Battery

[mark-d]

All of a sudden the last couple of days my battery has started playing up. Noticed a quicker than usual drain yesterday so after just 6 hours off charge it was down to 37% remaining. As I knew I'd be needing my phone I thought I'd give it a top up charge on my car journey home from work. Had it on charge for the 10 minutes I was driving home and it went from 37 to 63%

Almost immediately it dropped to 53% where it then stayed for well over an hour of actual use!

Then it started dropping rapidly again so I started a phone support session with Apple!

I set up my phone from new but restoring an iCloud backup this morning as suggested and the issue is still there. Battery drops in sometimes 2 or 3% chunks.

The next step is to set it up as a new phone which is a complete pain as I have to reinstall everything but here's my questions .......

1) If I do that so I lose my health and activity data or is that linked to my iCloud and will repopulate without restoring the backup?
2) What happens to my whatsapp? I am in numerous groups which I don't really want to have to go getting added back to

This is sadly exactly the same as happened in my 5s that was swapped out under warranty. And funnily enough it came, just the same, after using the personal hotspot for an extended period of time! Despite that being switched off now battery drain is still there!

The only upside to the set up and restore backup is free space has gone from 980mrg to 5.34GB

Until I have definitive answers to the above (both issues that Apple support say aren't important) I am loathed to move to the next step and wipe the phone and start new.

I've already lost my photo stream which was full at 1000 on the phone down to just the last 30 days worth of photos. As I use photo stream I don't keep the photos stored on the device to save space!

 

[msm0511]

All of a sudden the last couple of days my battery has started playing up. Noticed a quicker than usual drain yesterday so after just 6 hours off charge it was down to 37% remaining. As I knew I'd be needing my phone I thought I'd give it a top up charge on my car journey home from work. Had it on charge for the 10 minutes I was driving home and it went from 37 to 63%

Almost immediately it dropped to 53% where it then stayed for well over an hour of actual use!

Then it started dropping rapidly again so I started a phone support session with Apple!

I set up my phone from new but restoring an iCloud backup this morning as suggested and the issue is still there. Battery drops in sometimes 2 or 3% chunks.

The next step is to set it up as a new phone which is a complete pain as I have to reinstall everything but here's my questions .......

1) If I do that so I lose my health and activity data or is that linked to my iCloud and will repopulate without restoring the backup?
2) What happens to my whatsapp? I am in numerous groups which I don't really want to have to go getting added back to

This is sadly exactly the same as happened in my 5s that was swapped out under warranty. And funnily enough it came, just the same, after using the personal hotspot for an extended period of time! Despite that being switched off now battery drain is still there!

The only upside to the set up and restore backup is free space has gone from 980mrg to 5.34GB

Until I have definitive answers to the above (both issues that Apple support say aren't important) I am loathed to move to the next step and wipe the phone and start new.

I've already lost my photo stream which was full at 1000 on the phone down to just the last 30 days worth of photos. As I use photo stream I don't keep the photos stored on the device to save space!

1. I'm not aware of Apple adding health data to iCloud. It doesn't mention it in the iCloud setting on my phone so I think you'll lose that data. I also went through my Activity app history, and only the data since I got my Series 1 Apple Watch is there. Not the data from my old one.

2. WhatsApp's groups should be handled through your WhatsApp acct though. If you restore then download and sign into WhatsApp, it should be fine.

Do you have access to a computer you can back your phone up to? If so you can do a complete backup in iTunes, set up as new, then resync.

 

[mark-d]

1. I'm not aware of Apple adding health data to iCloud. It doesn't mention it in the iCloud setting on my phone so I think you'll lose that data. I also went through my Activity app history, and only the data since I got my Series 1 Apple Watch is there. Not the data from my old one.

2. WhatsApp's groups should be handled through your WhatsApp acct though. If you restore then download and sign into WhatsApp, it should be fine.

Do you have access to a computer you can back your phone up to? If so you can do a complete backup in iTunes, set up as new, then resync.

Thank you.

