My IPhone battery doesn't last as long as my runs..

Maggie821
Maggie821 Posts: 55 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone,

My Iphone battery died before I had finished my training run today. Looking for suggestions on how to either improve the battery life or alternatives. I don't want to run without my music or Jeff Galloway urging me on! lol
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Replies

  • piggydog
    piggydog Posts: 322
    Turn your brightness all the way down
  • Susanthecatwhisperer
    Susanthecatwhisperer Posts: 141 Member
    That sucks. :( Is it fully charged before you go? Are there some settings you can adjust to make battery last longer? I'm told having screen brightness set high can shorten battery life.
    Good luck. :)
  • OspreyVista
    OspreyVista Posts: 464 Member
    I don't have an iphone, but having wi-fi or internet on sucks the battery from my phone. If your not listening to the anything using internet, try turning it off for awhile :)
  • tarakizer
    tarakizer Posts: 52
    Wow, just how long are you running for? I go for 45-60 minutes and still have nearly a full charge on my iPhone. I only listen to music, and it's usually through Pandora.
  • tarakizer
    tarakizer Posts: 52
    One thing that sucks my battery is when I hit a dead zone, and it's having to search for a signal. Even just being gone for 45 minutes and being in a dead zone for about 3-5 minutes ate 75% of my battery one day. Sucked!
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Wow. I run 40-60 minutes with GPS on and my ipod on and I get down to about 80%.
    Make sure you have brightness down, and don't let pointless things send you notifications or use location services.
  • skygoddess86
    skygoddess86 Posts: 487 Member
    I think the cheap car charger messed my battery up. It doesn't stay charged as well anymore.
  • chelledawg14
    chelledawg14 Posts: 509 Member
    I have a Droid not Iphone & I never had a problem with the battery while using MapMyRun, but I downloaded Runtastic & it completely sucks the life out of my fully charged battery. I was out for 75 minutes and was down to 10%. I no longer use Runtastic.
  • danimal5867
    danimal5867 Posts: 390
    Ditch the iPhone. I have a Droid Bionic which I bought an extended battery for. This morning I went out for more than an hour with music cranking and endomondo app tracking everything. When I finished my battery was still at 80%.
  • Katbody10
    Katbody10 Posts: 369 Member
    turn off all unnecessary apps that run in the background .. email . .. facebook .. twitter - whatever social apps you're connected to and only run the basics. Turn down the brightness..

    Turn off wi-fi or anything other than your mobile network..
  • amberlykay1014
    amberlykay1014 Posts: 608 Member
    My fiance downloaded an Energy Saver app for his phone. I think it limits your connectivity to the web when you need more battery life. He likes it.
  • jamimari777
    jamimari777 Posts: 101 Member
    Hi everyone,

    My Iphone battery died before I had finished my training run today. Looking for suggestions on how to either improve the battery life or alternatives. I don't want to run without my music or Jeff Galloway urging me on! lol

    You can purchase an extended battery. I don't know much about them, but there are also solar chargers available - again, not sure if this is exercise friendly or not, but it's worth looking into.

    You may also want to close out your apps that are running in the background. Double click the home button, then close all of the icons that pop up at the bottom. This helped my mom's battery life.

    I've tried to use Map My Ride before and it drained my iPhone. I also agree that you should turn down your brightness. Maybe limit the amount of times you look at the screen? if you lock the screen and it goes dark, that should use less power.

    Good luck! I love running with gadgets. Exercise isn't the same without them.
  • postrockandcats
    postrockandcats Posts: 1,145 Member
    Using location features does drain a battery. But, try going into your multitasking and closing out programs, turning off some of the notification features you don't use as much and turn your email to fetch every 15 minutes as opposed to all the time.
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
    send your iphone to your provider or make a genius bar appointment. your phone shouldn't bleed battery power so rapidly even if you have a ton of apps running.
  • dan323
    dan323 Posts: 271 Member
    If you are only listening to music make sure your screen does not stay on. I use RunKeeper and I push the power button 1 time to turn off the screen. This does not affect the GPS or the timing or music. My wife does the same thing, she leaves the screen on so she can check her progress . That will drain your battery much quicker. And on your long runs as you found out your battery will expire.
  • deadliftfan
    deadliftfan Posts: 66
    Just buy one of those small battery packs that attach to the iphone. They shouldn't weight much.

    charge_bluray_iv.jpg

    Alternatively, get an android. I hear it's what the cool kids have these days. Most droid phones come with interchangeable batteries.
  • natalie412
    natalie412 Posts: 1,039 Member
    I had that problem once on a long run, but then I realized I kept the screen on the whole time (duh!). I use mine for GPS and my bluetooth heart rate monitor connects to it, and I listen to books. As long as I have the screen set to auto turn off, or I turn it off, it really doesn't use much.
  • rogers8702
    rogers8702 Posts: 533 Member
    You may also want to close out your apps that are running in the background. Double click the home button, then close all of the icons that pop up.

