iPhone
 

My wife had a simple flip cell phone for years. The flip has just flopped as it fell apart. She purchased an iPhone S4 so it would be compatible to her iPad. Problem with the phone is, battery life is poor. Not sure what is draining the battery but she is very unhappy. A charge won't make it thru the day. Any suggestions what to look for?

Apps running in the background will contribute to battery drain.

Bill :)

I am an Apple geek myself, If I had it in front of me I could probably figure it out. Sounds like some program is running in the background all the time and eating up the battery life.

Who is your service provider? If AT&T, I would take it to the store on 441 as they are very helpful there. If Verizon, not sure where the store is, but I'm sure either one could help.

Tom, you can try Googling iphone background apps battery (or anything fairly similar to that) - lots of helpful articles on the topic.

Bill :)

Hey, thanks. Looks like I'll be spending some time there.

you can stop your emails that will help

Tom,

As a new user, you might be puzzled by all this the talk about "apps" (applications). I recommend that you install the "BatteryMagic" app. At any state of charge, it will display how much time remains for various tasks, like talking, internet, gaming, video, etc. For example, right now on my phone it shows that my 70% charge time remaining would provide 5hr 04min of talk time and 4hr 12min of internet searching. I am a light talker and surfer, so my battery charge lasts about three days if I let it. Nevertheless, these smart phones should be put on charge just about every day.

I just bought my wife a book on the I phone and there is a lot of useful information in this book. I would suggest it to anyone that is some-what timed with the phone. I bought the book at Sams.

My wife ordered "iPhone for senior dummies" from Amazon two days ago. I expect UPS to deliver it it today.

As soon as you log onto the forum there is a little chat window available where you can chat with an Apple tech support rep and ask a question - I have chatted with them a few times. They are very helpful.

iPhone User Guide & way to close apps
 

Apple has an iPhone User Guide here:
manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPhone_iOS3.1_User_Guide.pdf

I don't have an iPhone, I have an iTouch, but they are pretty similar.

To close apps:

1. Double click the "home button" (big one at the bottom), you should see apps recently used.
2. Next, press the first app button until they shake and show a red circle with a "-" (minus sign) in the middle.
3. Touch the "-" in the red circle and that will close out the app. She will probably have a lot of apps open.
4. After you have closed the apps, press the home button once to return to regular screen.

Hope this helps!

PS For anyone interested, this works on the iPad too :-)

Found YouTube video too:
Closing Applications on iPhone 4 or iPad - YouTube

Tom...the typical culprits are Location Services (GPS), WiFi or Bluetooth. All of those things will drain the battery in certain situations. For example, if WiFi is enabled and there is no WiFi available, the radio will continue looking for WiFi, which will drain you battery. Likewise, if you have an App that is using the Location Services, that will also drain the battery quicker. Look for a little arrow on the top of the screen to see if this is happening. Finally, bluetooth will drain the battery, especially if you are connected to bluetooth, like the car or to an external speaker.


I see she couldn't wait for the 5 to come out... ha ha

The biggest drain on the battery is having the screen on. When you put it back in your pocket hit the on/off button and turn the screen off. I know when I use mine for golfing with the "golfshot" app if I leave it on I am dead in about 15 holes. If I turn that screen off after getting my yardage I have 50% battery left after 18 holes.

Not to throw a wrench in the works, but the newest iphone, (dubbed the iphone5 for now) will be announced 9/12, and most likely be available by 9/20.
That is less then one month from now......

Saving my pennies .... (and hundreds).

Darn, should of, could of, bought Apple stock! We have two I-phones----I use mine occasionally----wife all the time but never complains about the battery life. She does charge it every night and most of the time while in the car.

You are right Mike. I told her the new iPhone would be coming out next month but she couldn't wait. She is taking an iPhone course next week. Let the Verizon guys help her with the memory.

I-phone 4
 

Double tap the round button at the bottom, you will see a list of apps show up at the bottom of your screen in a row. These apps are set to open quickly when yhey are there and using your battery. Put your finger on the left app and hold it there for about 1 second. They will all begin to shake and a minus sign will appear on all of them. Tap the minus sign on the first one and it will disapper. Now tap the second one, keep tapping them until they are all gone. Don't worry, you still have the app on your screen. It just took them out of running in the background. Once they are all gone, tap the button one time and you are ready to go.
Have fun, hardly use my laptop since I got my I-phone..

Let me see if I've got this straight. Right now it looks like every app that I have is running continuously, even the ones that I have not used for months. So what are they running for, just looking for updates? Communicating with the mother ship? If I shut them off, without loosing them, then I guess that I'll be saving battery life and bytes of download that are going to waste. Then, I suppose that the few that I use a lot will start up again, and that would be OK. Is that all correct?

Correct!! it is a little scarey at first because you think you may lose all of your apps....but you won't!

OK, I'll try it.

(I have been hesitant until now because in the past I have fumbled around with the dancing icons on the screen.)

Double click the home key and you will see all the open apps. Touch the first one and then you should see red - bars in the upper right corner of each app. Delete those apps since you don't need all of them running. The apps will still be on the phone but they won't be open. This need to be done from time to time to spare your battery.

Done. Wonder if I'll see a difference in battery life.

Hey OP, Tom, have you made any progress in finding a solution?

WE are taking another Iphone class at Verizon on Tuesday. I have a lot of questions to ask. We did de activate the apps like people suggested and that seemed to help some.

I think your phone should be on charge whenever you are at home.

I put a charger in my golf cart.

LOVE my iphone
 

Oh My Gosh, I adore my iphone. I had a flip phone up until January and then bit the bullet and bought the 4S. I am in love with my phone.

The battery does drain relatively fast but I am playing a lot of words with friends games. I just plug it in nightly. I used it a lot this weekend when I was out of town, the GPS map came in very handy. Every week it seems like I find more and more uses for it.

There is an Apple store in the mall by me. Every time I walked by the store, any time of year, it was packed with people with their wallets open. I called my financial advisor and had him buy me some stock. Boy, am I very happy with that decision. He also told me to tell him if I ever seen another opportunity like that again. :1rotfl: