how long is battery charge supposed to last on 4s

By Neo, 14 July, 2012

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories
Hi, My Iphone 4s seems to use a lot of battery for example I turned off WiFi, Location services etc overnight but when I checked this morning, it has used more than 50%+ of the battery. I am worrying about the battery dying during the night and missing the alarm in the morning etc. My old nokia phone hardly used any battery when I wasn't using it. I normally keep my Iphone plugged into my USB port on my PC during the day but if I don't, I end up charging it 2 or 3 times a day. Is the above normal behaviour for a 4s? I know the battery life is rubbish on the 4s but I didn't think it was so rubbish.

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By Neo on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - 02:27

Also, is there any external battery pack that gives audible feedback as to how much charge is left in the battery? I have been having a quick look at some battery packs and the best one I can find is the following: I would like to hear any reviews or opinions about it: TeckNet® iEP387 7000mAh Dual-Port 2.1Amp Output: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet%C2%AE-Dual-Port-Universal-Ericsson-Blackberry/dp/B000UH46YY/ref=pd_sim_ce_4

Hi Neo, Do you have the latest iOS version (5.1.1) on your phone? iOS 5.1.1 is reported to have some battery life improvements for the 4S. I too have noticed not-so-great battery life on my iPhone 4S, but I attributed it to the level of use it gets during the day. I plug my phone into the charger at night (I have an outlet near my bed) and this works pretty well. As far as external batteries, I have no experience with them whatsoever. AT Guys (a blindness assistive technology distributer) sells an external battery for the iPhone, but I don't know much about it.

By DPinWI on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - 02:27

When I was using Downcast, it could drain 50 to 70 percent of my battery while sitting locked on my dresser over night. . Even with the app out of the switcher and sync'ing turned off. It took a while to figure out it as an app eating the battery. Once I took Downcast off, my battery life was much better. I'm not picking on Downcast, and I know it works great for many people. I'm just using it as an example where sometimes, in some situations, a particular app can drain the battery. You might try a little Sherlock Holmes action to see if you can find something like that going on. Oh, and don't forget what a juice hog GPS can be.

Do you know of any accessible apps to see what is currently running or even better if there is a battery management app that can generate a report of how much battery each of the apps you are using has used over a certain timeframe. I don't understand how Downcast could be using battery even if its not in the app switcher. From what I've read about the app switcher and multi tasking in IOS5, Apps are supposed to be removed from memory when you quit them from the app switcher like the task switcher in Windows. I installed a tweek to kill all running apps at once but it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference to battery life though from what I read, even though an app may be listed in the app switcher, it doesn't mean that it is actively running in the background apart from certain exceptions like GPS apps and the music player. I'm using a jailbreak app called SBProfiles which automatically turns off WiFi and location services every night. It also loads up my alarm application autmatically which is handy. I don't know how much battery SBProfiles is using. I do have a few other tweeks installed also.

There is an app called Battery Doctor Pro (http://www.applevis.com/ios-app-directory/utilities/battery-doctor-pro-max-your-battery-life ) that is reported to be fully accessible as of March 2012.

If apps not currently in the task switcher are not running, or using battery power, how do they receive notifications? I could be wrong, but it seems something is going on in the background. Back to the original idea of battery life, my wish list would include a way to turn off the screen backlight, and display, while keeping gestures active. The curtain is good for privacy, but does nothing to extend battery life.

I don't know a lot about how the task switcher works but I read that apps are assigned different priorities. GPS and music apps are at the top and can run in the background etc. There is also supposed to be a time limit of 10 mins or so after which an app that is in the background will be suspended and put into like hibernation. Someone who knows more about this could expand on this. I've been using the app Battery Doctor to see what processes are running and there are quite a few names in there that I don't recognise. I think most of them are services that the iphone is running in the background. It would be good to disable or quit processes that I don't need. They don't show up in the task switcher cos they aren't apps.

It would be good if the screen curtain could totally turn off the backlight if it already doesn't and also the option to save the screen curtain setting in the VO settings. Currently it doesn't remember when I close and restart VO.

By Clare Page on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - 02:27

Hi! I find that I conserve battery life on my iPhone 4S by removing apps from the app switcher as soon as I've finished with them, even if I expect to use them again later. It might also be useful for you to turn Screen Curtain on in VoiceOver: I can't remember how to do this myself, but it stops the screen lighting up and text being visible on it for sighted people while VoiceOver continues to work, and I've heard that using Screen Curtain can conserve battery life. Also, if you use bluetooth devices with your iPhone, such as a keyboard, they can eat up your battery power. I also tend to shut down my iPhone 4S at night, but obviously that can't be done if you're using the alarm the next morning or need to keep the phone running overnight for some other reason. As for jailbreaking, I don't know anything about that, so I have no idea whether using jailbreak apps will eat up your battery power quicker than using non-jailbreak apps.

By Neo on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - 02:27

Thanks for those tips. The screen curtain shortcut is a 3 finger triple tap. I think I will also try removing the Downcast app as someone nmentioned earlier on here. I find that quite laggy and slow when I do use it anyway. It takes it a while to respond to button presses etc. It would be intresting to know if the phone switches on if you have an alarm set and while we're on about alarms, does anyone know how to turn off the alarm in the Alarmed, Clocks, reminders application? It takes me forever to find the stop button in the morning.

By Cat on Friday, January 24, 2014 - 02:27

The best way I have found to turn off the alarm is to unlock the phone. Otherwise you could turn off snooze when setting it up and just hit the lock button. Sorry off topic.

By Isaac Hebert (not verified) on Friday, January 24, 2014 - 02:27

Did you turn off brightness? If you didn't go to settings brightness and wall paper and then move the slider down to 0 if you can.