Problems with the iPhone 4S Battery – Causes and How to Solve Them

The cloud of suspicion hangs again over the new product developed by the factory of dreams also known as Apple. In fact, the iPhone 4S, after just very few weeks since release, is causing problems to some of its users, and no, this time there is no issue with the signal loss (which on the other hand was never really as severe as we were originally informed), but with a too rapid degradation of the battery power. But what is really happening?

The truth is that the battery life is a very subjective and complex matter to be analyzed on a smartphone. The reason is that battery life depends largely on how each one of us manages its resources and any small change of habit may cause a substantial change in consumption. We personally have discovered on many occasions, that the battery may drain faster if you open an application more than you normal do. I can imagine many iPhone 4S users over-trying Siri with the same consequences.

However, when the complaint comes from many different sources, it’s a clear sign that something is really happening. Not long after users have started reporting the issue on specialized forums, Apple began to investigate the iPhone 4S battery problem. So intense that some Apple engineers have started making calls to users with this problem after they reported the situation through the support site of the Cupertino company. One of the individuals who were contacted said he was informed  that Apple was aware of this bug and was asked to install a remote diagnostic tool to monitor the use and status of his mobile device.

Anyway, it’s clear that this is not a general situation, and this last fact takes us closer to the possible causes. First remember we must remember I thing: iFixit reported that the iPhone 4S battery delivers more power than the one mounted on the iPhone 4, and then we can read on Apple’s website that the time-frame between charges has been increased, although the more powerful A5 processor would have us think otherwise. Second, the tests carried out by independent media as Cnet do nothing but corroborate the data published by Apple. In conclusion, it does not seem to be a hardware issue so it must be something related to the software, but what exactly?

Honestly, we doubt that Apple will give us the answer on this iPhone 4S battery problem, this will come quietly through an iOS 5 upgrade meant to remedy the disease once and for all and may only be mentioned as a mere point among the many improvements introduced in the update. The answer therefore is to be found out, so we must address the issue based on what users are discovering themselves. Five seem to be the sources of malfunction:

Damaged contact syncronization

Apparently wizards as the System Activity Monitor are not working properly as some users have found a problem that relates to the synchronization of contacts with iCloud. It seems that iOS 5 always finds a reason to synchronize despite the fact that contacts are up to date, draining the battery. Disabling this contact sync from the iCloud settings has solved the iPhone 4S battery problem in this case.

Time Zone Location

Apparently this Golden Master version for iOS 5 introduced a bug that has not been solved yet and for which the activation of the time zone in the Location section of the System Services menu forces the phone to access Golden Master constanly. This is the service that changes the time automatically if the user travels between different time zones. The deactivation of this service has improved the battery life for some users.

Location-based reminder

The new application called Reminders is a practical solution for many of the situations when you need to remember something important. But used together with the location based reminder that helps us arrive to or depart from one location may not be too good for our battery, because apparently the tracking system is not too polished and it consumes more resources by constantly analyzing of our GPS location.

Wi-Fi Sync with iTunes

This is the system that helps the iPhone sync with iTunes on our computer and can sync various music and videos libraries. Deactivation has soled the iPhone 4S battery problem for some users and can be done in Settings, General.

Data and usage diagnostic

Activating this option in iOS 5 allows Apple to receive anonymous information about the general operation level of our device. Some users have found a significant improvement in their battery life after disabling this service  in Settings, General, Information.

Information on whether these failures also affect any other iPhone (3G or 4) with iOS 5 is very confusing because on the web there are statements for and against this assumption. As always, and based on what we mentioned above, it would be a good exercise for all of you to test your devices and determine if these errors are affecting your devices too. Once again, this proves that it is virtually impossible to launch a new model of any brand without having some kind of mistake or anomaly. Now, the question is, have you encountered issues with the battery consumption of your iPhone 4S?

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