Why "Home & Lock Screen" consume more than 20% battery life in iOS 8.3?

gail from maine wrote:

Yeah - then that is a problem. I've had my iPhone 5s with me the entire time we have been posting at 100% while opening it multiple times with Touch ID, going into Settings multiple times, and going in and out of Airplane mode multiple times and it still is at 100%.

Do you notice whether when you come out of Airplane mode if your Cellular service comes back quickly and your Wifi connects quickly? Those are pretty much the only two things that go out searching as soon as you turn off Airplane mode (unless you also have Bluetooth on, in which case that does as well).

In your Settings>Privacy>Location Services, turn off Location Services for any apps that you don't need them on. I have them turned off for everything except for a very few. And of those few where Location Services is turned on, I have as many as possible set to "While Using" only.

Also, be sure that you have Background App Refresh turned off, and unless you need them, Automatic Downloads turned off as well.

Give those a try and see if that helps at all.

I'm guessing the Apple tech had you also try:

Resetting your device (nothing will be lost): Hold down the Home and Power buttons at the same time and continue to hold them down until the Apple appears (up to 30 seconds). The Slide to Unlock screen will display as soon as the reset is complete.

Did the tech also have you back up your device to iCloud or iTunes and then reset it to Factory settings, set it up as a new phone (not from the backup), and then see if the battery issue remains or goes away? If it goes away while you are running at a bare bones level, then you would want to slowly rebuild your device manually rather than restoring it from the backup. If it doesn't go away, then you can reset to Factory again and set it up from the backup at that point.

Cheers,

GB

I envy you! Since I started posting here, my battery level has gone from 86 percent to 80 and I’ve not used anything except for turning airplane mode on and off a few times.

When the airplane mode is turned on, I have an immediate connection, yes.

I don’t have bluetooth turned on or cellular data or background refresh, automatic downloads are all off, and GPS and “Find my iPhone” are off.

I have not only reset my phone but on day 2 of owning it, I did a complete deleting of everything and starting up from scratch again as a new phone. So yes, I’ve done all of those things. I didn’t do a back up, I started fresh all over again since I didn’t have any information on my phone yet anyway.

I have almost all apps turned off. I’ve only made one call on the phone and have used mail and iMessages only a couple of times. I rarely use the phone since I have 3 iPads and those are so much easier to see and use.

The only things I’ve used the phone for are trying to figure out how things work! And that’s it. Since I’m home bound most of the time, I use my regular phone for a phone.

I appreciate all your suggestions and good problem solving suggestions. Its just that I’ve done them all already and like I said, most apps are all turned off and I’ve never even used cellular data except a couple of times for a message when I was in town once.

Martha

I would suggest that you set up a Genius appointment at your local Apple Store and take your device in so you can demonstrate the battery drainage to the Apple techs. This should not be happening.

I would also strongly recommend that you turn Find My iPhone back on. This is your only protection if your device is lost or stolen.

Also, you did not mention whether you went into your Location Services and turned off Location Services for everything except critical apps. When you check the setting in Settings>Privacy>Location Services, make sure that you not only check the apps that are listed on the initial Location Services page, but that you also click on the System Services option and make sure that the options are turned off there for most of the services listed (with the exception of Find My iPhone in particular). Make sure that the "Product Improvement" options group are all turned off, and also make sure that you have the "Status Bar Icon" turned on, so if Location Services are being used, you will be aware of it.

Best of luck,

GB

This is only a guess, but maybe the reason the lock and home screens show high usage is that a lot can be done from them without actually opening an application. There's the notification center, control center, Spotlight, Siri and when you're done using the iPhone it takes a certain amount of time to blank. Maybe all these functions count against the battery usage of the home and lock screens.

I was seeing decreased battery life, but the culprit turned out to be the widget from PCalc Lite. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and when I looked at battery usage, PCalc was tied with the Music app at 40% each. I removed the widget and battery life went back to normal. I do use PCalc often and it's usually in the background but it's suspended, just as it should be and doesn't use an unusual amount of power.

My phone is more than a year and a half old so naturally I don't get the battery life I got when it was new but just removing that one misbehaving widget helped enormously.