I did suggest restoring from a backup via itunes and got told, no it has to be a completely clean install.

Looks like I'm going to have to lose a lot of information and get all the whatsapp groups restored too! Such a pain.

 

[msm0511]

Thank you.

I did suggest restoring from a backup via itunes and got told, no it has to be a completely clean install.

Looks like I'm going to have to lose a lot of information and get all the whatsapp groups restored too! Such a pain.

This may help answer some of your WhatsApp issues. I don't use the app though, so not sure how well it'll work.
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-recover-a-WhatsApp-group-that-I-accidentally-deleted
https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/20888066

This might help with some of your Health stuff. It won't do your Activity logs though. The article is a little old, but it may still work.How to import your old Health and Activity data into your new iPhone

 

[msm0511]

Here's a newer article on exporting/importing Health Data. Doesn't look like it'll get you Activity rings and Achievements though.
https://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-export-import-health-data-in-ios-10/

 

[mark-d]

Thank you for your help

I'm just going to wipe it tonight, leave it on flight mode with a fresh install over night and see how much battery drains down.

Apparently that's sufficient to tell them if it's hardware or software related.

Then in the morning I can restore the backup from iCloud again and set up apple watch and Apple Pay again

 

[msm0511]

I feel your pain. It can be a hassle to deal with starting fresh.

Thank you for your help

I'm just going to wipe it tonight, leave it on flight mode with a fresh install over night and see how much battery drains down.

Apparently that's sufficient to tell them if it's hardware or software related.

Then in the morning I can restore the backup from iCloud again and set up apple watch and Apple Pay again

 

[mark-d]

I feel your pain. It can be a hassle to deal with starting fresh.

If there's battery drain overnight with a new install then I'm just restoring the backup and it can get dealt with under warranty.

It's just weird that on my 5s the battery issue started after use of personal hotspot, now the same thing has happened with the 6s

 

[doogald]

If you start from scratch, you will lose health data; it will not restore from iCloud (unless something has changed in the last six weeks, when I last set up my phone from scratch.) However, there is now an app to backup and restore health data that you back up before you do the data reset: https://www.macstories.net/ios/health-importer-makes-it-easy-to-move-health-data-between-iphones/

 

[mark-d]

If you start from scratch, you will lose health data; it will not restore from iCloud (unless something has changed in the last six weeks, when I last set up my phone from scratch.) However, there is now an app to backup and restore health data that you back up before you do the data reset: https://www.macstories.net/ios/health-importer-makes-it-easy-to-move-health-data-between-iphones/

I quite honestly just don't have the time nor inclination to re-install and configure every app, to buy an app to restore something I shouldn't have to be restoring and to set up my watch again!

It seems pretty obvious to me that a sudden increase from 38 to 63% within 10 minutes charging matched to the sudden drain and drops in 2-5% increments isn't a software issue so all this is just an annoying box ticking issue and the hoops to jump through before they'll consider a hardware fault!

 

[doogald]

It seems pretty obvious to me that a sudden increase from 38 to 63% within 10 minutes charging matched to the sudden drain and drops in 2-5% increments isn't a software issue so all this is just an annoying box ticking issue and the hoops to jump through before they'll consider a hardware fault!

Bring the phone to a Genius Bar appointment. They have battery diagnostics they run to verify a hardware fault. I have one of the iPhone 6s units that was eligible for the battery replacement program. When I went in for my appointment they did a diagnostic on the battery, even after verifying that my phone was eligible.

 

[mark-d]

Bring the phone to a Genius Bar appointment. They have battery diagnostics they run to verify a hardware fault. I have one of the iPhone 6s units that was eligible for the battery replacement program. When I went in for my appointment they did a diagnostic on the battery, even after verifying that my phone was eligible.

I did that with my 5s, had exactly the same symptoms as this one.

First visit blamed background app refresh and said it passed diagnosis.

Second visit they sent me away with an iCloud restore which did nothing to help. Said it passed diagnosis.

