iPhone 4S owners report dramatic battery drain

Computerworld ^ | October 31, 2011 | Gregg Keizer

[markomalley]

Apple's new iPhone 4S is running through its battery at a prodigious rate, according to reports on the company's own support forum.

A long thread dedicated to the problem now has more than 2,300 messages, runs 160 pages and has been accessed more than 160,000 times, all huge numbers for an Apple support discussion.

"I've had the 4S since the launch day, and I've been pretty pleased with battery life," said someone identified as "andyfromsomerville" on the thread early Monday. "Until this weekend. My phone just went from a full charge to empty within <14h standby time and about 95 minutes of light usage."

Others, however, said that the fast-battery-drain issue had been there from the start.

"Seems to lose 1% every 3-4 minutes, even when locked/asleep," noted John Goldman on Oct. 15, the day the thread debuted.

The iPhone 4S went on sale in the U.S., the U.K. and five other countries on Oct. 14. Three days later, Apple boasted that it had sold four million of the devices, more than double the number of iPhone 4 smartphones sold in the same span last year.

Although the bulk of the battery complaints pertain to the iPhone 4S, some users have also reported faster exhaustion for older devices -- including the iPhone 4 and iPad -- after updating to iOS 5, the operating system upgrade Apple issued Oct. 12.

[Swordmaker]

iOS 5 may cause a rapid battery depletion—PING!

However, it has been discovered a minor glitch that is fixable by the user can solve the problem in settings by changing the time zone update check can stop the battery drain:

“It appears that the Setting Time Zone function in iOS 5 can lead to excess power drain because the device is repeatedly polling the user’s location in order to set the time zone based on their current location (which is useful when traveling),” Haslam reports. “To disable this functionality, launch the Settings app, navigate to Location Services > System Services and turn off the Setting Time Zone option.”

Apple iOS 5 battery drain problem Ping!

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[LearnsFromMistakes]

It is crazy, isn’t it. One daughter got the old iPhone 4, but got 32 gig. My wife got a Droid. And I am getting out of the rat race, back to a phone that does simple call & text.

The american dream has gotten too expensive for me. I can barely pay for my own dream, let alone the dreams of someone else’s father...

[RinaseaofDs]

Steve Jobs:” . . . From the grave I stab at thee!”

[molson209]

fast-battery-drain

that happens when there are UFO’s around you ,eyes on the skies

[Chipper]

I may have to try this. I noticed severe battery drain on my iPhone 4 while in China, and ever since I returned. This was prior to iOS 5 release.

[abner]

I noticed a drain on my iphone 4 in the last couple of days only. I changed the time zone thing off. I’ll give it a day or so to judge. Thanks!

[MediaMole]

Got a 4s on the first day. Haven’t had any issues with battery life.

A couple things will drain the battery quickly on any phone.

One is being on the edge of a poor cell signal area. Switching back and forth between edge and 3g and searching for signals puts the radio at high output and burns through the battery. This was true on my old 3g much more so than the new 4s.

The one other issue is a non-responsive mail host. My company e-mail is pretty sketchy and often doesn’t respond. I noticed that the 4s is more aggressive in trying to log in and will burn more power as it tries to log in. I just shut off the work e-mail automation and check it manually.

[RobertoinAL]

My daughter’s boss also had the same problem. She took it back and was given a new 4S. My wife and I received two new 4S’s, both arrived DOA - bad simm cards (some quality control they have over in China, huh?). After trying to set up my phone with the bad simm, I decided I’d just stay with the old 3G. The AT&T store replaced both simm cards, fully refunded my $200.00, and re-activated my 3G.

[TWohlford]

“Battery life complaints with other (Android) 4G phones is a common issue”

I have a new Bionic (Droid) phone.

When I’m in 3G territory, my battery life is twice what it is in 4G. That is all without using either 3G or 4G, existing off of WiFi.

Worse yet, when I leave home, the unit is horrible at switching automatically to 3G or 4G — often I need to cold boot it to get it to hook up.

Motorola, via Verizon, promises a fix “with the next software update.”

[Vicki]

I got the new iPhone 4 S and what I have discovered is that every program you use stays open in the background and quickly drains the battery.

To solve this you have to hit the button at the front bottom twice and then is reveals all the programs that are running. Hold down on any of the programs icons and they shake and get a red minus sign on them. Then you can shut off what you aren't using. A pain and inconvenience.

[stocksthatgoup]

I-cloud constantly is updating and cycling. Try turning it off.

[Ouch]

I had a problem with my iPhone 4s. my battery would be at about 12 percent by the time I got home from work after about 9 hours. I then let my phone go down to 1 percent after that it shut off, I recharged it completely and today when I got home I had 54 percent left.

[dayglored]

> “It appears that the Setting Time Zone function in iOS 5 can lead to excess power drain because the device is repeatedly polling the user’s location in order to set the time zone based on their current location (which is useful when traveling),”

Sounds like a poor, if not downright incorrect, choice of default. Default on all potentially power-draining background functions should be "OFF", unless it's clear that a majority of users will require them daily.

Changing time zones is not such a function.

[TheOldLady]

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[antiRepublicrat]

I got the new iPhone 4 S and what I have discovered is that every program you use stays open in the background and quickly drains the battery.

I think you're confusing that with Android. In Android, the background programs remain running, sucking up battery. This is traditional free-for-all multitasking. Every program that wants a slice of CPU gets it.

In iOS since version 4, background programs are suspended by default, don't take one cycle of CPU time. There are limited exceptions: audio programs can play audio, VOIP can process calls, and an app will be allowed to complete certain things it started (such as a file download). There are a couple others, but you get the idea.

So if you're running Skype and audio in the background while playing a game, yes, your system may be taxed and the battery will drain more quickly. But if you have IMDB, Safari, Chess, etc., in the background, they're not draining your battery because they're suspended.

[Vicki]

Beg to differ, I never have had an Android, only iPhones. If I don’t go in and shut those programs down as described the battery runs down fast. Otherwise it lasts a very long time. I didn’t have to go in and shut programs off in my iPhone 3G and the battery latest all day, no problem. Only my new iPhone 4S has given me battery life problems.

[moehoward]

"Last time, push notification was the culprit."

This time too.
And I think dramatic is just that. Most users report no difference. Some notice a little. I haven't noticed any.

[kevkrom]

It’s probably a misbehaving app — I’ve noticed that some apps that use location services have, after certain updates, been a bit too... aggressive... about keeping themselves updated, using location services constantly unless you force-quit them.

You can go to the location services menu under settings and see which apps are currently using location services and have used them in the last 24 hours — first step is to disable it on anything that doesn’t actually need it. (I mean, Angry Birds... really? Why does that need location services?) But if you see a blue arrow (currently using) next to an app that you haven’t just been using, then that could very possibly be a problem app.

[Eye of Unk]

I am so glad I’m not one of those that was sold on the Apple product line, the hype of having the latest social fad devices. My simple Tracfone was cheap, is still cheap, it has nothing compared to the ultra smartphones and is the poor hick kid wearing hand me down clothes in worn shoes the wrong size while all the preppies are laughing.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

... and is the poor hick kid wearing hand me down clothes in worn shoes the wrong size while all the preppies are laughing.

What would you want to subject yourself to that? Just slap an Apple logo on the back of your Tracfone and you are good to go. Then you are part of the "In" crowd.