Usage much higher than before—what changed?

[Jusfer]

So my average battery life was three days, after which I would show a usage of about 5 hours (which seems about right).

Since a couple weeks, my usage is often almost as high as the standby. E.g., after a full charge in the morning, it would show maybe 10 hours standby in the evening, and almost 10 hours of usage (which is not true). Since this is happening, I need to recharge every two days.

Right now, I am showing 1 day and 11 hrs standby with 15 hrs of usage (not right) and a 31% remaining charge.

I checked all apps that might be running in the background, but there are none that could count. I rebooted, and no change. I did notice a few of the settings had also changed since this unrealistic high usage, so something must have changed within my OS. But what could it be?

 

[Jusfer]

update

I just recharged again after two days. It must have been 13 minutes after I pulled the plug that I checked usage. Both Usage and Standby showed 13 minutes—after I had not used the phone at all!

So, again, the question is: what could be running in the background that is counted as usage?

Or, put another way: How can I check what is running in the background?
When I double-click the home button, I don't see any app in the list that looks like it is using up juice. No app that would use GPS.

Latest status: both usage and standby show 40 minutes. I am getting gray hair!

 

[mms13]

Regardless of what you think is and is not hogging your usage, you need to force quit all the apps in your multitasking bar. Double tap home, then tap and hold on an app, then tap the red minus for every app. After that, restart your phone. Should fix the problem.

 

[Jusfer]

Thanks mms for responding. I happened to do just that and now usage is stable, while standby grows. Excellent!

However, what could have caused the change a few weeks ago? Before the change, I would still have all the apps up in the multitasking bar, but only show about 5 to 6 hours of usage after about three days of standby.

Finally, I understand now that having apps up in the multitasking bar counts as usage. But does it actually suck juice too?

Again, thanks for your help!

 

[mac2thefuture]

So my average battery life was three days, after which I would show a usage of about 5 hours (which seems about right).

Since a couple weeks, my usage is often almost as high as the standby. E.g., after a full charge in the morning, it would show maybe 10 hours standby in the evening, and almost 10 hours of usage (which is not true). Since this is happening, I need to recharge every two days.

Right now, I am showing 1 day and 11 hrs standby with 15 hrs of usage (not right) and a 31% remaining charge.

I checked all apps that might be running in the background, but there are none that could count. I rebooted, and no change. I did notice a few of the settings had also changed since this unrealistic high usage, so something must have changed within my OS. But what could it be?

3 days. That's amazing.

 

[Jusfer]

update 2

Looking good again, so far:

(real) usage: 2:30 hrs
Standby: 24 hrs
Battery: 82%

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3 days. That's amazing.

The amazing part, really, is that I can restrain myself to not using the phone more, so that I need to recharge only after 3 days.

 

[mac2thefuture]

Looking good again, so far:

(real) usage: 2:30 hrs
Standby: 24 hrs
Battery: 82%

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The amazing part, really, is that I can restrain myself to not using the phone more, so that I need to recharge only after 3 days.

Do you actually use/play with the device??

 

[mms13]

Finally, I understand now that having apps up in the multitasking bar counts as usage. But does it actually suck juice too?

Having apps in the multitasking bar does NOT count as usage - in fact, Apple claims that you should never have to close any apps out. Usage is simply all the time that your screen is on, or a process is running (music, GPS, etc).

Your issue was that an app got in a bad state and was unable to correctly background. It either froze or was hanging onto a process in error, which constantly kept your usage going (and drained your battery). The reason I had you close out all the apps was because you didn't know which specific one was causing the issue, so was best to shut them all down.

Again, it shouldn't be necessary to close all your apps frequently. Having a lot of backgrounded apps does not affect your battery. Only in this rare case was one of your apps being problematic.

 

[VSMacOne]

The amazing part, really, is that I can restrain myself to not using the phone more, so that I need to recharge only after 3 days.

Why restrain yourself just to get longer numbers? It's a phone. Use it, then plug it in . There's plenty of power in the wall

 

[Jusfer]

final update

Thanks for the additional explanations, makes a lot of sense.

