Fanboys, how to fix my iPhone battery drain?

[Rick Lee]

My iPhone 3GS gets very minimal use, yet the battery can go down from 100% to 50% in a few hours when I haven't touched it. Slodave showed me how to delete my active icons and that seemed to help for a few days. But the issue is back. Sometimes I can put it on the charger overnight and it will only charge to 94%. WTF? Can I DIY this or must I go to the Apple Store?

[craigster59]

Is your wifi and 3g turned on at the same time? That'll drain it quick.

[Rick Lee]

Yes, they are. Wouldn't I want both on, so I can be online when not on a wi-fi network?

[stomachmonkey]

You may need to let it drain to the point that it shuts itself down, then do a full charge overnight. You may need to repeat the process a couple of times to get the battery charging properly.

What version of the OS are you running? Makes a difference.

[Rick Lee]

I don't even know how to check or update the OS. I don't think I've done anything there since I got it a year ago.

[willtel]

You need to manage the functions that us power better.

Use the minimal brightness for the screen.
Turn off wi-fi when you are not using it.
Turn off the GPS when you aren't using it.
Turn off Bluetooth when not in use.
If you use it for email lower the frequency that it checks in for new messages.
When your battery is low and you are desperate for power you can also turn off 3G and use the older network for calls and data, it is slower but it uses less power.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I don't even know how to check or update the OS. I don't think I've done anything there since I got it a year ago.

Settings-->General-->About-->Version

[shadowjack1]

Rick Lee
Hit the round button at the bottom twice, you will see all of your apps running in the back ground, push and hold one of these apps until it wiggles, then you will see a minus sign on each app. hit the minus sign on each app to shut it off. This will not delate any of your apps just stops them from running until you need them again.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by shadowjack1

Rick Lee
Hit the round button at the bottom twice, you will see all of your apps running in the back ground, push and hold one of these apps until it wiggles, then you will see a minus sign on each app. hit the minus sign on each app to shut it off. This will not delate any of your apps just stops them from running until you need them again.

I do that a few times a days since Slodave showed me how the weekend before last. Otherwise, I haven't added anything that would explain why battery drain has sped up so much. Ditto for my wife's phone, though she uses hers a LOT more than I use mine, because I also have a Blalckberry, the bill for which I never see, and she does not.

When at home, is it better to have 3G or my wi-fi enabled? Not both, right?

[Tim Hancock]

On my droid, I leave the GPS and wi-fi turned off 95% of the time. I have unlimited 3G data so no sense using wi-fi for me. Until I figured this out, my Droid would go dead during one day of occasional use. With the GPS and WiFi turned off, I can go 2-3 days between charging. (I turn my phone off from about 9:00pm to 5:30am most of the time)

[jyl]

Adding to willtel's list

In Settings | Mail | Fetch, turn Push off and set Fetch to hourly or manual. Instead of the iPhone staying constantly connected to your email and/or connecting every 15 minutes, it will only connect hourly or - using manual - when you open Mail.

In Settings, turn Location Services off. That switches off the GPS. Turn it back on when you want to consult Maps or something.

In Settings, turn Notifications off.

In Settings, turn Wi-Fi off. The iPhone doesn't need to be constantly connected to the WLAN with its WLAN radio on. Turn it on when needed.

In Settings | General, turn Bluetooth off.

In Settings | General, turn Enable 3G off. This is kind of extreme, but something to do if you're really trying to eke out maximal battery life - like you're down to 15% battery and hours from a charger.

In Settings | Brightness, turn screen brightness down. Again, something you can do in extremis.

In a real extreme case, turn Airplane Mode on or simply power-off the iPhone - that's like if your battery is way low and you're trying to preserve the last bit of battery power because you know you'll have to make a call in 5 hours.

With my iPhone 3G, battery life was an issue and I used many of the above tricks. With the iPhone 4, it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue - I leave Push and Bluetooth off and set Fetch to manual, but otherwise I leave everything else on.

I think battery life is getting better as smartphones develop, not just due to better batteries or more efficient processors, but I think they are making incremental efficiency improvements everywhere and shrinking components to make more room for the battery. Of course, as phones get thinner, battery capacity is challenged. I wish they'd stop that - I'd rather have a fatter phone and not worry about the battery life.

[MotoSook]

how often are you fetching e-mail? Set it to 1 hr and manual. My phone use to drain 'cuse it was polling every 15 minutes or so...

[stomachmonkey]

One of the other issues is coverage.

In TX my coverage is excellent.

Even on heavy use days my battery is only down to 50% when I plug it in before bed.

Last month was back in the NE for a week where coverage is notoriously bad. Wife and I were both charging our phones twice a day.

Got back to TX and back to normal.

[Z-man]

In addition to what was posted above...

In Settings | Brightness, turn auto brightness OFF, and set the brightness to as low as you can and still see the screen inside. If autobrightness is turned on, then when you are outside in the sunlight, the phone will max the brightness on your phone which will suck down the battery rather quickly.

As stated - turning bluetooth off also help conserve battery life.

When I'm done with an app, I will always double-click the round button and completely close the app. If you are on facebook or linked in, or any other app where you log in, then you should log out of those apps before closing them completely -- that way, you won't be polling for any pushes from their servers.

I keep wifi and 3G turned on all the time -- and would suggest using wifi over 3G if available. wifi is typically faster and a more stable connection. I believe when connected to wifi, keeping the 3G turned on won't drain more battery.

I have a solar charger I keep in my car. Link

It will charge up my iPhone4 to about 75% capacity. The downside is that the solar panel is so small, it takes 3-4 days for it to charge its internal batter, whereas my iphone will go from 100% charged to 5% charged in about 2-3 days...

But for an emergency situation, the solar charger works.

Hope this helps,
-Z-man.

[Rick Lee]

I rarely have good AT&T coverage anywhere. So I have a microcell in the house. Can't wait to switch to Verizon.

[Hugh R]

If you're in a place with no service, switch to airplane mode, the phone uses more battery "looking" for service.

[dad911]

Before jail-breaking, couldn't get a day out of a charge, now I get almost 2 days, but I have no idea why.......with wi-fi & 3g on.

[Seahawk]

Are any of the apps that deal with attery life (my " " on this key set doesn't work) any good?

[mikester]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I do that a few times a days since Slodave showed me how the weekend before last. Otherwise, I haven't added anything that would explain why battery drain has sped up so much. Ditto for my wife's phone, though she uses hers a LOT more than I use mine, because I also have a Blalckberry, the bill for which I never see, and she does not.

When at home, is it better to have 3G or my wi-fi enabled? Not both, right?

When you're home you want to use Wifi but when you're out and about unless you're at a starbucks or some other location you're using their wifi at you should turn it off to save battery. My wife has to do this as well with her older 3GS.

[Hugh R]

If you have iheartradio, I believe it stays on when you pull out the plug for your earphones (you don't hear it on the phones speakers when you do that). I switch to airplane mode for a second I think that shuts it off.