4S battery usage problem

DrD787

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My wife's 4S has a battery problem such that even when the phone is in standby it clocks up usage such that the standby and usage figures are almost the same e.g. it can be fully charged at bedtime and then next morning it will show, say, 7:50 usage 8:00 standby. I have done the obvious - closed apps, restarted it, done a hard reset etc. to no avail. The thing is she had this problem once before a few months ago and at that time I tried everything including restoring it from iTunes both from a backup but also as a brand new phone. This failed to fix it so I booked an Apple Store appointment but just before I went it started behaving itself again. I'm at a bit of a loss what to try this time. Thing is I don't really believe it's a hardware problem. I would swap it with mine (and also swap the sims) to see if the problem moves except that I am running IOS 6 and don't really want to go through through the hassle of working out how to downgrade mine back to IOS 5. Any suggestions please ?
 
Hi I am aware that the iPhone 5's retina display does use more power than its ulder brother but it maybe down to a faulty battery also. Have you explored this idea?
 
Have you checked privacy location services. Setting timezone for example and others are not required for most and the gps is the biggest battery user together with poor network signal.

Network signal switching between 3G and normal can be a real bugger as well. My overnight battery usage become non existent when I got myself a Vodafone sure signal box so I always have fully stable network strength.

Just a few alternative ideas.
 
Have you checked privacy location services. Setting timezone for example and others are not required for most and the gps is the biggest battery user together with poor network signal.

Network signal switching between 3G and normal can be a real bugger as well. My overnight battery usage become non existent when I got myself a Vodafone sure signal box so I always have fully stable network strength.

Just a few alternative ideas.

I will check that but am away from home ATM. Not hopeful though, as we have 3 4S's in the house with one of them on the same network as my wife's with no problem. Also, I have done a complete restore and set up as a new phone.
 
You may need a new battery. Biggest mistake people do is place it to charge etc without the battery being totally exhausted. This damages the battery in the the long term. Saying that new fitted batteries are cheap but beware of crappy copies!
 
May need replacing. Not 100% on what you are saying the problem is, are you saying it is draining quickly? Or it is just reporting that it isn't charing?

If you have 2 other 4S' in the house then you already know the 3rd has a fault; get it switched.
 
You may need a new battery. Biggest mistake people do is place it to charge etc without the battery being totally exhausted. This damages the battery in the the long term. Saying that new fitted batteries are cheap but beware of crappy copies!
Brand new battery already on a 4S....yes not always charging from completely empty may cause a few issues but not already in a fairly new 4S. I've got a 2yr old 3GS that goes in my alarm clock dock to charge every night whether its on a few % of battery or barely needs any and its still fine.

I'm fairly sure i read that the iPhone batteries are slightly different to normal rechargeable batteries so the not charging from completely empty doesnt make as much difference.
 
You may need a new battery. Biggest mistake people do is place it to charge etc without the battery being totally exhausted. This damages the battery in the the long term. Saying that new fitted batteries are cheap but beware of crappy copies!

Not true, modern battery technology doesn't have the memory effect.
I have had iPhones since the very first one, always trickle charged them and never had a battery problem.
 
I obviously didn't explain myself in my OP. This is not a battery problem. The battery does what is asked of it when the phone is actually being used. The problem is that it is being used when it shouldn't be. Leaving it on standby for 8 hours after a full charge will then report something like 8 hours standby and 7:50 usage, when it has not been used at all. It is as if there is a background app doing something, but I have already been through the process of killing all apps and even doing a complete system restore.
 
When you restored did you restore using an existing back up of the phone? If so then you've probably put the issue straight back on with the back up. Could be worth restoring and just starting as if new and putting apps etc back on.
 
When you restored did you restore using an existing back up of the phone? If so then you've probably put the issue straight back on with the back up. Could be worth restoring and just starting as if new and putting apps etc back on.

No, for that reason I restored it as a new phone
 
tdenson said:
I obviously didn't explain myself in my OP. This is not a battery problem. The battery does what is asked of it when the phone is actually being used. The problem is that it is being used when it shouldn't be. Leaving it on standby for 8 hours after a full charge will then report something like 8 hours standby and 7:50 usage, when it has not been used at all. It is as if there is a background app doing something, but I have already been through the process of killing all apps and even doing a complete system restore.

No you did explain that very clearly hence my suggestions regarding background apps that use a lot of battery earlier.
 
No you did explain that very clearly hence my suggestions regarding background apps that use a lot of battery earlier.

Well, I agree, I thought I did, but peeps have been suggesting I have a bad battery. I've been away a lot so I haven't had a chance to follow up on your location settings suggestion yet, I need some time where I can do some controlled experiments with it and it's not my phone but my wife's but I will.
 
I had exactly the same problem, called apple booked a genius appointment and they exchanged the phone for one of the brown box jobbies they have. Problem sorted
 
Have yet again done a restore as a new phone. Left it overnight in airplane mode and still showing constant usage. Will book an appointment with a Genius.
 
Alerts would show usage if they were set to show up when leaving or arriving somewhere as they will periodically check your location against the alert location.
 
Wouldn't location services be disabled as well in airplane mode? I thought they would, but have to admit I never tried it...

I think if a restore has been done, and in airplane mode it is still has high usage something really isn't right with it...An exchange seems reasonable.
 
Just racking my brain for possibilities as sounds weird. Agree with a replacement though.
 
Yes it does sound weird, one other thing that may help (if you can be bothered to self diagnose) is plug it into Xcode and check the log files and processes that are running on it. It is moments like this where an OS like Android is more useful to do it from the device itself, but then again it is a phone, so good customer service and simply getting it exchanged with the genius bar appointment is more convenient :)
 
Yes it does sound weird, one other thing that may help (if you can be bothered to self diagnose) is plug it into Xcode and check the log files and processes that are running on it. It is moments like this where an OS like Android is more useful to do it from the device itself, but then again it is a phone, so good customer service and simply getting it exchanged with the genius bar appointment is more convenient :)

I suppose I could, but as you say I'm not sure I can be bothered, as I would have a learning curve to do that.
It is weird though, it has all the hallmarks of a software problem but does seem to be a problem with the actual device. I'm at the Paralympics next week with an Apple store in Stratford, so will make an appointment there.
 
Definitely worth booking in advance as its going to be nuts in there during the Paralympics. Slightly OT but what event(s) are you going to see?
 
Definitely worth booking in advance as its going to be nuts in there during the Paralympics. Slightly OT but what event(s) are you going to see?

Yes I would.
Mixture of events including athletics swimming and basketball
 
Excellent. A lot of people have forgotten about the Paralympics starting. It's as exciting as the main Olympics to me and we need as much support as we can get again.
 

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