iPod Touch battery life

[Fred Derf Veteran]

When you stop using the iPod for a few minutes it automatically goes into sleep mode. Of course, this causes my son great stress because when he wants to use it the next day it is totally dead and it needs a full charge.

So I told my son to use the on/off button on the top of the unit to turn the iPod. I have since learned that this doesn't turn the iPod off but only puts it to sleep faster (gee thanks, like that really helps!).

According to a google, you need to hold the button down until it prompts you to slide to turn it off. Is this retarded or what?

I'll try that when he is finished his session. Of course that session can't start until the unit charges. He's not happy.

Edited February 13, 2011 by Fred Derf
it --> he

[djdanster]

If you press the button shortly it puts it in sleep mode. If you hold it down, it prompts you to switch it off.

Personally I don't see an issue with this!

[Fred Derf Veteran]

If you press the button shortly it puts it in sleep mode. If you hold it down, it prompts you to switch it off.

Personally I don't see an issue with this!

But it would go to sleep anyway if you just walked away. So it saves you a few seconds of battery life? Who really cares when it is still dead the next day?

That certainly isn't the way that I expected it to work.

[Denis W. Veteran]

I find the iPod touch (second gen) consumes quite a bit of battery for shutdown/startup cycles. It's just like shutting down and restarting a typical desktop OS, but even slower. :/ It would be a better idea to let it sleep with Airplane Mode on or something and keep the wifi radio off.

Or a better fix would be to downgrade to 3.1.x for the 2G/3G iPod touches as apparently iOS 4.x kills the battery.

[djdanster]

Isn't the sleep function pretty much the same as 'locking' the screen on any other phone?

[Mr. Chronopoulos]

But it would go to sleep anyway if you just walked away. So it saves you a few seconds of battery life? Who really cares when it is still dead the next day?

That certainly isn't the way that I expected it to work.

Depending on how old it is, the battery may be defective. It should lose 1 or maybe 2 percent of battery overnight while in sleep. If it's losing 10% or more, bring it to an Apple store and have them take a look. If the battery is defective, they'll give you a new iPod (assuming it's still under AppleCare).

[kjx]

The iPod nano works the same way. It's perpetually in sleep mode - but it lasts a month or more in sleep mode on a full charge. A shutdown/startup procedure takes quite a bit of time on it.

I would suppose that the iPod touch was also intended to remain in sleep mode - I've seen it take quite a while to start up and power off (conventionally). In your case, I don't know why it lasts only a day in sleep mode though (wifi?).

Going up a notch - the iPad also remains in sleep mode when not in use and it lasts quite a while. People generally don't turn it off unless they don't intend to use it for several days.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Depending on how old it is, the battery may be defective. It should lose 1 or maybe 2 percent of battery overnight while in sleep. If it's losing 10% or more, bring it to an Apple store and have them take a look. If the battery is defective, they'll give you a new iPod (assuming it's still under AppleCare).

It is less than a week old. His last session was yesterday so it was only sleeping for about 24 hours. I personally had assumed it was off.

I would suppose that the iPod touch was also intended to remain in sleep mode - I've seen it take quite a while to start up and power off (conventionally). In your case, I don't know why it lasts only a day in sleep mode though (wifi?).

Yeah, WiFi is on because he likes to access Youtube. Otherwise he's playing Angry Birds or something similar.

In total, he's getting about an hour of playtime and then 24 hours of sleep time before the battery was dead.

[deactivated_]

Definitely as others have said, if it loses more than a few percent in 'sleep' over night, then something is going on that shouldn't. I never use the 'off' mode and sometimes go at least a week without charging. I don't play games on it though, but still, it shouldn't lose 90% of it's charge over night supposedly doing nothing.

[kjx]

It is less than a week old. His last session was yesterday so it was only sleeping for about 24 hours. I personally had assumed it was off.

Yeah, WiFi is on because he likes to access Youtube. Otherwise he's playing Angry Birds or something similar.

In total, he's getting about an hour of playtime and then 24 hours of sleep time before the battery was dead.

It is either due to the wifi radio running even when the iPod is 'sleeping' or the battery is just defective. When the wifi is off, you should be getting around 40 hours of audio or 7 hours of video off a single charge (http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/specs.html).

Have a look through the following also: http://ipod.about.com/od/introductiontotheipod/tp/ipod-touch-battery.htm

[TangoEight]

If it's only a week old take it to an apple store, they will either repair it there or replace it. They replaced my sisters iphone when the speaker broke.

You have to make an appointment on the apple website http://www.apple.com/ca/retail/geniusbar/

T8

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Definitely as others have said, if it loses more than a few percent in 'sleep' over night, then something is going on that shouldn't. I never use the 'off' mode and sometimes go at least a week without charging. I don't play games on it though, but still, it shouldn't lose 90% of it's charge over night supposedly doing nothing.

Well, I'll try disabling WiFi and/or using Airplane mode but I have some of these features password protected so my son doesn't go app shopping without me. I don't want to see Smurfberry charges on my next credit card statement. It makes it more complicated than I had expected.

Since he is often playing games for the hour then the battery is probably half dead at the end of his session (my understanding is that the battery only lasts for two hours of gaming).

I had read that the battery had about a 500 charge life so that would mean that, at the rate we've been going, his iPod will only last a year and a half. :(

[Eddo89]

I may be a bit lost here if is not a battery defect.

