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Zubba

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 20, 2007
93
52
Hey all. So, I finally ditched my old 4 and got the new 5s on release day, but I've been pretty disappointed with the battery life I'm getting. In tracking the usage, I've yet to break 5 hours before needing a charge, and that's with very limited call times and wifi browsing. I'm curious to see what other people are averaging.
 
I'm experiencing decent battery usage so far.

photo.png
 
Getting nowhere near 9 hours, and this is after turning off Bluetooth, locations, and some other stuff. Think my battery might be a dud. :-(
 
Is 9 hours typical for what people are seeing?

Mixed, are you getting that kind of time after adjusting a bunch of settings?

Just trying to decide if I should take this one back or not, since no matter what I do, I doesn't seem to last longer than 5 hours.
 
Is 9 hours typical for what people are seeing?

Mixed, are you getting that kind of time after adjusting a bunch of settings?

Just trying to decide if I should take this one back or not, since no matter what I do, I doesn't seem to last longer than 5 hours.



Are you on LTE at all? I typically get 5-6 hours of use in a day on 5, so what your seeing isn't abnormal. LTE sucks the battery fast.
 
Is 9 hours typical for what people are seeing?

Mixed, are you getting that kind of time after adjusting a bunch of settings?

Just trying to decide if I should take this one back or not, since no matter what I do, I doesn't seem to last longer than 5 hours.

Honestly, if it got 5 hours I would be satisfied. 6 hours would be great. I just never use wifi, so it is what it is.
 
Are you on LTE at all? I typically get 5-6 hours of use in a day on 5, so what your seeing isn't abnormal. LTE sucks the battery fast.

No LTE, just light wifi browsing. At this point, the phone doesn't even last the whole day without needing a charge.
 
To answer Zubba question around adjusting a bunch of settings.

No real changes and I just went through to double check. Notification Center is turned on, Background App Refresh is on, Location Services is set to on with only a few apps turned off, Spotlight Search is enabled for everything and Bluetooth is enabled. I thought I had brightness turned down to 30% or so with Auto-Brightness on, but it is between 50%-60%. I think it was the only way for me to get rid of some of the yellowish tint I was seeing so I must have just left it higher.

To answer filmfanatic24 question around LTE for me it has been a bit of both, but mainly Wireless in the last day.

At the moment I am seeing Usage at 4 Hours, 22 Minutes and Standby at 11 Hours, 51 Minutes with 61% battery remaining. I'd let it run down the rest of the day and see where it ends up, but I will be in the car most of the rest of the day and likely plugged in to a power source.
 
I seem to be having similar issues as OP. My iPhone 4 lasted a lot longer than this new 5s with similar usage throughout the day. I sure hope it's not the LTE only!
 
Did you do a restore from your old phones backup or set up as new?

When I got mine on Friday I restored from a backup.. I took it off the charger Saturday morning and by 1:00 it was under 50%; and I barely used it.. Saturday night I wiped the phone and set it up as new, re-installed all of my apps, and Sunday and yesterday the battery was much better. I unplugged it at 7AM yesterday and it was at 59% when I threw it back on the charger at 10PM. Today, Its been off the charger since 8AM and I'm at 94%.
 
Restoring from new sounds like a complete nightmare to me. I might as well buy a new phone at that point. All my messages, contacts, email, pictures, app data, notes, calendar events, tons of wifi passwords, etc etc. Anyone have a link on how to maybe import and export key things?
 
9 hours would only be if you are listening to a lot of music. Music with the screen off counts as useage, but barely drains.

Here's mine last night. Actually using my phone. This is a typical battery life for me.
 

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Restoring from new sounds like a complete nightmare to me. I might as well buy a new phone at that point. All my messages, contacts, email, pictures, app data, notes, calendar events, tons of wifi passwords, etc etc. Anyone have a link on how to maybe import and export key things?

I do this with every major iOS release, this is how

  • - email, calendar and notes are synced through Gmail. I just enter my username/password, check off those boxes, and it appears as I left it
  • - contacts is also through gmail but I have to do that one separately. It's just as easy - choose carddav, enter credentials, and it gets my contacts
  • - for pictures, I plug in my iphone, drag off all the pictures into a folder on my computer. Then when the iPhone is restored as new, just select that folder in iTunes and it syncs all the pictures
  • - app data, Wifi passwords and message history are lost, but those aren't important to me. I never search my old messages anyway and all of my apps just update every time I open them. The only Wifi password I use is at home and that's just my cell number
  • - app data actually can be saved, you need to drag the folder to your computer using something like iFunbox (Mac or PC), then drag it back after the sync. It's pretty simple but I don't find the need for it except for game saves
  • - settings are simple, it takes about 5 minutes or less to go through every settings menu and set the options the way I like them

It sounds complicated but now that I do it once or twice a year, it's a very quick process. But I understand that if you absolutely need the Wifi passwords or message history, it's not a feasible option
 
Terrible! Should I return my iPhone to apple guys?
This morning the battery dropped 18% in 35 minutes, when I sent around 5 texts...
 
I used my iPhone 5s at work yesterday from full charge to about 28% on AT&T LTE, then headed home at 7pm and used my phone on wifi for a while and headed to bed, used it til I got to work this morning at 10:30am. Bluetooth on, Wifi on, automatic updates, background refresh and auto brightness on. Did lots of web surfing, looked at a few videos and photos. Got my phone on launch date, ran the phone til it turned off, fully recharged to 100% then left it on for additional 2 hours to trickle charge and top it off. Did that twice so far. This will be the third time. Then I'll charge it whenever for the most part. I get the new iPhone every year.
 

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