TFTS Medium Logo
iPhone 3.1.3 Firmware Issues Widely Reported [iPhone Battery Life Issues, iTunes Playlist Syncing Problems – Are You Affected?]

According to numerous reports surfacing on Apple’s support forums it would seem that the latest iPhone OS iteration, namely iPhone 3.1.3 firmware, which, somewhat ironically, was billed as, amongst other things, fixing battery life indication, is causing many a user issues with erratic battery life as well as iTunes Playlist syncing issues.

iPhone 3GS Front Back


We held back on reporting this as, having upgraded to 3.1.3 firmware on my iPhone 3GS I haven’t noticed any such issues (to date, anyhow) but what with more than a few users now reporting issues with the new iPhone firmware we wanted to cover this if only to get a little feedback from other iPhone users.

The main issue, aside from the iTunes Playlist syncing issues, seems to be sudden and quite sporadic changes in reported battery life as reported by the iPhone’s battery meter which can see reported battery charge either dropping suddenly, only to then jump back, or, worse, hours of charge seemingly suddenly disappearing never to return. Other users are also reporting that the iPhone’s battery now seems to be running rather hotter than was the case prior to upgrading to 3.1.3 firmware.

As I say, no such experiences this end with my 3GS, but there certainly no appears to be rather too many reports (see Apple’s Support Forum) of such issues for it to be termed as a ‘freak occurrence’.

So, this begs the question, have you experiences any such issues post upgrading your iPhone to 3.1.3? It you have, please do let us know as, at least as at the time of writing, Apple are seemingly choosing not to acknowledge that there are indeed issues.

[Source] | Scroll down for further related reading we think will also interest you.
Subscribe to TFTS RSS Feed BadgeTFTS Twitter BadgeTFTS QuikBrowsr Badge

Browse Deeper: Related Reading on TFTS

TFTS Medium Logo Related

Click Logo for Breaking News or Browse Related Categories...

Mobile/Cell Phones | Mp3 Players & PMPs

...or check out the carefully selected related posts below.


68 Comments for “iPhone 3.1.3 Firmware Issues Widely Reported [iPhone Battery Life Issues, iTunes Playlist Syncing Problems – Are You Affected?]”

  1. Joe footen |

    Yes I have had both problems plus drop calls I have AT&T and never had a drop call before the upgrade of 3GS firmware 3.1.3 with a baseband of 5.12.1. the battery life sucks now were I would get 2 to 3 days before charching phone I have to charg it twice a day. Like to beable to go back to 3.1.2 firmware were I had no problems at all never jailbroke my phone so I don’t have back of old firmware . If anybody can help that would be great. My wife 3GS is now having the same problems .

    [Reply]

    Andrew Reply:

    Ah, so I need to watch my 3GS a little more closely – though I’ve had to charge it everyday without fail as it stands (which is pretty poor).

    [Reply]

    CG Reply:

    Yes, I have the same problem with the battery life after upgrading to 3.1.3. Used to be able to last for 2-3 days but now need to charge everyday even with very little usage. Horrible. Anyone knows how to revert back to 3.1.2? My 3GS is not jailbreak and I just want to go back to the previous firmware. Thanks.

    [Reply]

  2. JP |

    Since 3.13 on my 3gs I’ve had 3 random resets in 2 days. Never had a single problem before. Is Apple becoming Microsoft?!?!

    [Reply]

  3. Chris |

    My 3GS has died since updating to 3.1.3. It all went through OK until phone restarted and all I get now is “connect to iTunes” screen. When I connect it says that its in recovery mode but I am unable to restore the phone.

    I have had to send it back to Apple for a fix.
    The Apple support thread is here
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2324082

    [Reply]

    Andrew Reply:

    Thanks for the update on this particular issue, Chris – I wasn’t aware of this one. Any one else got any other issues we need to know about?

