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iOS 7.1 makes everything faster — including your battery drain

iOS 7.1 may have only been released this week, but it’s already got it’s own “gate”-worthy issue: battery life is abysmal. Reports on Twitter and Apple’s support discussion forums indicate that users are seeing significant drain on their batteries after installing the new update.

[tweet https://twitter.com/horwitz/status/444305435265220608 align=’center’]

Some users suggest that running a clean install of iOS 7.1 (by restoring through iTunes) will solve the issue. That solution seemed to help some people during the last round of BatteryGate back in 2011 when the iPhone 4S first launched, though there don’t seem to be any confirmed reports of that actually working yet.

Even ArsTechnica found a noticeable drop in battery life with the 7.1 update, though the article does note that the numbers fall with the test’s margin of error:

On the Apple support forum, many user’s complain of big battery hits after doing an over-the-air update. From forum user atchyut:

I have updated my iPhone 5s to iOS 7.1, ever since I have been experiencing battery drain of about 1% every 10 mins. Is anyone else facing the same issue?

And from PJS2006:

I installed iOS 7.1 yesterday and now my battery on my iPhone 5S is dropping rappidly. I charged it last night and unplugged it before work. On the 30min commute it went from 100% down to 97% with no use from me. What gives?

[tweet https://twitter.com/qtfan/status/444308619748589571 align=’center’]

[tweet https://twitter.com/juiceee/status/443709550269431808 align=’center’]

[tweet https://twitter.com/ericpatricksmit/status/444106130781110272 align=’center’]

[tweet https://twitter.com/ow/status/444307698012917761 align=’center’]

But hey, not everyone is having problems. At least one whole user has reported improved battery life on iOS 7.1.

[tweet https://twitter.com/OneRainyWish/status/443904132361891840 align=’center’]

[tweet https://twitter.com/j0emay/status/444324527862845440 align=’center’]

Granted, there could be more users having no problems at all, and compared to the number of users who have installed the update, the number of reports may not represent a large portion of the user base. Please take part in our poll to help us find out.

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Comments

  1. Integ (@integ) - 10 years ago

    I haven’t experienced this at all on my iPhone 5. 7.1 upgraded OTA from 7.0.6, and my battery life has been fine. Did 7.1 turn back on a bunch of stuff in the background that people had turned off? Only on certain models? Only upgrading via certain ways? There’s more investigation that needs to be done before declaring the entire 7.1 update a battery killer across the board.

    • avinash (@avinash0074u) - 10 years ago

      There is battery problem with 7.1 update

      • Kunal Patel - 10 years ago

        Their has been a battery problem since 7.0.6 came out. My phone only charges to 97%. From 100-79 it takes and hour and half. then its like water drying up the battery just plunges. at 20% the phone either turns off or every min it loses a percentage.

    • matthewdbenson - 10 years ago

      @integ – that would make sense – the chart shows that iPhone 5 was one of the few to improve with 7.1

  2. 7.0.6 with JailBreak. Bite me.

    • Mike Beasley - 10 years ago

      Same here! Wouldn’t give it up for 7.1!

    • Ryan DeRocco - 10 years ago

      Agreed! I won’t own an iPhone without my JailBreak anymore.

    • Lance Newcomb - 10 years ago

      iPhone5 with 6.1.4 JailBreak. Suck it.

    • PMZanetti - 10 years ago

      Good god you are such an idiot. Just stop posting here, please! You actually believe you’re experiencing optimal battery life with Cydia Substrate installed? Or half of those tweaks? Do a little learning. Your battery life is worse than iOS 7.1. By far.

      • Lance Newcomb - 10 years ago

        Baaaaa.

      • morillo80 - 10 years ago

        the idiot is you, the DFU (recovery) mode allows you to install all the software from scratch and so the installation works better in terms of the parameters of the equipment, I have no cydia or anything. ! Stupid!

      • Kunal Patel - 10 years ago

        Your the deffiantly dont know what your saying! Iphone 5 6.1.4 doesnt have the battery draining issue. Even with cydia on it doesnt change at all.

  3. Knock on wood, my iPhone 5s battery is fine on 7.1.

    • crichton007 - 10 years ago

      I’m getting noticeably better battery life after the upgrade to 7.1.

      • andreww500 - 10 years ago

        I am also experiencing better battery life on my iPhone 5. Probably about 15% better.

