iPhone: Power sucking app vs. bad battery

Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Snorting his way across the USA
I have an iPhone 5s which is five months old. Recently, the life of the battery, while bike riding (streaming Pandora and running Strava) seems to be decreasing and it actually died on me yesterday.

Is there a way, like an app or something to test if the battery is dying?
 
Sac Arrow said:
I have an iPhone 5s which is five months old. Recently, the life of the battery, while bike riding (streaming Pandora and running Strava) seems to be decreasing and it actually died on me yesterday.

Is there a way, like an app or something to test if the battery is dying?
Click to expand...

Apple Store I believe can test. If it was purchased new and is therefore still under warranty, that might be your best bet, because they will likely replace it right there if a problem is detected.

You can view the apps which are consuming battery in Settings->General->Usage->Battery Usage. I usually get between 5-7 hours of mixed use on ATT LTE with my 5s, but it is 1.5 years old.


JKG
 
Failing Apple doing it.

There are also a ton of places which will install a new, and I believe a larger capacity, battery in iPhones/iPads/iPods for not much $$ if you don't want to but one and DIY it.
 
I assume you tried killing all the apps except the ones in use. The apps will stay perpetually open, even on a reboot, unless you kill them. The battery issues I have seen have been solved by killing apps. I don't really keep phones longer than a couple of years, though.
 
Yeah the phone is so new that some battery sucking app may be the culprit. I went on a short ride today (Strava on, no Pandora) and battery usage seemed normal but it wasn't really long enough to judge. Pandora may be to blame. It's starting to become bloatware.
 
John221us said:
I assume you tried killing all the apps except the ones in use. The apps will stay perpetually open, even on a reboot, unless you kill them. The battery issues I have seen have been solved by killing apps. I don't really keep phones longer than a couple of years, though.
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I too have found that often helps. I have also found out that when I tell people this, many of them have no idea how to kill an app. So to keep anyone that doesn't know from having to ask:

Double click the home button! This should bring up a large thumbnail of the last page of each app that is open. I am always amazed how many there are. You can scroll through them sideways.

Then put and hold your finger on one of the pages and 'swipe' it UP and off the display. Do that for all of them. You can do up to three at a time.

I have found that the apps that use the GPS seem to suck up the most cpu.
 
James331 said:
Failing Apple doing it.

There are also a ton of places which will install a new, and I believe a larger capacity, battery in iPhones/iPads/iPods for not much $$ if you don't want to but one and DIY it.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what all of this is supposed to mean, but if it's a 5 month old iPhone and therefore still under warranty, there's no reason to pay anything to have it evaluated and repaired. If you attempt to repair it yourself, you may put the remaining warranty of the device at risk.

The apps which are consuming the most battery should be displayed under Usage.

Apps that aren't closed should consume no battery unless Background App Refresh is enabled and the app actually refreshes in the background. In my experience, killing apps otherwise does not noticeably impact battery life.

Pandora does seem to cause accelerated battery consumption when it's streaming.


JKG
 
Sac Arrow said:
Yeah the phone is so new that some battery sucking app may be the culprit. I went on a short ride today (Strava on, no Pandora) and battery usage seemed normal but it wasn't really long enough to judge. Pandora may be to blame. It's starting to become bloatware.
Click to expand...

Try Slacker. I have used that quite a bit with minimal drain. Some of that depends on cell reception though. If you are in an area with poor reception, it will drain.
 
go to settings and general and turn off background app refresh. I have no battery issued with Pandora, BTW.
 
Pandora is streaming, no? That means it keeps a data link open to server, which means a cell link to the tower. Transmitter running = much higher battery suck.

That's especially true if you're in a weaker signal area (higher tx power) or on 3G instead of 4G. Or worse, the signal is 1x RTT.
 
Go to settings > general > usage > battery usage and it will list the percent each app has been using your battery in the past 24 hours and 7 days.
 
wsuffa said:
Pandora is streaming, no? That means it keeps a data link open to server, which means a cell link to the tower. Transmitter running = much higher battery suck.

