Brand new iPhone 6 - terrible battery life?

[sdilley14]

I just bought a brand new 16gb IP6 today. I got it home and restored it from the backup of my IP5. I got it charged up to 99-100%. I took the phone off the charger at 5:30-6:00PM It's 8:00PM now and I'm down to 80% battery. The only things I have been doing are texting, browsing through Facebook here and there, sending out a few Snapchats, texting, and listening to music. "Light" usage I would say. I could see the battery being down to 95%-90% maybe, but 80% seems excessive at this point. This is comparable to the battery life on my 2 year old IP5.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Fortunately I bought the phone at Best Buy and they have a 14 day return policy, so if this keeps up I can return it in few days. I'm just curious to see if this is typical amongst IP6 owners.

 

[sunking101]

I just bought a brand new 16gb IP6 today. I got it home and restored it from the backup of my IP5. I got it charged up to 99-100%. I took the phone off the charger at 5:30-6:00PM It's 8:00PM now and I'm down to 80% battery. The only things I have been doing are texting, browsing through Facebook here and there, sending out a few Snapchats, texting, and listening to music. "Light" usage I would say. I could see the battery being down to 95%-90% maybe, but 80% seems excessive at this point. This is comparable to the battery life on my 2 year old IP5.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Fortunately I bought the phone at Best Buy and they have a 14 day return policy, so if this keeps up I can return it in few days. I'm just curious to see if this is typical amongst IP6 owners.

Just over 10% per hour is about par for the course for your usage I would say, and pretty decent. Do you have Spotlight turned on? If so then as it's the first usage of your new phone it will be indexing in the background.

 

[sdilley14]

Just over 10% per hour is about par for the course for your usage I would say, and pretty decent. Do you have Spotlight turned on? If so then as it's the first usage of your new phone it will be indexing in the background.

I didn't realize you could disable Spotlight. I just went into Settings and disabled all of the Spotlight searches (I never use it). We'll see if battery life improves over the next couple days.

 

[sunking101]

I didn't realize you could disable Spotlight. I just went into Settings and disabled all of the Spotlight searches (I never use it). We'll see if battery life improves over the next couple days.

I have mine unticked as I never use it either. Hopefully you'll see some improvement after another charge cycle.

 

[woodynorman]

New iphone batteries suck for the first few days.

Relax man, enjoy your new phone, it will be fine.

 

[sdilley14]

New iphone batteries suck for the first few days.

Relax man, enjoy your new phone, it will be fine.

I hear ya. I just remember my 5 had amazing life (compared to the 4 I was upgrading from) right out of the gate. We'll see what happens. No need to freak out yet.

 

[maliu]

10% an hour is equal to 10 hours to zero. Can't complain about that. Mine uses 12% an hour. I'm happy.

 

[DJTaurus]

I didn't realize you could disable Spotlight. I just went into Settings and disabled all of the Spotlight searches (I never use it). We'll see if battery life improves over the next couple days.

web search still works even with everything disabled

 

[sdilley14]

10% an hour is equal to 10 hours to zero. Can't complain about that. Mine uses 12% an hour. I'm happy.

I guess I was expecting more. It doesn't really seem much better than the battery life on my 2 year old IP5. I could see if I was hammering the thing for 3 hours with streaming videos and streaming audio and taking a ton of pictures with the flash on, etc. However, all I was doing was listening to MP3s (headphones), send a text every 5 minutes, check Facebook every 10-20 min, Snapchat every 10-15 minutes, all on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth disabled. Oh well :/

 

[CYKBC]

If battery life is the most important thing get the plus. Else handle it.

 

[sdilley14]

I just got curious and checked out my battery life usage.

I'm wondering why the home and lock screens use so much battery? I don't exactly keep them open or mess around on them much. I have the lock timer set to 1 minute. I'm also not using Touch ID.

Also, I've heard that the FB app uses more data and resources as opposed to using it via web browser. Anyone know if that is true? Maybe using the web browser rather than the app might save a little on the battery?

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Sounds like this isn't all that uncommon with the most recent iOS update.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6678434?start=0&tstart=0

There are several other similar threads out there as well on the Apple discussion forums.

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If battery life is the most important thing get the plus. Else handle it.

It isn't the most important thing. But having a healthy battery that drains at a reasonable rate IS important. I don't think there is anything wrong with asking around and seeing if I'm experiencing faster than usual battery drainage, especially while I'm still in my 14 day return window.

