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ra4oasis

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 10, 2010
356
84
My iPhone 5 has been acting strange recently. First of all, it is a launch day model, so over a year old now. 4 or 5 times it has shut off completely on it's own, as if the battery is dead, but its been at roughly 20%. Last night it did it again, but the battery was at 30%. When I plug it in, and turn it back on, the battery is still at wherever it left off, so last night it still said 30%. Is my battery slowly dieing? If so, anyone happen to know how much it costs to replace the battery at the Apple Store?

The problems all started after iOS 7, but I honestly think it is a coincidence. Ideas?
 

Altis

macrumors 68040
Sep 10, 2013
3,155
4,886
Not sure what would make you think it's a coincidence... It's a bug many people have mentioned.

For mine, it seems like the service stops for a bit, so the percentage freezes.

Try letting it run out, do a hard reset, then let it fully charge for a few extra hours.
 

Vesian

macrumors member
Aug 4, 2008
77
0
Let it run completely out of power, then fully charge it to recalibrate it and pray that the problem gets fixed. If it doesn't, then you will be in the same boat I was in and will need to take it into the apple store.

My iPhone 5 was doing the same thing and the genius said that my battery was toast and needed a new one after he ran diagnostics :-( Cost me $79 plus tax to replace. I probably could have taken it somewhere else to have it done cheaper (launch day 5's are out of warranty now sans applecare, after all) but meh.
 

L T

macrumors 6502
Feb 24, 2013
428
103
UK
This is happening to me, last 3 times it has died has been 18%, 16% and today 14%.

I was trying to run it flat today but was not using it when it died.


What is wrong with it!
 

CBSubliminal

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2012
388
40
Florida
When i had my iphone 5 my phone would shut off with 10% left. I was able to get it swapped at the apple store. Thats not normal at all.
 

yanki01

macrumors 68040
Feb 28, 2009
3,625
1,766
when I was running iOS 6 I was able to kill the battery at 1% and sometimes show 0% for a few seconds before it died. I think I got it to die like that on iOS 7 a few times but it acts really weird sometimes.

last night it died at 29%, plugged it back in and it turned on showing 31%? last week it died at work around 10% left and I didn't bring my charger, I was able to turn it on without charging and it showed 5%, then die once I opened an app. I was able to turn it on about 6 times until I got home all showed different battery %.

no apple store near me but I may make a stop when I go out of town and see if I can get it replaced even though the warranty is up.

I did a clean swipe of the phone and setup as new before iOS 7 and when I installed iOS 7. nothing has helped. by battery was actually really good, I could go 2 days without charging. now I need a charger for work or plug it in as soon as I get home.

sucks. :mad:
 

ECJ

macrumors 6502a
Jul 5, 2006
559
193
Memphis, TN
My wife had this same problem. It started to die at 12%, then 39% and finally at 49%. It was a iPhone 5 bought on release day, with v7.0.2 installed. The Genius Bar stated it was just the battery was dying, sicne it was a year old. They replaced it, since it was still within the year warranty period.

Hope this helps.
 

Ih8reno

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2012
1,383
206
Had the exact same problem, my 5 would die at like 20% or 15%. Checked it with apple and the battery had failed. They replaced the battery.
 

zaxdude

macrumors 6502
Mar 11, 2011
264
11
I have an appt. tonight at Apple for this very problem. There are many very recent other threads on this forum related to the same issue. I guess some folks don't search.

At any rate, I followed some support steps on Apple's support site. At the end, it sent me a link to launch from my phone which did a diagnostic that reported there was an issue with the battery.

I don't think it's related to iOS7 or what some refer to as "battery memory". I think there are just some bad batteries out there. Mine is one of them (and likely many on this forum).

Since my phone is less than a month out of warranty, I'm hoping they'll repair/replace at no cost. I do have SquareTrade insurance, tho no matter what.
 

aneftp

macrumors 601
Jul 28, 2007
4,362
546
My wife had this same problem. It started to die at 12%, then 39% and finally at 49%. It was a iPhone 5 bought on release day, with v7.0.2 installed. The Genius Bar stated it was just the battery was dying, sicne it was a year old. They replaced it, since it was still within the year warranty period.

