I think I may have figured out the huge battery drain in beta 5 and beta 6 on my iPhone 4. I just removed my iCloud account, and now my usage times are different and the battery is now draining at more of a normal rate. While I had my iCloud account activated, my usage times and standby times were exact the same. Over 4 hours of use and standby...
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iOS 5 beta 6 battery: TEST IT, POST IT.
- Thread starter vslo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The Game 161
macrumors Nehalem
frunkis54
macrumors 65816
i think it is alittle better.
3 hours into testing
battery 33%
usage 3 hours 47min
standby 11hours 50min
so its down 34% in 3 hours
Yeah, my battery is draining almost as fast as the U.S. debt is rising 😱 I'm currently at 25% and my usage time is only 2 hours, 53 minutes since last full charge. This is the worst I've ever experienced. I did do the OTA thing, but I think I'll just restore from the full disc image (I downloaded the full app just in case I experienced any problems or strange reactions to the OTA image). I'll probably do the restore tomorrow, but I'll post my results here.
Oh, I almost forgot to post that my iPhone 4 is running pretty hot as well. I'm sure that's part of the reason my battery is draining so fast, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what's causing this strange behavior.
The thing is, the usage time isn't real. I mean, I leave the phone with 1 hour of usage, wait 1 hour of standby and it shows 1.5 hours of usage.push and stuff count a LOT in usage, even if I don't use it.
I now have 2.5 hours of usage but I actually used 1 hour, at max !!
When I set airplane mode, the usage stop to grow in standby. So that's why I suppose it's related with push, mail etc ...
I now have 2.5 hours of usage but I actually used 1 hour, at max !!
When I set airplane mode, the usage stop to grow in standby. So that's why I suppose it's related with push, mail etc ...
iPhone 3GS-
Usage of 4h 11m (90% of that sitting on a table unused)
Battery is at 17%
iPhone 4-
Usage of 3h 25m (80% of that sitting unused)
Battery at 42%
Not very good at all...beta 5 was better.
Both phones had poor battery life after OTA update to beta 6, so I erased and restored them from the IPSW files and still get poor battery life.
I hate to think how much worse it would be with any apps running. Both phones have had all tasks ended and rebooted before beginning the time.
used beta 6 on two iphones 4, both iphones experience better battery life.
(both done OTA)
iphone A: 20m usage, 2h30m standby : 100%
iphone B: 5m usage, 3hrs standby: 100%
history:
iphone A has(n still has) icloud, when it was on beta 5, battery depletion was fast.
while iphone B didnt have, and had better battery life than 'A'.
both would be fully charged before sleeping, and iphone A wld be at 94%and iphone B at 99%
overall:
beta 6 battery life is better now.. (for me)
(both done OTA)
iphone A: 20m usage, 2h30m standby : 100%
iphone B: 5m usage, 3hrs standby: 100%
history:
iphone A has(n still has) icloud, when it was on beta 5, battery depletion was fast.
while iphone B didnt have, and had better battery life than 'A'.
both would be fully charged before sleeping, and iphone A wld be at 94%and iphone B at 99%
overall:
beta 6 battery life is better now.. (for me)
Last edited:
Really impressed with the battery life in iOS5beta6
Usage : 6 Hours , 29 Minutes
Standby 22hours , 56 Minutes
Still 29% left
Usage : 6 Hours , 29 Minutes
Standby 22hours , 56 Minutes
Still 29% left
2hrs 10 min usage
4.5hrs standby
72%
Wifi on, 3G on. Brightness about 50%
Kinda seems poor to me. I did OTA and iCloud backups for both beta 5&6, I want to try a full restore but can't lose my game save data so I'll deal with for now.
4.5hrs standby
72%
Wifi on, 3G on. Brightness about 50%
Kinda seems poor to me. I did OTA and iCloud backups for both beta 5&6, I want to try a full restore but can't lose my game save data so I'll deal with for now.
ParagJain
macrumors 6502a
iPhone 4,
18 hours standby,
5.5 hours phone usage
more than half of that 18 hours + 5.5 hours, phone was on wifi.
Location on; Notification on; basic internet and phone usage.
1 face time call for 30 mins, 3-4 pictures clicked and
what's app chat for an hour or so...
I'd say, its kinda on the good side...
18 hours standby,
5.5 hours phone usage
more than half of that 18 hours + 5.5 hours, phone was on wifi.
Location on; Notification on; basic internet and phone usage.