Because sleep mode can last you a long while. My old iPod Touch that isn't well loved in terms of keeping a good battery life, can last a week of light music use (I mainly use it to plug into my car's auxillary) before it shows that the battery isn't full.

My question will be, when do you charge it? Because I get the feeling you only charge it when is almost dead or dead, and if say your son plays Angry Birds or any other app really, chances are it probably drained the battery (presumably you son plays a bit before sleep) and I won't really be surprised if it runs out of battery while he sleeps. If is only music use, no way it drained that much. But applications drain more battery than you expect as everything else is so battery efficient.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I may be a bit lost here if is not a battery defect.

Because sleep mode can last you a long while. My old iPod Touch that isn't well loved in terms of keeping a good battery life, can last a week of light music use (I mainly use it to plug into my car's auxillary) before it shows that the battery isn't full.

My question will be, when do you charge it? Because I get the feeling you only charge it when is almost dead or dead, and if say your son plays Angry Birds or any other app really, chances are it probably drained the battery (presumably you son plays a bit before sleep) and I won't really be surprised if it runs out of battery while he sleeps. If is only music use, no way it drained that much. But applications drain more battery than you expect as everything else is so battery efficient.

He gets a 1 hour session of Angry Birds or Plants vs Zombies and then we take it away. 24 hours later it is dead. The battery is probably only half dead when it goes to sleep.

Since configuring the unit, I have left WiFi mode enabled so he can access Youtube. He seems to find those Glozell videos hilarious.

So it is going to sleep with the WiFi still enabled. He probably can't turn WiFi on or off himself because I have a password set but I'll have to play around with this a bit.

I have only recently learned of the hold power button + slide to turn off. I may start to use this or I may explore airplane mode.

I charged it today when he asked for another session and we found it dead. I allowed him to play with it while it was still connected to the PC because it wasn't fully charged yet. Obviously, he would prefer to be able to walk around the house with it instead of using it tethered to a PC.

[crazzy88ss]

Of course, this causes my son great stress because when it wants to use it the next day it is totally dead and it needs a full charge.

it? lol

[Fred Derf Veteran]

it? lol

"It" was complaining to me about his "lost session" while I wrote that. By the time I had finished, I got it (the iPod, not the boy) up and running while still tethered to the PC.

[Gaffney]

I still used my itouch 1st gen until November there when I got my Omnia 7. It could last around 3 days in sleep mode. Strange how the newer ones have a shorter battery life.

Although the newer ones seem to be rated for better battery life but:

1st gen 580 mA·h

3rd gen 789 mA·h

4th gen 930 mA·h

The 2nd and 3rd gen are very close to each other but their batteries are only a fraction more powerful than the 1st gen and they have a more powerful processor ad the 3rd gen has more ram.

Should do some tests to see how they all compare.

[TangoEight]

He gets a 1 hour session of Angry Birds or Plants vs Zombies and then we take it away. 24 hours later it is dead. The battery is probably only half dead when it goes to sleep.

Since configuring the unit, I have left WiFi mode enabled so he can access Youtube. He seems to find those Glozell videos hilarious.

So it is going to sleep with the WiFi still enabled. He probably can't turn WiFi on or off himself because I have a password set but I'll have to play around with this a bit.

I have only recently learned of the hold power button + slide to turn off. I may start to use this or I may explore airplane mode.

I charged it today when he asked for another session and we found it dead. I allowed him to play with it while it was still connected to the PC because it wasn't fully charged yet. Obviously, he would prefer to be able to walk around the house with it instead of using it tethered to a PC.

iPods automatically turn the WiFi off when the screen is locked, there is no setting to stop them doing this (without jailbreak). Leaving WiFi on while it is sleeping is not the problem.

T8

[Fred Derf Veteran]

The iPod isn't jailbroken.

[Hendrick]

I remember reading somewhere that Spotlight also uses quite a bit of battery. Try disabling that.

I have a second gen iPod Touch, and my battery is pretty bad. But then again, I use it almost daily, and it is over two years old. I sort of expected it by now.

[Jombi]

Turn the iPod into Airplane mode and it'll stop trying to connect to wifi, etc. Your battery will last 3-4 days. And yes, the iPod's wifi is still on when in sleep mode. try loading a site, then hitting the hold button...then turning it back on.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Posting on his iPod during his swimming lesson. He used the slide to turn it off.

[Caleo Global Moderator]

Turn off "Notifications" (AKA "push" iirc) in the general settings. In the past I've read about this being a *major* power drain while in standby.

Set brightness to auto and leave it on about 1/3 or so on the slider.

I've got a ~2 year old Touch 2g 16GB and I've left it off the charger for days (perhaps up to 2 weeks) and it's not died. I often use it for an alarm clock so in that respect it's been very dependable.

[NoLiMiT06]

I am assuming this is the 4g touch? I just bought one myself about a week ago, before you put it away for the night double tap the home button and that will display any running apps. Press the - sign to close them. Also try a app called Battery Doctor Pro, it works like a charm and has tips and a guide to maximize battery life and shows you the status of your battery. Is the iPod jailbroken by chance?

I also have a 2g touch and the battery has some wear but lasts for a pretty long time. Both are 8gb btw.

[Brandon]

There is something wrong with your hardware. If I can play games, have 3G and WiFi enabled, text, listen to music etc. and go two days on my iPhone 3GS, theres no reason why it should be draining. Hell, if I leave it in airport mode, I've gotten 5 days without having to recharge with using it just for music.