    [Reply]

  4. Damien |

    I used to have the same problem when i updated to 3.0 if you want to recreate the same steps i would backup you iphone first i have lost many pictures i would want to get back because i wasn’t patient so what i did was turned off the phone and did the restart in recovery mode routine to do this hold down the home button when you power on the phone till you see the usb cord to itunes picture, then plug it into the usb make sure itunes is running, it will pop up and say that iphone is in recovery mode you must restore select OK then go to where you normally would go to sync your phone and select restore it basically does a fresh install of that OS instead of updating files, i home this helps anyone, it did me and my battery was fine afterwards, let me know if this works for you guys, have a good one

    [Reply]

  5. Richard |

    3.1.3 Batterylife only few hours. :-(

    [Reply]

    Andrew Reply:

    Still running a check on my 3GS and the battery indicator is hardly moving – it used to loose charge far faster pre-update – so, so far, no apparent issues my end but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. That said, its not being worked right now, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens later when I start using it to browse the net/App Store, etc. As I say, had to charge it every day without fail pre-update, now its looking like it could last a little longer than that.

    Having said that, the charge meter will now drop 60% in the next minute, you watch (should have kept quiet).

    Still, its clear that a fair few people are having issues with 3.1.3 and Apple really need to start acknowledging this (they haven’t so far). Something is clearly up with this update.

    Any more comments from people having issues and we’ll fire across a mail to Apple asking for a response.

    [Reply]

  6. Ev Glasser |

    I’m finding my battery running down very quickly since I updated to 3.1.3 without any change in use.

    [Reply]

  7. Jeffrey |

    It appears, as stated on several of the forums, that the battery issue is contained to the 3G model [like mine] and I can confirm that I now garner about 60-70% of the old battery life [that was dismal at best] and noticeable over-heating issues; often making the phone uncomfortable to hold, even with a rubber cover. These are very real issues. I am current [like many others] attempting to roll-back to 3.1.2. It would be nice to see Apple acknowledge that there are issues or offer us a way roll-back.

    [Reply]

  8. Burke Pushman |

    I have a 3G not the 3GS like the fellow above me, and I have the same issues, after about 5 hours of charge I come into the tv station I work at and the phone sits on stand by all day. Between 12pm being disconnected from the charger and 7pm it dropped 40% only having sent maybe 10 text messages. I made a 4 minute phone call and the battery dropped another 10%… This is actual battery life as well I have a 3rd party battery life indicator not the little icon at top. This is completely unacceptable, I would have blamed it on age but this phone was purchased on the 28th of december thus making it about an month an a half old.

    [Reply]

  9. B Everett |

    With the upgrade to 3.1.3 I have had terrible battery life. I would go all day with limited use and never have it drop below 60% I have been off the charger for now just over 3 hours and am at 25%.

    [Reply]

  10. jon marc |

    it’s my problem from day 1, since i only got my 3GS iphone about 1 mth ago. my phone is still under warranty so there isnt any jailbreak or illegal stuff in it.

    PROBLEM: the phone would heat up like HELL, then when i check the battery, it’s close to flat.

    i think apple is using the iphone as a egg fryer or cup warmer, but they should at least tell me first.

    [Reply]

  11. everett marm |

    3.1.3 has definitely wrecked my battery. Can’t keep it on for more than a couple of hours. Useless – rolling back to 3.1.2, fingers crossed :)

    [Reply]

    Joe K Reply:

    @everett marm, Please provide details about how to roll back to 3.1.2

    Thanks.

    [Reply]

  12. J Fisher |

    I upgraded to 3.1.3 and am also experiencing battery issues… normally i get 2 days exactly and im currently halfway through day 1 with 35% remaining :-( (

    [Reply]

  13. liz |

    i have a 3gs and after 3.1.3 my % jumps when i first turn it on, then after a few seconds it goes back to the right %, its such a pain..oh and it reboots when i turn it off

    [Reply]

  14. Jim Bob |

    I ha ve just upgraded to 3.1.3. On my 2g…yes 2g and the battery life is now very poor compared to previous formware updates. Charged fully and no us e but battery 60% when I check in the morning.
    Do not assume it is a 3G problem only.
    How do I get back to 3.1.2?

    [Reply]

  15. angvil / AJ |

    I have updated 3.1.3 using sn0wbreeze I got a 3GS with old boot-rom. Well battery life is ridiculously drained! I fully charged it and played NFS Shift which used to last me like over an hour to 60% or 50% depending on the brightness! Now it gave me battery LOW warning.

