhaps due to the fact that I am mostly using 3g, and applications that require more processing such as tumblr (graphics and gifs) as well safari? I'm just worried that my battery may be draining to quick, despite the update which's supposed to make it much better according to many people.


Thanks.

iPhone 5s, iOS 7.1, Battery life

Posted on Mar 11, 2014 8:30 PM

Reply
442 replies

Apr 28, 2014 9:47 AM in response to Rainxwater

My Iphone 5S started to drain the battery really fast after 7.1 and did not improved with 7.1.1.

I have followed every tip to improve battery life stopping short of shutting down the phone. In the Apple store they replaced the battery despite the diagnosis indicated a perfect battery. After resetting the phone, switching off backfround refresh, mobile data, location services, wi-fi and unistalling every app I left the phone on sleep and the battery lasted little less than 18 hours. My old 3 GS would last several days. Almost 6% of battery consumption to just sleep. If I use the phone lighly I get 6 hours. I have switched back to my old 3GS that does everithing I need. If in a couple of weeks the problem is not solved by Apple I will try get rid of this phone and good bye Iphone for now.

Apr 28, 2014 10:04 AM in response to Astelin55

I feel the same way as you do. If I had another phone to go back to I would erase all contents and sell my phone to gazelle . I got the phone when it first came out so in a few more months before I can upgrade was am I will say goodbye to Apple that they have not fixed this issue. I also have the same issue on my IPad Air. With the new update I do get about 20 minutes more than previous but that's not a heck of a lot my phone Barrel because me six hours of standby time. It would be nice if Apple really supportive their devices the way they used to be my and my iPhone three and iPhone 4 support was great banality iPhone 5s they just seem to not to care anymore.

Apr 30, 2014 1:51 AM in response to Tomasz Maxx

I think the issue is to do with touch I'd on the 5s as the battery issue seems to be related to the 5s.


What's mildly frustrating is people keep posting the same thing about doing a re-set or deleting rogue apps or turning off lots of settings ie location etc. This is only really useful if you experience substantial drops in battery life in standbye


To those iphone 5s users that have noticed a reduction of battery life of about 10% overall since upgrading to 7.1 or 7.1.1, this is normal - not good I know. The only solution is to call apple online and ask for a replacement which is what I did. The new iphone I received had ios 7.0.5 so I'm sticking with that version as my battery life is back to normal using the same back up I had using 7.1.

Apr 30, 2014 8:38 AM in response to Rainxwater

I runned the following test on my iphone 5s.

1- Deleted all apps that are not part of original IOS

2- Bluetooth, background refresh, location, icloud, email accounts, app store everithing off

3-Airplane mode

4- Full charge a 100%

5- Logged the time and checked every 3 hours ( except overnight )

The result was the battery fully depleted after 15.00 hours of no use ( almost 7%/hour). If I would use the phone lightly I would get 4 to 6 hours which was the case.

I took it to the store and after a lively discussion they replaced it. The new one seems to hold charge very well for now. It might be that IOS 7.1.1 is not good for all 5S's out there. My daughter and my sun both have 5S with 7.1.1 and no issues.

Apr 30, 2014 9:01 AM in response to Rainxwater

That is the most severe case I've heard about.


I can only hope that through cases like Castelin's phone and others, where the phone gets replaced; that complaints about the OS & poor iPhone battery life start making their way up the chain to Apple HQ.


On an average day, I have to charge my phone over lunch or top it up while driving, or risk going down to 25% and less by the end of the day. If I don't' use my phone, it is pretty stable.


I now only use FaceTime anymore while plugged in either. That is my worst offender right now. I really don't understand why FT is such a battery hog on the iPhone and not on the iPad. Maybe it just more evidence that the phones are getting too thin and the small phone batteries don't have enough capacity.

Apr 30, 2014 11:51 PM in response to Rainxwater

i bought my iphone on the around september last year the phone was really great till the 7.1 update since them am having a severe battery drain and since i bought my iphone from the us i cant have warranty on it so i took it to local shope who confirm its a battery problem so he changed the battery and the drain did't change so it one of two things



- the unite that did dapple sold it first have a problem or

- its a software problem regarding specific type of devices



btw my device came with a verizon sim so since apple not doing any thing about the problem could any one help my to start collecting data regarding the device that having a problem

please list the date of purchase and what carrier

maybe we could enclose where the problem is



thanks

K.

May 3, 2014 11:46 AM in response to Inkwisitiv

I finally found the culprit on my 5S, and it did not need a reset to do it: Set Time Zone Automatically to OFF.


