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Looks like phantom usage, but it's not?

soniasim

soniasim

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 1, 2008
184
74
Hi guys,

I've been having an issue with my iPad Air (non jaibreak iOS 7.1.1) for the last three days...

I noticed that my Usage and Standby times were identical, so I suspected that my iPad suffered from phantom usage... But, the weird thing is that it doesn't show any other signs of phantom usage, meaning my battery doesn't drain when I don't use it and it doesn't get hot at all.

First, I tried a hard reset and also did a reset of the settings, made no difference...

Then I did a test, I charged it up to 100%, removed the charger, closed all apps, location services and backround app refresh and went to bed.
I woke up to an iPad cold as usual and at 100% battery.

Then I tried restoring the device and setting it up as new.
It worked when the iPad was completely clean, meaning no third-party apps installed or manual settings made, but, as soon as I manually set it up all over from the beginning, the problem resurfaced.

Is it possible that an app could be causing this, even if I have no apps running while the problem occurs? I've been having iDevices for many years and I've never had or read anywhere about a similar case...

Any help will be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance :)
 
From your description, I have absolutely no idea of what you think your problem is, other than that you suspect ghosts are using your iPad when you're not looking. I don't know why you think this, but a computer forum might not be the place you should be looking for help.
 
Ok, I'll bite…

Can you explain what you mean by "phantom usage"?
Also, what is the result when one "suffers from phantom usage"?

Finally, what changed three days ago?
 
Looks like phantom usage, but it's not?

Phantom usage is when a device's battery drains fast for no obvious reason.

The problem with my device is that it shows signs of phantom usage (identical times of standby and usage in settings), but doesn't have any of the phantom usage's expected consequences (battery drainage or high temperature).

Unfortunately, nothing changed 3 days later, I still get the exact same problem as before...
 
soniasim said:
Also, I'm sorry but it's not my problem if you're not familiar with the term... Someone would think that members who joined the site so many years ago, would know better :D

Here's a link where the term is mentioned by a very popular site:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/u.s.-iphone-users-reporting-phantom-data-usage/
Click to expand...

That link has nothing to do with what you are describing. Further, the fact that the standby time is the same as your usage time is purely coincidental. Those numbers measure unrelated things. I think you are imagining a problem.
 
Well, it mentions the term "phantom usage" though, doesn't it?
Phantom usage can refer to different things concerning technology.

Google it and you will get many results about it, even threads have been started by members of this forum. Here is an example thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1647959/

How exactly am I imagining a problem when my iPad is not used at all for 8 hours, but when I go to Settings->Usage it shows that it was being used for 8 hours?
 
I think what you are describing is normal. The usage and standby times on my iPad tends to be the same, too. Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but it's been that way on all iPads I've owned.
 
Looks like phantom usage, but it's not?

@Night Spring, thank you for your reply!

I can assure you, that it wasn't like this for me, previously...

The problem occured the last few days and I've owned all the iPads beginning from the original one, but never dealt with that kind of behavior before :(
 
Well, I don't know what to tell you. If you live near an Apple store, you could go in and ask a Genius about it. Otherwise, since it's not having any real effect, I'd try to just forget about it, since it's not causing any real effects.

Actually, did you install any new apps around the time this started happening? Maybe you have an app that does location checks, or frequently checks for updates, like some news apps do that.
 
Looks like phantom usage, but it's not?

Unfortunately, I live in Greece, we don't have any official Apple Stores here, only resellers...

The only apps I remember installing lately, is Paper for drawing and Day One for journaling, the rest of the apps I have them for a long time (not an app junkie here, lol).

I could assume that Day One is using my Location Services or the Motion Activity sensor, but, I never enabled those options after installing the app and running it for the first time...

And they are turned off, I checked right now, as we speak...

I guess it wouldn't hurt uninstalling those two apps and see what happens, though...
 
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