    I am going to recover it to a clean 3.1 then upgrade from there to custom 3.1.3 and let you guys know the outcome.

    Regards,

    [Reply]

    Andrew Reply:

    Keep us in the loop on that – be interested to see if this resolves anything.

    [Reply]

  16. Jim |

    1st gen iPod touch. Lots of apps gave Cannot install, resources have been modified, error message. Had to Setup as new ipod. Also scroll bar in main music app does not go to selected alpha letter any longer. Wish had not upgraded! Very annoyed.

    [Reply]

  17. Lukas |

    Yeaah it really fed me up the new 3.1.3. I listen to music every day an all day and maximum battery loss was 35% and yesterday my Iphone eat 80% of battery it is really dramatic change……….today From morning I look how to downgrade, but acctualy it is really hard/impossible because also baseband was upgraded so I am very nervous ……. 3.1.3 uprade of Death ………

    [Reply]

  18. Chris |

    My phone runs hotter, but my battery life has been longer. The thing about the update that really surprised me is that I now have the tethering option available under my network settings. I have not jailbroken or in any way hacked my iPhone for a while and have since done a factory restore. Has this happened to anyone else?

    [Reply]

  19. Chris |

    My 3GS iphone must be going through menapause…freakin hot flashes & NO battery life all day long. The battery life goes out while the screen is off, and if I keep it in my pocket, I get 3rd degree burns.
    I just updated yesterday to 3.1 update & its the same. Before & after update, it was draining battery life & heating up my keys & bone marrow. Plus its glitching like crazy, and is NOT a jailbroken phone. I’m taking it in today…say a prayer.

    [Reply]

  20. Paul |

    I’ve had the same issue with my 3G iPhone. Since the upgrade to 3.1.3 I find that I need to keep close to a charging point because my battery lasts less than 3hrs after a full charge!

    I also have noticed that my wifi isn’t working any more!

    Anyone with info on how to get back to 3.1.2?

    [Reply]

  21. Jim |

    I’ve created the following resource detailing my problems and how to restore back to 3.1.2. I’m not sure whether nexus404 allow URLs, but here it is:
    http://leisure.prior-it.co.uk/ipod-app-resources-have-been-modified.shtml
    Basically you Google search for “download iPod touch firmware 3.1.2″ to locate a website that provides the firmware file (why does Apple not provide this?), put the iPod into DRM mode (turn off, then plug in USB cable while holding the Home button down for 30 seconds), then perform Shift-click the Restore button, which allows you to select the downloaded file.

    [Reply]

    Andrew Reply:

    Many thanks for the resource.

    [Reply]

  22. Mike |

    On my iphone 3gs 32gb my battery life is now CRAP now and the ipod app keeps crashing.

    [Reply]

  23. Jerry |

    My iphone has definitely gotten squirrelly. From “sleep” mode it’s waking up and asking me for my passcode all the time. All of a sudden the little spinner icon in the center of the phone starts going. I thought it might be an errant application – so I’ve restored the phone twice. Once I hadn’t even added my applications back on…and it did the passcode thing by itself. It’s got to be related to the firmware. Charge lasts for less than a day and I have the little bells and whistles like location and bluetooth turned off.

    [Reply]

  24. Chris |

    Upgraded iPhone to 3.13 last week and now my battery needs recharging daily, when it used to be about twice a week or less if phone calls were few. The change is shocking. Haven’t noticed any other differences or problems.

    [Reply]

  25. Simey |

    have had 3.1.3 on my 3GS for a few days, battery life is fine (and it did fix the wonky battery level), but i`ve had a few random hard resets while using everyday apps.

    [Reply]

  26. Greg Paskal |

    Yes, I am seeing this issue now that I have updated to 3.1.3. I have the iPhone 3G and there is no doubt in my mind that this issue surfaced in less than 24 hours after the update. I was not experiencing this issue at all before hand. I too have noticed the battery running extremely hot in correlation to the lower battery reading. I hope Apple gets on the ball and fixes this issue. I have done all the typical reset things that can typically fix issue like this but it has made no difference.