    • PMZanetti - 10 years ago

      Of course it is. Its fine for everyone that has not had their phone glowing since the update looking for what’s new.

  4. weakguy - 10 years ago

    I can confirm that this does not apply to every iOS device. My iPhone 4S battery life has been improved drastically. Gotta love this update. My iPad 3rd gen, on the other hand, see no difference in battery life.

  5. Colin Stalter - 10 years ago

    I luckily haven’t had any issues with battery drain on 7.1 (iPhone 5s).

  6. You guys should be ashamed of making such a frame,

    • rrobinson1216 - 10 years ago

      I agree – this article’s title is such clickbait. It needs to read something like “Some users reporting bad battery drain after 7.1 OTA” or something like that. This title makes it seem like the end of the world for all iOS users…and in fact, the chart they posted only has a lower battery life for a bit over half of the devices…

  7. No problems with battery life with 7.1 at all for me.

  8. rettun1 - 10 years ago

    Haven’t noticed any change in battery life on 5s

  9. copronymous - 10 years ago

    I’ve noticed no difference at all, luckily.

  10. castilloi75 - 10 years ago

    I have the same issue with my battery, it decrease its life on my iPhone 5S too fast!

  11. I wouldn’t come to conclusions so quickly.
    It might just be Spotlight re-indexing or something like that.
    Give it a good week of use at least.

  12. komarovstyle - 10 years ago

    But my iPhone battery is fine.

  13. Brian Batch (@brianbatch) - 10 years ago

    I reported serious battery drain at MacRumors less than three hours after the 7.1 upgrade on my iPad Mini. Yes, it was that noticeable, that quickly, with no change in overall usage. The battery depletion has continued through now. In fact, I turned everything off yesterday, depleted, recharged to 100%, and an HOUR OF IDLE later, was at 89%. Normally, I’d rarely dip below 99%.

  14. On the contrary! I would say that battery life has improved on iOS 7.1.
    I have been streaming Pandora Radio from my iPad 5 to my Bluetooth Speaker in the other room for at least 11 hours today, and my iPad battery is at 78%.
    My iPhone 5s battery is also holding up very well.

    Those with battery issues, make sure you don’t have several apps using Location Services or doing Background App Refresh. Some misbehaving apps could be abusing these two services and draining your battery quickly.

    Also, poor Cellular and/or WiFi signal quality will cause your iDevice to use more power to boost the signal, which would also drain your battery.

  15. Anoop Menon - 10 years ago

    Is there a way to downgrade?

    • Mike Beasley - 10 years ago

      Nope, Apple blocks all downgrades by requiring iTunes to check with their servers before installing iOS onto a device. If they tell iTunes it’s an outdated version, it refuses to install.

  16. Haven’t noticed any such battery drain on my 5. I do like the improvements in the UI though.

  17. robertvarga79 - 10 years ago

    Someone complained of 1% drop of every ten minutes with his iPhone?!! That is not a battery drain, that actually quite nice, thus it comes down to 10% in 100 minutes maybe, but at least 90.

    • rrobinson1216 - 10 years ago

      You think an hour and a half is a good battery life for cell phone that’s advertised to last all day?

      • robertvarga79 - 10 years ago

        1% every ten minutes is NOT an hour and a half total!! Please, learn math!

    • rrobinson1216 - 10 years ago

      Argh. Wrong window – sorry robertvarga – was looking at a different one.

      • robertvarga79 - 10 years ago

        Oh ok, now i see this….although i already replied

  18. Paul E Bourassa - 10 years ago

    When I upgraded to iOS 7.1 at first on my 4S, my battery life was dropping dramatically. However, after a couple of days it seems to be improving.. I’m trying to hold out until the iPhone 6 (or whatever it is eventually called) comes out. In the meantime, apps are responding that much better, although Facebook seems to be the big battery drain.

  19. rogifan - 10 years ago

    My battery is just fine on 7.1. FU 9to5Mac and your constant negative reporting.

  20. mockery17 - 10 years ago

    Shame on you, Mike Beasley. All my iOS 7.1 devices have received better battery lives, and you go around spreading negative reports based on unfounded, scientifically-unproven claims.

  21. smigit - 10 years ago

    “But hey, not everyone is having problems. At least one whole user has reported improved battery life on iOS 7.1.”