By now I can say for sure that I am back to the old situation:
Usage 8:56 hrs
Standby 2 days 20 hrs
Battery 24%.

 

[hafr]

The usage meter is, in my opinion, complete and utter bullcrap. As you say, it shows both standby and usage at 13 minutes after 13 minutes of being unplugged. Standby is not usage and vice versa, so the total should be 13, not 26. Last time I restored my phone, I deactivated pretty much everything I could think of, and it was showing over 45 minutes of usage and an hour of standby after an hour of having been lying beside me, without the screen having ever lit up (I would have noticed)... So don't worry

But. My question would be why you even have an iPhone. I can make mine last two days if I turn off all the bells and whistles such as 3G, location services, dim the screen and basically only use it to make the occasional call and send a text or two. But if I only used my phone for that, I'd get an old Nokia that only needs to be charged once a week even under heavy usage.

 

[Jusfer]

My question would be why you even have an iPhone. I can make mine last two days if I turn off all the bells and whistles such as 3G, location services, dim the screen and basically only use it to make the occasional call and send a text or two. But if I only used my phone for that, I'd get an old Nokia that only needs to be charged once a week even under heavy usage.

If you followed the thread and read the posts from top to bottom, you should have grasped the evolution of my iPhone with regard to usage display in relation to actual usage. Let me know where I lost you and I would be happy to lay it out for you in even clearer terms.

As far as your implied barb that I may not be glued to my iPhone as much as you are, I can only say that I have a life.

 

[hafr]

If you followed the thread and read the posts from top to bottom, you should have grasped the evolution of my iPhone with regard to usage display in relation to actual usage. Let me know where I lost you and I would be happy to lay it out for you in even clearer terms.

I'm just saying the meters are off, since usage + standby = total time since last full charge, but it's not. If the total is more, then it's not because an app is running whilst the phone is on standby, but because the meters are off.

As far as your implied barb that I may not be glued to my iPhone as much as you are, I can only say that I have a life.

I listen to music an hour or two, send about ten texts a day, send/receive around twenty e-mails and talk no more than half an hour on the phone every day. When I get home, I use it to check news sites and your average mucking about for about an hour in total. So say I use the phone 3-4 hours a day, with half of that time being inactive usage. I'm at around 20-30 % left when I put it back in the charger, which usually is about 15-16 hours after I removed it. I'm really glued to my phone with no life...

What a downright pathetic thing to imply, that people who's iPhone battery doesn't last three days don't have a life. I just asked you why you had an iPhone since it seems like you're not really using it.

 

[Jusfer]

You are backpedaling.

I just asked you why you had an iPhone since it seems like you're not really using it.

Where did you get the impression that I am not really using my iPhone? Five to eight realistic hours of usage in three days is "not really using it" for you? How many hours a day do you have to idle on an iPhone when you could do more productive work on a PC or laptop, or, even more productive, to think with your own brain instead of letting silicon do it for you?

No need for you to waste more of your time with a response. Same goes for me.

 

[hafr]

You are backpedaling.

Where did you get the impression that I am not really using my iPhone? Five to eight realistic hours of usage in three days is "not really using it" for you? How many hours a day do you have to idle on an iPhone when you could do more productive work on a PC or laptop, or, even more productive, to think with your own brain instead of letting silicon do it for you?

No need for you to waste more of your time with a response. Same goes for me.

Did you at least get what I was trying to say with the meters not being reliable?

As to your question about my usage, I thought I was rather clear in my last reply.

To be able to use an iPhone for five to eight hours over a three day period and still have 20 % of the battery left, you can't be using it for much other than phone calls over the GSM net (or you have some kind of unique battery, in which case your complaints become quite ridiculous). Why buy an expensive phone with features you're not using and then complain about short battery time, when a cheaper phone would do the same things and have a battery that lasts a lot longer, is my question. I'm not trying to be rude, which you most definitely are for some strange reason, I'm just curious.