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Why Does My iPhone Turn Off When I Still Have Battery Life Remaining? Here’s The Real Fix!

    David Payette
  • 6 years ago
    • Categories: Power

I’m going to tell you why your iPhone, iPad, or iPod suddenly turns off when you still have 30%, 50%, or any other percentage of battery remaining and exactly what to do to fix the problem, if it can be fixed. I’ll use an iPhone in this article, but if you have an iPad or iPod with this problem, follow along — the solution is exactly the same.

I’ll be honest right off the bat: I can’t guarantee we’re going to be able to fix your iPhone. Sometimes, issues related to iPhones randomly shutting off are caused by water damage or other unfortunate accidents. But don’t lose hope! A lot of the time, you can fix this problem at home.

I’ve Got A Faulty Battery, Right?

Not necessarily. More often than not, what’s actually going on is that your iPhone isn’t talking to the battery correctly. Your iPhone’s software is in charge of monitoring the amount of battery life remaining on your iPhone. If the software or firmware isn’t communicating properly with the battery, it’s not going to display the right percentage.

Just like apps on your iPhone, your iPhone’s firmware can have glitches, too.

Wait. Isn’t This Deeper Than A Simple Software Problem?

Yes. This isn’t your simple run-of-the-mill software problem where your battery is draining too fast because your apps are crashing. But it’s not necessarily a hardware problem either — so we need to address your iPhone’s firmware. So what is it? If it’s not “soft”-ware, and it’s not “hard”-ware, then its “Firm”-ware.

The Fix For iPhones That Turn Off With Battery Life Remaining

To fix the issue with your iPhone shutting off even though it says there is still battery life remaining, we’re going to do a “DFU Restore”. DFU stands for Device Firmware Update.

A DFU restore reloads your iPhone’s software and firmware, so it’s an even deeper type of restore than putting your iPhone into recovery mode. Check out my article to learn how to DFU restore your iPhone! Afterwards, come back here to finish up.

Your iPhone Needs Time To Recalibrate

Now that your iPhone is good as new and all your apps are downloading, give your phone a few days to recalibrate and get to know the battery again. I recommend fully charging your iPhone and letting it fully discharge a couple times before declaring the problem officially fixed or not.

When You’ve Tried Everything Else

If the issue comes back after you’ve done a DFU restore, you’ve eliminated the possibility that a software or firmware problem is causing your iPhone to turn off with battery life remaining or, in some cases, to randomly jump from one percentage to another. If that’s the case, you may need to repair your iPhone.

Repair Options

If you go through Apple, you can visit a local Apple Store (make an appointment first), or begin the repair process online. Some people try to use an external battery pack like the ones you’ll find on Amazon as a temporary stopgap, but if your iPhone is damaged, it may not help at all.

Wrapping It Up

Thanks again for visiting Payette Forward. I sincerely hope this article helped you stop your iPhone from turning off when it still shows a percentage of battery life remaining. I wish you the absolute best of luck and hope to hear from you! If you have any other questions, the Payette Forward Facebook Group is a great place to get answers.

All the best,
David P.

View Comments (105)

  • When I used my Iphone I looked up to Google on Safari after I finished looking at something I went back it shut down by itself again because it's still disabled and the battery power went down to 10%. I don't know why and I don't know how to make it stop shutting down by itself without being disabled.

    • But when an apple shape shows on it a battery shape with a charger shows on it I plug it back in it's still charger to 100%. I unplug it it shuts off quickly and still showing an apple shape and it's out of control.

      • And when I check the battery last charge level says 68% not 100% but it's charged. I click on battery health peak performance capability says Your battery is currently supporting normal peak performance. But still disabled I don't when will i get a new battery for my iPhone apple 8 it's so very hopeless I only keep it plug in so I can hear it ringing when someone calls me or text me. First of all when I plug it the apple shape shows it blinking any time.

