Comments on: Why Is The Battery Life On My iPhone 4 So Bad?

By: gaby350z

gaby350z — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:07:20 +0000

I finally decided to get an iPhone about two weeks ago and was soooo disappointed with the battery life!! As a new iPhone user, I was almost just as disappointed with how informative the “instruction manual” proved to be. I actually ended up learning this from someone at an AT&T store when I went back to pick up a case for my new phone. The difference this did for my battery life was huge.

After asking her if it was normal for an iPhone to have such a short battery life, she told me that this is the first iPhone that lets you close out specific applications. Think of it as a task manager for your iPhone. The “ctrl+alt+delete” function on a pc lets a user see what programs are running; from there you can “end” the ones you want to stop running. It just makes sense that the more you have running, the more power the phone will use.

So every time you select an application on your iPhone, it will continue to run even when you’ve exited out (or hit the “home” button). So lets say every morning you check your facebook, access your email, listen to some music, send a few texts, make a few calls and use your navigation…. that means ALL of these programs will continue to run in the background.

So here’s how you shut down all or some of your programs:

-Step 1: Bring up the “Fast App Switcher”. (Starting from your home screen, quickly click your “home” button TWICE. This will make all the your icons fade except for ones on the very bottom row).

-Step 2: Once the Fast App Switcher is up (these visible icons show you everything that’s running), choose any of the icons and hold it down until they start to jiggle. Just like if you were trying to drag icons or remove apps, but instead of an ” x ” on the upper left corner, you will see a ” – “.

Once the icons begin to jiggle and you see the ” – ” symbol, all you have to do is tap on it. This will close the application out completely. Once there aren’t any icons left, click once on your “home” button and it will exit out of the Fast App Switcher to your home screen.

Instead of trying to figure out which apps to close and which to leave open, I find it easier to close all of them. I’ll do this a few times through the day. That’s probably the best way to maximize your battery life as well.

Hope this helps!

By: twisters6

twisters6 — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 03:07:30 +0000

I was just wondering how you set your phone up as a new phone on iTunes or how you just do a back up?

By: skimferella

skimferella — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:22:00 +0000

ever since i did the last update in December my iphone battery has not been great but the last two days have been unacceptable. It was at 100% 4 hours ago and now I see it’s down to 61%. Before I updated it seemed to last forever and I never once had an issue.

By: lohcheekong

lohcheekong — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 09:50:14 +0000

please advice step by step to restore phone and then set up as new phone in iTunes (do not back up)

reference this message:
However, they told me that users who backed up phone on iTunes from a 3G (which I did) have been experiencing this problem. They told me to restore phone and then set up as new phone in iTunes(do not back up). I was skeptical that this would work; however, it did indeed fix the problem. I did this and my battery life is great now…much better than my old 3G.

By: ieaarva

ieaarva — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:18:41 +0000

Switch off the push-mail and do hourly updates instead. That will more than double your battery life.

By: needshelp

needshelp — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:47:54 +0000

hi! im a forst time iphone user.. and i have a problem with my phone. the battery only lasts about 6 hrs of use. (wifi,games,music) is that enough? im expecting about 10-12hrs of usage though.

@medic.
how did you did the procedure? is it really effective? what if i have no back up of phone in the itunes. is it still applicable? i hope you could help me. i really need an iphone4 who works around 10-12hrs max per day.

By: medic1533

medic1533 — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:03:09 +0000

(iphone 4) Well my battery was loosing power faster all the time. I saw the comment about restoring the phone and selecting set up new phone in iTunes. It’s hard to believe it but it worked for me. Now my battery is holding power much, much better.

By: clarkcontrol

clarkcontrol — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:33:30 +0000

mine has been normal.

