Battery life issues?

[Fausty82]

One of the biggest drains on the battery for a new phone is the "play factor". When we get the new phone, we have to explore. It's what we do. Try this feature and that one... and part of the issue is simply the extra use of the phone as we play with to to get comfortable with the device and it's features and functions. Another part of the issue is the new battery. It takes a couple of charge cycles for the battery to "settle in". So after a week or so, we should all see battery life improvement over what we experience with the device fresh out of the box.

However, that does not mean that there aren't flaws in the OS or "features" and switches that are enabled from the factory that cause the battery to drain more quickly.

I am experiencing battery life close to what I had with my iPhone 4. And to get there, I have had to adjust a few settings... I'm not ecstatic yet with the battery life on the iPhone 4S, but I am satisfied with its performance over the course of a day.

What settings have I tweaked? Here's my list. YMMV.

• FaceBook - turned off ALL PUSH notifications.
• Mail - Set up my GMAIL accounts as Exchange. Turned "Push" off and do an hourly fetch.
• Location Services - Turned off everything that I don't "need". This includes games, apps, etc. Also, disabled location based iAds and Time Zone settings (under System Settings).
• Bluetooth - Turned it off (I don't ever use it).
• Wifi - Turned off "Ask to join networks". If I want to connect to a local wifi hotspot, I'll initiate the connection.
• Brightness - turned brightness down to about 40-50%. It's still plenty bright. I don't need my phone to light up the night time sky.
• Sounds - Turned OFF vibrate with a ringtone. If it's ringing or making a sound, I don't need it vibrate, too.
• Notifications - turned off the unimportant stuff.

That's pretty much it. And I am easily getting my battery to last for a full day - with 5-6 hours of usage and 25-30 hours of standby projected.

As I have stated previously, I refuse to turn off functions that I want/need/use just to save battery life. But there is no reason to leave battery draining "features" active if they are something that you will not/do not use.

 

[rewNATION]

my battery life seems okay. but I have turned off a few settings

 

[Appleshampoo]

I just feel like I shouldn't have to adjust to taking off all the push notifications and deleting FB in order to enjoy my phone that is supposed to do these things!

You know what I'm saying? Why do I have to gimp myself when I shelled out good money for a good product.

Plus my iPhone 4 did these fine how come my 4S is less efficient

 

[IndoX]

I just feel like I shouldn't have to adjust to taking off all the push notifications and deleting FB in order to enjoy my phone that is supposed to do these things!

You know what I'm saying? Why do I have to gimp myself when I shelled out good money for a good product.

Plus my iPhone 4 did these fine how come my 4S is less efficient

But you dont. The Facebook app causing the drain is nothing but a rumor. I don't have Facebook push notifications off and have it deleted and I still get over a day of standby and over 5 hours of usage. Turn them on and use your phone how you want.

 

[DrewBear]

Here's another theory: Possible Fix For iOS 5 And iPhone 4S Battery Life? | Cult of Mac
I've never had this setting toggled On.

The problem might be caused by how iOS 5 handles location services. According to one source I found, the problem might be caused by a bug in how iOS 5 handles time zone switching based on your current location.

Open the Settings app, tap Location Services and then tap System Services. Now find the ?Setting Time Zone? setting and toggle it Off.

 

[symtronic]

i took my 4s off the charger at 10am this morning... it was at 100%.... now its 4pm and i'm down to 47%. Minimal, i'm talking, very minimal use... used siri twice, sent two text messages.... one 1 minute phone call... otherwise its been sitting on my desk or in my pocket. Wifi is on (edit: and connected to a network)

Anyone know if this is within "spec" or if i should be thinking about having it replaced?

Also.... first day i got it i charged it up to 100% and then went to bed with it off the charger... in the morning i was down to 78%... (edit, again wifi on and connected to my network)

thanks!

 

[HeyGreggie]

I just feel like I shouldn't have to adjust to taking off all the push notifications and deleting FB in order to enjoy my phone that is supposed to do these things!

You know what I'm saying? Why do I have to gimp myself when I shelled out good money for a good product.

Plus my iPhone 4 did these fine how come my 4S is less efficient

All of this.

 

[ame]

turn off wifi. Its probably searching for wifi signals constantly. when you're not using it and limit your SIRI stuff --the raise or whatever. I leave SIRI off all the time.

 

[symtronic]

i took my 4s off the charger at 10am this morning... it was at 100%.... now its 4pm and i'm down to 47%. Minimal, i'm talking, very minimal use... used siri twice, sent two text messages.... one 1 minute phone call... otherwise its been sitting on my desk or in my pocket. Wifi is on (edit: and connected to a network)

Anyone know if this is within "spec" or if i should be thinking about having it replaced?

Also.... first day i got it i charged it up to 100% and then went to bed with it off the charger... in the morning i was down to 78%... (edit, again wifi on and connected to my network)

thanks!

7pm... down to 23% ive sent three text messages... this cant be right...

 

[jtrevill]

I did a couple of tests over the past few days of having TERRIBLE battery life. Ultimately, the only thing that made drastic improvements was turning off the "Stock Widget" and "Weather Widget" in notification center.

I've seen a 2x improvement in battery with this change. Today - I've had the phone at work being used all day since 8:00 am. It is now 4:30 pm and I still have 62% remaining. This is the same or slightly better than my iPhone 4.

I suspect the weather and stocks are constantly updating - and the weather is constantly using location services to find its location as well.

Anyone else want to try this and see if this makes an improvement for you too.