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It looks like a few people have gone into Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services and switched OFF 'Mobile Network Search' and battery life has returned to normal. I just went into those settings and sure enough "Cell Network Search" was switched on, when I know I have gone into those settings in the past and did not have anything like that set to "ON". We'll see if that helps.

 

[gfoote93]

I just got curious and checked out my battery life usage.

Image

I'm wondering why the home and lock screens use so much battery? I don't exactly keep them open or mess around on them much. I have the lock timer set to 1 minute. I'm also not using Touch ID.

Also, I've heard that the FB app uses more data and resources as opposed to using it via web browser. Anyone know if that is true? Maybe using the web browser rather than the app might save a little on the battery?

What software did the phone come installed with?

Just curious as i'm trying to take mine back and hoping that they have 8.0-8.0.2 on them.

My battery life was quality back then, it's ruined now on 8.1

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[bushman4]

While the battery drainage varys., 10% per hour while using it is average By Lowering your brightness , turning off App Refresh and turn off Mail Push are several of the many tricks that may help achieve better battery life.
Sort through the many Battery Life threads and pick up some clues. most important of all....Enjoy the IPhone

 

[sdilley14]

I just got curious and checked out my battery life usage.

Image

I'm wondering why the home and lock screens use so much battery? I don't exactly keep them open or mess around on them much. I have the lock timer set to 1 minute. I'm also not using Touch ID.

Also, I've heard that the FB app uses more data and resources as opposed to using it via web browser. Anyone know if that is true? Maybe using the web browser rather than the app might save a little on the battery?

What software did the phone come installed with?

Just curious as i'm trying to take mine back and hoping that they have 8.0-8.0.2 on them.

My battery life was quality back then, it's ruined now on 8.1

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I can't remember what it came installed with. But when I first set it up in iTunes it prompted me to update, so it was pre-8.1.2.

 

[sunking101]

I just got curious and checked out my battery life usage.

Image

I'm wondering why the home and lock screens use so much battery? I don't exactly keep them open or mess around on them much. I have the lock timer set to 1 minute. I'm also not using Touch ID.

Also, I've heard that the FB app uses more data and resources as opposed to using it via web browser. Anyone know if that is true? Maybe using the web browser rather than the app might save a little on the battery?

What software did the phone come installed with?

Just curious as i'm trying to take mine back and hoping that they have 8.0-8.0.2 on them.

My battery life was quality back then, it's ruined now on 8.1

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The home and lock screen data is basically the percentage of time that your display has been illuminated, but you aren't doing anything. I might be web browsing and then go off to make a cup of tea. As my screen off time is set to 3 minutes, when I come back to my phone the screen is still illuminated yet I haven't been using it.

 

[Bahroo]

I just bought a brand new 16gb IP6 today. I got it home and restored it from the backup of my IP5. I got it charged up to 99-100%. I took the phone off the charger at 5:30-6:00PM It's 8:00PM now and I'm down to 80% battery. The only things I have been doing are texting, browsing through Facebook here and there, sending out a few Snapchats, texting, and listening to music. "Light" usage I would say. I could see the battery being down to 95%-90% maybe, but 80% seems excessive at this point. This is comparable to the battery life on my 2 year old IP5.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Fortunately I bought the phone at Best Buy and they have a 14 day return policy, so if this keeps up I can return it in few days. I'm just curious to see if this is typical amongst IP6 owners.

phone has to index everything, first few days of getting a new phone you play with it more then ever, the i6 gets about 3 -3 and a half hours of on-screen time battery life (had 6 at launch for about 2 months and then switched to the plus).... and did you follow battery life tips?

 

[sdilley14]

The home and lock screen data is basically the percentage of time that your display has been illuminated, but you aren't doing anything. I might be web browsing and then go off to make a cup of tea. As my screen off time is set to 3 minutes, when I come back to my phone the screen is still illuminated yet I haven't been using it.

That makes sense. Thanks for the info.

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phone has to index everything, first few days of getting a new phone you play with it more then ever, the i6 gets about 3 -3 and a half hours of on-screen time battery life (had 6 at launch for about 2 months and then switched to the plus).... and did you follow battery life tips?

I never really considered the indexing thing.

And yes, I've followed most all of the battery tips.