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5s battery life: what do you get?

JerTheGeek said:
I'm curious what kind of battery life people are getting on their 5s with iOS 8.
I seem to be getting around 4-6 hours on a charge, doing email, messaging, phone calls, web, music, and other standard phone tasks. Is this about normal, or is there something messed up?
Thanks,
JerTheGeek
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You are getting exactly what I have had on my iPhone 4, 5 and 5s. I even argued my way into a replacement 5 just to see if it was normal. As most would agree, battery life depends completely on how you use it. By far the most of my time in on Safari, and I also keep my screen relatively bright. So 4-6 was the life I would get. (not counting trips where I might use if for music for 3 hours, in airplane mode, which takes almost no energy) For me, 4-6 hours was fine for the way I use the phone.

PS: I spent a lot of time resetting, setting up as new, setting up from restore, tweaking this or that, and had the same life in all cases and with all operating systems.
 
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JonMPLS said:
You are getting exactly what I have had on my iPhone 4, 5 and 5s. I even argued my way into a replacement 5 just to see if it was normal. As most would agree, battery life depends completely on how you use it. By far the most of my time in on Safari, and I also keep my screen relatively bright. So 4-6 was the life I would get. (not counting trips where I might use if for music for 3 hours, in airplane mode, which takes almost no energy) For me, 4-6 hours was fine for the way I use the phone.

PS: I spent a lot of time resetting, setting up as new, setting up from restore, tweaking this or that, and had the same life in all cases and with all operating systems.
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Good to hear, for me at least, cause now I know there's nothing wrong with my battery.

----------

Also, is the battery drain normal? I tested the drain by checking the usage, letting it sit for 8 minutes, then checked the usage again.
First off, it said there was 2 minutes of usage, and the second time it said there was 3 minutes of usage in 8 minutes. For the second test I put my email on fetch rather than push. I got the pebble for Christmas, so for the third test, I turned off BT, and the drain was only 1 minute. I suppose my battery will definitely be 4-6 hours with my pebble connected.
 
When I updated to iOS 8 my battery was draining a lot faster. So I looked around my settings and that when I saw that everything had changed. A lot of my notifications were changed. So I turned of (again) the ones that I don't want to see. Then turned off the refresh of some apps. Also, my MBP battery is in need of replacement so I also stopped charging my iPhone with my Mac. Occasionally I will do it and that's when the charge isn't full. I use my iPad charging brick when it's not in use. For a week or so after release of iOS 8 I turned off the iPhone when it wasn't in use, mostly nights. And so far its worked. I get the 10hrs atleast of battery.

Which is why I can't see why opening apps has anything to do with extra drainage. Oh I forgot when I'm in the car for 30 or more miles I put it in sleep mode.
 
These descriptions are about exactly what I see on my iPhone 6. Disappointing, really. Never see more than 4-6 hours on my iPhone while my iPad mini 2 (wifi) is 8-10 hours. Makes things feel weird having one device last a long time and the other drain like crazy.

Anyone else notice that the first 20%-30% lasts longest, at about 10% per a little more than an hour, then from there things go downhill at about 10% every 20-30 mins? My phone even starts producing a little heat after 50%-60%.

Another way I could put it is at 70%, I can predict an easy 9 hour usage time based on how much time has gone by per 10%, but then it turns out to be only 5 and a half hours before the thing dies.
 
Strange, I never have any issues on my 5S or my 6 (Both ios 8.1.2) - both last very long with ongoing usage. 6 especially is a beast, usually takes me through 2 days. Only on the days when i'm constantly getting whatsapp, text, calls, facetime, sports updates (tons of alerts) etc...does it run out within the day


5 and 4S i do have less battery life, 5 especially however I have to take it in for a battery replacement soon.

Both my 5's if I leave them on, the battery goes down to about 60% when locked with no usage (!) after only a few hours (!!) but they both qualify for replacements and will be getting such.


Regarding the 5S specifically, I have no issues going through a day with regular usage, which is fine by me.
 
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Ok, so a few days ago my iPhone randonly died of low battery, to my annoyance as I was on vacation taking pictures. I plugged it in and it immediately powered on, and to my surprise, it had 32% battery.
The next day, it randomly died of low battery again. When I plugged it in, it powered on and I had like 45% battery!
And today, my battery was at like 19% with only like 3 hours of usage! And when I plugged it in, it jumped to like 29%!
What is going on with my battery! Something is really messed up here. AppleCare said my battery is healthy, so I shouldn't need a replacement.
 
JerTheGeek said:
Ok, so a few days ago my iPhone randonly died of low battery, to my annoyance as I was on vacation taking pictures. I plugged it in and it immediately powered on, and to my surprise, it had 32% battery.
The next day, it randomly died of low battery again. When I plugged it in, it powered on and I had like 45% battery!
And today, my battery was at like 19% with only like 3 hours of usage! And when I plugged it in, it jumped to like 29%!
What is going on with my battery! Something is really messed up here. AppleCare said my battery is healthy, so I shouldn't need a replacement.
Click to expand...

This has been happening to me on my 5S for months. The Genuis bar cannot see it on the diagnostic (ie no sudden decrease spike) so it must be that the battery meter is messed up, i guess. It is incredibly frustrating.
 