 

[DrewBear]

i took my 4s off the charger at 10am this morning... it was at 100%.... now its 4pm and i'm down to 47%. Minimal, i'm talking, very minimal use... used siri twice, sent two text messages.... one 1 minute phone call... otherwise its been sitting on my desk or in my pocket. Wifi is on (edit: and connected to a network)

Anyone know if this is within "spec" or if i should be thinking about having it replaced?

Call Apple Support and start a complaint log. That is not normal.

I currently have 5:47 of fairly heavy use (including a couple of hours of streaming video) + 14:16 hrs. of standby and my battery level is 48%. Bluetooth, WiFi and most notifications are ON. Location services are also ON with several apps, but I may not have activated any of them today.

 

[DrewBear]

I did a couple of tests over the past few days of having TERRIBLE battery life. Ultimately, the only thing that made drastic improvements was turning off the "Stock Widget" and "Weather Widget" in notification center.

I've seen a 2x improvement in battery with this change. Today - I've had the phone at work being used all day since 8:00 am. It is now 4:30 pm and I still have 62% remaining. This is the same or slightly better than my iPhone 4.

I suspect the weather and stocks are constantly updating - and the weather is constantly using location services to find its location as well.

I'm not doubting that this helped your battery situation, but you shouldn't need to turn these basic services OFF in order to gain acceptable battery life. I leave both widgets active and my battery life is great.

 

[DrewBear]

I just feel like I shouldn't have to adjust to taking off all the push notifications and deleting FB in order to enjoy my phone that is supposed to do these things!

You know what I'm saying? Why do I have to gimp myself when I shelled out good money for a good product.

You shouldn't need to do ALL those things. Certainly it's wise to turn off notifications or location services for things you won't use, but you should be able to leave a fair number of them active on features and apps that you do use frequently throughout the day.

Call Apple support.

 

[edwardreed037]

I just found a colleague with the same issue. He has a 2nd iphone without the issue. The phones with the issue show in settings: general: usage - several hours of usage out of several hours on standby. The phones with the issue show several hours of usage for the same amount of standby. Both of us had the problem start this weekend. I turned off push, fetch and notifications but that hasn't helped, at least not much.

 

[Bias X]

I can't say I've had terrible battery life. Definitely not as good as my 4, but not terrible.
Mine got better as I kept using it. The first day I had it, it dropped to 40 percent at the end of the day.
Couple days later I would be at 50/60 at the end of the day. Now it's about 70 which is just about what my 4 was.
I do have a charger in my car that charges pretty quickly so if these percentages surprise anyone that's why.

 

[NickBull]

I just found a colleague with the same issue. He has a 2nd iphone without the issue. The phones with the issue show in settings: general: usage - several hours of usage out of several hours on standby. The phones with the issue show several hours of usage for the same amount of standby. Both of us had the problem start this weekend. I turned off push, fetch and notifications but that hasn't helped, at least not much.

This is exactly the problem I had with mine. Take it back to the Genius bar and they will swap it for a new one. Problem gone. I've now got bluetooth on all the time, notifications, wifi (even when not connected), push email (two accounts), listen to music, use internet, quite heavy usage. End of the day (14+ hours) and it's still on 50%+ remaining. Previous one showed the usage going up about 45 minutes for every hour of standby even though it was just sitting on the desk doing nothing with everything turned off and battery only just lasted 12 hours.

 

[Dark_Blu]

Ok, I figured it out. It's Push Mail. I turned Push off and set it for me to Manual download mail and my battery usage has been drastically reduced. While at work and at home, I'm on computer and don't need Push mail on. In the car, I can't read mail anyway, so Push mail isn't needed there. So with it off, the battery is much better. It has probably been mentioned already but just reporting it from my own experience today. Turn Push mail off.

 

[BrindawithanI]

Ok, I figured it out. It's Push Mail. I turned Push off and set it for me to Manual download mail and my battery usage has been drastically reduced. While at work and at home, I'm on computer and don't need Push mail on. In the car, I can't read mail anyway, so Push mail isn't needed there. So with it off, the battery is much better. It has probably been mentioned already but just reporting it from my own experience today. Turn Push mail off.

I agree! I had the same experience on my iP4. Besides full battery drain in just a few hours of standby, my phone got really hot.

 

[pokey318]

I have tweaked, turned off and changed almost everything that has been mentioned here and any other article or forum I could find. Nothing has changed in my battery life; it isn't horrible, but it definitely drains quickly. I use my phone to make phone calls, send and receive text messages, check email a couple of times a day (manually) while out, and might read a news article or two. I am home most of the day, so other than an incoming phone call that is short, or a few text messages, my phone doesn't get that much use day to day. Of course if I am gone all day it does, but not usually. If I turn anything else off, I won't have a phone to use

I came from a 3 year old 3g, so I thought this would have to have a longer battery life, as my old phone was bad. When the battery drops 10-20% over night when it is not being used, something just is not right. I have no problem topping off my charge during the day and I have a charger in the car; this is assuming there will be a fix coming in the near future. I still love the phone, although I would have been happy with almost any new phone after having the slow 3g!

Sounds like Apple is looking into this, I just wish they would come out and say they know there is a problem and they are working on a solution. Would that be too much to ask?

Even if I were to get Apple to swap the phone out, how do I know the new one won't do the same thing? Until they know what the problem is, there is no need to swap out the phone.

 

[DrewBear]

I hope everyone who is having battery issues is at least calling Apple Support to file a complaint. You don't have to trade in for a new phone, but at least have it on file that you're having problems. This is not a straightforward problem and Apple probably needs as much data as they can get so they can target the issue. Many of us are using the phone without severe limitations and getting great battery life. Clearly something is wrong for 20-25% of users, but it's still not clear what is causing the battery drain.