  • So I have an iPhone 5SE (1st generation) and whenever I try to use it when it's not plugged in and charging, it turns off and on by itself and then it'll suddenly have 1% or 10% battery even though it was fully charged to 100% seconds before it turned off and on. I haven't even had this phone for a year yet. Because of this issue, I can't even take my phone with me and use it when I leave the house. Do you know why this is happening? Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you! ^_^

  • Hi, can you help me? Lately my iPhone X always dies when the battery is under 40%. Do you know what the problem is? The battery health right now is 90%.

  • My iPhone 11 turned off and won't turn on, the phone is black, nothing is working, it's not charging, it's not ringing, just black and silent. I've tried the normal force restart but it didn't work. I've also tried the iTunes connect force restart, it didn't even show that the phone is connected to my Mac or iTunes when I did. What do you suggest I do?

  • I am using iPhone 7 and it turned off and I can’t get it back on. please support me on this.

    • Hi Harshani, have you tried a hard reset? This can resolve many minor software issue on an iPhone, such as when it shuts down automatically. To hard reset your iPhone 7, press and hold the side button and the Volume down button until the Apple logo appears on your screen. Hope this helps!

  • hi i have iphone x and when i have 15% phone starts to slow down a lot and finaly dies i have 100% battery health thanks

    • My iPhone 7 turns off as well when it hits 10percent and I’m scared if the battery is the problem,pls if you’ve encountered this issue and has got it fixed,pls I do appreciate if anyone could pls send me a mail on how I can fix mine as well....

    • If your phone is dying around 15% instead of somewhere closer to 0-5%, I would look into getting it checked out if you can.

  • please my iPhone 6 turns on but immediately I try to browse or connect it to WIFI then it goes off on turns on again ive changed the battery too

  • EVERYONE I know who has a 5s is experiencing this issue! Every single one! This is a widespread issue and not random -unless of course Apple is only distributing faulty phones to North Carolina (highly unlikely.) Two of our family's 5s phones are only about a year old! Not everyone desires or has the expendable cash to put out for a stupid phone. If the product is still being sold NEW, the product should be able to update without issues or at least not be loaded with software that jeopardizes its functionality! The recent lawsuits refer to "slowdown." The battery dropping and phone turning off is the greater issue!

  • When my phone turns off, my home button gets really warm about 25C. I think it's trying to drain the battery or then I can charge again... Does anyone else have this? I don't have water damage or anything asking that lines I don't even have a lot of apps...

  • my iphone has been going off on its on for more than 15 times a day and i do not know why its happening
    i have tried evrything i know of phones and iphones but still no luck

  • thanks a lot it breaking my nerves when i cant turn on my iphone, then i read this article, and woola.. it works... thank a lot...

  • Hi David, I have one big question about this procedure: After the DFU restore is complete, can an iTunes backup be used to restore the phone with all of your data, or does that negate the DFU restore? If you can clarify this point, it would really clear up the process for me! Thanks!

  • David, tell me please: Any ideas on what can I do if this isn't going to help?

  • Hi, iphone 5 switches off when the indicator shows 0%, but as soon as you connect the charger to it, it shows 30%. I have done the DFU, didn't work, took it an apple store and they said the battery is fine. Any idea on what to do next.
    Thanks Kevin

  • I accidentally left my iphone 4 in the car in the sun for a few hours 2 weeks ago. Now intermittently the phone will shut down no matter what the battery amount is. Should I try the DFU restore or am I better off just replacing the battery? Is it likely that the restore will kill the phone completely as in the case of water damage? I am sure the problem started after the overheat.

  • Hi my phone was taken into a shop which they changed the battery it was all working fine. The shop did say that if the phones battery goes flat theres maybe a chance that the phone won't turn back on. In my case this is what happened. The battery is fine. As I put another one In to test. Anyone help?????

    Thanks.

  • Hi therey iphone 5s was turning on until one day I took it to the shop they replaced the battery and the they said that if the phone dies it may or it may not turn back on. So the battery went flat and now it don't turn back on. Anyone help???

  • I've done all the setps. but my phone still shutting down, even it has big battery life. HELP HELP

  • my I phone 4s automatically turn off after a few minutes. then I cant turn on it, but when I restart this my iphone 4s starts properly and after a few minutes again turns off. tell me please what can I do? plz plz plz........

