Automatic Date Setting: Possible Battery Hog

At least in my case. I've done everything from turning off unnecessary functions to setting up my phone from scratch, with the same disappointing results: 3hrs or so of usage in one charge (this is with LTE off).

Brought my phone to the Apple Store but they claimed my battery is functioning normally despite my claims.

As a last ditch effort, I went home to play with the phone more and turned off 'Set Automatically' under 'Date & Time' and charged it to full last night then unplugged it.

Woke up this morning with the phone still at 100% (it normally discharges about 5% overnight). And from the way it's going this afternoon, I might be able to reach the 8 hrs claimed by Apple. Heck, I'll be happy to reach 6 hrs!

I know this topic has been beaten to the ground and separate threads have been opened for it. So forgive me for opening another one. I'm just surprised and excited to let everybody know about this.

STiNG Operation said:

This is interesting. Is there anybody you can check with to confirm this? i.e. Apple tech support? I wonder how much this setting contributes to the battery life.

I recently turned off passbook and push notifications.....still only seeing little improvements. After reading all the posts about turning everything off I still don't think that the misc things in location services are that much of a battery killer. I've given up on experimenting for now haha.

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I hear ya! I've done everything and somehow I came across this while playing around with the phone and thought, it won't hurt to turn it off since I don't travel a lot anyways. Plus you can manually set it to the city you prefer.

When I brought my phone to the Apple Store, 2 Geniuses took care of me and all they did was suggest turning off stuff that I've done already. They seem to have no knowledge beyond analyzing the battery.

Applejuiced said:

I just turned off mine too.
Doesnt hurt to try

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Let us know how it goes.

Good luck to all of you.

Just want to add that the thing that got me to think 'date and time automatic setting' is a big contributor to battery drainage, is that 'beach ball' (or whatever you may call it) graphic that is constantly turning when automatic is on. I believe this is a sign that the software is continually searching for a time zone.

I'm no expert but the only time i see this is when the system is trying to fetch information it can't immediately have. An example is when you go to General, then Usage. Notice how it takes a couple of seconds for the screen to populate the 'Storage' information while the 'beach ball' turns.

Anyways, just a quick update on my phone: I'm at 63% at 3 hours and 15 minutes usage. Wow! I never thought I'll reach 3 hours with my phone more than half charged. I also noticed that the battery percentage is slower to change this time around, not like the before when you can literally see it drop before your eyes, specially in the lower numbers.

Nhwhazup said:

Try a reset of your phone. For me the difference in battery life is incredible. Monday I barely made it through the workday from taking it off the charger at 6 AM and having to back on it at 6 PM. I did the reset Monday night. I've been on the charge from Tuesday at 6 AM and here we are at 7 PM and I still have 47% left. So my battery life is almost 300% better than before the reset. It really can't hurt to try the reset.

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Sorry but tried that to no avail. The rest of us just don't have any other choices.

Nhwhazup said:

Donsetr - sorry to hear the reset didn't help in your case.

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Thanks.

XboxMySocks said:

I added this when my phone was at 8% - it's currently at 7 after about half an hour of usage. Damn

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Great to hear! That's what I'm experiencing right now...a very slow battery discharge I'm currently at 53% and about the same time yesterday, I have already plugged in my phone already.

I am actually weirded out that my phone's battery is not depleting as fast as I'm used to..hehe...

From the way it's going, I think I may be able to hit 9 hrs. or so...stay tuned for an update.

Oh and for those who are getting great usage times, let us know if this improves yours even more.

SAMtheGAM said:

Turning off automatic time can have detrimental effects on the CDMA versions off phone. CDMA requires precise GPS timing to work correctly. If the timing is off on phone you won't be able to place receive calls. This applies to Verizon & Sprint versions.

The other problem created is iMessage FaceTime App Store ITunes have certificates that require correct year to work or else they fail to authenticate & won't function!!!

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Not to offend but I think Apple would have removed this option from the phone if it was detrimental to an important function.

In addition, the date and time settings are still determined by the phone automatically based on the city you enter so there's no way to enter a date and time other than the current one.