Gypsy36 said:
This has been happening to me on my 5S for months. The Genuis bar cannot see it on the diagnostic (ie no sudden decrease spike) so it must be that the battery meter is messed up, i guess. It is incredibly frustrating.
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It hasn't done it to me since those two days, but yes it is indeed very frustrating.
 
jdamiano said:
Yes, hopefully 8.1.3 will fix, if not definitely 8.2. It's making me so temped to get a 6 plus just for the battery life.
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Me too! I was thinking the same thing; I looove this 4 inch size, but the 6 plus' battery life is quite tempting. I still am thinking about replacing my iPad mini and iPhone 5s with a 6 plus.
 
JerTheGeek said:
Me too! I was thinking the same thing; I looove this 4 inch size, but the 6 plus' battery life is quite tempting. I still am thinking about replacing my iPad mini and iPhone 5s with a 6 plus.
Click to expand...

I was considering doing that with my old iPad 3 when the 6 & 6 plus first came out, but once the Air 2 was released I knew that was the better option for me. I like having two separate devices. Hopefully the battery will be vastly improved for the 6s!
 
jdamiano said:
I was considering doing that with my old iPad 3 when the 6 & 6 plus first came out, but once the Air 2 was released I knew that was the better option for me. I like having two separate devices. Hopefully the battery will be vastly improved for the 6s!
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Yes I hope that they release a 4 inch version of the 6s, with better battery life! I just want it to be able to actually, in real life, get 8 hours of usage.
 
JerTheGeek said:
Yes I hope that they release a 4 inch version of the 6s, with better battery life! I just want it to be able to actually, in real life, get 8 hours of usage.
Click to expand...
I don't mind the 4.7 inch, but 5.5 is too much, if the 6 had the plus's battery life then I would have tried to get out of my contract.
 
I know this might sound silly, but I read an article one about turning off your battery percentage and it actually improves your battery life.. as well as not killing apps too often. I turned off battery percentage and now I'm on 40% with 4 hours of usage and 17 hours stand by time. It actually does help.
 
Just turned my battery percentage on to check and see and so I could post this on here. Charged my phone last night... haven't had these results in awhile.

cFAw5Dt.jpg
 
JerTheGeek said:
Ok, so a few days ago my iPhone randonly died of low battery, to my annoyance as I was on vacation taking pictures. I plugged it in and it immediately powered on, and to my surprise, it had 32% battery.
The next day, it randomly died of low battery again. When I plugged it in, it powered on and I had like 45% battery!
And today, my battery was at like 19% with only like 3 hours of usage! And when I plugged it in, it jumped to like 29%!
What is going on with my battery! Something is really messed up here. AppleCare said my battery is healthy, so I shouldn't need a replacement.
Click to expand...

Sounds more like an issue with the battery indicator calibration than anything inherent to the battery (especially if AppleCare already checked the battery health). One of the long-standing iOS recommendations is to periodically let your battery drain completely down, and then charge it all the way before powering it up again. My understanding is that letting the battery die and then powering it back on immediately after plugging it in throws the calibration out of whack. This gives you erroneous indicator readings.

Try using the phone until it completely drains down, then plug it in and LEAVE IT ALONE OVERNIGHT. Then when you power up the device, try resetting it.

http://www.appledystopia.com/how-to/calibrate-iphone-battery/
 
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Woochifer said:
Sounds more like an issue with the battery indicator calibration than anything inherent to the battery (especially if AppleCare already checked the battery health). One of the long-standing iOS recommendations is to periodically let your battery drain completely down, and then charge it all the way before powering it up again. My understanding is that letting the battery die and then powering it back on immediately after plugging it in throws the calibration out of whack. This gives you erroneous indicator readings.

Try using the phone until it completely drains down, then plug it in and LEAVE IT ALONE OVERNIGHT. Then when you power up the device, try resetting it.
Click to expand...

Doesn't it automatically turn on when plugged in, once it gets enough power?
 
JerTheGeek said:
Doesn't it automatically turn on when plugged in, once it gets enough power?
Click to expand...

It will briefly turn on when it has just enough power to switch the antennas back on, and then go back into standby mode. When the device powers up while charging, it only means it has enough power for standby; NOT that it has enough juice to use the device for a long duration.

Before draining the battery all the way down, you might also want to put the device into Airplane Mode, so it won't wake up with an incoming call or notification. The whole point of the monthly/periodic calibration discharges is to cycle the battery all the way down, and then all the way back up without interruptions.
 
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Woochifer said:
It will briefly turn on when it has just enough power to switch the antennas back on, and then go back into standby mode. When the device powers up while charging, it only means it has enough power for standby; NOT that it has enough juice to use the device for a long duration.

Before draining the battery all the way down, you might also want to put the device into Airplane Mode, so it won't wake up with an incoming call or notification. The whole point of the monthly calibration discharges is to cycle the battery all the way down, and then all the way back up without interruptions.
Click to expand...

Ok. I'll put it I do not disturb so it will block notifications. Thanks for the help!
 
6 hrs on average, i have to charge my phone at least twice a day which is why i finally decided to get the 6 plus.
 
I use http://www.icopybot.com/download.htm
It will show numer of charging cycles, designed capacity vs max capacity. It should be 1550 vs 1500 for new 5s battery.
 
When it was on 7.1.2 the battery and overall performance was so good. But sadly updated to 8.1.2 and there is a lot of battery drain now. I am not happy :(
 
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