Several users have reported poor battery life after the update to iOS 4.0.1, on both iPhone and iPod touch models.
Fixes
Disable/check location services. Overactive location services usage can result in poor battery life. Specifically, apps that use location services in the background can quickly drain the battery.
To check location services usage on an app-by-app basis, navigate to Settings > General > Location Services. Turn location services off for all applications, then turn them back on for desired apps one by one or in groups. Via this procedure, you can identify which app’s use of location services is draining battery. Alternatively, you can temporarily turn off location services altogether and check for increased battery life.
Check Internet tethering. Some reports indicate that the iPhone may be persistently attempting to establish a tethering connection, thereby draining the battery. Navigate to Settings > General > Network and tap Internet Tethering, then tap “cancel” if you it is trying to connect, or turn off tethering altogether. You may need to turn Wi-Fi off then back on to stop the tethering connection attempts.
Bad apps to blame? Anecdotal evidence suggests that apps incompatible with iOS 4.0 or otherwise problematic under the new release can cause battery drain issues. Backup your iPhone in iTunes, then delete apps from the device in groups (you can always sync them back from iTunes later). After each group, restart your iPhone and check for the battery drain problem. Via this method, you can isolate the problematic app and remove it permanently.
Also, make sure all apps are up to date; developers have released a flurry of iOS 4.0-compatible app editions in the past few days.
Turn off Push. Navigate to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and tap “Fetch New Data.” Turn off Push.
Calibrate the battery. Fully charge your iPhone, then allow it to drain until completely empty (device powers off on its own and displays a spinning progress indicator). Then recharge your phone and check for excessive battery drain.
Close open Safari windows. One iOS application that consumes memory and processor time (and therefore battery life) in the background is Safari. Close all unused windows in the application by pressing the page switch button in the lower right portion of the screen then clicking the X at the top left of each page.
Restore, but not from a backup (use as a last resort). As is the case with some other iOS 4.0 problems, one less-than-ideal fix for the battery drain issue involves restoring the iPhone as a new device rather than from a backup. It appears that bad holdover data from iPhone backups can cause excessive battery use. Restoring as a new phone will delete contacts and other data, but may resolve this problem.
To do so, connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer, click “Restore” in iTunes, then choose “setup as new phone.”
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
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What is the problem and why apple will not fix this problem unless we do something about it.
The incentive explanation
The problem.
I will speak from personal experience; the only attempt I make is at making a logical argument not merely stating an opinion.
I updated my Ipod touch a few months ago. The software update offers by Apple is not mandatory but most of the time, I do not refuse these updates as I trust the company and assume it is to make my product work better. Most of the time, it works just as I said, this time it did not. The battery life of my touch went from 10 days to less than one day!
Surprised and worried, I called Apple, not very useful but I was invited to come to the store. At the store the tech did a few tests and confirmed that my battery has a 97% capacity retention. I am not sure of the tech term for it but it meant that the battery had most of its life ahead of it and the quick drain was not due to a faulty battery.
I was send home after a few of the automatic updating apps were turned off. They were on before and the battery life was just fine. There was no clear reason for why the new behaviour was persisting. I looked it up on the web only to find that many others are having the same problem with their phones and touches since the 4.2 version was released.
People have been doing their best to find solution while Apple is very, very silent. These guys have a lot of people blogging for them to virally spread their marketing, they know what we are writing, instantaneously probably. Still. No word heard from apple about the problem the new software appeared to have created to so many people.
While we are all distracted by increasingly complicated, high tech self help, procedures that basically require hacking the product, we are failing to notice something very simple that would give the explanation and the solution to the problem. That question is; what is Apples’ incentive in the matter? What is in their best interest to do?
OK, so here is a possible explanation to the battery drain issue.
The main plot of this story revolves around a thing called “Product life cycle management”
Apple has all the customers it needs (a generally accepted notion). They make good products and sell new versions very well. The up sell to us periodically by offering a similar yet slightly improved version of the same product and we buy their stuff cuz its better than anything out there (I am even marketing for them but it is true).
When apple releases new generation product, in a bad economy, people naturally buy less of these products. Needing to keep profit and sales numbers up so that the stock price (AKA Unobtanium, AKA The final goal and destiny, AKA the only reason things are done) keeps climbing. What any good capitalist would do.
Problems hit when the company can no longer sell as many new generation products. Knowingly or unknowingly, who knows, a bug arises and makes the battery life and therefore the usefulness of the older generation products fall by a large factor. Almost making a phone useless, making the touch a pain relative to how it was in the past. I need to put it in airplane mode and then the battery life is back to normal (simple but not necessary and easy to fix by apple).
From Apples’ perspective. Why fix the problem? More people are annoyed with the year or two year old product and have to buy another.
Apple knows that we will not go to competitors. As hard as they are trying, no other product is quite there yet. Customer satisfaction is not as critical as it is for other companies because the ease of use and dependency on the product is overwhelmingly large. A bit like drugs maybe?