    [Reply]

  27. Don Grodecki |

    Since I upgraded to 3.1.3 all of my non-Apple apps crash upon launching. How do I go back to 3.1.2?

    [Reply]

    Frank Reply:

    Unless you have been jailbroken and edited your SHSH files to go to saurik then you cant go back. Apple banned that because people would go back an update to jailbreak again.

    [Reply]

  28. Niklas Blom |

    Since the upgrade my battery life has been severly shortened.

    [Reply]

  29. Mike |

    Prior to the 3.1.3 update my battery lasted about 2 days before it needed charged, that was with playing mp3s in the car for 3 hours a day and watching a movie or two and playing games! EArlier this week i did the update and it froze up on me and gave me the “Connect to itunes” screen and then it had to be restored, now my battery life is about 6-8 hours leaving it in stand by with out doing anything!

    [Reply]

  30. Phil |

    having huge problems with my 3GS since upgrading to 3.1.3, it now randomly stops calling out.. i keep getting “call failed” all the time and have to turn off then on again to fix it
    very annoying

    [Reply]

  31. Rogerio |

    I have 2 iphones 3G, one for work, one personal. They both need recharging twice a day.

    [Reply]

  32. bilo |

    Battery life is a lot worse now since the upgrade. I noticed this immediately after the upgrade. Sudden change!

    [Reply]

  33. T Henderson |

    Have a 3G phone, had it almost 2 years now (give or take)…Never had a problem, until a recent update. Worst part it’s my wives phone, which for the last three weeks has been charged all day, she gets on the phone for less than 10 minutes and the phone dies. She took it to AT&T they told her to go to the Apple Store. The Apple Store told her to delete apps one by one and root cause the issue. If that doesn’t solve the issue she should go to AT&T and buy a new phone. Round and round she goes. I deleted everything and shut off bluetooth. Still have the problem. She bought a new phone, and now I have a fancy iPod….nice.

    [Reply]

  34. Martin |

    I have lots of battery problems since the update. I have the 3g version. I have experienced this once before with a developer edition (where you could expect and live with bugs). At that time my phone was constantly heating up my pocket (nice in the winter time :/ ?). Had to charge twice a day. The problem at that time was ssolved by upgrading the software to a production version. However i got a nasty surprise after 1½ month; the reason for the power use was that it was transferring data like crazy – no idea where to/from. my data plan did not allow for that kind of usage and i was left with a bille of the equivalent to $800 :( . Long story short – i fear that the same thing is going on this time.

    [Reply]

  35. David |

    After the latest 3.1.3 update all of my iTunes downloads do not show up on any of my iPhone’s iTunes playlist under ‘Downloads’. And when I do download anything it goes through the whole process but when finished nothing shows up in the Download list. Also the battery life will drop down to 20% for not reason then back up to a normal reading.

    [Reply]

  36. liam |

    Had battery issues on 3.1.2 and updated to 3.1.3 and all appeared to be resolved until yesterday!

    I got home from work just before 6pm and had 2% left. So fully charged by 7.45pm i had to charge again overnight as by 11pm i had 85% left after a 3 minute call and the phone being on the coffee table for a few hours!!

    I unplugged the phone at 8.05am today and at 10.20am it is on…72% !!

    I’ve used it as i would normally, bit of browsing, check F1, check iCal, answer a 3 min work call to resolve a situation my incompitent line manager has created with constant bad planning and changes, etc.

    ALSO,… phone signal keeps dropping to ‘No Service’. This is a problem I experienced with 3.1.2 and was expecting to be resolved with 3.1.3 so called Vodafone who said “some iPhones are having trouble syncing with the Vodafone network and Vodafone and Apple are working on it now…”
    “should be sorted within 2 to 3 business days”

    hope this is of use.
    Great phone, lets get it working eh?
    I have 5 macs I use daily and the family has 2xiphones, 1xipod touch and 4 old ipods.

    I had a BB for the last 3 years and am considering reverting back if these problems persist.

    All the best.

    [Reply]

  37. Chris |

    Having huge problems with my 3GS since upgrading to 3.1.3 my battery running down very quickly since I updated to 3.1.3 without any change in use…….

