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iOS 7 Battery dies at 3%

jordancrombie92

jordancrombie92

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 29, 2012
221
12
United Kingdom
Honestly I would say battery life on iOS 7 has vastly improved upon iOS 6.

However there is one thing that I have a problem with. My battery always dies at 3% rather than at 1%.

Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know why this happens?

Such a shame it still takes years to reboot after its died
 
Mine has died on 15%, 5% etc. not 1%.
Today morning it died on 5%. I inserted the charger just for as long it could boot up. It showed 7% battery. Then removed the charger and let the battery drop to 1% and until totally empty. Then recharged. We'l see if the battery is now properly calibrated or not.
Maybe it's some sort of new feature to save battery and extend the lifetime of it because as we know lithium ion batteries doesn't like to be totally empty.
 
LOL my 5s went from 100% to 10% on Sunday with all-day game-playing (with breaks)... In the evening I put it on full brightness to get the battery empty (for a charging cycle). It did last another 1.5 hours until it died at 0% in the menu bar :D
 
jordancrombie92 said:
My battery always dies at 3% rather than at 1%.
Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know why this happens?
Such a shame it still takes years to reboot after its died
Click to expand...

Most likely your battery is dying when it indicates 3%. When did you last recalibrate it?
 
Regardless of the percentage shown, the iPhone shuts down when the current starts to get too low.

If you put the brightness up and have sound and GPU/CPU, the current from the battery will go down because more power is drawn.

English is not my first language.
A battery at 12V can keep its current when there's no or little power consumption, but when you increase the power the current will drop.
 
jordancrombie92 said:
Honestly I would say battery life on iOS 7 has vastly improved upon iOS 6.

However there is one thing that I have a problem with. My battery always dies at 3% rather than at 1%.

Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know why this happens?

Such a shame it still takes years to reboot after its died
Click to expand...

Why are you torturing your battery and letting it drop under 10% to begin with? It's bad to let a Lithium Ion battery run that low.
 
Last edited:
Armen said:
Why are you torturing your battery and letting it drop under 10% to begin with? It's bad to let a Lithium Ion battery run that low.
Click to expand...

No, no, no.

Up until a few months ago Apple recommended running a phone until it shuts off once a month. Now they recommend a full charging cycle once a month. The phone shutting itself off is not the same as a battery being completely discharged. Theory is fine for in textbooks but Apple understands batteries in their practical application.
 
jordancrombie92 said:
Honestly I would say battery life on iOS 7 has vastly improved upon iOS 6.

However there is one thing that I have a problem with. My battery always dies at 3% rather than at 1%.

Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know why this happens?

Such a shame it still takes years to reboot after its died
Click to expand...

My battery goes at 3% sometimes 5% or higher on IOS6 too so it's not just IOS7.
 
PNutts said:
No, no, no.

Up until a few months ago Apple recommended running a phone until it shuts off once a month. Now they recommend a full charging cycle once a month. The phone shutting itself off is not the same as a battery being completely discharged. Theory is fine for in textbooks but Apple understands batteries in their practical application.
Click to expand...

I'm just curious, as a bit of a battery fanatic -- what's the difference?
 
Armen said:
Why are you torturing your battery and letting it drop under 10% to begin with? It's bad to let a Lithium Ion battery run that low.
Click to expand...

No it's not. It doesn't hurt a thing to let the battery die all the way out. Just dont leave it like that for ages.

It's more damaging to never drain it via always having it on a charger, in a charging case etc
 
jordancrombie92 said:
Honestly I would say battery life on iOS 7 has vastly improved upon iOS 6.

However there is one thing that I have a problem with. My battery always dies at 3% rather than at 1%.

Is this happening to anyone else? Does anyone know why this happens?

Such a shame it still takes years to reboot after its died
Click to expand...

I have found it to be the same.
 
stiligFox said:
I'm just curious, as a bit of a battery fanatic -- what's the difference?
Click to expand...