1 face time call for 30 mins, 3-4 pictures clicked and
what's app chat for an hour or so...
I'd say, its kinda on the good side...
gdjsnyder
macrumors 6502a
I figured I'd throw my usage in, for comparison. First things first, beta 6 is the first iOS 5 beta I have put on my phone. I upgraded my iPhone 4 from iOS 4.2.10. I don't have a developmental phone for my purposes, so I wanted to wait until the betas became more developed before putting it on my standalone device. I put the beta on yesterday, but won't post those results since there was a bunch of setting up and my usage was "irregular". Anyway, on to my stats:
Current battery percentage: 22%
Current Usage: 5 hours, 32 minutes
Current Standby: 11 hours, 46 minutes
WiFi is always left on, even when not connected. Brightness is on auto. Have about 25 apps using notification center, received a lot of notifications throughout the day. Location services always on, for all apps. Most usage was from calls (~2 hours), other usage came from two or three games, Pandora and some Hulu Plus.
Overall I would call this battery life very decent. It got me through an entire day and I have 22% left. Yesterdays usage was a tad less than this, but I expected that since I was using the phone and setting up my accounts and such. I restored my phone from it's 4.2.10 backup also.
Current battery percentage: 22%
Current Usage: 5 hours, 32 minutes
Current Standby: 11 hours, 46 minutes
WiFi is always left on, even when not connected. Brightness is on auto. Have about 25 apps using notification center, received a lot of notifications throughout the day. Location services always on, for all apps. Most usage was from calls (~2 hours), other usage came from two or three games, Pandora and some Hulu Plus.
Overall I would call this battery life very decent. It got me through an entire day and I have 22% left. Yesterdays usage was a tad less than this, but I expected that since I was using the phone and setting up my accounts and such. I restored my phone from it's 4.2.10 backup also.
I'm not a dev and I don't have iOS5 beta - but could your battery life be worse on the betas because Apple has put in lots of debug code and error logging?
I imagine once the final release comes out, most of this logging will be removed / disabled and battery life should improve?
I imagine once the final release comes out, most of this logging will be removed / disabled and battery life should improve?
SanjeevRana
macrumors 6502a
I feel its normal drain ...
Usage : 3 Hours 32 Mins
Standby : 15 Hours 12 Mins
Current Reading : 61%
3G Data Used : 18 MB total
Calls : 25 Mins
And yes, debug code does trouble both the OS running and battery but I would say in the above usage maybe 3% was because of debug info .. just my opinion
Usage : 3 Hours 32 Mins
Standby : 15 Hours 12 Mins
Current Reading : 61%
3G Data Used : 18 MB total
Calls : 25 Mins
And yes, debug code does trouble both the OS running and battery but I would say in the above usage maybe 3% was because of debug info .. just my opinion
Sir Ruben
macrumors 68000
Its draining a little faster fro me than IOS4. It came off full charge this morning at 8:00 and its 1:15pm now and Im at 87% after some light usage. Not too bad really.
I have been going through the settings and turning things off that may drain battery unnecessarily but the usage has remained roughly the same. Someone mentioned iCloud caused drain when switched on but I really cant see why this should be the case.
Maybe we should compile a list of settings that can be turned off to improve battery performance. Here is a few Ive turned off:
Location services > system services:
Turned off diagnostics & usage, location based iAds, setting time zone, and traffic. I have left the following on: cell network search, compass calibration and status bar icon.
All of the above use the location services and if you have 'status bar icon' switched off they may be using the location services without your knowledge.
I have been going through the settings and turning things off that may drain battery unnecessarily but the usage has remained roughly the same. Someone mentioned iCloud caused drain when switched on but I really cant see why this should be the case.
Maybe we should compile a list of settings that can be turned off to improve battery performance. Here is a few Ive turned off:
Location services > system services:
Turned off diagnostics & usage, location based iAds, setting time zone, and traffic. I have left the following on: cell network search, compass calibration and status bar icon.
All of the above use the location services and if you have 'status bar icon' switched off they may be using the location services without your knowledge.
Sir Ruben
macrumors 68000
EDIT: Ive also noticed the phone getting warm around the battery area under normal use. On IOS4 this would only happen under intensive circumstances such as running co-pilot for example. Being a Beta there may be some optimization to be done before the final release that will sort this.
Ughhhh, this is so pointless discussing.
