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Resolved iPhone 5 battery life suddenly terrible?

KUguardgrl13

KUguardgrl13

macrumors 68020
Original poster
May 16, 2013
2,492
125
Kansas, USA
So I have an iPhone 5 that I've had since January 2013. The battery is still the original, but I've rarely had problems with battery life. I charge it overnight and it goes all day until I go to bed usually.

All of a sudden it's not even getting to the end of a typical work day. I'm a student so my schedule isn't 9-5, but it shouldn't be at 20% at 2:00 when I unplugged it at 10:00. The only things that have changed recently are the 8.4.1 update a few weeks ago now and some app updates. Facebook has always been a battery suck, but I don't leave it running in the background. In fact, I close apps when I'm not using them (namely to save on data), no background app refresh, and location is pretty much only set for certain apps when I'm using them.

What is causing this sudden drop in battery life?! Could it really be just the fact that my phone is 2 1/2 years old and has gotten a lot of use? I don't think it qualifies for the battery recall, and in outside that window anyway, I think.
 

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iPhone 5 batteries are notoriously bad (personal experience). They can degrade a lot quite suddenly. With other iPhones (my 4 was perfect for example), batteries would easily last two years without too much of degradation. Same with 5S I believe.
 
I agree with Merkie and the 5 battery can go bad very quick. If there is an Apple store near by, I would have them do a diagnostic, it is free and they will tell you the truth vs a mall kiosk!
 
Newtons Apple said:
I agree with Merkie and the 5 battery can go bad very quick. If there is an Apple store near by, I would have them do a diagnostic, it is free and they will tell you the truth vs a mall kiosk!
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Is it worth it without AppleCare+ anymore? I don't have a ton of money to buy a new battery or phone :/
 
Hey, we're in the same boat! As if by magic my iPhone 5 battery that I've had since June 2013 has been acting up like crazy. Not as much as yours, but you can literary do nothing on the home screen and watch the battery drain slowly but surely.
 
soupcan said:
Hey, we're in the same boat! As if by magic my iPhone 5 battery that I've had since June 2013 has been acting up like crazy. Not as much as yours, but you can literary do nothing on the home screen and watch the battery drain slowly but surely.
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The weird part is that the times listed don't even make sense. Seven hours of standby? It wasn't even unplugged for that long! I had it unplugged for about 4 hours (probably the length of the usage time), and it dropped to 20% in that time. Maybe it's time to wipe it and reinstall. Normally I'd wait for iOS 9, but this is ridiculous.
 
That's how iPhone 5 batteries work. And maybe its old enough to be change with a new one. Those apps you've closed may seem to be out of the background but it could still be running if you won't really check it on your settings.
 
I had a very similar issue with my iPhone 5. It was working just fine, and then out of nowhere it started draining battery life rapidly (dropping multiple percentage points at a time), and when I would plug it in, it would go from like 22% to 34% in a few seconds.

Anyway, Apple has an iPhone 5 battery recall program for certain units. I figured out mine was covered and Apple replaced the battery last December. You can see if your phone qualifies at this website:

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/

Good luck :)
 
The Prof said:
I had a very similar issue with my iPhone 5. It was working just fine, and then out of nowhere it started draining battery life rapidly (dropping multiple percentage points at a time), and when I would plug it in, it would go from like 22% to 34% in a few seconds.

Anyway, Apple has an iPhone 5 battery recall program for certain units. I figured out mine was covered and Apple replaced the battery last December. You can see if your phone qualifies at this website:

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/

Good luck :)
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Sadly my serial number doesn't qualify. I might still give it a try on Friday though. I didn't know that they were willing to replace devices up to three years after purchase. I'm still within that window!
 
david91 said:
That's how iPhone 5 batteries work. And maybe its old enough to be change with a new one. Those apps you've closed may seem to be out of the background but it could still be running if you won't really check it on your settings.
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I open the app switcher and swipe up on the apps. Isn't that as closed as you can get with an iPhone barring a hard restart?
 