Hope this helps.

Ha. I took it to genius two times with same problem and they claim the battery was fine.

First genius told me to do the usual. Drain battery. Than restore phone.

Ended up just selling the iPhone 5 after the 5S came out. Haven't had issues with 5S for now.

I don't think its a iPhone hardware proglem per se. Could be a battery problem. Could be problems with how iOS reads the battery charge and shuts it down.

If phone does shut down before 1%. Say at 30% for me. If I let it sit for 30 min-1hr than hit power button. It actually powered on occasionally.
 

VTECaddict

macrumors 6502
Sep 15, 2008
392
61
What I do when that happens is the following...

1. Plug it in until it turns on (usually immediately if it died with >5%)
2. Unplug it when it starts to boot. Let it finish booting.
3. Play around with it until it dies again.
4. Repeat 1-3 until it dies at 1%.
5. Charge it completely.

It should now be back to normal and shutting off at 1%. I don't think this will restore any lost battery life, but it's at least recalibrating the OS so that it reports battery more accurately. The battery is probably on it's way out so think about replacement soon.

Also if you know there's >5% battery left, do a hard reset (hold home and power) and it usually will boot again even if it's giving you the no battery screen with just the power button. Sometimes it takes a few tries (hold for at least 10 seconds each time) before it will boot. If not, then see above.
 
Last edited:

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Apr 30, 2012
4,486
619
NJ
ive always had luck with my iphone 5, it always dies at 1%. i just actuall DFU restored it the other day and was able to get 5 hours of use, 1 and a half days of standby before it just died at 8%. plugged it in and turned it on, it jumped from 8% to 1% and died AGAIN. so i plugged it in and turned it back on where the battery meter said 5% and i was like WTF. i swear, ios 7 really screws with the battery or battery meter calibration now. what a hot mess.
 

jailcounselor

macrumors newbie
Dec 11, 2013
1
0
Iphone shutting down before battery is discharged

The Iphone 5 shuts down when temperature drops below freezing. Were you in the cold when it shut down?
 

ET iPhone Home

macrumors 68040
Oct 5, 2011
3,823
529
Orange County, California USA
Ever since I upgraded my 4S to iOS7, the experience has been terrible. My 4S always turns off anywhere between 5-10% battery. And I've had to charge my phone daily, whereas, prior to the upgrade, a full charge was required 2-3 days.
 

Bugeyeblue

macrumors 6502a
Mar 27, 2011
514
9
My Verizon iPhone 5 was doing this too. It would shut down in the 15-30% range. I would plug it in and it would be at the same percentage. Apple replaced the battery in the store for free, the phone was still under the 1 year warranty. Took it home and it never activated. Took it back to the apple store again the next day and they replaced the phone. It has iOS 6 and I'm leaving it there. Got 7+ hours of usage yesterday with 14% battery left. I really think it's iOS 7 doing this to the battery percentages.
 

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cdmoore74

macrumors 68020
Jun 24, 2010
2,413
711
My wife's iPhone 5 had this same problem. It turned out to be corrupted data on the phone and in the backup's I made. When connecting the phone to the computer pictures would not copy over and when you tried to click on one of the icons it would say that data was corrupt.
Here's is what I did.

1. DFU restore to 7.04
2. Try not to restore any backups and use the phone as if it's brand new. I know this sucks big time but like I told my wife; deal with it.

When I restored the phone from a backup the first time the issue came back within 24 hours. But it's been almost 7 days and no issues. As a Android user I'm pretty disappointed that I had to do this. The target audience that the iPhone caters to would never have tried this. And if for some reason a defective battery was causing the problem that would be unacceptable in a device that was only 13 months old (when it first started) considering that my wife is not a power user like myself.
 
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