So a few customers complain, but most customers in the meanwhile buy new versions. Some complainers are really loud but it is nothing that can be documented legally without going to great cost, much greater cost than simply getting the new product.
So, if apple are trying to sell more of the new versions in a bad economy, what better way to do it when they are already using all ‘ethical’ venues? The solution is maybe less ethics? A convenient disregard and closing of the eyes while sales run up? Disregarding the incredible coincidence of a software update and the immediate widely reported drop in battery life? Saying something and applying a fix only after enough people gave up on fixes and bought a new product?
The only thing that could give apple some incentive to fix this is a class action suit. In that case, they will settle (like sony did). The settlement will cost them a lot less than the opportunity lost had they not bugged/or did not fix the bug which effectively killed the older version product and lost all the new sales from people upgrading.
How do you feel about this?
This has been a quick lesson in why understanding peoples’ incentives as the motivator of seemingly, at first glance, illogical actions.
Will it get fixed, maybe, do not hold your breath….. Unless you do something about it!
Are you mad?
Please copy this into every blog, chat room and facebook group that has to do with Apple. I am confident and on the precipice of giving a guarantee that if this type of post makes it to main stream media, Apple will find its tongue again and will apply a fix in a matter of days or hours.
Its just bs, i shouldnt have to update router settings or turn off features. My ipod worked fine before the update on several different wireless networks, now it doesnt matter where its at or what im doing on it. it only lasts a day maybe two just laying on my nightstand. When before it would last a week with my normal usage. Apple is just like every other big company, they dont care. They made there money and thats it. If im wrong about this, than an update wouldve been relaesed by now to fix this problem. I was thinking of switching phone companys and getting and iphone but now id rather just stay at sprint and get an evo.
Mine appears to have been fixed after turning off location services.
Have two iPads, one updated with iOS 4.2.1 and the other not, differences in lagging 3G and wifi speed is undoubtedly obvious… Battery life also drains massively quicker with iOS 4.2.1 whereas the iPad not updated with the OS can last +- 3 days longer… U can look at YouTube where some people has uploaded video response about youtube download time side by side with the mentioned iPad condition. It feels like catching a snake and putting in my blanket… Annoyed…
@Lani
Good for you but I don’t think that solution will work for me. All 5 of us with our various devices – iPhone, laptops, iPad, iPod Touch, are connected to our home Wifi. Only one of my children’s iPod Touch has this batter draining problem. Can’t be the router’s firmware in our case.
DEFINITIVE FIX FOUND
I was dealing with this headache (iTouch 2nd gen running iOS 4.0) like everyone else, and not finding any solutions online. I finally reached the end of my rope and emailed NYTimes tech columnist David Pogue, who forwarded my email to someone high up enough at Apple that they assigned someone to work with me personally.
They had me install battery usage tracking software on my iTouch over several days, then had Apple Engineering analyze the log. The main culprit they suspected was the firmware on my wireless router. Their suggested fix? Update the firmware. When I updated the firmware on my wireless router, the battery issue was gone. *GONE* My iTouch lasts for days with wifi enabled now, just like it did back when I was running iOS 3.1.3.
My suggestion for everyone is to try updating the firmware on their wireless router. Chances are, it’s one of those things people rarely ever think about to update. We update our computer’s OS, update drivers, and so on, but router firmware is pretty low on the list and one I did not see mentioned in most people’s posts.
This shouldn’t really happen in the first place, and it won’t address people who might run into this problem if they use a public wifi… but at least they can update the firmware on their own routers.
It’s odd that it’s a firmware issue, but it makes sense that such an incompatibility can cause the iPod/iPhone to experience excess network usage.
This is the closest we have to an acknowledgement of the issue and workaround from Apple. I’m gonna try to get the word out; I hope this helps a lot of people.
This is not an acceptable solution! My IPOD Touch was working fine until Apple released the newest version.
I don’t want to have to jump through hoops. I want my money back and will just continue to use my old IPOD.
I have my receipt and will be on my way back to the store.
APPLE should be ashamed that they’re asking customers to change their settings for a problem that is clearly theirs.
Shame on you APPLE!
Update: after turning Push off and finding that this stopped the battery drain issue, I began trying to find which application was constantly sending data. I turned Push back on, reset usage stats and then deleted my corporate e-mail account (MS Exchange) – the first culprit I suspected. After I did this, usage stats were normal again with Push on, which showed me that this account was the problem. I then added the account back – and everyone now works great. I can leave Push on without draining the battery in a matter of hours.
After trying several different options, the only thing that stopped my iPhone 3GS’s very rapid battery drain after upgrading to iOS 4.01 was to turn Push off.
I think should carefully read and follow the steps while installing this new operating system on your IPhone.. or do some search in Google to find out more..