    And 2 of the tests in the chart you provided…

    • smigit - 10 years ago

      Actually on that graph. Most of the results in it aren’t that significant at all really and the article itself even points out it falls within what they consider to be a margin of error. It’d be good to see something more comprehensive than observations without backing numbers from peoples Twitter posts. Isolated users have always had issues and unfortunatly it is to be expected…that doesn’t mean everyone is seeing a drop. Those that are having issues are always going to make the most noise.

  22. Lee Palisoc - 10 years ago

    Duh. My 5s is perfectly fine. Including my iPad Air and iPod touch 5. Maybe those people who complain about battery life are those people who always overcharged their device.

  23. totencough - 10 years ago

    My battery life has seemed to improve with 7.1. At worst, it’s stayed the same.

  24. I’m installing all the betas for a few years now. I’ve noticed, that first time after an install battery life is usually significantly worse. I suppose the process also deletes some kind of battery related statistics, or infos, that the phone calculates into battery life. I’ve found, that one or two full discharge cycles restores battery life to the original span.

  25. Rick - 10 years ago

    I am experiencing this issue. My battery is draining MUCH faster after upgrading to 7.1. Got on a plane for a 3 hour flight. Read an article from Pocket, played a couple of games that I play regularly, and then had the device off for the rest of the flight. Got on the plane and was at about 95% battery, when we landed I was at 70%. Normally such usage would take me down to around 85-90%.

    When to a basketball game, walked into the arena at 80%. Did nothing with my phone but check some scores and update my twitter feed, at the end of the game I’m at 60%. This is horrible, and a serious issue.

    • Alex (@Metascover) - 10 years ago

      Did you enable airplane mode? If you didn’t, the phone kept searching for a signal and that uses a lot of battery. Same thing in a sports arena, where network is often over saturated.

      • Rick - 10 years ago

        Yes, absolutely. Did not enable it in the sports arena, but have never had that kind of drain at a game before.

  26. Nadav Ravid (@dr_nadav) - 10 years ago

    So did ArsTechnica show a “statistically significant difference” in battery life or was it “within the test’s margin of error”? Which is it ,because I’m not sure it can be both…?

    For the record, my battery life on 7.1 seems A-OK

  27. Matt Lister (@mklister) - 10 years ago

    I’d like to see if these users have Background App Refresh, Location Services, Bluetooth, Push E-Mail, Notifications turned on?

  28. Those who are hit with the battery daring issue should try to force restart the iPhone by holding down the home button and the sleep/wake button at the same time until the Apple logo appears.

    • James Arthur Kohl - 10 years ago

      YES!! This worked for me. Thanks Jan! :-D

      Simple reboot and I’ve been sitting at 100% for over an hour now. :-)

    • Jan, I did a force restart as you said, so far so good. Seems to have fixed the issue. My phone was eating up the entire battery in 4 hours or less. So far, 4 hours later now, only 8% gone. Crossing fingers that thus STICKS! Thanks Jan.

  29. 1% every 10 minutes is 16 2/3 hours of battery life, which is perfectly reasonable.

    The battery test cited in the article shows no *significant* drop. This is story because?

    • Nerijus Montautas - 10 years ago

      I’m going to assume that whoever said that meant 1% every 10 minutes while the phone is idle. In my opinion, this is terrible. My battery will last 4 or 5 days if it’s just sitting on the counter. If they meant 1% / 10min while in use, then yes that’s not bad

  30. nelmat - 10 years ago

    Rubbish. Everyone I know who has upgraded has reported increased performance, increased battery life. It may only be circumstantial, but that’s myself and around 30 others on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S, iPad is also noticeable in performance and battery life improvements.

  31. William Mackenzie - 10 years ago

    Not only is the battery running down quicker but my phone now seems to crash or hang about 3/4 times a day when it previously used to only crash about once a week.

  32. Maybe try this tip: http://blog.onefellow.com/post/76702696285/how-to-fix-ios-battery-drain-in-one-case i have noticed that bug in iOS7.1 over month ago…

  33. varera (@real_varera) - 10 years ago

    my battery is actually better with iOS 7.1, iPhone 5

  34. thepinkcat (@thepinkcat) - 10 years ago

    I really can’t tell with batter life … it’s such an irregular occurrence if you think about it. who really uses their phone exactly the same way in exactly the same conditions every day.. while I’m at it, the easiest way to drain battery is by having Skype running in the background. anyone else having issues with Skype?