The trick to finding it was to follow the instructions at OverThought, and discover that with all the other items noted in the guide, the problem of drain persisted with no apps open, no apps using background app refresh or location, and mail set to fetch only. That is, with EVERY app set to not use CPU in the background, drain continued, so it had to be iOS. On looking through the General settings, I had previously set everything to off, apparently with the exception of the auto time zone. Switching it off stopped the CPU from thrashing when the iPhone was in sleep. When it was ON, the iPhone used as much CPU in sleep as it did in wake time.


I did turn Time Zone Automatically back on, to find that the 5S continued to behave well, but YMMV. FWIW, I don't think I even had to fully power-down the 5S to cure the problem. Please note that this problem occurred both with and without a SIM in the 5S, but the cure was done without a SIM in the 5S. Perhaps, there's some weird interaction with the SIM that messes up the code for automatically setting the time zone. I tested by putting the SIM back in and, say I knocking on my head, it seems to still be 'cured.' 🙂


So, for all of you with problem battery drain, maybe the cure is to turn OFF setting the device's time zone automatically, and, possibly, after testing there's no battery drain, per the above link, to turn it back on.


HTH.

May 8, 2014 8:16 AM in response to hayan2

Hayan, you may be experiencing problems, but to ascribe them to "so many" passwords and securities to raising "the temperature of the device" and to some "screen problems" is clearly a non-sequitur. The temperature MAY be going up because your processor is constantly working, or it MAY be for some other reason. Until you have had it checked out, it is unwise to make such categorical statements, and certainly unwise to ascribe clearly unrelated issues to each other.


Apple must fix what is broken, not simply what some users perceive as broken. For example, I clearly had problems after my 5S was returned to factory settings; some process from something on the 5S would not stop using the CPU when I put the 5S into standby mode. I have subsequently undertaken the careful process of removing items, one by one, from the processor/processing equation, until I found the problem on my 5S: the Auto Time Zone switch. This is the appropriate scientific approach to finding the cause of an effect.


I no longer believe that the problem on my 5S is related to the SIM, because I have done further testing subsequent to my posting, above. After finding the problem with Auto Time Zone, I turned it back on, and the 5S continues to behave very well. Currently, I am getting about ten DAYS worth of standby time and about EIGHT to TEN hours of real usage. That's pretty good, and I suspect anyone would be happy to have it.


On the other hand, I'm not about to make or accept unproven, hand-waving arguments that link almost certainly unrelated functions, and then request that Apple allow us to do something again unrelated and that is likely in nobody's interest.

May 8, 2014 8:32 AM in response to NWAcadia

No.


I said I get ten days of standby and eight to ten hours of real usage, i.e. the CPU can run constantly for eight to ten hours before the battery needs recharging. If the 5S is in standby without real usage, the battery will hold about ten days until it needs recharging.


Prior to fixing the problem with Auto Time Zone, I'd lose about 2% of battery in less than five minutes, no matter whether the 5S was in standby or in regular use. Hence, it's worth determining which process will not let go of the CPU on your individual iPhone, because it can make a MASSIVE difference to how long your battery will last.

May 8, 2014 9:50 AM in response to NWAcadia

Since the update to 7.1.1 and with off app refresh. time zone off. no multi tasking, location services and closing down and exitng that was use and after doing several phine toal restore and hard restarts my phone did see a little improvement. It is nothing to jump up and down with joy. I do not even think about multi tasking with my 5S, it just kill the battey extremely quicker. When I first purchased my IPHONE 5S it was great but with each update the battery just drains so fast, before the updates I could get 24 to 36 hours of moderate use now i barley get 8 to 10 hours. I ave been told several times by Apple support that is what and all you should expect. It certainly does not build confidence for me in their phones anymore. I certainly can not leave the house with out a charger anytime any more.


How long does MR. Tim Cook expect us to stay loyal to Apple after they created a problem with our phone and refuse to make the correct software fix for us?


We all are turning off everything on our phones basicly making them no better that the old flip phones, oh we can get email and access to the internet as long as you have a charger with you at all tines,


Pleas help with an update that will actually work or let us put our phone back to the original settings from the factory.

MR. Cook several people gave you some great ideas of problems that they have found with your software, please start to listen. What will it take for you to have the 5S work correctly and with a battery taht can make at least 24 hours of light to moderated use? Are we supposed to beleive when the IPHONE 6 will be any better, I wish I never upgraded from my IPHONE 4 it was dependable with great battery life.I wish I still had it becaues that is what I would be using today.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Iphone 5s battery drains fast after ios 7.1 update.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.