iPhone 4 Battery Drain

[WhoTheF]

I just got my iPhone 4 recently, and I have been playing around with it a lot. Love this new toy but I am very upset about the battery drain. My phone usually drops from 100% at night to 80% the in the morning (in about 8 or so hours) without wifi or bluetooth on.

First - I restored everything from my first generation iphone since it had all my contacts, calender events, notes, text messages, etc. The apps didn't sync so I had to download them again from the app store but all my app settings/data was restored. Does this mean all the unnecessary data from the apps that I did not download again is stored in my phone? Is there a way to get rid of it? Could that be leading to battery drain?

Second - I looked around on the internet and it seems like few applications have been a major problem in draining the battery. One of them being Words with Friends. I really love that app, I have about 6-7 friends playing that game with me and I am really upset right now to have deleted that game. When I read that Words could be one of the issue, I deleted the app last night and noticed my battery's performance. It had lost only 1%. So I downloaded the app again and it started draining my battery on standby mode.

Now I know what most of you might be thinking, but you're wrong. I close all my background apps to do the testing and I have failed.

I also did a reset to all my settings before I deleted the app.

Has anybody here had a similar problem? I have had this problem for about a week now and I am really bummed out. Does anybody here have any problem with Words? Is there a way I can delete all my app data on the phone and redownload all the apps again? You think that might help?

Thanks.

[Xilo]

Try turning off push notifications for the app.

[WhoTheF]

Try turning off push notifications for the app.

Did that too. 3g is off, so is fetch.

Only apps on my new phone:

- Cut the rope

- Angry birds

- Angry birds seasons

- Find my Iphone

- Remote

- Words (which got deleted)

- Facebook (i signed off)

- F5S Hockey

[Shadrack]

A 20% drop sounds like a lot to me... I think the most mine drops is 5%..maybe 10% in a night.

Goto Settings->About->Usage

Check your data send/received. Maybe clock it overnight... there could be a lot of excess network traffic (lots of things syncing like emails and calendars).

How is it throughout the day? With my normal iPhone 4 usage I can go 2 days nominally, sometimes 3 days before needing to charge it. After the first day on a full charge, it is typically down 80%.

My iPhone 3GS I had to charge every night (it was generally down to 30-40%).

Maybe spotlight search is indexing everything since it is fairly new?

[WhoTheF]

Well funny thing happened this night. I was wrong. I thought words with friends was a problem but my battery still drained about 16%. I am guessing maybe because the wifi was on or maybe because location service was on? The only app that uses that feature would be find my iPhone.

I don't have a data plan on my iPhone 4 (don't ask me how.. I just don't) and so there's no sent or received data. It's always been 0. Having said that, nothing on my phone syncs overnight. Anything that syncs is through itunes. I have push and fetch off.

Also, I end up charging my phone once a day. I make very few calls, but a lot of texting I'd say, few app usage over wifi.

[GuJu]

I would like to know how you got an iPhone w no data plan. Especially is your in the US? :?

[0sit0]

I don't have battery issues with mine. Like Shadrack's iPhone, mine lasts about 2 days without charging again.

What I would do is start from scratch. Meaning restore and not from a backup. Save your contacts and calendars on the cloud (google is free).

Did you by any chance jailbroke and unlocked your phone?

[Draconian Guppy]

If unlocked that could be an issue, i own an iphone 4, that came from ATT and not factory unlocked, and ultrasn0w 1.0 is known to cause battery drain, 1.0-1 fixes these issues.

[WhoTheF]

It's not unlocked, it's not jailbroken.

I use Google for my contacts. What I am most concerned about doing a fresh restore is my text messages. Anyway to import those back after a restore?

Other questions for anybody with knowledge:

- Could Find my iPhone app be the culprit since it constantly searches for my location?

- Could it be wifi since my iPhone is constantly connected to wifi even during standby mode?

- Could FaceTime be a problem too if it's contacting the Apple server for any incoming calls? I have also noticed that my battery drops about 5%-ish after a 15-20 min FaceTime call. Is this normal?

