iOS 8.4.1 Battery Drain

[saxman211]

I just updated my iPhone 5s from iOS 7 to iOS 8.4.1 yesterday. So far my biggest issue is battery drain. It seems to be draining about 30% faster than it did before I did this update. Can anyone give me some tips as to how I can keep the battery from draining so fast now? Thanks.

 

[bandofbrothers]

Check the internal battery monitor to see if that highlights anything.

Usual advice is to restore via iTunes , set up as a new device and then use your iCloud back up.

Also maybe let the iOS and phone settle a week and re evaluate.

How long have you owned the iPhone - I'm thinking how many discharge cycles it's had.

 

[pacorob]

Check the internal battery monitor to see if that highlights anything.

I agree with 'bandofbrothers' to check especially Settings > General > Usage > Battery usage > Please check if the percentages match your usage of the mentioned apps. You should see a rogue app (due to iOS bug within the app together with the latest iOS version). I've seen similar issues with an app when we switched from iOS6 > iOS7.

Also look at:
- Are your e-mail settings still the same? So for battery purposes fetch (e.g once an hour) instead of push
- Did you have background app refresh on for one or more apps? I have this off and saves a lot of battery
- Check Settings > Notifications > Make sure that only apps that should use notification are on.
- Check Settings > Privacy > Location services > Make sure that only apps that you want to use GPS are selected
- Check if iCloud sync is set and for which apps. You could e.g. try to turn it off temporary for all or e.g. only the Music app.
- Check if your Usage and Standby time is the same. If this is the case then this is probably caused by a rogue app which keeps running all the time (background activity). I had a similar problem back in the iOS7 days.

I'm still running 8.4 on my iPhone 5s and have no drain issues.

 

[ipooed]

I just updated my iPhone 5s from iOS 7 to iOS 8.4.1 yesterday. So far my biggest issue is battery drain. It seems to be draining about 30% faster than it did before I did this update. Can anyone give me some tips as to how I can keep the battery from draining so fast now? Thanks.

Nothing will help get the battery life back you had on iOS 7, it's happened to 90% of people and we have learned to live with it. I had a 5s was getting about 8ish hours of usuage on iOS 7 updated to iOS 8 and was getting about 5.

Upgraded to the iPhone 6 plus (it was a lemon) downgraded to the iPhone 6 (currently running 8.3, a few hiccups but good battery life) I have learned my lesson when you find an iOS version that runs good and gives you battery life you are satisfied with stay put! As it may take a year to find another version that runs good

 

[From A Buick 8]

I had been running 8.4.1 since the day it dropped on my 6+, no battery issues. Until yesterday that is, in the last 2 days I have dropped to about 3.5 hours per charge. I have not loaded any new apps since I did a fresh install and iCloud restore of 8.4.1. It is very strange, prior to yesterday I would get a good 11 hours on 1 charge.

 

[Shinydesert]

Nothing will help get the battery life back you had on iOS 7, it's happened to 90% of people and we have learned to live with it. I had a 5s was getting about 8ish hours of usuage on iOS 7 updated to iOS 8 and was getting about 5.

Upgraded to the iPhone 6 plus (it was a lemon) downgraded to the iPhone 6 (currently running 8.3, a few hiccups but good battery life) I have learned my lesson when you find an iOS version that runs good and gives you battery life you are satisfied with stay put! As it may take a year to find another version that runs good

I couldn't agree with you more. Lots of bells and whistles under the hood but we end up having worse battery life.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

I had some issues with my iPhone 5 earlier this week. Facebook was using a big chunk of battery, so I uninstalled it and reinstalled after they made an update. Seems to be better now.

 

[thebigmeowski]

I have the same problem. It seems I've tried everything already. I managed to deal with the problem temporarily in 8.4 (full restore), but I thought that maybe 8.4.1 will fix things up and installed it. Oh, how wrong can one be. I did a complete restore two times already, to no avail. I've reinstalled most of the apps manually, still nothing. It gets almost ridiculous, I've never had such a problem with iOS before. On 8.3 I used to get a full day on one charge, now the sole idea is laughable.

I disabled Apple Music, Background Refresh, left location only for Weather app.

I have a dumb question, however, I am not sure, it seems unlikely... but is it possible for the phone to use up much more mobile data than ever before even if unauthorised? Even though I have background refresh toggled off?

In my battery usage tab, Messages and Mail say either "Background activity" or "low signal". I use message forwarding to my Mac, so I guess this is this peculiar background activity, but what about Mail? I don't have Push enabled for any of my emails.

 

[pacorob]

I have a dumb question, however, I am not sure, it seems unlikely... but is it possible for the phone to use up much more mobile data than ever before even if unauthorised? Even though I have background refresh toggled off?

In my battery usage tab, Messages and Mail say either "Background activity" or "low signal". I use message forwarding to my Mac, so I guess this is this peculiar background activity, but what about Mail? I don't have Push enabled for any of my emails.

There are no dumb questions. Background activity does not block all background activity. E-mail pushing/fetching or low signal (has to do with cell phone reception and/or data reception 3G/4G). I don't understand why you mention low signal together with messages and mail. Low reception has to do with bad signal for calling or data (e.g. 3G/4G).

Regarding e-mail: do you have fetch then enabled? If so what is the frequency? I have it set to fetch once an hour and that doesn't use much background activity.

Please check my complete list of settings to save battery/background activity. Did you already look at your GPS/location settings?

