iPhone 5S Battery help

[wizzywig27]

Hi all

I've had a 5s since last October (ordered it on release day), things have been ok battery wise until recently. Basically I have to charge it twice a day, once overnight and once when I get in from work.

I do the usual check emails (via safari), browse Facebook, send a few texts and play one game (empire Z), that's it, and these are not often - once twice an hour - tops.

I have turned off background app refresh and GPS and the battery is simply rubbish.

I had a live chat with a guy from Apple last week who did a diagnostic and told me my battery was fine and that I had an iOS corruption and that I needed to back up phone, reinstall iOS and then restore my phone, so I did this, and battery was still as rubbish.

So I spoke to them on live chat again and she arranged a Genius Bar visit today in Milton Keynes (I am northampton so a 30 min drive up the M1). I get there, she does a diagnostic, shows me some pretty little graphs and says battery is fine, this time install iOS and don't back up to old phone.

To say I am annoyed is an understatement. Waste of time, petrol and miles in my new car.

Question is this, what if I reinstall (I could have lied today) and the battery is still poor? Will they swap it out? The manager in store was very rude and straight away refused to do anything apart from raise a complaint against the girl I spoke to who arranged the Genius Bar visit.

Anyone got any advice of similar woe?

 

[juanrp]

At this point, I don't see the point of a new 5S.

I understand your pain because my iPhone battery is terrible too. You can get your battery replaced if you want.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html <- battery replacement from Apple.

I haven't done it because I'm just wating for an entire new phone. From the 4 to the 6. I can deal with it for now.

If you want, you can just slap a Mophie battery case till you can: a) possibly upgrade to another iphone (the 6 maybe) or b) find another reason to get the apple store you went to swap it out or c) decide to do the battery replacement procedure.

It's up to you.

-Juan

 

[wizzywig27]

Problem is, it's not defective. On their pretty little graph it's working at about 90% of its capacity (which is accepted).

 

[juanrp]

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone/repair/battery-power/

Well if it falls under an acceptable capacity, then there's not much you can do.

Unless something else "magically" breaks on your iphone.

I recommend a battery case (Mophie, etc) or just ride it out for a bit till you can get yourself another iphone.

I've been doing it for 2 years, I'm sure you can do it for 2 months

Good luck!

-Juan

 

[wizzywig27]

You mean the same iPhone that will increase its battery size by roughly 300mAh (supposedly)?

 

[Woochifer]

Could also be that you're in a bad cell reception area or building. If the signal is weak, then the phone will continually search for a stronger signal and rapidly drain the battery.

Putting the phone into Airplane Mode when you're in a weak signal area can greatly extend the battery life. Keep in mind that after going into Airplane Mode, you can switch the wi-fi back on where you have it available. So, you can use your browser and all apps, except SMS texts and cell calls.

Location services are another source of battery drain. Facebook's app notoriously chews through battery power by constantly refreshing the data and rechecking the location unless you turn the background refresh and/or location services off.

How many hours of usage and standby are you typically getting? My battery life will typically range from 4 to 8 hours of usage (with additional hours for standby time). Games can deplete the battery life a lot faster than web browsing or music/video. Having to recharge the battery after using it during the day is not all that unusual. This is why I keep a charger in the car.

 

[E2EK1EL]

Hi all

I've had a 5s since last October (ordered it on release day), things have been ok battery wise until recently. Basically I have to charge it twice a day, once overnight and once when I get in from work.

I do the usual check emails (via safari), browse Facebook, send a few texts and play one game (empire Z), that's it, and these are not often - once twice an hour - tops.

I have turned off background app refresh and GPS and the battery is simply rubbish.

I had a live chat with a guy from Apple last week who did a diagnostic and told me my battery was fine and that I had an iOS corruption and that I needed to back up phone, reinstall iOS and then restore my phone, so I did this, and battery was still as rubbish.

So I spoke to them on live chat again and she arranged a Genius Bar visit today in Milton Keynes (I am northampton so a 30 min drive up the M1). I get there, she does a diagnostic, shows me some pretty little graphs and says battery is fine, this time install iOS and don't back up to old phone.

To say I am annoyed is an understatement. Waste of time, petrol and miles in my new car.