    dont leave your screen on either.
  • Maggie821
    Maggie821 Posts: 55 Member
    Thanks everyone! I was out for a long training run, nearly 3 hours. I did forget to close out my other apps before starting out, so that's a definite must do. The screen was "off", kept in my running pack the entire run. I will try all your suggestions (except the new phone although I agree it does look pretty awesome)!! Thanks for all your suggestions!
  • flechero
    flechero Posts: 260 Member
    For what it's worth, I get down to 45-50% after my 2 hours runs... I use a bluetooth earphones for my music and a GPS running app. I assume the bluetooth would use more power than corded buds, so you might check with cust service as you should be able to get 3 hours from your battery with music and a run app.
  • drgndancer
    drgndancer Posts: 426 Member
    Even for a long run that's a ridiculous battery burn. I can do a two hour long run with music, GPS, and Bluetooth form my heart rate monitor, and still burn less than 20% battery. Even if you're not being as efficient as possible, there's no way you should burn a full charge in 3 hours. You might want to take it to the Genius Bar and tell them your battery is not holding a good charge.
  • jaz050465
    jaz050465 Posts: 3,508 Member
    Thanks everyone! I was out for a long training run, nearly 3 hours. I did forget to close out my other apps before starting out, so that's a definite must do. The screen was "off", kept in my running pack the entire run. I will try all your suggestions (except the new phone although I agree it does look pretty awesome)!! Thanks for all your suggestions!

    New batteries are quite cheap. Try that.
  • artemisnyc
    artemisnyc Posts: 36
    turn the screen off when you run - i can do 3 hours and still be at at 70% if my screen stays off throughout the run
  • jenniferinfl
    jenniferinfl Posts: 456 Member
    From Settings> privacy you can also disallow certain programs from accessing location services. It's crazy the apps that do use a lot of location services. Go through the list and see what you can block from using location services. If the battery problem is new or since installing iOS6, than you probably will want to make a backup and then restore the device. It should be lasting a lot longer than that playing music, I'm guessing there's an app using location services that is sucking the life out of your battery. There are even some games that will run location services all the time.

    (Used to be tech support for Apple)
  • nphect
    nphect Posts: 474
    Thanks everyone! I was out for a long training run, nearly 3 hours. I did forget to close out my other apps before starting out, so that's a definite must do. The screen was "off", kept in my running pack the entire run. I will try all your suggestions (except the new phone although I agree it does look pretty awesome)!! Thanks for all your suggestions!

    keeping it in your pack probably makes the signal work harder to get a signal. Also if your battery is draining quickly make sure you are letting your phone drain to 0% , then charge it to 100% full in one charge every now and then.
  • joslin2005
    joslin2005 Posts: 138
    Check out this site http://www.gadgetreview.com/2011/11/how-to-increase-your-iphones-battery-life-while-running-ios-5.html

    and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/01/saving-iphone-battery-life_n_1068453.html#s443973&title=Turn_Off_Setting

    Make sure you are closing out of the background apps when your not using them. If you don't know how to do this, check out the 2nd link on the 8th slide. My phone's battery power was drastically better when I turn the 3G off. I don't know if your streaming any music but if not, this might help.
  • girlonabikedc
    girlonabikedc Posts: 111 Member
    I have a Mophie Juice Pack-its basically a case with a battery in it. Doubles the battery life of my iphone. Slim profile, too.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    Wow, how old is your phone? Even my old 3GS could run Runkeeper & Nike+ at the same time, as well as my iTunes, and still have at least 50% when I was done, even with the brightness up. How long do you run?

    Definitely try the tips given here - close background apps, turn brightness down, drain completely and fully recharge. And have the Apple Store have a look at it when you get a chance.
  • drgndancer
    drgndancer Posts: 426 Member
    Thanks everyone! I was out for a long training run, nearly 3 hours. I did forget to close out my other apps before starting out, so that's a definite must do. The screen was "off", kept in my running pack the entire run. I will try all your suggestions (except the new phone although I agree it does look pretty awesome)!! Thanks for all your suggestions!

    keeping it in your pack probably makes the signal work harder to get a signal. Also if your battery is draining quickly make sure you are letting your phone drain to 0% , then charge it to 100% full in one charge every now and then.

    Actually, the batteries in modern phones don't require this. Older batteries did, and those kinds of batteries are still used in cheaper devices like razors and such, but phone batteries no longer have memory.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    I have a Mophie Juice Pack-its basically a case with a battery in it. Doubles the battery life of my iphone. Slim profile, too.
    Be careful here. Take it out of the JP from time to time.
    I had my 3GS in a mophie for about a year. The back of the iphone cracked from the heat. I didn't know until I finally took the case off.
    Without the case, it would only work from 100-67% then it would die.

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