How quickly you perceive your battery to be draining is totally objective. It all depends on what you've been doing on your phone. So your results from one day to the next will ALWAYS be different.
I've had all 6 betas on my iPhone 4 and I can tell you with damn good certainty that any fluctuations with battery life (with maybe the exception of beta 1/2) are mostly just based on your (flawed) perceptions. The software has a very minor impact on the battery.
How quickly you perceive your battery to be draining is totally objective. It all depends on what you've been doing on your phone. So your results from one day to the next will ALWAYS be different.
I've had all 6 betas on my iPhone 4 and I can tell you with damn good certainty that any fluctuations with battery life (with maybe the exception of beta 1/2) are mostly just based on your (flawed) perceptions. The software has a very minor impact on the battery.
Aloha everyone,
Yesterday morning, I saw my iPhone 4 drain completely within a 3 hour period. I has upgraded via the OTA method that battery drain made up my mind, with respect to restoring with the .ipsw from the dev site. I performed the restore yesterday afternoon and it went as expected. I had put on a bit more music so it took longer than the previous time I restored 😀 Initially, the battery drained as quickly as before. I hooked it up to my iMac (I put even more music on it) and let it get up to 97% full.
At that point, I had to go to sleep, but was a little worried, as I had to get up at 0420 (4:20AM) this morning. I wasn't sure if my alarm would go off. As a consequence, I didn't get much sleep, as I kept waking up and checking the amount of charge. I needn't have worried, as it only dropped 3% the entire night! What a change! I'm not sure how to explain it, but waking up after 6 1/2 hours and finding only a 3% drain on the battery charge was completely unexpected - a much welcome change from the days before.
That being said, I use an FM transmitter in my car to listen to podcasts on the drive to/from work. The FM transmitter charges my iPhone 4 as well as broadcasting the audio. While charging, either on the FM transmitter or plugged into either the mains or one of my Macs, my iPhone 4 gets warmer than with any other iOS5 beta build. I had to leave my iPhone in my car today, as we are conducting a secure exercise (no transmitting devices, except for "approved" devices 🙁 ), but will check the battery drain when I get a chance. I hope to see at least a little bit of life left hehehe 😀
Yesterday morning, I saw my iPhone 4 drain completely within a 3 hour period. I has upgraded via the OTA method that battery drain made up my mind, with respect to restoring with the .ipsw from the dev site. I performed the restore yesterday afternoon and it went as expected. I had put on a bit more music so it took longer than the previous time I restored 😀 Initially, the battery drained as quickly as before. I hooked it up to my iMac (I put even more music on it) and let it get up to 97% full.
At that point, I had to go to sleep, but was a little worried, as I had to get up at 0420 (4:20AM) this morning. I wasn't sure if my alarm would go off. As a consequence, I didn't get much sleep, as I kept waking up and checking the amount of charge. I needn't have worried, as it only dropped 3% the entire night! What a change! I'm not sure how to explain it, but waking up after 6 1/2 hours and finding only a 3% drain on the battery charge was completely unexpected - a much welcome change from the days before.
That being said, I use an FM transmitter in my car to listen to podcasts on the drive to/from work. The FM transmitter charges my iPhone 4 as well as broadcasting the audio. While charging, either on the FM transmitter or plugged into either the mains or one of my Macs, my iPhone 4 gets warmer than with any other iOS5 beta build. I had to leave my iPhone in my car today, as we are conducting a secure exercise (no transmitting devices, except for "approved" devices 🙁 ), but will check the battery drain when I get a chance. I hope to see at least a little bit of life left hehehe 😀
I've seen in a few posts with advice about turning certain services off to save battery life. Isn't the ability to use said services the point of them being on our iPhones in the first place? I mean, why are they resident if their use kills our iPhone's battery?
I have noticed a much quicker drain on my iPhone's battery with iOS5 beta 6. My iPhone use rarely differs from day to day, and until yesterday (see my earlier post, where I mentioned restoring from the dev site's .ipsw file), my battery life was quite different when using iOS5 beta 5 (and below) and iOS5 beta 6 - quite dramatically so. I'll continue to monitor the charge over the next few days, of course, but to say that the software has little to do with battery drain is a bit premature, at least at this point.
I regularly run Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, location services on full, but sometime vary between pushing email manually and every 15/30 minutes. I have to set it to manually when I got to sleep, as it bothers my wife when my iPhone makes a sound as it receives new email. As a result, sometimes I forget to set it to push other than manually. When I use my FM transmitter, my iPhone is charged, so it gets a bit of a charge every day, but I pretty much run it full blast and have had very good battery life - that is, until iOS5 beta 6. I first updated OTA, but then restored from the full package. Time will tell if the full restoration did the trick.