Question is this, what if I reinstall (I could have lied today) and the battery is still poor? Will they swap it out? The manager in store was very rude and straight away refused to do anything apart from raise a complaint against the girl I spoke to who arranged the Genius Bar visit.

Anyone got any advice of similar woe?

This sounds like my story a couple of months ago, a true living hell of many BS experiences with their diagnostic tool results and very bad customer service.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1731481/

 

[wizzywig27]

Think I have decided to sell my iPhone - I've uninstalled the game I thought was eating my juice and it's still equally as bad

Move onto android, was thinking the Nexus 5 but battery is only 600mAh bigger so not sure what difference that would make. Only other option is LG G2 with a 3000mAh battery but not overly struck on it

 

[Newtons Apple]

Think I have decided to sell my iPhone - I've uninstalled the game I thought was eating my juice and it's still equally as bad

Move onto android, was thinking the Nexus 5 but battery is only 600mAh bigger so not sure what difference that would make. Only other option is LG G2 with a 3000mAh battery but not overly struck on it

Have you tried running your phone without any of your installed software. That will tell you if software is the problem.

I would do anything before I went to Android as the only one punished would be you.

 

[eelw]

Move onto android, was thinking the Nexus 5 but battery is only 600mAh bigger so not sure what difference that would make. Only other option is LG G2 with a 3000mAh battery but not overly struck on it

It's not about battery capacity, but efficiency.

 

[wizzywig27]

Have you tried running your phone without any of your installed software. That will tell you if software is the problem.

I would do anything before I went to Android as the only one punished would be you.

Right, so legs just say I run it without software, it then is the battery, then what? Intake it to Apple again they say battery is fine and I'm stuck with a phone I can't use as it runs out by 4pm every day.

Let's just say it is software then I can't use my phone anyway.

Can't you see this is a no win situation?

 

[Newtons Apple]

Right, so legs just say I run it without software, it then is the battery, then what? Intake it to Apple again they say battery is fine and I'm stuck with a phone I can't use as it runs out by 4pm every day.

Let's just say it is software then I can't use my phone anyway.

Can't you see this is a no win situation?

It would establish if any of your apps is doing something crazy! You need to lighten up!

Sorry but I would bet on Apple and if they said your battery was good, it likely was.

Just how much do you use your phone on a typical day for it to run out of power at 4pm everyday. I consider myself to be a pretty heavy user and never put it on the charger, at the end of the day with less than 30-40% remaining.

Everyones idea of how long the battery should last is different.

 

[wizzywig27]

I have used it a bit today, but only as much as usual, no games today, few apps such as Facebook etc.

Battery usage says this:

Usage: 7hours 24 mins
Standby: 16hours 56 mins

Unsure what all that means as I took phone off charge at about 8:45am this morning, that's less than 12hrs

 

[Newtons Apple]

I have used it a bit today, but only as much as usual, no games today, few apps such as Facebook etc.

Battery usage says this:

Usage: 7hours 24 mins
Standby: 16hours 56 mins

Unsure what all that means as I took phone off charge at about 8:45am this morning, that's less than 12hrs

So, of the time you have had your phone off the charger, you have been using it for 7.5 hours. This is less than usual? If so I think your battery use is normal.

How much battery is it showing is remaining after this 7.5 hours of use?

Maybe some others will chime in on this but from what you say, your phone battery is operating with in it's specs.

 

[E2EK1EL]

I have used it a bit today, but only as much as usual, no games today, few apps such as Facebook etc.

Battery usage says this:

Usage: 7hours 24 mins
Standby: 16hours 56 mins

Unsure what all that means as I took phone off charge at about 8:45am this morning, that's less than 12hrs

The defective IP5s from my saga, 5 hours of use MAX or 6 hours of standby MAX and that's with no apps installed at all, always running super HOT.

How's your recharging speeds vis comp or wall charger? Is it normal or very slow? Also does your IP5s get hot while charging or using it?

 

[cynics]

I have used it a bit today, but only as much as usual, no games today, few apps such as Facebook etc.



Battery usage says this:



Usage: 7hours 24 mins

Standby: 16hours 56 mins



Unsure what all that means as I took phone off charge at about 8:45am this morning, that's less than 12hrs

Those are good times. Don't expect anything better from even a new phone.

