iPhone 4S Battery Problems: iOS8 Update Reduces Battery Life on Apple Device

The iPhone 4S is still around, but those using it have known for many months that the iOS 8 update brought with it a number of problems including a substantial dip in battery life.

When iOS 8 was released it was quickly noticed that the aging iPhone 4S did not perform well when the update was installed. Some apps such as the calendar took 60 percent longer to load while Safari took over 70 percent longer to load in iOS 8 when compared to iOS 7.1.2.

The biggest complaint among many iPhone 4S owners who upgraded to the iOS 8 was that the update drastically reduced their phone's battery life. In some cases the update cut battery life in half while other users could not get their battery to last from seven a.m. until midnight in spite of charging their phone intermittently.

Poor battery life issues have over the months kept plaguing iPhone 4S owners even though the iOS 8 had several features that helped prolong battery life. One of these involved checking how much power was being consumed by each app and then closing ones that were not needed. Other options available to users included turning of "Background App Refresh," switching off "Push Email," lessening the brightness of the screen, shutting off 4G LTE, and finally backing up all data and restoring the update.

Many of the problems surrounding the performance of the iPhone 4S were linked to the iOS 8 needing more storage space to run apps. The short battery life was attributed to the fact that the iOS 8 was designed for bigger screens.

Since the iOS 8.1.1 update was launched this month, it has helped fix some battery life issues that iPhone 4S users were experiencing. More importantly, it has improved battery life when the phone is on standby.