I have noticed a much quicker drain on my iPhone's battery with iOS5 beta 6. My iPhone use rarely differs from day to day, and until yesterday (see my earlier post, where I mentioned restoring from the dev site's .ipsw file), my battery life was quite different when using iOS5 beta 5 (and below) and iOS5 beta 6 - quite dramatically so. I'll continue to monitor the charge over the next few days, of course, but to say that the software has little to do with battery drain is a bit premature, at least at this point.
I regularly run Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, location services on full, but sometime vary between pushing email manually and every 15/30 minutes. I have to set it to manually when I got to sleep, as it bothers my wife when my iPhone makes a sound as it receives new email. As a result, sometimes I forget to set it to push other than manually. When I use my FM transmitter, my iPhone is charged, so it gets a bit of a charge every day, but I pretty much run it full blast and have had very good battery life - that is, until iOS5 beta 6. I first updated OTA, but then restored from the full package. Time will tell if the full restoration did the trick.
Well, apparently the full restore did NOT do the trick. I arrived at work just under four hours ago, with my iPhone at a full charge. Now it's down to just 12%, which is far below normal, especially considering that it's been sitting still. Yes, Bluetooth and 3G are on, but I set manual fetch on email. Additionally, it's pretty hot, as if some resource-intensive app is running in the background. Of course, I'm in Hawaii, and although it's in the center console (between the front seats), my car's interior is a bit warm. I don't have a choice, really, as I can't take it past the guard shack. I'll continue to check on it, but I'm nearly certain that iOS5 beta 6 is the culprit. With the same use, the only change being the iOS installed, battery life this poor can only be caused by the installed iOS.
For me...icloud the culprit
I have been following the thread. Did OTA for b6, and have installed all of the beta's to date. No previous (including b5 with iCloud feature active) had the same effect on battery rate.
For me, turning off iCloud features enabled my battery life (and the temperature of my phone to return to normal). All of the usual suspects (push, bluetooth, wifi etc.) had no discernable effect. Mobile me use doesn't seem to be affected. Previous dialog in this forum was very helpful in troubleshooting.
Despite disinterest from some, for those who are experiencing a battery issue (relative to each person's normal usage mode), a forum like this is nice to consult. I have always thought that participation is voluntary (i.e. if you don't want to read what people post in the thread, uhhh don't read it).
cheers,
mpw
I have been following the thread. Did OTA for b6, and have installed all of the beta's to date. No previous (including b5 with iCloud feature active) had the same effect on battery rate.
For me, turning off iCloud features enabled my battery life (and the temperature of my phone to return to normal). All of the usual suspects (push, bluetooth, wifi etc.) had no discernable effect. Mobile me use doesn't seem to be affected. Previous dialog in this forum was very helpful in troubleshooting.
Despite disinterest from some, for those who are experiencing a battery issue (relative to each person's normal usage mode), a forum like this is nice to consult. I have always thought that participation is voluntary (i.e. if you don't want to read what people post in the thread, uhhh don't read it).
cheers,
mpw
Aloha mpwillis,
I'll try the no iCloud thing for the next few days and see where I get. I have a question for the devs here on a somewhat related matter. I installed the beta 2 versions of the iOS iWork apps and they installed fine, but in Xcode, I get the error message stating that I don't have a corresponding key in my keychain for those apps. Has anyone else gotten that? I did not have them installed before, but saw that I could download them from the dev site and thought ... why not? 😀 Of course, now that I have turned off iCloud, and seeing as how I'm not a Mac developer, I would not be able to do anything much with them anyway.
I'll try the no iCloud thing for the next few days and see where I get. I have a question for the devs here on a somewhat related matter. I installed the beta 2 versions of the iOS iWork apps and they installed fine, but in Xcode, I get the error message stating that I don't have a corresponding key in my keychain for those apps. Has anyone else gotten that? I did not have them installed before, but saw that I could download them from the dev site and thought ... why not? 😀 Of course, now that I have turned off iCloud, and seeing as how I'm not a Mac developer, I would not be able to do anything much with them anyway.
My battery time is on the best right now. On all the other betas, I had to charge every night and sometimes during day also. But now i can almost go 2 days without charging my iPhone 3GS