 

[wizzywig27]

Those figures are wrong, I have not used my phone constantly for 7hours 24mins, it's impossible as I've been at work, seems to add to the theory that a rogue app is using the battery and running all day

If you work out times, I unplugged phone at roughly 8:30am, at 17:30 I posted my usage times, that's about 9 hours, I charged my phone briefly which added about 10%....

What I don't get is how my standby can be 16hrs when my phone last fully charged less than 16hrs ago?

Plus, is that 16hrs standby plus 7hrs usage - 23hrs, which means my phone stopped charging at 5pm yesterday, when it wasn't plugged in?

 

[sunking101]

The battery life on my i5 has been terrible ever since installing iOS7. Numerous clean installs have done zip to fix the problem, and my battery checks out fine. I have to charge twice a day, sometimes three times. I'm a heavy user though.
I've basically given up and accepted it, although I was hellish annoyed for the best part of 12 months.

----------

Those figures are wrong, I have not used my phone constantly for 7hours 24mins, it's impossible as I've been at work, seems to add to the theory that a rogue app is using the battery and running all day

If you work out times, I unplugged phone at roughly 8:30am, at 17:30 I posted my usage times, that's about 9 hours, I charged my phone briefly which added about 10%....

What I don't get is how my standby can be 16hrs when my phone last fully charged less than 16hrs ago?

Plus, is that 16hrs standby plus 7hrs usage - 23hrs, which means my phone stopped charging at 5pm yesterday, when it wasn't plugged in?

It doesn't mean constant usage. Your stats are basically stating that out of 16+ hours battery runtime, your screen 'on' time has been 7+ hours in total. The standby time will only reset if and when the phone is fully recharged - ie it reaches 100% before you disconnect the charger. Otherwise you are combining stats from previous partial charges.

If you're unhappy, do a hard reset and see how you go from there.

 

[wallman]

I'm experiencing something very similar. My 5s battery life is not what it used to be and I haven't found a solution yet.

I got my 5s at the end of March, for the first 2 months everything was fine, good infact. Full day of use, a little gaming, facebook, websurfing, work emails, etc.

Then in early June something happened and my drain rate has increased with no increase in actual usage. In fact now I've resorted to doing emails and gaming off a spare 4s and just use my 5s as, well a dumb phone, and only use it when I have to.

I've been to the Genius bar once and they recommended a full reset, which I did infront of them. I wanted to make sure they saw the reset from new. Then I spent the next 4 hours reloading some basic apps and leaving off a bunch.

So background data off, location services off, cell data usage off, etc, etc, email fetch set to manual, only 2 email accounts, work exchange and gmail, both set to fetch. I get an average standby drain of 5% per hour. If I actually it it will drain faster.

I run my 4s side by side and it gets better battery life with more activity.

I've got on picture of 1:17 hours of usage and 15:55 hours of standby time and 16% battery level. The level should be closer to 75% or greater depending on the actual usage.

Going to have to visit Genius bar again to see for a replacement. Or is it Applecare?

 

[nnacrumors]

was thinking the Nexus 5 but battery is only 600mAh bigger so not sure what difference that would make. Only other option is LG G2 with a 3000mAh battery but not overly struck on it

Nexus 5 owners have the same complaints you do about battery life. In your situation I would go for the LG G3 (not G2) since it has a removable 3000mAh battery. That way you can call up LG and get a spare battery for $25 to slip into your pocket and double your battery life while on the go.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Those figures are wrong, I have not used my phone constantly for 7hours 24mins, it's impossible as I've been at work, seems to add to the theory that a rogue app is using the battery and running all day

And that is why I suggested you get rid of all you apps so you could see if it was a bad battery or crap software

 

[skiman]

1. Check you don't have wifi and bluetooth on all the time.
2. Make sure brightness isn't at full
3. Turn off background App refresh - Settings, General, Background App Refresh.
4. Uninstall the Facebook App - Im currently running iOS8 on my iPhone and the Facebook app uses 40/50% of the battery by mid afternoon even if I haven't been on my phone, deleted the app and sign in via safari and hey presto a battery that lasts from 8am to 10pm....