Having problems with battery life since upgrading to the iPhone 4S? Apple may be getting in touch with you to help them troubleshoot your battery problems, hopefully solving the iPhone 4S’s woeful drainage issues once and for all.
According to The Guardian, Apple has reached out to at least one user who is experiencing poor battery life with his iPhone 4S:
I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was ‘reaching out’ to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren’t close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologetic in the typical Apple way!
It’s worth noting this particular user was seeing some obscene drain: 10% per hour even in standby mode.
There’s no real word on what is causing the battery problems in the iPhone 4S, but they are definitely worse than in the iPhone 4… so much so that Apple quietyly bumped the standby time of the iPhone 4S down from 300 hours on the iPhone 4 to just 200 hours on the iPhone 4S. Some reports claim that location services are the culprit, while others say it all has to do with corrupted contacts.
Either way, let’s hope Apple gets to the bottom of this soon. From a power management perspective, right now, the iPhone 4S is acting more like an Android phone than an Apple device.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
116 responses to “Apple Engineers Are Deputizing iPhone 4S Users To Get To The Bottom Of Battery Problems”
I have been getting a similar drain on my iPhone 4. Standby lasting 4 hours!
I turned off ‘Raise to Speak’ in Siri settings and saw a vast improvement in battery life. I guess having the Accelerometer constantly seeing if you are putting the phone up to your ear drains that battery. I also turned Ping off in the restrictions partly because I thought it might help, but mainly because I don’t use it.
I upgraded from a 3GS to a 4S on launch day. For a few days, the battery life wasn’t amazing, but okay for a smartphone. However, it’s now brilliant. Definitely better than my 3GS.
For example, I’ve been doing some light to mid browsing, taken a few pictures and recieved a phone call or two in the last couple of days and I’m still at 50%. This is with 3G, iCloud, photo stream and location services all turned on.
I do recommend you do a proper full cycle charge (run the battery completely dead then charge it all night – it needs a good few hours to trickle charge). Do this at least once a month.
I sure hope it *is* just a software issue.
Not only is my battery draining incredibly quickly, but for the last two days it has died at 12 and 18% capacity.
It will be nice when they figure out what the deal is.
Seems like its an iOS5 problem. iPhone 4s are having the same problem.
My 4S ran 10 fold better as soon as I set the email to fetch manually. It was checking for new mail every 5 seconds by default and now it checks once an hour or whenever I open mail. Battery lasts the entire day with regular usage and I only have to give it a top up occasionally on high use days.
Am I the only one that is mildly disturbed by the notion of someone calling claiming to be from Apple and asking for access to my iPhone. I mean how do I know this person is legit. For all I know, I just gave a ton of personal data to this person. And maybe installed access for getting even more
I know the source of my Battery Drain. iCloud is streaming data continuously until it all syncs up. The first day, my device was dead in two hours. The second day, the same.
Full Battery when I went to bed last night, all apps closed, in standby mode, 8 hrs of sleep, woke up, phone down to 20%….
had to buy a juice pack for my phone and it only gave 1 charge not the 4 it states it provides …
Very unimpressed
I’m pretty sure that the problem has to do with iCloud back-up. I experience the problem after installing iOS5, and fixed it by turning off iCloud back-up – with backup turned off, the battery life was fine.
That’s the same issue I was having with the beta, I just submitted the bug report to Apple. My iPhone 4s still has bad battery life, but not as bad as it was with this feature on. It’s clearly a software feature which is great news because it can be fixed with an update, no need to return or exchange. Hang in there guys!
OH BY THE WAY, WARNING TO YOU GUYS!!!
TURN OFF YOUR MAIL AUTO FETCH FEATURE, BECAUSE IT WILL DRAIN YOUR BATTERY AND YOUR DATA USAGE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T HAVE UNLIMITED!!!!!!!! DO IT, I ALMOST WENT OVER MY LIMIT AND IF YOU JUST SWITCHED, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE THE USAGE BECAUSE OF THE MIGRATION. PUT ON WIFI TO BE SAFE WHEN EVER POSSIBLE TO AVOID OVERAGES.