 

[chfilm]

Having the same issue. Now I did a full reset and will look at it, but after what you write, I already begin regretting it. Awwwwful battery drain since 8.4.1. 4 hours on my 6. Usually I had about 8!

 

[ipooed]

Having the same issue. Now I did a full reset and will look at it, but after what you write, I already begin regretting it. Awwwwful battery drain since 8.4.1. 4 hours on my 6. Usually I had about 8!

What do you have turned on for location? Background app refresh? How many mail accounts do you have? And how often are they set to refresh? Do you have Apple "pos" music turned off? iCloud back ups on?

IMHO Apple needs to make most phones including the 6/6+ run worse battery/lag etc with the new phones around the corner who is going to upgrade with a fully functional phone that has excellent battery life, no lag? (Besides most here) but talking about the "average" user. The one that wants the battery life back along with the smoothness.

Because to most "average" users an upgraded camera along with 2GB ram is hardly an upgrading point when apples devices are the most expensive in the market.

 

[C DM]

What do you have turned on for location? Background app refresh? How many mail accounts do you have? And how often are they set to refresh? Do you have Apple "pos" music turned off? iCloud back ups on?

IMHO Apple needs to make most phones including the 6/6+ run worse battery/lag etc with the new phones around the corner who is going to upgrade with a fully functional phone that has excellent battery life, no lag? (Besides most here) but talking about the "average" user. The one that wants the battery life back along with the smoothness.

Because to most "average" users an upgraded camera along with 2GB ram is hardly an upgrading point when apples devices are the most expensive in the market.

Most typical users don't really notice some slight differences in battery life or performance as they often don't really pay attention to things like that. But quite a few of them will "care" about a new "more megapixel" camera or "force touch" screen or other things of that nature, even if simply because they will be the things that the media (mainstream, social, or otherwise) will be buzzing about.

 

[e93to]

My 5S with 8.4.1 gets approximately 5 to 6 hours on LTE at 75% brightness (usually browsing on Safari, news apps, messaging app, emails, etc). I disabled background refresh, only several notifications turned on, limited location services, limited system location services, disabled cellular services for various apps, etc. I was disappointed that 5S gets slightly better battery life than my 4 with iOS 7.1.2, but I guess it is alright with careful use…

 

[thebigmeowski]

There are no dumb questions. Background activity does not block all background activity. E-mail pushing/fetching or low signal (has to do with cell phone reception and/or data reception 3G/4G). I don't understand why you mention low signal together with messages and mail. Low reception has to do with bad signal for calling or data (e.g. 3G/4G).

Regarding e-mail: do you have fetch then enabled? If so what is the frequency? I have it set to fetch once an hour and that doesn't use much background activity.

Please check my complete list of settings to save battery/background activity. Did you already look at your GPS/location settings?

I've stopped using Push when switching to iOS 8 I have fetch set to once per hour as well.
Notifications limited to a couple of the apps only, plus after deleting Facebook and Messenger I still experienced battery drain. Background App refresh is off, standby time and usage time different also, (6 hours vs. 3 hours, about 50% of battery left).

On iOS 8.3 I used to be able to get through a full day on one charge, same settings. Now, even though I disabled pretty much every darn thing I still need to recharge about 3 or 4 pm.
Sometimes, when I know I won't be home I do it in advance (about 60-70 percent and I recharge it to 100) which makes me wonder if I won't harm my battery in the long run ;o. I used to charge it on 20-30% in the evening, doing a full cycle from time to time. Now, I'm really hopeless and start to think it might be a hardware issue after all..?

When I use the Internet, the battery drops significantly in a few minutes; yesterday after 4 minutes of reading in Safari it went from 62 to 57 which is sick :O at least for me. Makes me think twice before using my phone, which is ridiculous. I'm really getting worried and hoping it will be better in iOS 9...

 

[pacorob]

When I use the Internet, the battery drops significantly in a few minutes; yesterday after 4 minutes of reading in Safari it went from 62 to 57 which is sick :O at least for me. Makes me think twice before using my phone, which is ridiculous. I'm really getting worried and hoping it will be better in iOS 9...

Is Safari allowed to use your location/GPS?

Did you also look into these settings:
- Check Settings > Notifications > Make sure that only apps that should use notification are on.
- Check Settings > Privacy > Location services > Make sure that only apps that you want to use GPS are selected
- Check if iCloud sync is set and for which apps. You could e.g. try to turn it off temporary for all or e.g. only the Music app.

 

[thebigmeowski]

Is Safari allowed to use your location/GPS?

Did you also look into these settings:
- Check Settings > Notifications > Make sure that only apps that should use notification are on.
- Check Settings > Privacy > Location services > Make sure that only apps that you want to use GPS are selected
- Check if iCloud sync is set and for which apps. You could e.g. try to turn it off temporary for all or e.g. only the Music app.

Yep, I've done that too. As of now, I turned off notifications for almost everything apart from Messenger (tried deleting that too, battery drain persisted). Location services turned off for everything but Weather app. iCloud sync enabled only for Messages, Contacts etc.

 

[pacorob]

Yep, I've done that too. As of now, I turned off notifications for almost everything apart from Messenger (tried deleting that too, battery drain persisted). Location services turned off for everything but Weather app. iCloud sync enabled only for Messages, Contacts etc.

You did all you could then. If you still have issues hmm. then a hard reset maybe could solve it and otherwise you should think of completely set it back to factory default settings (ofcourse do a backup first).