    [Reply]

  38. John |

    My usage patterns haven’t changed, but my iPhone has gone from coming home at the end of the day with 50%+ battery life remaining to a dead battery in <5 hours since 3.1.3. If I completely reset and then don't access my calendar, mail or any games, the battery life is as normal. If I just load a graphically rich game for a few seconds or access my online mail or calendar, it seems like something "sticks" and the battery begins it's downward spiral. I've turned off everything including push, done a full restore, even run in a semi-virginal state with no apps installed. My only solution is using an external battery pack and carrying a charger so that I can plug into a wall outlet during meetings or on customer site. Oddly enough, my wife's 3gs is seemingly unaffected. But she has the Scrabble WiFi bug and I don't. So there is something different between the two phones that were ordered and delivered together. I really wish that they'd fix this. I hate being tethered to wall outlets to use my "mobile" phone.

    [Reply]

  39. John |

    ….and my phone now has a very distinct hot spot centered horizontally and slightly below center on the back of the phone. It stays hot even when the phone is “sleeping”, so it seems like something is continuing to run when the phone is supposed to be idle. This didn’t happen pre-3.1.3. There really should be a roll-back feature in iTunes.

    [Reply]

  40. Alex |

    It’s so funny I came across this site. I had my 3gs jailbroken and sadly had to upgrade. The previous firmware jailbroken with blackra1n locked up while and kept dropping calls and eventually wouldn’t restart….

    I immidiately notced the battery difference afterward and I’m annoyed. What’s it doing in the background to wasted such battery life? I charge it twice in two days. Come on Apple, get ur crap together!

    [Reply]

  41. Joseph |

    Ok, I’m having all the same battery issues. Charging almost threetimes since I’m up so early.

    Also, didn’t safari’s screen used to “tilt” upside down??? I use head phones and find it comfortable to hold phone with home button on the left end. When I rotate it upside down, it used to flip all the way over, like the iPAD. Now it won’t… Weird

    [Reply]

  42. Rob |

    I’m having this issue of battery running down extremely quickly at times (from full to zero in 2-3 hours) and going hot but I’m still on version 3.1.2 and have not upgraded yet.

    Is it possible there’s another cause?

    [Reply]

  43. RobS |

    I’m so pleased to see I’m not the only one with this problem.

    Ever since the upgrade I’ve had problems with the battery of my 3GS – it runs flat in less than half the usual time, and without warning I seem to go from 40% to zero.

    Apple had better get working on fixing this, this is not good enough

    [Reply]

  44. James |

    I have a iPhone 3G. Since the update I’ve only noticed that when the phone gets down to 20% and below the phone begins to heat up and it also heats up when I charge the phone using the apple ac adapter or plug it into a PC.

    [Reply]

  45. Kat |

    I have an IPhone 3G and over the last day or so I have noticed my phones battery has been incredibly poor. yesterday it had charged throughout the day and when I took it off the battery went very quickly… today I have had to charge my phone FULLY 3 times and I am now on the 4th charge for today. I do have 3.1.3 – is this defo the cause?

    [Reply]

  46. Pete |

    I recently upgraded my iPhone to 3.1.3 and the battery life has dropped off so dramatically that I hit Google to see what was up and found this forum.

    It’s pretty annoying as I am on travel and won’t be able to roll back the upgrade for another three weeks.

    [Reply]

  47. Frank |

    I am having a cell signal problem. My house which used to give my full connection on 3G now is suddenly a “No Signal” zone. In most other places I have next to no connection (2-3 bars Edge) when i used to have 3-4 bars 3G. Does anyone else have this problem and can anyone help? I have a 3Gs on 3.1.3 and I just got this problem when I updated.

    [Reply]

  48. ristak |

    Updated to the 3.1.3 version; have the battery problem, also the phone gets really hot at times. The GPS map feature is screwed up not like it was in version 3.1.2. Is there any way to go back to to 3.1.2 from 3.1.3? This new firmware version is bad.

    [Reply]

  49. Chris |

    Since update of apples 3.1.3 I have little or no service!!? Keeps jumping to roaming , vodafone 2g , edge and only with one bar of service!!! Plus the no service issues so when ppl call me I get voicemail now which I get charged for using it! Battery is fine though?? Why apple why ! Is there not enough testing on firmware?? Think it must have to do with the power management of the iPhone!!

