iPhone 5S Overheating

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 10, 2016

Ok so I'll start off with I have a iPhone 5S running iOS 9.3.1. It's obviously not jailbroken since I updated it from 8.4 like a month ago. I've not installed any new apps in the last 2-3 weeks and haven't done anything unusual either. I had an earlier issue when it was jailbroken that I had 5GB of space "missing" that was fixed when I reset my phone to new with the newest update.

Now for my current issue.

Yesterday morning I woke up and found my phone burning in my hands. Over the next 30 mins unplugged it dropped 20% battery. It continued to drop all day long even in low power mode. I tried turning the phone on and off dozens of times. I did hard restarts (power & home buttons) dozens of times. I tried resetting the memory (power then home button) dozens of times. I even reset my phone to factory and restored from a backup twice. Nothing stopped it from burning hot and killing the battery. When I went to bed it actually seemed fine and this morning seemed fine. Until I got to work and started looking at Facebook, emails etc. I've been at work 32 mins. My phone has dropped from 100% to currently 50% as I write this. I downloaded a diagnostic app yesterday to see if I saw anything. What I noticed is that the active memory is running at 50% of the 1GB onboard average with the normal 200MB for wired. And the inactive is also about 200MB which I'm not sure if that's high. I know the active shouldn't be that high considering nothing was running but the diagnostic app at the time. Also my page ins and page outs appeared normal but the page faults were through the roof. Last I looked since my last reboot I had 2 million in, 89k out and 18 million faults.

Any ideas? Yes I know there's an update to 9.3.2 but I don't know how having 9.3.1 would be the cause. And I'd prefer to stay at 9.3.1 until I see what the new jailbreak will cover.

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 10, 2016

I forgot to mention this all happens while on cell service. There isn't wifi here. But I work this station regularly and have never had this issue. Also it was still happening at my house which has full cell service and strong wifi.

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 10, 2016

In the hour since the last picture was taken here's the new one. The active memory is just below what it was yesterday which was between 500-600MB. So I guess that's better? But my page faults have risen 2 million within an hour? I know you'll always have some page faults. But that just seems ridiculous.

J. A. · Jun 10, 2016

Try force closing Facebook. It's known to use up the battery, and maybe it's part of the reasons for your overheating issue, since it started again when you looked at it.

scifan57 · Jun 10, 2016

Try going to Settings>Battery to see what's using all that Battery power.

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 10, 2016

I've done both of those. In fact I've forced closed everything I've been using as soon as I'm done with it to save the battery. The active memory running crazy is that high with nothing running except the diagnostic app. As for what's eating my battery its safari and Facebook currently. But these are apps I use daily and have never had this issue. My battery drops and phone overheats while sitting in low power mode, all apps forced closed and the screen locked. It even has an issue charging slowly. Like now I've had it plugged in an apple cord and block for approx 30 mins. It's gone up 2% in the 30 mins. On a normal day it should have gone up almost 30% in that time. And yes I've tried different cords, blocks and outlets. Same issues.

scifan57 · Jun 10, 2016

Maybe it's time for a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple Store. They have the diagnostic equipment to find out exactly what's causing your excessive battery drain and what can be done to fix it.

J. A. · Jun 10, 2016

Did your problem start after installing a new app recently? If so, remove the app completely.

Before you take it to an Apple Store, try resetting all settings. This will remove Wi-Fi passwords, remove the wallpaper and set back other settings to default, but it won't remove the data on your iPhone. You'll have to go through the settings app afterwards, to set it up as preferred.

Restoring your device might help too. This would update it to the latest software version as well.

If you prefer taking it to an Apple Store, as advised by scifan57, make sure you have a most recent backup. Just in case.

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 10, 2016

See I don't think the battery draining is the issue. The battery is draining because the phone is in overdrive and overheating. I'm trying to figure out why it's doing that. The phone is out of warranty so I'm not paying for testing. But I'm due for an upgrade. Was just trying to hold off till the 7 comes out. If I can't figure this out all I can think of is to restore the phone to new. Then instead of restoring from a backup just manually resownloading all apps and settings.

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 10, 2016

J. A. said:
Did your problem start after installing a new app recently? If so, remove the app completely.

Before you take it to an Apple Store, try resetting all settings. This will remove Wi-Fi passwords, remove the wallpaper and set back other settings to default, but it won't remove the data on your iPhone. You'll have to go through the settings app afterwards, to set it up as preferred.

Restoring your device might help too. This would update it to the latest software version as well.

If you prefer taking it to an Apple Store, as advised by scifan57, make sure you have a most recent backup. Just in case.

I appreciate the advise but as stated in my original post I already did all of those suggestions.

J. A. · Jun 10, 2016

Spiritus_Sancti said:
I appreciate the advise but as stated in my original post I already did all of those suggestions.

Sorry, it seems I skipped some parts of your description when I read it.

The only thing left would be to update it. You're right, there's no fix included in that update concerning battery issues or overheating. It's just a minor update. I see you intend to upgrade, so updating is still worth a try.

As far as I know, you don't have to pay when Apple just takes a look at it. They'll tell you how much you'd have to pay for repairing, then you can decide if it's worth the money.

scifan57 · Jun 10, 2016

Genius Bar appointments at an Apple Store have always been free. There is no charge for having a problem diagnosed.

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 10, 2016

Ok didn't know that. So I guess I'll take to an Apple Store and if they can't figure it out or costs too much to fix I'll just upgrade. Thanks for the help guys.

scifan57 · Jun 10, 2016

Make sure to back up your iPhone just before going to tha Apple Store. This way your data is preserved in case they have to erase the phone during testing. If the iPhone can be fixed through software means, that's usually free as well. If a hardware repair is necessary, you'll be told what the repair cost is and its your choice to have the work done or not.

Spiritus_Sancti · Jun 13, 2016

So I worked on it a bit more. Went a bit more extreme. Reset to factory again but this time restored to an older backup well before the issue started. Same issue. Reset again but didn't restore from a backup. Same issue. So sounds like it's either a hardware issue or less likely an iOS issue. Since no one has reported issues with 9.3.1 overheating I'm going with hardware. I'm torn if I should even bother going to Apple or just upgrading. Problem is I have ATT and unlimited data. If I upgrade I have to swap to limited data and do the ATT Next program since they don't offer the 2 year upgrade anymore. And if I want to keep unlimited data and upgrade that requires signing up for Direct TV too. And ATT internet isn't available by me. So I'd need Direct TV cable and separate home internet just to keep my unlimited data. So.....