Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 4S + iOS 8 = horrible battery life

Ultra AleM

Ultra AleM

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 22, 2012
674
66
Italy
Hello, guys! My girlfriend is getting horrible battery life with her iPhone 4S. I can stand the horrible performance, but battery life is important. She can't go through 4 hours of usage. Thanks a lot.

PS: background refresh disabled. Mails on manual and push. Automatic brightness.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    96.3 KB · Views: 246
The only thing I can think of that the battery is 'death' you could also try to re-install iOS..

Btw if she hasn't upgraded to 8.3 check battery life with iBackupbot (for Mac & PC)
 
The apps she is using are typically battery hogs. So unless she is willing to stop using them (which is dumb because it is a smartphone) there really isn't too much you can do.

On my 4S I get slightly better battery life because I don't play games like Candy Crush. I'm sure it would be about the same if I did.
 
Replace the battery then.

It isn't very hard to do it yourself, and you can easily get a kit online with the required tools (00 phillips and a pentalobe driver for the screws on the bottom).

I've done them for $8 battery only, and you should be able to find a kit for around $20 from what I've seen.

Night and day difference. I've still got a 4s that I use as a spare device running iOS 8.3. It will easily go 6 hours of usage and last throughout a normal day (7:00 to 11:00 generally) with a bit left over. Usage for me being iMessage, Facebook, Instagram, decent bit of Camera use, Safari, Notes, Mail, Evernote, Music, Calendar, Weather apps, some YouTube, and the occasional game.

Other than that, you've probably disabled most the battery hogs, screen brightness, BT/WiFi when not in use, background app refresh (minimal), reduce transparency (helps with the lag/jitteriness) and perhaps a few smaller things.

But I'd go for a new battery either DIY, or find a shop. A local one in my city will do battery replacements for $30 on the spot.
 
BrettApple said:
Replace the battery then.

It isn't very hard to do it yourself, and you can easily get a kit online with the required tools (00 phillips and a pentalobe driver for the screws on the bottom).

I've done them for $8 battery only, and you should be able to find a kit for around $20 from what I've seen.

Night and day difference. I've still got a 4s that I use as a spare device running iOS 8.3. It will easily go 6 hours of usage and last throughout a normal day (7:00 to 11:00 generally) with a bit left over. Usage for me being iMessage, Facebook, Instagram, decent bit of Camera use, Safari, Notes, Mail, Evernote, Music, Calendar, Weather apps, some YouTube, and the occasional game.

Other than that, you've probably disabled most the battery hogs, screen brightness, BT/WiFi when not in use, background app refresh (minimal), reduce transparency (helps with the lag/jitteriness) and perhaps a few smaller things.

But I'd go for a new battery either DIY, or find a shop. A local one in my city will do battery replacements for $30 on the spot.
Click to expand...

This iPhone 4s has been refurbished by Apple a few months ago, so it has a new battery.
 
Battery Life with iPhone 5

I was having the same issues on my iPhone 5 with iOS 8.1.2. Upgraded to 8.1.3 and it seems to be pretty stable. Way better than the previous couple upgrades.

But now current iOS is at 8.3 and I'm just not sure I really need to update it. I'll get a new iPhone with next release in Sept/Oct and sell this one.

Anyone with thoughts on upgrading a 5 past 8.1.3?
 
erickj said:
I was having the same issues on my iPhone 5 with iOS 8.1.2. Upgraded to 8.1.3 and it seems to be pretty stable. Way better than the previous couple upgrades.

But now current iOS is at 8.3 and I'm just not sure I really need to update it. I'll get a new iPhone with next release in Sept/Oct and sell this one.

Anyone with thoughts on upgrading a 5 past 8.1.3?
Click to expand...
My iPhone 5 runs iOS 8.3 and it's a major improvement over 8.1 in terms of performance.
 
Same here. I am an experienced and qualified electronics engineer, and have recently replaced the battery myself with one from a VERIFIED supplier with only 1 charge cycle from new... same problems, LOW battery, and crashes out very often at ~ 20%. I am not able to pin it down to any one thing, nor are Apple.

meh, I'll just buy a 5S or 6 :)
 
The 4S has such a low capacity battery for today's popular apps (which are naturally battery-drainers) that the only way to boost capacity is to upgrade to a 5(C), 5S or a 6. Also, it's very slow with iOS 8 anyway.
 
My iPhone 5 had terrible battery life. It was ok out of the box with iOS6 but as soon as I installed iOS7 it instantly became lousy and remained that way throughout the numerous subsequent updates. So I can fully appreciate that the 4S has become equally lousy with iOS8.
 
sunking101 said:
My iPhone 5 had terrible battery life. It was ok out of the box with iOS6 but as soon as I installed iOS7 it instantly became lousy and remained that way throughout the numerous subsequent updates. So I can fully appreciate that the 4S has become equally lousy with iOS8.
Click to expand...

Same. Apple should stop to destroy the old phones... that's not fair.
 
Iphone 4s 8gb upgraded to 8.3 and I have the same good battery life and the performances of the phone are absolutly good.
Try a restore a clean install with Itunes and check your battery for replacement.
I am very fond with my 4s and with last fw is reborned
 
kar120c said:
Iphone 4s 8gb upgraded to 8.3 and I have the same good battery life and the performances of the phone are absolutly good.
Try a restore a clean install with Itunes and check your battery for replacement.
I am very fond with my 4s and with last fw is reborned
Click to expand...

Reborn....at half the speed.☺️
 
kar120c said:
Iphone 4s 8gb upgraded to 8.3 and I have the same good battery life and the performances of the phone are absolutly good.
Try a restore a clean install with Itunes and check your battery for replacement.
I am very fond with my 4s and with last fw is reborned
Click to expand...

May you post a screenshot of your usage statistics?
 
Sorry to say but that's kinda normal for a 4s, the only iOS device that does worse is probably the 3GS. I have around 5~6 hours up to 8 if I'm just watching videos.
 
kar120c said:
What do you mean for usage statistic? battery, free memory space etc?
Sorry but I have italian Language on my 4s and some menu may be different
Click to expand...

I mean the page where statistics of usage are displayed (too see how much you used your phone with one charge).
 
I still have an old iPod touch. Just like the old iPhones without the phone. At some point, with a new OS, the battery would be in constant drainage mode so that after a couple of days, it would all be gone. And all the while I would not even use the thing. Useless now. I suppose it doesn't matter since I use the 6 Plus now.
 
kar120c said:
[url=http://postimage.org/][url=http://s1.postimg.org/lp68wsafz/2015_04_29_20_36_34.png]Image[/url][/url]
[url=http://postimage.org/index.php?lang=italian]hostare immagini[/url]
Click to expand...

Well, that's not a good result (3 hours of usage). You even plugged your phone in!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back