This could explain the slow speeds some networks are experiencing because the iPhones are hogging it up.
WARNING TO YOU GUYS!!!TURN OFF YOUR MAIL AUTO FETCH FEATURE, BECAUSE IT WILL DRAIN YOUR BATTERY AND YOUR DATA USAGE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T HAVE UNLIMITED!!!!!!!! DO IT, I ALMOST WENT OVER MY LIMIT AND IF YOU JUST SWITCHED, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE THE USAGE BECAUSE OF THE MIGRATION. PUT ON WIFI TO BE SAFE WHEN EVER POSSIBLE TO AVOID OVERAGES.
I having a strange battery drain problem. When I put it on the charger it goes to 100%. But when I leave it on the charger overnight, it’ll be at 95 or 97%. What gives?
Are you sure about this? It was my understanding nothing syncs with iCloud unless the phone is attached to power source, screen is off, and on a wifi connection….
I am not having a battery drain issue myself, however, I have always had my mail set to fetch manually.
I am not having a battery drain issue myself, however, I have always had my mail set to fetch manually.
“quietyly”?
Get an editor!
Thanks for the tips all, going to give it a try. The battery drain is driving me crazy.
I noticed the same issue.
They’re obviously doing this to make it so people won’t tether jailbreak. There’s no other reason. But they were caught, people are complaining so they have to fix it…
That’s what I thought. Unless you manually sync it.
This has been a very odd issue for me as well. It sucked for the first few days but without changing any settings now its even better than ever, I’m on a 3GS mind you. My guess is it is all down to iCloud and how often it is trying to make a connection.
I reset my phone and stopped using the Facebook app and have been having great battery life ever since. it still gets warm while searching for a data signal, but it doesn’t get super hot anymore.
Seriously, try not using the Facebook app.
I don’t use it and it still dies.
I’m in jail and just got the iPhone through someone’s butt. The iPhone 4s is amazing, but it does lose a lot of battery. I don’t have any power outlets here, so I traded it for some toilet paper and a chocolate milk. That’s a lot in prison.
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Exactly what I was thinking
Ok, I have no clue what you guys are talking about. I have the 4S and I have no problems with the battery. Mind you, I don’t use Siri, so I turned off raise to speak. I also turned off push email and set it to check every hour instead of the few min that it was originally set to. The third thing that I can think of is turning “ping” off by restricting it in the restrictions section of settings. Try turning down the brightness and bluetooth to off if you don’t use it and let me know if you get the same results. I also don’t use iCloud so that might be the problem maker in ios 5.
I’m recommending people stay from iOS 5 on their 3GS devices especially since their batteries are older and already have lower capacity. This new OS hasn’t really been battery optimized well. I can confirm with multiple people who are running iOS 5.
Have had iOS5 on my 3GS since release, and have not had any change in battery life.
Let me get this straight… your view is that it’s “obvious” that Apple is intentionally crippling the iPhone 4S’s battery life in order to dissuade people from unauthorized tethering?
I think it’s to to require some basic IQ screening for anyone who wants to post in this forum…
edit: “…it’s time to require…”
So if you receive an important, time-sensitive email, it’s not going to get your attention until you manually check for messages?
Let me guess… you got the 200MB data plan? You know, the “sucker” plan that is simply insufficient for any real smartphone use? If so, do yourself a favor and upgrade to the 2GB plan for an extra ten bucks.
I have the unlimited plan grandfathered in, but I always use well under 2GB a month, even though I have three email accounts constantly receiving push emails in addition to various apps set to receive push notifications. Even my iPad doesn’t go over 2GB usage.
But a 200MB data limit is a joke for an iPhone.
iCloud backup only works when the phone is plugged in, locked and on wifi. Turning it off won’t help your battery life, only rob you of one of iOS5’s best features.
You may be thinking of other iCloud features such as Photo Stream or some app-specific iCloud services.