  35. I can confirm that in some cases is is true, My iphone 5 update OTA to 7.1, became unusable, the battery would go from 100% to 0% in literally 3 hours of normal use. Right now I’ve sent my phone to the carrier for “repairs” of an unrelated issue with the speaker since the phone is 14 months thous out of apple warranty I have no idea if I’ll get a new one or just a patched up Frankenphone. Should get it back today, so I’ll update

  36. Alex (@Metascover) - 10 years ago

    So 515 to 495 minutes is a ‘significant drop’ now? Talk about first world problems.
    And how come I’m NEVER affected by these issues?

  37. 장원석 - 10 years ago

    what about iPhone4?

  38. Well that’s odd, because I notice my iPhone 4S battery life has improved after update to 7.1.

  39. quarterswede - 10 years ago

    I’ve had the opposite experience. I upgraded from OTA and get better battery life. About 10% better in the same time period and usage than on 7

    I’d say this article is bogus as some people ALWAYS complain about battery drain after an iOS upgrade. Always. Check the history. If anything that’s inductive of a much broader issue.

    • quarterswede - 10 years ago

      Ugh. Indicative* Bloody autocorrect.

  40. Alex (@Metascover) - 10 years ago

    Lol all those tweets seem like jokes.
    Battery draining in the commute? 1% every 10 minutes?? Lol that’s all perfectly normal!
    This article sucks. It’s fine to criticize Apple, but at least do it on tangible stuff.

  41. Neil Silverman - 10 years ago

    Just updated mine and noticed it had automatically switch Bluetooth back on! Might explain some battery drain if it’s not spotted?

  42. sharbeen - 10 years ago

    Weird. My iPhone 5S shows way better battery life after I installed iOS 7.1.

  43. Paul Dougherty - 10 years ago

    Yeah my battery is draining way faster now since 7.1

  44. Peter Payne (@jlist) - 10 years ago

    I disagree with the battery issue. For me, my battery would die super fast, like be at 25% by the afternoon despite me not even touching my phone. After 7.1 I accidentally left the phone at work (not connected to a charger, just sitting on the desk), yet battery was nearly full the next morning. I think battery is better.

  45. This article misquotes Ars Technica. Ars Technica’s statement about a “statistically significant drop in battery life” was referring to a comparison between iOS 6 and iOS 7.0, not between 7.0 and 7.1.

    Besides, the results would not be statistically significant if they were within the margin or error.

  46. Drew (@gettysburg11s) - 10 years ago

    This is hardly a “gate” worthy issue. A “gate” is a scandal. There isn’t anything scandalous about bugs in a mobile OS. Perhaps Apple will release a 7.1.1 update to take care of any battery issues? I have not noticed anything myself, however.

  47. David Griffin (@griffd) - 10 years ago

    Major flaws with this article. First, when you quotes ArsTech on the claim that there was “significant drop in battery life”, they were talking about the difference between 6.x and 7.0 ! You took their words completely out of context to make your own conclusion. Secondly, this is an isolated incident and you are treating it as an across-the-board issue. Very lazy/sloppy journalism.

    Anyway, here is a tip for anyone who is having an issue. Check to see if an unexpected app is using background location services. In 7.1, doesn’t matter if the app is open or not. I think that’s they key difference here. For me, the Delta Airlines app was using background services even though I haven’t launched it and weeks. Plus there is no reason for it to even need my location while not in use. I blocked it (in the privacy settings) and now my battery is working even better than with 7.0. My friend noticed similar issues with FourSquare. Check on yours and report back please.

    • Jordan Kahn - 10 years ago

      You’re correct the article incorrectly used the quote referring to 6.x and 7.0, while our article was actually referencing the chart. We’ve updated with the correction. Thanks.

  48. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    Sorry but the chart is not statistically significant.

    • morillo80 - 10 years ago

      upgrade to iOS 7.1 with my iPhone 5S in DFU mode and I can ensure that I have the slightest problem with battery consumption as well as with everything working perfectly Touch ID.

  49. David Griffin - 10 years ago

    The ArsTechnica article that you quoted was not referring to iOS 7.1, it were referring to the difference between iOS 6.1 and iOS 7.0.

    “In the move from iOS 6.1 to iOS 7.0, we observed a statistically significant drop in battery life…”

    Please correct your article, because it takes this quote out of context and misrepresents their findings of negligable battery impact.

