Skip the navigation
)
News

iPhone 4S owners report dramatic battery drain

Users of older devices running iOS 5 also chime in

October 31, 2011 12:52 PM ET

Computerworld - Apple's new iPhone 4S is running through its battery at a prodigious rate, according to reports on the company's own support forum.

A long thread dedicated to the problem now has more than 2,300 messages, runs 160 pages and has been accessed more than 160,000 times, all huge numbers for an Apple support discussion.

"I've had the 4S since the launch day, and I've been pretty pleased with battery life," said someone identified as "andyfromsomerville" on the thread early Monday. "Until this weekend. My phone just went from a full charge to empty within <14h standby time and about 95 minutes of light usage."

Others, however, said that the fast-battery-drain issue had been there from the start.

"Seems to lose 1% every 3-4 minutes, even when locked/asleep," noted John Goldman on Oct. 15, the day the thread debuted.

The iPhone 4S went on sale in the U.S., the U.K. and five other countries on Oct. 14. Three days later, Apple boasted that it had sold four million of the devices, more than double the number of iPhone 4 smartphones sold in the same span last year.

Although the bulk of the battery complaints pertain to the iPhone 4S, some users have also reported faster exhaustion for older devices -- including the iPhone 4 and iPad -- after updating to iOS 5, the operating system upgrade Apple issued Oct. 12.

As is usual on Apple's support forum -- which Apple representatives monitor but rarely contribute to -- users posed numerous hypotheses about the problem's root, as well as multiple solutions.

Among the possible explanations, users put forward the iPhone 4S' location-monitoring service, the Siri voice control system, the on-by-default diagnostics option -- which sends data to Apple -- and iCloud, Apple's new sync and backup service.

Some customers said that a variety of settings had mitigated, but not solved, the problem, while many more said that changes had had no effect on their phone's battery life.

While users themselves seem unable to pin down the cause, there is no shortage of claims by bloggers that they have found the source: Last week, for instance, the iDownloadBlog claimed that a bug in iOS 5's location service was at fault.

According to Apple, the iPhone 4S' battery should be good for eight hours of talk time, six hours of Internet usage and 200 hours in standby mode. As a comparison, the iPhone 4 was rated at seven hours of talk time, six hours on the Internet and 300 hours in standby.

Apple did not reply to a request for comment about the iPhone 4S battery complaints.

covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at Twitter @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed Keizer RSS. His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

See .

Read more about Macintosh in Computerworld's Macintosh Topic Center.



What is Tech Briefcase?
TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more
Bookmark content
Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.
Search and Store
Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.
View Anywhere
Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.
Don't have an account yet?
Additional Resources
Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Macintosh White Papers
Practice Management: Double Billing Rate and Improve Patient Services
Would you like to double your billing rate and achieve faster payment for services?

Download this customer success story to see how One Health...
Mission Critical Data Explosion and Customer Case Study
Would you like to double your tier 1 storage capacity while simultaneously reducing your storage footprint?

Download this customer success story to see how...
Protecting Against Database Attacks and Insider Threats: Top 5 Scenarios
Read this new eBook to learn the top five scenarios and essential best practices for preventing database attacks and insider threats.
Database Activity Monitoring Is Evolving
Read the analyst report and learn how you can leverage the core capabilities of a DAP solution for better database security.
Establishing a Strategy for Database Security is No Longer Optional
The options for securing increasingly valuable databases are very broad and deep, and can be confusing. This research provides an overview of three...
All Macintosh White Papers
Macintosh Webcasts
Distributed Database Security with Real-time Monitoring
View this demo and learn how IBM InfoSphere Guardium database activity monitoring can help protect your sensitive data in distributed DBMS environments with...
InfoSphere Warehouse Packs Demo
These flash modules make warehousing more tangible and relevant to business users through detailed explanations of the InfoSphere Warehouse Packs.
Delivery Management -- Extending Lifecycle Management
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT

Siloed organizations continue doing the wrong things and doing things wrong, leading to increased costs,...
Leverage automation today to reduce IT complexity
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 2:00 PM EDT

Whether your B2B complexity is caused by multiple technologies due to M&A, business or application specific...
Redefine Expectations in the Data Center
Need to do more with less? Watch this video to learn how HP ProLiant Gen8 servers can help your business deploy servers three...
All Macintosh Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs