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iPhone 5 battery life....Horrible!

blacktape242

blacktape242

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 17, 2010
1,931
2,859
Sacramento, CA
Here is the situation, and it has been getting worse.

I wake up after charging my phone all nite and its now 830am and my phone is already at ONLY 75%. my battery is horrible! I have only been texting this morning and checking email and reading a few new apps.

I have looked on lots of different threads and can't really find out why this is happening.

I have done all the so called tricks to preserve the better life. Is there something wrong with my phone? :mad:
 
Depends. How long have you been up and using the phone? An hour or hour and a half of straight usage like that and I could see it going down to 80% or even 75%.
 
blacktape242 said:
Here is the situation, and it has been getting worse.

I wake up after charging my phone all nite and its now 830am and my phone is already at ONLY 75%. my battery is horrible! I have only been texting this morning and checking email and reading a few new apps.

I have looked on lots of different threads and can't really find out why this is happening.

I have done all the so called tricks to preserve the better life. Is there something wrong with my phone? :mad:
Click to expand...

Problem is it's 2 years old and probably has gone through a lot of charge cycles
 
Possible reasons
- rogue app running in the background
- low cellular signal
- brightness setting
- just a bad battery
 
Are you using WiFi at all, or do you just have your phone hanging out on cellular?

I'm on WiFi most of the time and I go to be with about 50-60% of battery, depending on what I did during the day (7am to 12pm or so).

However, if I leave my phone on LTE, because Sprint's network is such crap right now, I can easily use my phone like normal and require one or two recharges to get through the day. All because the LTE radios are working too damn hard to pick up a weak LTE signal.

I have the iPhone 5 by the way.
 
joshkhaos1 said:
Depends. How long have you been up and using the phone? An hour or hour and a half of straight usage like that and I could see it going down to 80% or even 75%.
Click to expand...

just on and off, no major use.

----------
madsci954 said:
Possible reasons
- rogue app running in the background
- low cellular signal
- brightness setting
- just a bad battery
Click to expand...

nope
cell signal is fine
brighness is lower....
ya its probably a crappy battery :(

----------
eyoungren said:
Are you using WiFi at all, or do you just have your phone hanging out on cellular?

I'm on WiFi most of the time and I go to be with about 50-60% of battery, depending on what I did during the day (7am to 12pm or so).

However, if I leave my phone on LTE, because Sprint's network is such crap right now, I can easily use my phone like normal and require one or two recharges to get through the day. All because the LTE radios are working too damn hard to pick up a weak LTE signal.

I have the iPhone 5 by the way.
Click to expand...

I'm on and off wifi, mostly its been 4g on ATT this morning.
man i need a NEW PHONE! come on Iphone6!!!!!
 
My iPhone5 battery life is dreadful too, and has been ever since I installed iOS7 many months ago. Web browsing over 3G will kill it in a few hours. No app issues and my battery checks out fine.
 
blacktape242 said:
Here is the situation, and it has been getting worse.

I wake up after charging my phone all nite and its now 830am and my phone is already at ONLY 75%. my battery is horrible! I have only been texting this morning and checking email and reading a few new apps.

I have looked on lots of different threads and can't really find out why this is happening.

I have done all the so called tricks to preserve the better life. Is there something wrong with my phone? :mad:
Click to expand...

No one here can tell you what is wrong without more information.

Take it to the APple store and they can tell you if the battery is bad or you are expecting too much. It will only take a few minutes for them to test it.
 
Install app called Battery Doc. It will tell you charge cycles and current max battery capacity.
 
Theres an app for the mac that shows your iphone battery health too, I cant remember the name now tho sorry, hopefully someone else can.
 
Had the Same Problem

The first thing I would check is the "Background App Refresh" settings (under Settings > General). I had a bunch on that also used location services, which drains the battery even further. If this is already under control try the following.

Download iBackupBot:

http://www.icopybot.com/itunes-backup-manager.htm

Once it's loaded up, connect your iPhone 5 to the laptop using the Lightning cable. A description window for your iPhone will appear and there will be a link for "More Info" in the bottom left of the description window. Just wait for the information to be gathered. You will then be able to see the Cycle Count of your device, the normal capacity, the current full charge capacity. I do not work for them. The Full Charge Capacity will be a function of how many battery cycles you have been through. When I checked mine i was over 400+ cycles and my full charge capacity was completely downed to 330. Awful!

So instead of going to Apple Genius bar to replace the battery for $70-100 bucks. I went to iFixit and ordered a Battery Kit, and did it myself here:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+5+Battery+Replacement/10587

Hope this helps. My phone's been working a lot better now.
 
You can use iBackupBot to check it at home from your computer. It's a free program.

Once you have it, open it, plug in the iPhone, click on your phone, then click more information. Battery stats will be top of the list. This is the same thing Apple will do except using proprietary software to get the battery stats.
 
cynics said:
You can use iBackupBot to check it at home from your computer. It's a free program.

Once you have it, open it, plug in the iPhone, click on your phone, then click more information. Battery stats will be top of the list. This is the same thing Apple will do except using proprietary software to get the battery stats.
Click to expand...

Great.....here is what it says... any idea on what that means?

Cycle Count: 479
Design Capacity: 1430
Full Charge Capacity: 784
Status: Success

Battery Current Capacity: 60
Battery is charging: true
External charge capable: false
External connected: false
fully charged: false
gas gauge capacity: true.
 
blacktape242 said:
Great.....here is what it says... any idea on what that means?

Cycle Count: 479
Design Capacity: 1430
Full Charge Capacity: 784
Status: Success

Battery Current Capacity: 60
Battery is charging: true
External charge capable: false
External connected: false
fully charged: false
gas gauge capacity: true.
Click to expand...

Your battery is pretty shot.
 
After charging it - turn the iPhone off - then turn back on.. See if that gives you more juice. And then occasionally turn it off at night.
 
blacktape242 said:
Great.....here is what it says... any idea on what that means?

Cycle Count: 479
Design Capacity: 1430
Full Charge Capacity: 784
Status: Success

Battery Current Capacity: 60
Battery is charging: true
External charge capable: false
External connected: false
fully charged: false
gas gauge capacity: true.
Click to expand...


Your battery is at 55% of its original capacity.

(Full Charge Capacity / Design Capacity) X 100

Also, when your battery drops to that level of full charge capacity it could exhibit all kinds of weird symptoms. Usually like sudden shutdown condition or the battery not charging to 100%.

If you go to your local apple store, a Genius will run iOS Diagnostics and see that the battery is bad and offer you a replacement battery for $79 plus tax.

Backup your data and make an appointment before going.
 
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