    • Jordan Kahn - 10 years ago

      You’re correct that the article incorrectly used the quote referring to 6.x and 7.0, while our article was actually referencing the chart. We’ve updated with the correction. Thanks.

  50. zeromeus - 10 years ago

    iOS 7.1

    Time since last full charge
    Usage 1 hour 59 minutes
    Standby 1 day, 2 hours

    Battery at 79%

    iPhone 5s

    NO BATTERY ISSUE HERE!

  51. Mines the same… Maybe they kept things running in the background..?

  52. Sameer (@samv74) - 10 years ago

    Guys pls mention the device model to understand the effect of this problem on devices.

  53. David Griffin - 10 years ago

    Dave>The ArsTechnica article that you quoted was not referring to iOS 7.1, it were referring to the difference between iOS 6.1 and iOS 7.0. “In the move from iOS 6.1 to iOS 7.0, we observed a statistically significant drop in battery life…” Please correct your article, because it takes this quote out of context and […]

    Ben> That’s not the case, David. If you look top-right in the Ars graph, it states quite clearly the comparison is 7.0.6 vs 7.1.

    No, Ben, look again, I’m talking about the sentence, which was referring to iOS 6.1 vs 7.x. Not the chart, which shows the difference between 7.0 and 7.1. Maybe we all need to slooooow doooown before jumping to conclusions. :) Fortunately, they’ve since corrected the article for me, so I am happy now.

  54. Andy Roden (@andyroden) - 10 years ago

    If anything, my battery has improved on my 6 month old iPhone 5 – sat here now, phone been off charge for 2 hours, with wi-fi and location services on, and it’s still 100% – made 2 small calls in that time.

  55. I have an iPhone 4 GSM with ios 7.0.6. Please Suggest me sincerely, should i update my iPhone 4 to 7.1 or not? I am really thankful to you in advance for your help.

    Has anybody updated your iPhone 4 from 7.0.x to ios 7.1? What about the battery life and other results? What is unique in iOS 7.1 which is not there in iOS 7.0.6. Please please explain. Thank you

  56. I updated to 7.1 the day it came out, and have not encountered any addition drain, I always shut down apps that I am not using, and it still gets me through a normal workday with plenty of battery left when I get home

  57. Mohd Nouman - 10 years ago

    Hi Apple,

    I tried to solve this problem with many suggestion found on many forums including this one:

    I tried few basic like :
    1. hard resetting
    2. Reset all settings or network settings
    3. Erase all content and settings

    few major time takers:
    1. Restore from iTunes
    2. Restore from dfu Mode
    3. Erase all content and restore old icloud backup
    4. Erase all content and restore my other iPhone iCloud backup

    But after all these attempts I have wasted my whole working day in office and what I got same warm iPhone with signal restart loop, This is very annoying when I charge my Phone to 100%, soon after 30 minutes I drops to 87% and device is so warm like it will blow.

    Problem is with there updates ios 7.1 I have never seen so many updates with any software version in time spam of ios looks like iOS 7 is becoming more unstable than any other iOS .

    I request to Apple or Tim Cook, If things are not working well with any iOS updates, then please allow a4 or a5 devices to run iOS 5or6 which is the most stable version I have ever seen in any mobile platform. I bought this iPhone 5 last year with all my savings of cost around 750$ in India and last month in February I lost my warranty. Now with iOS 7.1 my phone signal getting restart and battery draining under 6 hours.
    Please give me any suggestion what I do with this Because I have paid a big amount of money on this and I cannot see this thing die just because of your faulty iOS updates

    Regards,
    Mohd Nouman
    E-mail:Nouman.mohd@gmail.com

  58. Michael Kraft (@Morac) - 10 years ago

    There’s definitely something off with battery reporting and/or life in iOS 7.1. Yesterday I noticed my iPhone 5S was at about 5% when I got home! when normally it’s no less than 25%. I decided to drain the battery fully so I could get a full charge. It drained down to 1% fairly quickly and then just sat there for about 20 minutes with me playing games and using GPS until it finally shut off.

    I charged it overnight and went to work. When I got to work the phone was at about 95%. I primarily listened to music stored on the phone, for maybe a few hours. When I left work, the phone was at 68%, but felt warm despite me doing nothing but unlocking the screen. I was reading Twitter on a 10 minute walk and the phone dropped about 4% during that time. I then just let the phone sit doing nothing and it dropped a percent every 3 or 4 minutes.