  • thank you bro. but really I did it all the way to fix my iPhone . nothing help me just one thing "I changed the battery" ?

    note : don't lose your money to buy a fake battery same problem with it and it's dead fast.
    just get a original battery used one or new because it's stronger.

  • Hey, iPhone 4s. I recently changed my battery for one that was sold by seller named 'apple' on Amazon. I assume that this is a legitimate battery, but after installing it seems as if my phone does not 'recognize' the battery. When I hold power button (unplugged), it gives me the typical battery with a charger underneath. When I plug it in, it has the typical screen with the battery filled with red. I kept it in for 1 hour, but it still does not turn on. The screen with the battery is still present. Any help? Running the latest version of iOS 9.

    Thanks, Aidan.

  • My parents recently bought me iPhone 5S (64 GB) from a person on Craigslist and it seemed to work fine in the beginning, but once I started using it more at home, it started randomly turning off on it's own even though the battery percentage was okay. I didn't think it was a big deal at first because it would always turn back on and be normal once I connected it to a charger. I've had the same issue for the past few days, but two nights ago, while my phone was charging and playing music, I accidentally knocked my phone off my desk onto my carpet and then my phone began to repeatedly change from the severely low battery symbol (with the red) to the apple logo. I couldn't do anything so I just waited, and after a while, my phone vibrated and turned on like normally. Once it did, I backed it up to my laptop just in case anything else happened, and sure enough it did! Last night, I just let it play music (not connected to anything) while I was using my laptop, but then the music stopped, and my phone started doing that thing again (with the low battery to apple logo).

    I'm sure that my iPhone being knocked off my desk wasn't enough to cause an impact because my carpet is soft, the phone was in an Otter Box case, and my iPhone 4, which was my previous phone, has suffered worse falls, yet it still works perfectly fine after the past four years I've had it. I'm thinking that the previous owner might have dropped it in water or did something to damage the battery, but I don't know for sure. I don't think my parents would want to call that person for a refund or questions or anything because they aren't the type to.

    I've tried doing the hard reset (pressing the Power and Home button at the same time for a few seconds until the phone reboots), but that didn't do anything to my phone. I put the phone through DFU mode and the process worked, but my phone didn't respond to iTunes and continued doing that "low battery to apple logo" thing. I finally tried Recovery Mode, and my phone wouldn't respond to iTunes after that either. Now, whenever I charge it, the screen just shows the white charger symbol with a white arrow above it pointing to the iTunes logo. When connected to iTunes, it just says "Your iPhone can't be updated; you must restore it to factory settings." It also said to restore from backup once the process completes, but since my phone won't even turn on correctly, I can't!

    The first time I did a Recovery Mode update and restore, error code 21 came up. I just did it again and error code -18 showed, and 21 again. My phone still says to connect it to iTunes.

    What should I do? :(

  • Hi, thanks for the info. My iPhone 6 which is about a little less than a year old has never had water damage. The battery worked fine, perfectly, until recently. It might be a coincidence but the problems started right after updating the iOS, currently 9.1. The first problem i noticed was that i was having symptoms of the phone being on Low Power Mode. This was a couple of months ago. At that time, i did not know there was such a thing as low power mode, i was just having some odd behaviors. Some things i noticed were that it took the phone a longer time to charge, and there was an orange battery icon in the upper right corner instead of the usual green one when the phone was charged above 20%. At some point, someone told me to check and see if it was on low power mode. It was. I did not ever put it on low power mode, this happened automatically. I didn't even know there was a low power mode. i turned Low Power Mode off and no longer had the orange battery icon and other symptoms. But recently, in the past few days, i have noticed my phone is not charging nearly as fast as it always did before, it's a dramatic difference. And today was the first time i noticed that i got a low battery message, which happens automatically at 20%. i was taking a few photos (less than 10) but before i could finish, the phone just shut off, the screen went black as if the battery had died, when a minute before it was at 19%. I plugged the charging cable in and there was a too low battery icon, a black screen with a battery icon showing a tiny bit of red on the left end. Then, seconds later, the phone started booting up.

    Does this sound like a battery problem?