A full charging cycle means that it has charged and discharged 100% but that can happen from 1 full up and down, 2 halves etc. It's part of how LI batteries work. Basically they are more concerned that you are taking it off the dang charger, charging cases etc sometimes.

A full discharge cycle would be up and then down until it dies. Which doesn't hurt it at all. And can be a way to make sure you get your full cycle etc. And that you shut it down on occasion for the trash protocols to run. I generally have at least one day a week that it comes really close to the bottom anyway so it's not a bother to leave it off until it drops on its own. I just do something like turn off auto lock and turn on iTunes Radio for a little while. Or hit some Netflix.
 
I was under the impression that Lithium Ion batteries come pre-calibrated and do not need to be cycled to be accurate.
 
stiligFox said:
I'm just curious, as a bit of a battery fanatic -- what's the difference?
Click to expand...

Me, too. :) The phone monitors the battery voltage and shuts down the phone before the battery is discharged to a damaging level. The phone display says 0% from a "how much more can I use my phone" perspective but the battery is not at risk. But if you then put it in a drawer for a few months that's a different story. :eek:

Same on the high end. Overcharging is destructively bad for batteries but the flames are pretty. We don't have to unplug after the phone displays 100% because the charging circuit doesn't allow the battery to overcharge. Apple's website shows the charging curve where it tapers off to a trickle charge as it reaches 100% and then starts a very small charge/discharge cycle to keep it topped off until unplugged. If you've ever charged overnight and see that it's only 99% charged in the morning you happened to catch it during the discharge cycle (pretty rare) or the phone needs to be calibrated (pretty rare).

So use the battery for a least a total of 100% each month and charge it that much and you'll be fine. It doesn't matter if you use 100% of the battery in one day, or 10% over 10 days, or 5% over 20 days, etc. As long as you discharge / charge a total of 100% a month that fits into the manufacturer's recommendation.

The scope of this conversation is for Apple products. Obviously other batteries and other chargers and other toys have their own requirements. A buddy bought a cheap replacement battery for a toy helicopter and he didn't know that the original battery had the charging circuit soldered to it which means the charger didn't have one. His replacement battery didn't have one (which is why it was cheaper) so unless he unplugs the charger when the battery reached 100% he will let the magic smoke out.

Good question and I'm just a hobbyist with too many batteries and chargers. When I fast charge for quick turnaround it's done in a fireproof box. :cool:

----------
charlituna said:
A full charging cycle...
Click to expand...

Good answer and much shorter than mine. I didn't read it before I blasted my wall of text.
 
jordancrombie92 said:
how do i recalibrate it??
Click to expand...

As quoted by Apple:

Calibrate iPhone Battery:

"Once a month, use the iPhone until it it shuts OFF itself, due to Low Battery. Then Charge it back up without interruption, like unplugging it, to full charge 100%. Then before or after you do this, Reset iPhone, hold both home and power buttons until the iPhone restarts itself, ignore the "slide to power off slider", let the iPhone restart itself."
 
John T said:
As quoted by Apple:

Calibrate iPhone Battery:

"Once a month, use the iPhone until it it shuts OFF itself, due to Low Battery. Then Charge it back up without interruption, like unplugging it, to full charge 100%. Then before or after you do this, Reset iPhone, hold both home and power buttons until the iPhone restarts itself, ignore the "slide to power off slider", let the iPhone restart itself."
Click to expand...

this is dumb, I have never done this to any of my devices and they have all worked just fine...

batterys today don't need calibrated and don't hold a "memory" these are not NiCAD batteries we are using!
 
eclipse01 said:
this is dumb, I have never done this to any of my devices and they have all worked just fine...

batterys today don't need calibrated and don't hold a "memory" these are not NiCAD batteries we are using!
Click to expand...

Its not calibrating the battery per see, its calibrating your OS to know what is accurately 0% and what is accurately 100%.
 
eclipse01 said:
this is dumb, I have never done this to any of my devices and they have all worked just fine...

batterys today don't need calibrated and don't hold a "memory" these are not NiCAD batteries we are using!
Click to expand...

Then you obviously know more than Apple! ;)
 
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