# Any apps designed to drain the iPhone battery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2011, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767 "2011-05-13T10:56:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/1 "2011-05-13T10:56:25Z")
Being a good boy I like to follow the advice Apple give and fully charge then fully drain the battery once a month but to be honest, it’s a real pain in the ass! To drain it quickly I end up switching a whole heap of stuff on and changing settings etc then running apps. I’m wondering if there is an app out there that is designed to drain the battery as fast as possible? I realise that Apple may not allow such an app so perhaps it isn’t advertised as such. Any ideas? It would be good to avoid changing all the settings then having to switch them back afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/2 "2011-05-13T11:50:52Z")
_Do_ they give that advice? I thought deep-cycling of Li-Ion batteries wasn’t good for them. ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/3 "2011-05-13T11:53:34Z")
[Yup](http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html) they sure do. > [@](#): > > For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down). ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/4 "2011-05-13T11:57:22Z")
That’s about the worst thing you can do to a lithium rechargeable. I can see it if the battery monitoring software needs to be “recalibrated” every once in a while, but “keeping the electrons moving” is nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/5 "2011-05-13T11:59:15Z")
I’m not sure about a newer iPhone, but on my year and half old Droid, Angry Birds will do it pretty fast. My phone typically makes it from when I wake up to when I go to bed, with normal usage, on about 30% of it’s battery (70% remaining). If I play Angry Birds for more then a half hour or so, I’ll be struggling to make it to bed time. Other then that, I’m not sure if there’s anything specifically made to do it. I know my last few non-smart phones had some built in features for testing the battery. I think all they really did was keep all the lights on and at full brightness though. If you really wanted to cycle it all the way down, I would just do what you were doing and not worry about running and app specifically for it. Or, just don’t charge it for a day or so and if you think it’s going to run out in the middle of the day bring your charger to work with you (if that’s possible). ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/6 "2011-05-13T12:06:10Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > That’s about the worst thing you can do to a lithium rechargeable. I can see it if the battery monitoring software needs to be “recalibrated” every once in a while, but “keeping the electrons moving” is nonsense. I have heard conflicting advice as well. It occurs to me, however, that recalibrating the battery monitor is perhaps as important as prolonging the life of the battery. By which I mean that if the phone software will shut the phone down when it reads 0% then it doesn’t matter how much charge is actually left because you can’t use it. Playing games seems to be the best bet if no specific app exists but I would imagine they don’t drain the battery as fast ‘idling’ as when you are playing them. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/7 "2011-05-13T14:01:31Z")
TBH, I don’t even know if “calibration” is even required at all anymore; AFAIK lithium ion/li-poly cells have a fairly consistent discharge curve so it’s really little more than reading the terminal voltage. **ETA:** > [@](#): > > By which I mean that if the phone software will shut the phone down when it reads 0% then it doesn’t matter how much charge is actually left because you can’t use it. the battery itself has monitoring circuitry which will interrupt output before risk of cell damage. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/8 "2011-05-13T14:39:54Z")
[The App Store review guidelines](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2010/09/app-store-guidelines.pdf) include: _Apps that rapidly drain the device’s battery or generate excessive heat will be rejected_ That being said, I can think of a few things that will drain an iPhone battery quickly. - Flashlight apps. - Vibrator apps. The ones available to jailbroken phones will be better because they can have the vibrator on constantly, not intermittently. - Civilization Revolution (occasionally on sale for $1.99). - Angry Birds, as a previous poster noted. It doesn’t seem to drain the iPhone as fast as what was described for the Driod. - TuneIn (the best Internet radio app out there, IMHO) on a high-bitrate stream. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/9 "2011-05-13T14:53:56Z")
The instructions that came with my iPhone a year or two ago specifically said not to periodically drain the battery. IIRC, they said that it was unnecessary, not that it was harmful. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/10 "2011-05-13T15:19:48Z")
If you do the full discharge I would suggest recharging as soon as possible as Li-ion eats itself very fast at such low discharge levels. IIRC the optimal level for life is about 40% charged, and drops off at both ends, but at the low end (near 0%) life drops dramatically. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/11 "2011-05-13T15:28:04Z")
GPS eats batteries quickly. Map your location in the Map App, keep tracking it constantly, and the battery will die down rather fast. Maxing the brightness will kill the battery too. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/12 "2011-05-13T20:18:15Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > but “keeping the electrons moving” is nonsense. Certainly is. Can an electron even stop moving, and still be an electron? The physics I learned in school (probably long outdated) didn’t seem to allow for that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/13 "2011-05-14T04:27:58Z")
I kind of thought all the apps were designed to drain your battery, along with your wallet. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-apps-designed-to-drain-the-iphone-battery/581767/14 "2011-05-14T05:27:59Z")
Streaming a show on Netflix, or music from Pandora plus leaving GPS on seems to drain the battery pretty quickly. If there’s 20% left and you stream music plus play a video game in bed until the phone shuts itself off, you would only have about 15-20 minutes to kill, then attach the charger before going to sleep.