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

Mar 17, 2014 7:43 PM in response to thomasbricker

I can confirm that Reset --> Reset All settings certainly reducted the battery drain back to pre 7.1 status... but so did turning off the cellular use as part of a test.


But before executing Reset All, take notes of iPhone's setup. The Reset All turns off all the location settings, which may be the root of the issues. The Reset All also wipes fingerprints, resets backgrounds, removes all wi-fi passwords and asks other questions on restart. Anything you may have customized specific to the iOS is reset - so be prepared - you have been warned! I think that going thru the location settings may work too.


As far as the general firmware updates go, within the computer industry, whenever a system's firmware is flashed, part of that process involves "resetting" the firmware to its factory defaults. This is done because the firmware may change settings or introduce new settings and values that do not conform to the existing saved values etc.. Yes, its a pain but it's also an industry "best practice" to perform reset... so in this context a Reset All makes sense to me.


Whether it's 100% true for Apple products, I do not know but is is firmware. Why tihs drain is not impacting more iPhones, I do not know. I am just reporting, for the benefit of others here, what haulted the rapid battery drain I saw after my 7.1 OTA upgrade and returned it to pre-upgrade use. Other's have reported tha the location settings seem to be key.. so YMMV. Cheers.

Mar 17, 2014 7:36 PM in response to gattacadna

Right, after reset all; you have to go through your entire phone again to set it up properly to prevent battery drain. Otherwise you are back at the 7.0 drain. Which is what I was commenting on where somebody said reset all fixes it; not making sense.


I did not reset my phone, but tightened the various settings up more, reset network settings, cut all location services > system services OFF ... and rebooted the phone.


Only needing to enter my wifi password; and maybe re-enable some system service location at some point, but the phone hasn't missed anything yet.


So far my battery life is a lot better and no more location arrow every time I pick up the phone and intermittently without using any app that needs location.

Mar 18, 2014 5:32 AM in response to Rainxwater

I'm not sure that there is a single (HUGE) bug.

I've seen that this "battery drain after update" is always happening and IT HAS NOT the same cause, as there are lots of solutions.

For some, a simple network reset is enough, for others, a "home+top" reset,..., for others a full restore. For me, not any of those, I had to switch off iCloud (sync) - some process (which one??) was hanging and CPU was at 100% almost all the time.


So, it seems really bad, because a "HUGE bug" is "easily" fixed, but a lot of different possible causes are much more hard to tackle...

Mar 18, 2014 5:48 AM in response to Rainxwater

Did anyone visited the apple service center regarding this???

I did and they found nothing bad in diagnostics test.

they did agree there is a fast rate of reduction in battery backup.

they rebooted and reinstalled IOS ( but sadly 7.1, because they had no choice).

but still my battery problem remains. 😟 😟 😟


BUT they gave me a clue!!! PL Check it will be helpful by any means..


they told that i did 4 times diagnostics test including one by service center.

and found that my battery never archived full cycle charge even once.

but to my surprise i did had my mobile charged over night all days"

Mar 18, 2014 12:37 PM in response to Paulo Goulart

I just did a test of streaming a video from ABC over WiFi, full brightness, push email turned on, bluetooth on. I got almost 6 hours before the battery crapped out.


What I suggest is the following, that I and others have said before.


1. Hard reset hold both buttons until Apple logo appears.

2. Restore from an iTunes sync and backup. This made a difference for me, battery life got much better.

3. Limit push notifications to those you really need.

4. Limit location services to those you really need, and watch to see if the indicator comes up.

5. Get the app System Activity Monitor to look for a runaway process that is using a lot of CPU.

6. Suggestion by others to reset all settings.

7. Suggestion by others that iCloud may be involved, and to try to turn off some iCloud settings.


Nate

Mar 18, 2014 3:39 PM in response to Rainxwater

I have a Iphone 5 and after the latest ios upgrade to 7.1 a couple of days ago, my battery life goes to 10% in less than a day at work. I am a very casual user, meaning I only check email a couple times a day & don't use the phone all day because I'm busy working. but by 2 pm I have a low battery error message & it's at 10%. I am also one that charges my phone overnight. Prior to the latest upgrade I would still have 89% battery life by bed time. Does anyone know what Apple did that is draining the battery so much? and How do I turn whatever it is off?

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Iphone 5s battery drains fast after ios 7.1 update.

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