First, I’m assuming you did this just for testing purposes, because it makes no sense to leave your phone unplugged overnight. That’s the best time to charge your phone so it has a full charge in the morning, and also lets it back up your data to the cloud automatically every night.
1) Make sure your battery is conditioned by allowing it to fully drain (shuts itself completely off) and fully charge for at least two full cycles (no topping off in between.)
2) If serious battery life issues persist, review your app settings and consider disabling iCloud services and/or push notification services for less important apps.
You’re confusing syncing with backup.
iCloud backup happens once a day and only when the phone is plugged in, locked and on wifi.
But iCloud also provides syncing and notification services which can be selectively turned on or off at the app level.
You’re doing it wrong. Manually fetching mail means you may miss an important, time-sensitive email because you forgot to check. Or, it means you’re a slave to your phone having to check email constantly. Likewise, setting up email to fetch regularly drains your battery needlessly.
The solution is to use an email service that supports IMAP, not POP. These services, like Exchange email, PUSH messages to you when they’re received, but do not waste bandwidth and battery life by needlessly checking every X minutes.
GMail supports IMAP, but not when configured with default settings. Look up instructions on how to setup GMail as an Exchange account on your iPhone:
http://www.powercx.com/iblog/i…
I have no problems with my battery life for my iPhone 4 running iOS 5. It feels the same.
Okay, let’s break down your reply here…
No, you’re wrong I got the 4 gig tethering plan. I lost my unlimited because I got an iPad and thought it was stupid to pay $30something dollars a month for a gig on the iPad. I reviewed my usage and found I was never going over 2 gigs so, without any payment augmentation I changed it to the 4 gig tethering plan,
Yes it’s a stupid plan but some people work at McDonalds and Walmart, I use to work at Walmart and those extra 10 bucks can mean a lot.
Unlimited, you’re retarded you should downgrade to the 2gig plan because if you go past two gigs anyway it slows down and if you do, I doubt you’ll go over 3 gigs which then will be the same price as you pay right now.
Push data isn’t even that much, besides I was referring to fetch not push, please read the post better.
3 emails, average user has 3, go on…
You said that twice.
Okay, now let me reply to you…
Yes it’s a joke, but the data usage will not be seen by those who bought a new iPhone if they are used to checking their usage statistics on their AT&T app. This happens when ever anyone upgrades. It used up 3 gigs in a couple of days. I turned off fetch and turned on Wifi to use as little data as possible over the carrier’s network. I bet you anything, that this will happen:
Upcoming Cult of Mac Article
-People complaining iPhone is slow on network (AT&T slows down your internet speed when you reach a specific amount of data)
-iPhone running up phone bills (if those people don’t have unlimited or fetch off they will bitch about their bill.)
good day sir.
you know you can edit your post right there right? it’s next to the reply instead of a like. And your going around putting other peoples posts down you nub?
Your email will check all it’s accounts when you open it, including when you go to check an email that has been pushed. If you’re getting time sensitive emails then the people who send them to you should have your number.
Some of us party and forget to charge our phone, or are about to get laid and not get the chance to plug in the phone because we’re to busy sticking some other things somewhere else…
If email is your thing, better stick to a Blackberry, while they’re still alive, that is.
I am having the battery issue and it sucks. I’m getting about 4-hours of real use out of the phone before hitting the 20% mark or less, the same usage on my iPhone 4 would have put me at about 60-70%. Even when idle my battery drains and I’ve turned off anything that could be causing this. I’ve calibrated the battery three times, and I’ve owned every iPhone since the day it launched. In other words, this phone has a serious bug and this is not user error.
My girlfriend on the other hand has a iPhone 4S as well and hers lasts all day and does not have this issue. She has identical settings to my iPhone as I set hers up.
I already redid my address book / contact list so that’s not the issue as well. Time zone support is also off.
My battery is lasting REALLY well. What did I do? Location services are OFF. I only turn them on momentarily when I need to look at something, then I turn them off again. The battery is lasting extremely well as a result.
Me too…this happens to me when left charging overnight.