    I have SysStatMon and used it to look at the running processes and CPU usage. The CPU kept spiking to more than 25% despite all but two apps set to not be allowed to run in the background and those two apps weren’t running. Screen brightness was nearly minimum. Bluetooth was off. Push mail was on, but I always had it on with very little battery drain. The main difference was I disabled the “reduce motion” setting.

    I took screen shots of the usage screen showing the battery draining 1% or more every few minutes. Including one time when it dropped 2% in the same minute when the phone was doing nothing.

    My iPad 2 is dropping while web browsing at a rate I’d expect to see while gaming.

  59. Randall Canales - 10 years ago

    My 5s is actually better, I did a clean restore to 7.1, deactivated all the location services I don´t need, and it took 23 hours to go from 100% to 0%, during that period I was 4 hours over wifi, did 30 minutes phone calls, play 3 hours of music (EarPods), and my regular check of whatsapp, Facebook, instagram, porn, newsfeed. It is clearly that people with this drain problem are just not setting the phone properly.

  60. erwyne john (@erwynejohn) - 10 years ago

    I have updated my ios 7.1, which is a VERY BIG IMPROVEMENT to my Ipad mini… It is REALLY EXPERIENCE, REALLY FAST and does NOT drain y battery…

  61. sehilimalek - 10 years ago

    My iphone 5s went from 100% at 11:25 to 41% a i’m writing and it´s just one example haven’t tried the clean restore yet hope it´ll fix things but i’m doubtful 7.0.6 was way better regarding battery

  62. Frank Spevak - 10 years ago

    I held a FaceTime meeting on Tuesday 3/11 using my iPhone 5s. The meeting took 3.5 hours and my battery went from full charge to 49%. I was actually kind of impressed. I held the same meeting, to the same person, from the same location, with the same settings on Friday 3/14, a day after I updated to 7.1. My battery went from full charge to 26% after only 2 hours. Proof to me that the update is definitely affecting power use.

  63. I see no battery issues. Same as before…

  64. Karnashuk (@Karnashuk) - 10 years ago

    I didn’t notice a difference in battery life, but few applications (like Viber) and from time to time the system freeze for a moment. It’s annoying. I must admit that I’m sick and tired of listening about repeatable battery issues and other stuff on the iphone. I hate Apple making visual changes not letting you to decide which one you preffer. Simple thing like – when receiving a call you had a big picture of a caller – now, just a tiny pic in the corner. What’s the sense of having 4” (or bigger) display then? If there would be a reasonable option of choosing another smartphone that would serve my needs I’d give it into concideration.

  65. Giorgos Amigdalos - 10 years ago

    Apple died when Steve died.

  66. David N Moskaluk - 10 years ago

    Battery performance seems about the same ( actually fairly good) on 2 iPhones 4s, 1 iPad 2 and one iPad mini (non retina)

  67. Anyone else having issues with location services since the 7.1 update? Ever since I updated i’ve been seeing the location services icon on my status bar at all times. I noticed that google was the app that was using it a lot, but after I turned the feature off for google my phone started using the “traffic”, “frequent locations” and “cell network search”. When I turn the feature off for all of those things it’s no longer a problem. So just wondering if anyone else is having this issue or if anyone has a solution?

  68. Kunal Patel - 10 years ago

    I dont understand people pay so much money to buy their products and in turn they fuck up the product. The battery draining issues has been going on since iOS 4. They never fixed it. And if they did they could have fixed it for one update. After that it goes back to the thing all over again. Its time to find out a new power source. Instead of using Lithium Batteries try testing a deferent source.

  69. Joe Legakis (@joelegakis) - 10 years ago

    my battery has been fine since the 7.1 update. If anything I would say it improved.

  70. This “update is killing my battery” story has been around for years because it’s been happening for years. It strikes a small % of upgrades for reasons unknown. I had it once myself 2 years ago. It’s straightforward to solve, do a clean install, not backup. I’ve been giving this advice since I learned it when I had my own battery issue and it always does the trick.

  71. Robin (@pacorob) - 10 years ago

    Ever since iOS7.0.6. and still on iOS7.1 both me and my wife had huge battery drain on our iPhone 4S and stand-by was equal to usage time. We finally found the solution to a post of another user on the Dutch Tweakers forum. There seem to be a bug within a certain Dutch coupon app called ‘Scoupy’ which drained the battery completely although GPS setting was turned of and also ‘refresh on background’ was off.

