iPhone 5 Battery Capacity Comparison

Aside from the obvious asjusting brightness. List the apps you have in notification center and that are using location services. List the number of email addresses you have setup in Mail and include if they are set to push or fetch and if fetch how often. Lastly, open your Facebook app and go into settings within the app and let me know how many apps within are set to push.

jamied95 said:

Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed the battery in my iPhone 5 has been used up very quickly even though I haven't really been doing anything, generally having to charge it up by mid afternoon because its on 1 or 2%.

I know there are a lot of threads about battery problems, but I recently found iBackupBot lets you find your battery capacity and cycles (plug your iPhone in, it should appear in the bottom left corner, click and then go to 'More Informations'), and thought it'd be a neat way to see if there was any correlation between battery issues & capacity.

So I was thinking everybody could post something along these lines:
Date purchased: September 2012
Cycles: 279
Capacity [current/design]: 1208/1430

And then we can compare, try see if we can root out the issue!

Click to expand...

Why don't you just connect it to Instruments and take a look at what processes might be the culprit?

jamied95 said:

I've already done all the typical things - forcing Bump to close (and then deleting) seemed to make it last longer for a day or two but then it started to fall again.

So I was really just trying to find how other peoples' capacities faired - I checked against an original iPad and I found it a bit worrying that it had only fallen 10% vs. my 8 month old iPhone's 20% (which seemed a lot).

Click to expand...

You haven't explained your usage pattern or settings, so there's no way of comparing.

I've seen batteries die real fast when there's a problem with e-mail accounts. Have you made sure there's no e-mail constantly trying to be sent?

If you have a Mac, have you downloaded Xcode, plugged in your phone and checked if you can see anything in Instruments?

jamied95 said:

I've just checked my sister's iPhone 4:
Date purchased: April 2011
Cycles: 494
Capacity [current/design]: 1251/1420

Based on this (admittedly tiny sample), it could suggest that there is a problem with the iPhone 5 battery that causes it to degrade faster than previous versions.

Click to expand...

It's highly unlikely that iPhone 5 batteries are in anyway not up to Apples standard. It is possible to get a defective one, like any other component. If there's a sudden change in its performance, make a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple store and let them check it. If defective they will help you right there & then.

iPhone 5:

Cycles: 195
Current: 1179
Design: 1430

Iphone 5
Purchased: Decemeber 2012
Cycle count: 178
Capacity: 1292/1430

where can i find this app? is it for jb iphones?

paparainbow said:

where can i find this app? is it for jb iphones?

Click to expand...

I was just going to ask that. I think it is a jb app


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

iPhone 5 (September 21)

Cycles: 250
Current Capacity: 1256/1430

jamied95 said:

Maybe I should clarify, what I was trying to look at is that the maximum capacity of the battery now (not the current level of charge) after 8 months, compared to what it should be (what the maximum capacity was when it was designed).

I don't believe anything has changed in terms of usage, and I haven't downloaded new apps recently, hence why I'm a bit surprised it's just suddenly dropped off. E-mail is set to Fetch hourly, no emails trying to be sent, brightness at about 70%, Ad Limiting off, bluetooth off, etc.

Click to expand...

The thing is your current capacity isn't out of the ordinary, and you wouldn't notice such a dramatic difference in terms of usage in such a short time if the lower capacity was the only difference.

Something that would be much, much better for you is to simply use your phone as you always do until the battery dies. This will create a LowBattery log that you can find in Settings > About > Diagnostics & Usage > Diagnostics & Usage Data. In it, you will see two very interesting numbers: standby and usage. Standby is the time from you took it off the charger until the battery died, and usage is the time that the phone actually did something (anything from playing music or checking for e-mails with the screen off, to surfing the web).

If you have several, you can compare them. But make sure you ONLY compare those that states "partial charge: 0" (if it says anything but 0, it means you've charged the battery without charging it to 100 %, which will naturally increase your usage and standby times).

If you'd like, you could also check to see if you've got any of these logs on your computer (they get automatically moved to the computer when connected to iTunes) to compare older logs as well. Locations of the logs:

OS X
~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/<your iPhone’s name>/

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\<your iPhone’s name>\

Windows Vista & 7
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\MobileDevice\<your iPhone’s name>\

Bought at launch, 1308/1430, 221 cycles. Still get great battery life, even with a fair amount of tweaks on it (jailbroken).

jamied95 said:

And then we can compare, try see if we can root out the issue!

Click to expand...