By: nevrwuz

nevrwuz — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:12:32 +0000

I’ve used my phone for about an hour and I’m down to 70%. just from web browsing. Bad

By: geeksmith2010

geeksmith2010 — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:56:58 +0000

hey I don’t know if this site can’t help, but it talks about battery life of iPhones.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=10853100#post10853100

By: gjavidi

gjavidi — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:12:32 +0000

I had same problem. iPhone 4 battery would not make it through the day on very little use. Went into apple store because I thought I had a lemon. However, they told me that users who backed up phone on iTunes from a 3G (which I did) have been experiencing this problem. They told me to restore phone and then set up as new phone in iTunes(do not back up). I was skeptical that this would work; however, it did indeed fix the problem. I did this and my battery life is great now…much better than my old 3G.

I hope this helps.

By: amit4034

amit4034 — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:27:45 +0000

I am also facing similar problem. I charged my battery overnight it was 100%. I switched off bluetooth, wifi, push notifications. only 3G is on. Screen brightness is 20% and auto brightness is off. Still after surfing websites for 5 mins (most of it was text) and making calls for around 10 mins…by battery life is down to 85%. By end of day, though I do not use phone much… it gets below 20%.

With same usage, my old iPhone 3g(not 3gs) use to last longer……

By: lclause

lclause — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:31:45 +0000

Same problem for me (in France).
By chance, I’m journalist for the oldest french magazine dedicated to Mac computers, and already had in the past some battery issues (iPhone 3G heating my pocket).
So, when I was invited yesterday at the opening of the new Apple Store near the Paris Opera, I showed my iPhone4 et submited my problem to the genius bar… The manager came after 10 minutes of discussion and they just replaced my iPhone4 with a new one that perfectly works with a battery always running after 16hours.
In conclusion, sothere are some bad iPhone4 and you have to prove it to have a replacement.

By: cydonos

cydonos — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:31:59 +0000

They should codename it like they do for Mac OS X.

“iOS 4.0 Vampire”
“iOS 4.1 Snow Vampire”

By: masedawg

masedawg — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:15:39 +0000

Also, turn off the following if you havent:

Location Services
Bluetooth
Keyclick sounds

Also do not keep the phone in your pants pocket if possible (body heat kills battery life), or use a fashionable silicone case as insulation ;) Do not charge in a hot location. Remove iPhone from any case when charging.

My phone might be a lemon too considering I need to charge it very frequently – about once a day, but I’m playing games on it frequently too and it seems to overheat alot. Once I get past the novel phase of the device maybe I can get a better depiction of standard battery life on mine too.

By: masedawg

masedawg — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:06:14 +0000

Did you make your initial iPhone charge at least 6-8 hours before using it normally? (I know this isn’t always possible since AT&T retail reps may need to start up your phone to activate it in-store but as long as you didn’t use it intensely before charging it all out). Did you let it discharge completely and then recharge complete, and complete this cycle a few times?

Here’s a useful link on lithium ion battery maintenance:

http://www.everythingicafe.com/forum/iphone-3g/iphone-3g-battery-guide-and-charging-tips-34725.html

Keep up the nice articles Peter!

By: sawrad

sawrad — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 04:21:41 +0000

I work in an area deep in a building without WiFi and with very poor reception. If I have my Network setting on Enable 3G, my battery life is reduced. I’m told it’s because my phone is spending energy trying to access 3G (like it would if I was on a plane and forgot to use Airplane Mode). Could you be having a similar issue?

By: reik1

reik1 — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:32:29 +0000

I’m having the same issue. My first Gen iPhone has twice the battery life as my new iPhone 4.

By: evdoguy

evdoguy — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:05:40 +0000

The problem is Exchange. Test with it off. I had Exchange for my email and killed my battery, switched to a different account that fetches ever 15 – 30 mins and that solved it. I don’t get email pushed – which sucks, but it solved my battery problems.

Lots of others having this problem, see:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?fid=1350d05dc9a18d470004899e57ec9c75&hl=en

By: kubricklove

kubricklove — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:05:23 +0000

“You really need to get a life…” and stop worrying about people worrying about a stupid phone.