    [Reply]

  50. Nate Stacey |

    So I have a 3G and after I updated to 3.1.3 my screen will not rotate into landscape. Tested with calculator and other apps. Anyone have this issue or do you think its unrelated to the upgrade?

    [Reply]

  51. J Hunter |

    I got a 3Gs from my employer as a ‘work’ phone on Friday.

    With everything switched off apart from 3G (including wifi, push and location services) it has gone from 100% to 82% charge in two hours. I haven’t done any browsing or made any calls and have only received three emails and run the System Monitor every 30 mins or so.

    [Reply]

  52. TheDude |

    No probs with iTunes, but the battery is really whack since the upgrade. Going from full to nothing, running very hot. Something is definitely not right.

    [Reply]

  53. Ben |

    I’m not sure if anyone else is having this issue, but I no longer recieve 3g coverage, and my E is extremely weak. I have restored 2, jailbroke once, even used the clear all data in settings, and I did not use a back up. Fresh Iphone each time. And it isn’t just in my house, 3g is impossible to attain. I tested it with another iphone 3g but that one got full bars (running 3.1.2). I am going to atandt then apple tomorow. Maybe its just damage to my phone or something. Figured id report.

    [Reply]

  54. notagain.... |

    Yeah, problems. I have a jailbroken 3G in China. No signal now… lots of problems, but any solutions?

    [Reply]

  55. Private P |

    Every since this up date battery always say 20% or 10% everytime cutting my phone on but battery do rises after booting up. Battery do last longer if charge completely but I do say this firmware do needs 72% work still done on it cause still cause apps to close and freeze. The notifacations don’t work as well as it use to, so it really needs major work apple you really need to fix these bugs and stop just put firmware that’s not doing what it said it will do

    [Reply]

  56. Hmousa |

    Ditto here with the battery problems, plus it just seems more buggy than before – sometimes I can’t pick up calls, or it takes a while before the call is terminated when I press ‘End Call’. Also service seems to come and go suddenly… and my phone is 2 months old, never been jailbroken or anything…

    Why oh why Apple did you do this, just to catch out some jailbreak users who probably didn’t even upgrade anyway?

    [Reply]

  57. Mike |

    Looks like I am not alone. Upgrade my iPhone from 3.1.2 to 3.1.3 with terrible results. Battery life has dropped to around 3hrs without any use and the phone is running hot.
    I’ve done the usual thinks of restoring the phone and reloading backup without any improvement. I’ll now try gradually turning things off to see if I can determine whether any particular feature may be the source of the probelm (location services, bluetooth, email push etc).

    [Reply]

  58. joe scott |

    my iPhone battery life not only sucks, the phone randomly shuts down, then drains the battery.

    [Reply]

  59. Chris |

    HORRIBBLE!!! 3.1.2 was super stable. 313 gives me constant problems, slow operatioon, hangups, need to restart once a week at least!!!

    [Reply]

  60. Roy |

    i too am experiencing problems with the battery charge after upgrading to 3.1.3

    i do have a first gen ipod touch, but the battery life was just fine and dandy before i switched to 3.1.3 firmware.

    i’ll charge it up overnight, and then after 5 minutes of wifi use, or 5 minutes of gaming, the battery goes down to 20%. then, after about 15 minutes of being in standby mode, the battery meter shows that my battery charge is back up to about 60%.

    my wi-fi is off when not in use, and so is push for emails and so forth…i’m really trying to figure this out because i know it’s kind of hard to find a replacement battery for a first gen, so i want to make absolutely sure it’s not a firmware problem before i get a new battery. i’m actually glad to know that i’t’s not just me who’s having this problem.

    [Reply]

Got Something to Say? Add Your Comment

Commenting on TFTS

Please note that all comments made are moderated by humans, not machines, so will not appear immediately and that comments made purely for self-promotional purposes will be rejected. When entering your name please do not enter your website name as this will also lead to your comment being rejected - we do offer a website URL box, please use that.

Please also note that we do not stock any of the items we cover on the site so orders for items cannot be accepted.

Many thanks for your kind understanding.