[WirelessTeen]

I recommend closing any inactive programs that you have on your iPhone that you aren't using that way it doesn't use a lot of battery.

[oldaccount1]

This certainly sounds odd. I usually go a day or two with moderate to heavy use without having to recharge at all and get perhaps a 4 or 5% drain overnight, if that.

Why not take it to the Apple store? Have them run a diag? I'm no expert, but it doesn't sound right.

[WhoTheF]

Well, I guess a lot of people are in the same shoe as me. A recommended option that has worked for most people is restoring phone as a new.

I don't want to lose my text message unless there is a way to import those back on to the phone.

I have nothing running on the background. I usually close all my apps when I head to bed.

I haven't set up a game center account either.

[oldaccount1]

Well, I guess a lot of people are in the same shoe as me. A recommended option that has worked for most people is restoring phone as a new.

I don't want to lose my text message unless there is a way to import those back on to the phone.

I have nothing running on the background. I usually close all my apps when I head to bed.

I haven't set up a game center account either.

This makes no sense (to restore it) if there's nothing running...nothing will be different. Waste of time, imo. Take it to an Apple store or call up Apple. I've had three iPhones replaced--no questions asked. They're great.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Just make sure you've got loads of free time before you enter an Apple store this time of year. You'll be in there for a really long time. :p

[DomZ]

Well, I guess a lot of people are in the same shoe as me. A recommended option that has worked for most people is restoring phone as a new.

I don't want to lose my text message unless there is a way to import those back on to the phone.

I have nothing running on the background. I usually close all my apps when I head to bed.

I haven't set up a game center account either.

As long as you back it up in itunes (right click the iPhone in the list on the left, backup) then you're text messages will be restored after the restore (it will ask if you if you want to restore the backup). The problem with this is all your settings get restored, so if you've got a setting issue somewhere it will still be there. You can try resetting as many of the settings as possible before doing the backup (look through all the menus).

The other possibility is after the restore say you want to use it as a new phone, try that for a day or two to see if the problem is fixed. If it isn't you can restore it again, then restore your backup to get all your original data back...

[chrispinto]

I can get about 36-40 hours between charges, with moderate to heavy use on my iPhone 4

Though since i installed a live weather animated lockscreen, it munches that down to about 12-15 hours with the same use.

Either way, why is charging such a big deal unless you are planning on spending every single day nowhere near a power socket

[B26354]

You are not alone, in the Apple support forum there?s a topic (Low battery life on iPod touch after installing iOS 4) with 1,795 replies. I know yours is not an IPod, but maybe you can find some help there. Some people are having problems with facetime, others say that the Wi-Fi router?s firmware is outdated and that?s causing the problem. I had problems with Game Center once, logged on to try it and the battery drain started, even when I logged off. I had to reset all settings and never even look at it again. Most people found that a Restore as new helps, but the problem may return if the application that?s causing the problem is activated again. You can start from scratch and start adding applications until the problem starts again.

Hope this helps?

[iuerg87yerg879e0rg9erugjer]

there are issues with the multitasking as some games dont properly 'pause" the game and what i mean by that is actually turn the fps to 0 and stop working the cpu. angry birds has this problem when 4.0 came out but it was fixed after a while.

[WhoTheF]

I can get about 36-40 hours between charges, with moderate to heavy use on my iPhone 4

Though since i installed a live weather animated lockscreen, it munches that down to about 12-15 hours with the same use.

Either way, why is charging such a big deal unless you are planning on spending every single day nowhere near a power socket

Why should I charge my phone every single day when I shouldn't be? You know that battery life is depended on the number of charges, right? My first generation iPhone lasted me all this time until I switched to iP4. I paid for this product for a certain reason. If it doesn't perform the way it does than that's just BS.

You are not alone, in the Apple support forum there?s a topic (Low battery life on iPod touch after installing iOS 4) with 1,795 replies. I know yours is not an IPod, but maybe you can find some help there. Some people are having problems with facetime, others say that the Wi-Fi router?s firmware is outdated and that?s causing the problem. I had problems with Game Center once, logged on to try it and the battery drain started, even when I logged off. I had to reset all settings and never even look at it again. Most people found that a Restore as new helps, but the problem may return if the application that?s causing the problem is activated again. You can start from scratch and start adding applications until the problem starts again.