    Scoupy said that a fix for their app is send for approval to the App Store. We removed the app and our usage/stand-by time is again as normal (higher stand-by time then usage time) and best of all a ‘normal’ battery use as it was the case on iOS7.0.4. I hope this could help someone. I’m wondering if the iBeacon changes in iOS7.0.6/7.1 together with a bug in the Scoupy app could be the cause? Maybe this is also with our similar apps you have on your phone.

  72. Rick Joudrey - 10 years ago

    Just reset your phone and reload your apps. Everything will be fine.

  73. sehilimalek - 10 years ago

    After many attempts with different methods found online i can finnaly assure you that this is fixable at least on iphone 5s. What i did that worked is : fully charged my phone, clean restore (apparently the ota updates really do mess with your battery) then set the phone as new (that´s the most annoying part), then resync your apps, music and stuff. With this i went from 1% nearly every 2mins to full day of charge without changing my heavy usage.

  74. SheilaK (@smkatko1) - 10 years ago

    My phone never had the greatest battery life but not like this. Went to the Apple store, and worthless waste of time. I was told to ‘reset’ the phone. Okay, that solves the problem for awhile. As soon as I pull in Email (which I do manually because of this problem) the drain begins.

    It seems to have to do with using cellular data, ie, email. It is putting the phone into STANDBy mode when it is not. If I check the usage, it shows USAGE and STANDBY as being exactly the same. I have reset this phone numerous times and it is always ok until I check email. I have removed ALL apps and have turned off just about everything that might use the cellular data. Apple should be ashamed to have not acknowledged this problem. At least let me downgrade to the old IOS!

  75. Karan Panthaky - 10 years ago

    Hey all you guys, I think I figured it out.
    I was having the exact same issues as everyone describes included warmer than usual device, and just plain weird battery drain on my 5s.
    So, here’s what you do:
    STEP 1) I backed up my device via itunes. (KEEP PHONE CONNECTED)
    STEP 2) I downloaded a copy of ios7.1 from (.IPSW file) MAKE YOU DOWNLOAD THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOUR DEVICE.
    STEP 3) I put my phone into DFU mode ( Direct Firmware Upgrade) Just Google how to do it.
    STEP 4) WHILE IN DFU Mode , open itunes, accept the message and SHIFT + CLICK restore.
    STEP 5) Navigate to your directory where the IPSW was saved and select it.
    STEP 6) Let iTunes do it’s thing.
    STEP 7) Restore the backup you created earlier.
    STEP 8) ENJOY!!

    Sincerely hope this helps some of you.

  76. Danila - 10 years ago

    Use these tips to fix battery drain in iOS 7.1 (instead of turning things of): http://www.iosappsandhacks.com/ios-7-1-battery-drain-fixes

  77. Rulo Flores - 10 years ago

    Never had an issue with 7.1… everything is improved battery, touch ID…everything works fine on my 5S. If you have any trouble, try a clean restore!

  78. Cynthia Woods - 10 years ago

    Well it cycles through the apple screen, black screen and slide screen really fast. I have an iPod touch 5 gen. I updated it to ios 7.1 and 12 hours later I finally got to restore it. I restored it at least 7 times and it crashed at about 25 to 30g of free space, every time. Now I have a new iPod touch and have restored it at least 6 times. I ruled out apps, it didn’t matter which ones at about 30g of free space. I tried restoring from backup, installing apps with my ipod only, and installing apps only 10 at a time. It just will not make it past the 30g or so of free space. So for me the ios 7.1 update has been a death sentence to 2 iPod touches.

  79. Muhammad Adnan Bashir - 10 years ago

    Major issue was battery problem in ios 7. I tried all methods but no luck. but then I found this

    http://howbees.com/2014/05/15/ultimate-method-to-resolve-battery-drain-issue-of-any-iphone-in-ios7-or-later/

    it finally worked for me and I wanted to share with other hopeless and desperate iphone users.

  80. Muhammad Adnan Bashir - 10 years ago

    Major issue was battery problem in ios 7. I tried all methods but no luck. but then I found this

    howbees.com/2014/05/15/ultimate-method-to-resolve-battery-drain-issue-of-any-iphone-in-ios7-or-later/

    it finally worked for me and I wanted to share with other hopeless and desperate iphone users.