When IOS 7 came out, one of the early updates caused an extremely significant battery drain. The phone could go from a 100% charge to stone cold dead in about four hours. The remedy was to allow the phone to drain to just a few percent, turn off location services and background app refresh and then let the phone discharge until it shut itself down. After leaving it for a few minutes, charge it back to 100% and then turn location services and background app refresh back on. In my case the battery went right back to normal but a few people needed to do this more than once. If your phone is dying really quickly it might be worth a shot.

gail from maine wrote:

I would suggest that you set up a Genius appointment at your local Apple Store and take your device in so you can demonstrate the battery drainage to the Apple techs. This should not be happening.

I would also strongly recommend that you turn Find My iPhone back on. This is your only protection if your device is lost or stolen.

Also, you did not mention whether you went into your Location Services and turned off Location Services for everything except critical apps. When you check the setting in Settings>Privacy>Location Services, make sure that you not only check the apps that are listed on the initial Location Services page, but that you also click on the System Services option and make sure that the options are turned off there for most of the services listed (with the exception of Find My iPhone in particular). Make sure that the "Product Improvement" options group are all turned off, and also make sure that you have the "Status Bar Icon" turned on, so if Location Services are being used, you will be aware of it.

Best of luck,

GB

Hi again, I turned off my phone from last time I posted and just turned it on, that made it drop another 3 percent but isn't that normal to have it drop like that from turning it on and off?

I turned off location services for ALL apps. Everything at this point is turned off.

The problem with an apple genius bar is the closest one is 75 miles away in one direction. 😟 I can pay a place in town to check my battery though. Or I could see if I can purchase a plan with Best Buy. I also have all apps turned off for iCloud and I am not signed into iCloud either.

Mark Piaskiewicz1 wrote:

This is only a guess, but maybe the reason the lock and home screens show high usage is that a lot can be done from them without actually opening an application. There's the notification center, control center, Spotlight, Siri and when you're done using the iPhone it takes a certain amount of time to blank. Maybe all these functions count against the battery usage of the home and lock screens.

I was seeing decreased battery life, but the culprit turned out to be the widget from PCalc Lite. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and when I looked at battery usage, PCalc was tied with the Music app at 40% each. I removed the widget and battery life went back to normal. I do use PCalc often and it's usually in the background but it's suspended, just as it should be and doesn't use an unusual amount of power.

My phone is more than a year and a half old so naturally I don't get the battery life I got when it was new but just removing that one misbehaving widget helped enormously.

When IOS 7 came out, one of the early updates caused an extremely significant battery drain. The phone could go from a 100% charge to stone cold dead in about four hours. The remedy was to allow the phone to drain to just a few percent, turn off location services and background app refresh and then let the phone discharge until it shut itself down. After leaving it for a few minutes, charge it back to 100% and then turn location services and background app refresh back on. In my case the battery went right back to normal but a few people needed to do this more than once. If your phone is dying really quickly it might be worth a shot.

Hi Mark, at this point everything I'm aware of being turned on with the phone is turned off. What is PCAL?

What I can try, though, is letting it drain until it shuts down and then charging. Thanks!

I just checked the battery usage for the last 24 hours.

Home and Lock Screen shows 80 percent

Messages - 13

Settings - 4

Phone - 1

Messenger - 1

Clock - 1

Nothing else shows up. I don't know if this helps or not. Thanks to all who have been giving suggestions here!

Martha

Again, the percentage of Usage is not a problem - just a relative measurement. Keep that in mind. I use my phone for very little and when I do not use it, the Home & Lock screen is always around 28% usage. This is not unusual nor is it a problem.

Cheers,

GB

marthafromlas cruces wrote:

Mark Piaskiewicz1 wrote:

This is only a guess, but maybe the reason the lock and home screens show high usage is that a lot can be done from them without actually opening an application. There's the notification center, control center, Spotlight, Siri and when you're done using the iPhone it takes a certain amount of time to blank. Maybe all these functions count against the battery usage of the home and lock screens.

I was seeing decreased battery life, but the culprit turned out to be the widget from PCalc Lite. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and when I looked at battery usage, PCalc was tied with the Music app at 40% each. I removed the widget and battery life went back to normal. I do use PCalc often and it's usually in the background but it's suspended, just as it should be and doesn't use an unusual amount of power.

My phone is more than a year and a half old so naturally I don't get the battery life I got when it was new but just removing that one misbehaving widget helped enormously.