Third visit they set it up as a new phone and I lost so much that was on there. Still passed diagnosis.

Fourth visit finally replaced the phone under warranty despite the symptoms showing exactly the same as the first visit.

Four 38 mile round trips for what could easily have been sorted out in one! Thankfully on the phone I can do all the diagnosis remotely without leaving the house and then hopefully she'll reach the right conclusion and I'll need a single visit to the Genius Bar

 

[mark-d]

So I've now been running with a completely clean install and I don't think the issue is gone! Battery dropped from 100 to 99 then almost straight away to 97 then 95! That's not normal right?

 

[Ledsteplin]

So I've now been running with a completely clean install and I don't think the issue is gone! Battery dropped from 100 to 99 then almost straight away to 97 then 95! That's not normal right?

Depends on what all you have going on the phone. First, remember the big 3 battery users are Screen brightness, push notifications, and location services. Can you turn your screen brightness down? Do you get a lot of push notifications from apps, email and etc? Do you manage location services well? Then there's a few apps that seem to use heavy. Like Facebook. Be sure location services is off for Facebook. Turn off auto video play. I turn off push notifications for Facebook as well.

 

[mark-d]

Depends on what all you have going on the phone. First, remember the big 3 battery users are Screen brightness, push notifications, and location services. Can you turn your screen brightness down? Do you get a lot of push notifications from apps, email and etc? Do you manage location services well? Then there's a few apps that seem to use heavy. Like Facebook. Be sure location services is off for Facebook. Turn off auto video play. I turn off push notifications for Facebook as well.

I get exactly what you're saying but none of these things have changed since the battery behaved what I would call normally and now when it drains rapidly and in chunks.

The giveaway clue for me is that when it's plugged in to charge it jumps about 20% the minute it's connected to the charger and that still happened after the complete clean install.

 

[xanadome]

The giveaway clue for me is that when it's plugged in to charge it jumps about 20% the minute it's connected to the charger and that still happened after the complete clean install.

Sounds like battery level indication malfunction. If so, run down the battery below 20% (or perhaps less), and recharge again. That will reset the internal circuit of the battery.

 

[mark-d]

Sounds like battery level indication malfunction. If so, run down the battery below 20% (or perhaps less), and recharge again. That will reset the internal circuit of the battery.

Thank you. Will try that

 

[doogald]

So I've now been running with a completely clean install and I don't think the issue is gone! Battery dropped from 100 to 99 then almost straight away to 97 then 95! That's not normal right?

My phone never does that - it almost always sticks at 100% for a lot longer than it stays at any other level as it discharges. But, what is showing on settings / battery in the battery usage list? Maybe you have some app that is just running all of the time for some reason.

I also agree it could be a battery meter issue, though. Or, of course, as you suspect, a hardware malfunction.

 

[mark-d]

My phone never does that - it almost always sticks at 100% for a lot longer than it stays at any other level as it discharges. But, what is showing on settings / battery in the battery usage list? Maybe you have some app that is just running all of the time for some reason.

I also agree it could be a battery meter issue, though. Or, of course, as you suspect, a hardware malfunction.

Waiting patiently for it to drain so I can power cycle it and then all of a sudden I replied to a tweet and the battery was at 49%. 10 minutes later I get an email so take my phone out my pocket t reply and it's showing 35%. That's a drop of 14% in 10 minutes!

I've emailed back the Apple support lady who is dealing with my case with today's update and I await hearing from her with our next step

Thank you so much everyone on this thread for your help and tips

 

[MacProSC]

Mark,
I find that battery life is mostly impacted by the location services and Bluetooth links... I know you mentioned that was not the issue...
Technnically you should have ti restart from scratch : Backup your phone to itunes and do a DFU, not a reset...a DFU is using iTunes, it loads the new OS from the web and not the one stored in the phone (which may be corrupted).
I feel your pain with the Apple store visits... going ot the Apple store is like going to the dentist... new batteries aren't too expensive, you could get it fixed at a third part repair shop, without the genius wait.