Problems with my iPhone 5S?

KristinS715 wrote:

I never let it charge fully overnight, I've let the phone completely die and I've recharged but nothing really seems to help.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Is letting the phone battery die and recharging it the only troubleshooting you have tried? User troubleshooting steps are restart, reset, Restore from backup, restore as new. Restart or reset your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Use iTunes to restore your iOS device to factory settings - Apple Support

While it is possible there is a battery problem, the only way to successfully diagnose that is to perform the steps that I indicated and if they do not help, you can make an appointment at the Genius Bar of the nearest Apple Store. Only then can accurately diagnose the battery. In addition to that, if you suspect the battery, you can go to this link http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/ and then look towards the bottom for the iPhone 5 battery replacement program information. It is possible your iPhone 5 will be eligible for a free battery replacement. There is also a home button program for some iPhone 5. You enter your serial number in the link and it will tell you. Again, try the troubleshooting steps that I provided. After the restore, you would setup your Touch ID again and see if it works.

KristinS715 wrote:

I never let it charge fully overnight,

That might be part of your problem. You SHOULD recharge it fully. And it does no harm to leave it on overnight, because the charging circuit is "smart" and will turn off charging when the battery reaches full charge. There are 2 possible causes of your symptoms: A failing battery, and a battery gauge in need of recalibration. Not charging it fully can really mess with the "mind" of the battery gauge. So do this:

• Connect to the wall adapter and charge for 4 hours without using the phone.
• Run the battery all the way down until the phone shuts off. If it shuts off above 1% charge for a minute or so, then continue discharging. Repeat as needed to get to the magic 1%.
• Charge again for 4 hours with the wall adapter without using the phone.

If this does not resolve the problem your phone most likely needs a new battery. The genius bar at your Apple store can test it to make sure. If the phone is still in warranty Apple will replace it for free. If it's out of warranty the charge will be $79.

For general information about batteries in iPhones the best discussion I have found is here: http://www.overthought.org/blog/2014/the-ultimate-guide-to-solving-ios-battery-d rain

The battery on my iPhone 5 did the exact same thing. After googling, I established this to be a common fault and the technician confirmed this when I took it to be repaired last week under warranty. They replaced the battery and I've had no issues since.

Regarding the touch ID: make sure you don't have a screen protector that is slightly off centre and covering the rim around the home button. I believe this can interfere significantly. Reapply the screen protector if it is even slightly over the silver ring/rim.

HTHs.

Chris makes a good suggestion. It may be worth trying all that. However, I think you're going to find that you need a new battery. It was a common issue on the iPhone 5 and the only fix was a new battery I'm afraid. I'm disappointed to hear you are experiencing this issue on the 5s. If it's under warranty then they'll do this free of charge if the phone has no internal signs of water or drop damage.

I'll just throw in that I have a personal theory that cheap 3rd party chargers may screw with the battery and cause this problem. I haven't researched this thoroughly but when I got my iPhone 5 back with the new battery I threw away the cheap charger which I'd been using in my car and replaced it with an expensive Apple lightning USB cable. I could be totally wrong, but I just don't want to take any risks with my nice new battery or with my new iPhone 5s which I've since purchased.

.