Battery life issues on iOS 8

By Callum Stoneman, 13 October, 2014

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello,

Since I updated my iPhone 5 to iOS 8, I've been getting ridiculously short battery life. For example, I took it off charge this morning and it was full, I've probably used it for about 30 minutes in total as I've been at school, but when I got home it was on 55 percent. This is almost half the battery drained from being locked in my pocket for about 6 hours.
Pressing the lock button 6 times seemed to be a fix in iOS 7 but doesn't work now. When I was having similar problems a while ago, someone on here sent me a link to the ultimate guide to saving iOS battery life, or something like that. I'm still following the steps in that and even they're not making much difference any more.
Any ideas?

Thanks

Options

Comments

By Serena on Sunday, October 12, 2014 - 00:21

hi. after updating to a new operating system, always do a deep cycle. in other words, drain it till the phone dies. leave it like that, for about 20 mins, to let a bit of extra power drain out. plug it in, and charge up to full. leave plugged in, once fully charged, for about 2 or 3 hours. then take it off once more, and drain it completely again. then, after charging it up, and leaving it for another 2 hours once full, use it as normal. this helps the battery circuits report the right information once more. do this about once a month to keep the battery in good condition. also, as a side note, when do you charge your phone. every night? or only once it gets down to a certain level. and if the latter, what level do you start charging the device at.

also, how old is your device, and what model is it. it could simply be that the battery is beginning to die, if it's an older device.

i haven't noticed any major extra battery drain over iOS 7, having followed this process.

By Callum Stoneman on Sunday, October 12, 2014 - 00:21

I'll try the deep cycle thing as I haven't done that.
I always charge my phone up every night regardless of the level, but it is usually fairly low.
I got my phone when the 5 first came out, so yes it could just be the battery is going. I'll see if the cycle thing makes any difference and will keep you posted.

Thanks :)

By charles on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 00:21

Turn battery draining apps like GPS apps and such on. Let the phone completely die. Totally recharge and let it die again. Completely charge, turn those apps off. That should do it.

By Khalfan Bin Dhaher on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 00:21

Hi Callum and all.
I am also facing battery issues on an iPhone 5S running iOS 8.0.2. The phone was purchased last January and had no battery problems on iOS 7. I am still facing battery issues even after making a full restore and following the list of suggested comments above.

By treky fan on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 00:21

Hi all, I experienced the same battery problems as others have mentioned. I found that rebooting the phone, and letting the battery drop to about 35% every day before charging it seems to have fixed the problem.

By Callum Stoneman on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 00:21

Hi,

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. For now a deep cycle has, not solved it, but definitely improved it.
My iPhone is also elegible for the battery replacement. I'll be getting an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus soon as I'm due an upgrade at Christmas, but if it starts doing this again soon I'll get it replaced.

Thanks again :)

By david s on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 00:21

I have an iPhone 5 running 8.1. I was hoping the 8.1 would fix my battery issue but it did not. Using the below method though, I think I improved it.

I was following the suggestion to decycle the phone and noticed how the battery meter would jump up and down while trying to drain my phone. It showed I had 1 percent left but I was still able to play a 45 minute video clip from Netflix. LOL. Anyhow, this is what I did.

Best way IMHO to drain a phone is to play a video or give it to a kid and let them play a video game. Once the phone is dead, wait a few minutes then try to turn it on. If it turns on, try to drain it again until it turns off. Do this until the phone will no longer turn on. For me, I did this about 15 times. Charge it up and decycle it one more time.

I think the problem is the OS not knowing how much power is left in the battery thus it shuts down the phone prematurely.

David