When IOS 7 came out, one of the early updates caused an extremely significant battery drain. The phone could go from a 100% charge to stone cold dead in about four hours. The remedy was to allow the phone to drain to just a few percent, turn off location services and background app refresh and then let the phone discharge until it shut itself down. After leaving it for a few minutes, charge it back to 100% and then turn location services and background app refresh back on. In my case the battery went right back to normal but a few people needed to do this more than once. If your phone is dying really quickly it might be worth a shot.

Hi Mark, at this point everything I'm aware of being turned on with the phone is turned off. What is PCAL?

What I can try, though, is letting it drain until it shuts down and then charging. Thanks!

marthafromlas cruces,

PCalc is just a third party calculator app that I grown to like quite a lot. The point is that a widget can drain the battery if it's misbehaving (or if iOS is causing it to misbehave).

There's a free Mac app, Coconut Battery that not only tests your Mac's battery but can also test your iPhone's battery. It can be found here. No need to pay anyone to do it.

marthafromlas cruces,

I don't know if you already tried this, but go to Settings > General > Auto-Lock and choose 1 or 2 minutes. That can help a great deal.

Also, Gail's comment about the percentage of usage being relative and not an indication of a problem is right on the money. If you constantly turn on the phone to check the battery and do little else, your Home & Lock Screen usage will be very high.

Mark Piaskiewicz1 wrote:

marthafromlas cruces wrote:

Mark Piaskiewicz1 wrote:

This is only a guess, but maybe the reason the lock and home screens show high usage is that a lot can be done from them without actually opening an application. There's the notification center, control center, Spotlight, Siri and when you're done using the iPhone it takes a certain amount of time to blank. Maybe all these functions count against the battery usage of the home and lock screens.

I was seeing decreased battery life, but the culprit turned out to be the widget from PCalc Lite. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and when I looked at battery usage, PCalc was tied with the Music app at 40% each. I removed the widget and battery life went back to normal. I do use PCalc often and it's usually in the background but it's suspended, just as it should be and doesn't use an unusual amount of power.

My phone is more than a year and a half old so naturally I don't get the battery life I got when it was new but just removing that one misbehaving widget helped enormously.

When IOS 7 came out, one of the early updates caused an extremely significant battery drain. The phone could go from a 100% charge to stone cold dead in about four hours. The remedy was to allow the phone to drain to just a few percent, turn off location services and background app refresh and then let the phone discharge until it shut itself down. After leaving it for a few minutes, charge it back to 100% and then turn location services and background app refresh back on. In my case the battery went right back to normal but a few people needed to do this more than once. If your phone is dying really quickly it might be worth a shot.

Hi Mark, at this point everything I'm aware of being turned on with the phone is turned off. What is PCAL?

What I can try, though, is letting it drain until it shuts down and then charging. Thanks!

marthafromlas cruces,

PCalc is just a third party calculator app that I grown to like quite a lot. The point is that a widget can drain the battery if it's misbehaving (or if iOS is causing it to misbehave).

There's a free Mac app, Coconut Battery that not only tests your Mac's battery but can also test your iPhone's battery. It can be found here. No need to pay anyone to do it.Hhi

Hi Mark,I went to the website for the coconut battery and tried to download it on my iPhone but it says "Safari cannot download this file." Do you know how else I could get this onto my iPhone? Thanks.

Hi again, Mark, I also tried downloading coconut battery onto my new iPad mini with system 8.3 and the same thing happened, Safari was unable to download it. Is there anything in the app store like coconut battery?

Mark Piaskiewicz1 wrote:

marthafromlas cruces,

I don't know if you already tried this, but go to Settings > General > Auto-Lock and choose 1 or 2 minutes. That can help a great deal.

Also, Gail's comment about the percentage of usage being relative and not an indication of a problem is right on the money. If you constantly turn on the phone to check the battery and do little else, your Home & Lock Screen usage will be very high.

Thanks for this too. I had it set on 3 minutes, now it's on 2 minutes. 🙂

marthafromlas cruces,

It's a Mac app, just download it on the Mac, run it, plug your iPhone into your Mac and click iOS Device in the toolbar. It should look something like this:

Note that it states "charge to full to calibrate" and even though the current charge says 100%, at the bottom "State" still says charging, so I plan to leave it connected until it says "charged". Note: While writing this, the "current charge" went from 1449 mAh to 1457 and now states "Fully Charged" at a capacity of 94%. Not too shabby for a battery with 500 charge cycles under its belt! 🙂

Thanks, Mark!!! Do you think mine looks good then? 🙂

Should I put it back in and charge to full to calibrate then?