If you install coconut battery on your Macbook it now has a tab to check the health of an ios device battery. If its really not holding much of a charge apple charges $79 USD to change it which I believe is pretty reasonable.
 
Ih8reno said:
If you install coconut battery on your Macbook it now has a tab to check the health of an ios device battery. If its really not holding much of a charge apple charges $79 USD to change it which I believe is pretty reasonable.
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Yep, I have Coconut Battery. Will have to check it tomorrow. $79 wouldn't be bad, but there are a few unauthorized places near me that say they can do it for less. Since it's out of warranty anyway, what's the risk?
 
It is not too hard to change the battery of an iPhone 5 by yourself. I had problems with my 5's battery too and replaced it with one from iFixit. Make sure to also get the tool-set, for these damn pentalobe screws
 
KUguardgrl13 said:
Yep, I have Coconut Battery. Will have to check it tomorrow. $79 wouldn't be bad, but there are a few unauthorized places near me that say they can do it for less. Since it's out of warranty anyway, what's the risk?
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If you're in Lawrence, why not just make the drive to Leawood or take an afternoon off at the Plaza? It's what, 45 mins? I'd do that over a 3rd party or kiosk.
 
I have an iPhone 5 myself and noticed a significant drop in battery efficiency when I upgraded from 8.3.x to 8.4.1. My phone is also significantly slower since the update. What iOS version were you running before 8.4.1?
 
willmtaylor said:
If you're in Lawrence, why not just make the drive to Leawood or take an afternoon off at the Plaza? It's what, 45 mins? I'd do that over a 3rd party or kiosk.
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True, but there's a place in Lawrence that offers to do it for $39 (Mobilosity if you're familiar with them at all). Definitely tempting. Although I'm up in Johnson County a couple days a week anyway.

What I need to decide is if I'm willing to buy a new battery or if it's bad enough and my phone is old enough to ask my parents for a new one. Unfortunately my dad is holding onto his 4S, and he's next in line to upgrade.
 
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jsavvy said:
I have an iPhone 5 myself and noticed a significant drop in battery efficiency when I upgraded from 8.3.x to 8.4.1. My phone is also significantly slower since the update. What iOS version were you running before 8.4.1?
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8.4.0. I've done every upgrade since I got the phone.
 
phrk said:
It is not too hard to change the battery of an iPhone 5 by yourself. I had problems with my 5's battery too and replaced it with one from iFixit. Make sure to also get the tool-set, for these damn pentalobe screws
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That makes me nervous :/ I've opened up my cMBP, but that's easy.
 
The battery life doesn't look that bad if it is mostly screen on usage. If you have had your screen on for most of the 4+ hours, then that's why the battery is low. If most of that usage is screen off usage, then something is definitely up with Facebook. If you haven't, then I'd try deleting facebook and reinstalling. I wish apple would show screen-on time.

Verizon, in my area, doesn't have the densest network and was always hanging onto weak 1X and LTE signals which never helped my battery. LTE signals with high "noise" (aka RSRQ) would absolutely destroy my battery as well as cause very slow speeds. Perhaps the network changed somehow and if you are getting terrible RSRQ (no good way to measure this on an iPhone unfortunately), that could absolutely be the cause.
 
KUguardgrl13 said:
That makes me nervous :/ I've opened up my cMBP, but that's easy.
Click to expand...


Fix kit(includes battery and all necessary tools to open the iphone 5) - Includes link to iFixit

Complete walk-through of how to open the device - Here

Summary: There's a reason iFixit rated the iPhone 5 as the easiest iPhone to repair, hands down. It is seven screws and a little use of an opening tool to get to the battery(you receive two disposable opening tools with the fix kit).
 
The screenshot you posted is not bad. It's a good result for an iPhone 5. Anyways, check your battery left capacity with Coconut Battery on your Mac and let us know.
 
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