There isn't just one issue with battery life. Battery life has a number of potential causes. You need to sort out your own battery hogs. This is why so many battery life threads exist.

jamied95 said:

Based on this (admittedly tiny sample), it could suggest that there is a problem with the iPhone 5 battery that causes it to degrade faster than previous versions.

Click to expand...

It doesn't suggest anything other than you and your sister's usage patterns.

The batteries were made using the same process. So its understandable to see each individual battery behave slightly different.

But I'm kind of chuckling at the idea of using a software application to determine the functionality of hardware equipment, knowing full well that said software applications that directly determine the function of the hardware.

I'm assuming its merely giving a "guesstimate".

Merkie said:

iPhone 5:

Cycles: 195
Current: 1179
Design: 1430

Click to expand...

Update:

Cycles: 195
Current: 990
Design: 1430

Lost 189 mAh in one day!?

Merkie said:

Update:

Cycles: 195
Current: 990
Design: 1430

Lost 189 mAh in one day!?

Click to expand...

And today my full charge capacity is 814. Seems like there's something wrong with my battery. It's not just a false reading because the battery life is horrendous. Used my iPhone for an hour before I went to sleep (fully charged) and woke up with less than 50% battery.

I'm going to the Genius Bar on Friday. Can they do battery replacements or will I get a new phone? I prefer a battery replacement.

jamied95 said:

Thanks hafr for the advice - bit difficult to understand in isolation though, again you need comparisons to get a full understanding.

Click to expand...

So you think comparing battery capacity measured in mAh (which will be pretty much the same for most people, unless they've got a defect battery) is less abstract when it comes to finding out whether there's a problem with how fast the battery is drained (which will be related to usage pattern and software used) than actually looking at usage patterns and how long it takes for it to deplete?

That's like comparing gas tank sizes in order to see if a car is fuel efficient without looking at what engine you're using or how long you can go on a full tank...

hafr said:

So you think comparing battery capacity measured in mAh (which will be pretty much the same for most people, unless they've got a defect battery) is less abstract when it comes to finding out whether there's a problem with how fast the battery is drained (which will be related to usage pattern and software used) than actually looking at usage patterns and how long it takes for it to deplete?

That's like comparing gas tank sizes in order to see if a car is fuel efficient without looking at what engine you're using or how long you can go on a full tank...

Click to expand...

It can be useful to know whether there's something wrong with your gas tank or not.

If you're having battery life issues, it's a tool to determine the cause of the issues. I don't really understand why you don't understand that.

Merkie said:

It can be useful to know whether there's something wrong with your gas tank or not.

If you're having battery life issues, it's a tool to determine the cause of the issues. I don't really understand why you don't understand that.

Click to expand...

I do understand that, but it's only relevant in terms of making sure your battery holds a charge. The comparison he's asking for is irrelevant.

Having battery life issues would be not getting a fair amount of usage out of a full charge. Once you've made sure the battery has a decent capacity (which his has since he has over 80 % left and not yet hit 400 cycles), comparing that capacity to other batteries' capacity is as irrelevant as if I'd be asking you how your knee is feeling in order to determine why mine is hurting.

Looking at how much usage you actually do get out of a full charge is, on the other hand, extremely relevant.

hafr said:

I do understand that, but it's only relevant in terms of making sure your battery holds a charge. The comparison he's asking for is irrelevant.

Having battery life issues would be not getting a fair amount of usage out of a full charge. Once you've made sure the battery has a decent capacity (which his has since he has over 80 % left and not yet hit 400 cycles), comparing that capacity to other batteries' capacity is as irrelevant as if I'd be asking you how your knee is feeling in order to determine why mine is hurting.

Looking at how much usage you actually do get out of a full charge is, on the other hand, extremely relevant.

Click to expand...

To keep the metaphor going - it's irrelevant if you're comparing mileage between two cars with a different size gas tank.

Merkie said:

To keep the metaphor going - it's irrelevant if you're comparing mileage between two cars with a different size gas tank.

Click to expand...

True, but all iPhones come with the same sized battery, so the only thing that would be relevant is to make sure the OP's battery holds a charge that is within Apple's guidelines (>80 % at >400 cycles). Comparing it to others will be absolutely useless in terms of trying to find out anything interesting.

Especially since he's not even interested in even looking at mileage at all, despite complaining about not getting enough of it...

Either way, I just think it's pretty odd for a person who complains about the battery draining too fast to not be interested in looking at how fast the battery is draining