That's especially true if you're in a weaker signal area (higher tx power) or on 3G instead of 4G. Or worse, the signal is 1x RTT.
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Yes, but I've never had issues before. On a normal long ride, I'm going for 6-7 hours streaming Pandora and running the Strava app and still have about a third of battery life left. This time it ran out in four hours. Maybe it was a reception issue.

Everskyward said:
Go to settings > general > usage > battery usage and it will list the percent each app has been using your battery in the past 24 hours and 7 days.
Click to expand...

Bingo.

Last seven days - Pandora is #1 with 36%, and that was four hours of streaming on Saturday. Strava is at 10%, and that includes an additional hour on Sunday. Home and lock screen is at 14%, and there are a few other small things.
 
Connect a DC generator/charger to the bike. You can generate 1.5mA, can't you?
 
EdFred said:
Connect a DC generator/charger to the bike. You can generate 1.5mA, can't you?
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Yeah, I could, but I need every last bit of my own power so I don't get outclassed on the trail. What I DO have is a charger pack that is roughly the size of the phone. It's small enough that I can stuff it in my jersey along with the phone.

Or I could go without streaming music. I don't bother if I'm going on a short (less than 30 mile) ride. Otherwise, five to six hours on desolate roads can get boring in a hurry.
 
I don't listen to music when I ride. I want to hear what's coming up behind me. But I ride road, and I don't have mirrors.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Maybe it was a reception issue.
Click to expand...

Cell systems are designed to lower power automagically when signals are strong, and increase them as needed when the signals are weaker. There's a huge difference in battery life when I'm in town vis being in the mountains.
 
wsuffa said:
Cell systems are designed to lower power automagically when signals are strong, and increase them as needed when the signals are weaker. There's a huge difference in battery life when I'm in town vis being in the mountains.
Click to expand...

I guess that could be but I was in town along a route I've done zillions times with no issues. Regardless, I'm pretty sure I've found the smoking gun.
 
Also make sure the phone isn't auto updating Apps in the background. That battery suck doesn't show up on any of the tools in iOS.
 
14% seems high for the home and lock screen. My big users are Maps 30% ( I used it for at least an hour yesterday) and Tapatalk 27%, which I'm using now. Home and lock screen shows 3%.
 
Everskyward said:
14% seems high for the home and lock screen. My big users are Maps 30% ( I used it for at least an hour yesterday) and Tapatalk 27%, which I'm using now. Home and lock screen shows 3%.
Click to expand...

I'm not really that surprised. I use the fingerprint scanner, which probably takes more power than an unlock code or a "swipe", plus I unlock and view the phone compulsively as a substitute for social interaction and interpersonal relationship development.
 
The 6 plus is the only one with a decent battery life. The 5 just sucks... Look into a Mophie juice pack to take with you. My 6 plus lasts 5am to 2am using it all day. My 5 lasted 2 hours max.
 
pigpenracing said:
The 6 plus is the only one with a decent battery life. The 5 just sucks... Look into a Mophie juice pack to take with you. My 6 plus lasts 5am to 2am using it all day. My 5 lasted 2 hours max.
Click to expand...

I actually have a charger pack which I can take along with me. I will take it with me on my next long ride.
 
Okay, followup: I went for another long ride and took my charge pack but I didn't need it. Ride lasted a little over six hours, and there was no accelerated battery drain, with both Pandora and Strava running.

The only thing that was different is that I didn't have the volume up very much. I suppose that could make a difference. Or it could be that techno dance mix uses less power than Metallica and Iron Maiden.
 
I usually kill apps not being used,when I use map my tracks,or fore flight. I also have a cover that has a battery that will feed the I pad.
 
Huh....you can do it in Android just by looking at Battery status. It tells you what apps are killing the battery. If nothing special is sucking the power, then it is clear that the battery is bad.
 
The only correct answer is a battery test that eliminates all other variables. There's a whole lot of them on a typical bike ride.
 
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