Hope this helps?

1. Tried to turn off FaceTime - no positive results

2. I don't think I have logged to game center - I did a complete reset on my phone, too

3. Willing to do a complete restore unless I can transfer my sms.

there are issues with the multitasking as some games dont properly 'pause" the game and what i mean by that is actually turn the fps to 0 and stop working the cpu. angry birds has this problem when 4.0 came out but it was fixed after a while.

Angry birds is up-to-date. I close all my apps from the multitasking as well.

Does anybody know of a way to transfer text messages to a new restore?

[Electric Jolt]

Does anybody know of a way to transfer text messages to a new restore?

As long as you back it up in itunes (right click the iPhone in the list on the left, backup) then you're text messages will be restored after the restore (it will ask if you if you want to restore the backup). The problem with this is all your settings get restored, so if you've got a setting issue somewhere it will still be there. You can try resetting as many of the settings as possible before doing the backup (look through all the menus).

The other possibility is after the restore say you want to use it as a new phone, try that for a day or two to see if the problem is fixed. If it isn't you can restore it again, then restore your backup to get all your original data back...

[WhoTheF]

The problem could be from my current backup. My reinstall that to the new backup? I am trying to do a fresh start and I need is the text messages. If I restore from an old backup I am back to square one.

[Electric Jolt]

The problem could be from my current backup. My reinstall that to the new backup? I am trying to do a fresh start and I need is the text messages. If I restore from an old backup I am back to square one.

You don't know if that is true though. Try restoring to backup tonight, see if the problem still exists. Then if it doesn't, try restoring without a backup tomorrow night, and see if that works. If it does, it's either your text messages or your battery life. ;)

[Pharos]

The problem could be from my current backup. My reinstall that to the new backup? I am trying to do a fresh start and I need is the text messages. If I restore from an old backup I am back to square one.

Your best bet would be to restore your iPhone as a new phone, and then transfer your SMS back into it. A quick google search showed some promising results...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=370616

Skimming the thread, the most notable (since I don't think this method requires jailbreaking) I found was this:

Not to be facetious, but you can obviously transfer SMS to your computer by backing up the iPhone. However, what a lot of people don't know is that you can use iPhone Backup Extractor to open the backup and get to the SMS part of the backup. You can then use SQLite Database Browser to view the SMS's.

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=4974

Of course, use caution and try at your own risk. (Y)

EDIT: Oooops, looks like that is a Mac only app, and you probably need it to be jailbroken. However that thread has more options so look into them.

Honestly, you should at least do what someone told you earlier, which was to restore it NOT FROM BACKUP, INSTALL ALL YOUR APPS and keep it for a day and see what happens. Then you'll know it's not a problem with the phone or the apps.

I lost the count how many times I had to restore my phone as new because the battery kept draining or something weird started happening. I strongly recommend that you do that.

[WhoTheF]

Will do. Apparently, my phone won't restore on my computer so I am using my dad's computer to restore this thing. 4.2 is downloading all over again (which is good) and i'll do a fresh install. Let's see if this works!

Will update is anything happens.

[bastones]

If you've recently updated to a newer version of iOS 4 for iPhone, that may be why. Some people are experiencing excessive battery drain with their iPads when before they use to have 10 (and sometimes longer) hours of battery life no matter what they were doing - me included, after updating to iOS 4.2. Check Apple's website about the expected battery life of the iPhone 4 on the iPhone section of the website, then you may want to ring up Apple and explain what it says on the website to the battery life you are experiencing. Like I said, if you have updated your phone to any newer version of the software since you've got your iPhone - that is probably why. No one knows what's causing the latest version of iOS 4 to cause battery drain but I'm very positive Apple are fixing it in a newer update that will be available soon / in the next update. Either way, you may want to call Apple as they may already be aware of an issue with the latest version of iOS or something else and acknowledge this for you or find there is an isolated issue with your iPhone (if there is, which I doubt - again, I could be wrong).

Hope this helps.