    I believe i'm not able to do a firmware restore or update because of problems i have syncing my phone. I've had this problem for a long time. The problem is that most of my apps, including one i paid $65 for and which i use frequently, an essential tool, were bought with a different apple ID, at least that's what they tell me. If i could tell them the credit card number that i bought the apps with, they say they could let me use them with my current apple ID but because i don't remember that card number (from 2009), i c an't sync those apps on my phone. Let me say right away that i do not fully understand this problem. I still have the emails from the iTunes store sent to my email address, telling me i bought the apps and how much i paid (or didn't pay if they were free), that is, i have my receipts from the iTunes store, emails from them to me, but if i can't give them all the information on a debit card that was closed out years ago because of suspicious activity, i don't have the right to sync these apps to my phone or to my computer. What i had to do to get the apps onto my phone, and some of my music, is to use my old computer to sync those apps and music onto my phone. But i can't use my current computer to sync my phone. I haven't synced in a very long time. I DO back ups, the iTunes program allows me to back up my phone, it just won't let me sync it. Very aggravating, i can't believe there isn't a simpler solution when i have receipts from Apple saying i paid for those apps, and my music IS my music, some of which i recorded myself (live). i really don't understand why this is happening but i don't want to update my firmware if it means i will lose my apps.

    So i'm looking for information about how to get my battery problem fixed that doesn't require me to lose my apps.

  • Hi there.
    so after i follow all the steps above i just plug my phone into my computer and restore the back up? or should i re download everything that was on my phone before, like new?

  • I tried it out the other night and it has seeming gotten worse and is shutting down as soon as it turns on. I'm not sure what to do, any advice.
    Thanks,
    Alex

  • David: The problem I'm having is the restore after the DFU is failing with an (error 3014). Everything that I have found suggests to be a networking problem getting to the update servers. My host file is virgin/clean. I've tried direct network wired connection to the modem. No matter what I do it won't restore. This is a 'new battery' already and it holds charge at 95% after 8 hours...so I know its not the battery. I've also disabled the firewall and virus software before the update, but same problem.

  • Thank you for this thorough and easy to follow advice! Do I have to do an iCloud backup, or can I back up my device onto my computer? I don't have a lot of storage in iCloud available to me. Also, will a DFU help with other issues? Both my iPad and iPhone seem to freeze and reset regularly during app updates.

  • I did this with my iphone 5 a week or two ago. It quit shutting down for a couple days, but is back to every day. The phone is warm when I notice it is off, and I have PLENTY of battery left (sometimes 80% or so, and sometimes it is even charging!). Any other suggestions?

  • David you're a godsent!!!! I have had this problem for about 4 months!!!! I finally tried what you suggested and voila!!! My phone is working!!! You saved me $80-$95!!! Phew thanks so much! Thanks for pay-ing it forward!!

  • my iphone was at 1% i plugged it in to the wall charger for a while and got nothing! after unplugging my phone it still says thats its charging but wont turn on! stays on black screen with battery charging, also cannot access dfu mode or any recovery mode i have tried new cords and nothing will work!

  • This worked easier for my new iPod Touch:

    To enter DFU Mode:

    - First plug your device into your computer

    - Simply turn off your device by holding sleep/wake button or Power button basically swiping it off will be enough.

    - Hold the power button for 3 seconds at this stage.

    - Do not release the sleep/wake button and hold the home button simultaneously for 10 seconds.

    - As the last step release the power button and keep holding the home button until a message from iTunes appears as your device is recognized as in recovery mode.

    Now we are in DFU mode and if you ever get stuck in DFU mode and would like to get out please hold the home button and power button until the apple logo appears on your screen.

    The technique explained is used for all devices of Apple and can be used on all devices with exactly the same steps being followed.

  • Thank you so much, It actually worked on my iPhone 4s.
    What a relief.
    I just want to ask you, if an iPhone is jailbroken would it work?

    Cheers!
    Joseph, Morocco

  • I was having the same battery-shuts-down-at-40/50%-problem as many others. I have tried your DFU reset. It took a while to complete (installing iOS 8.1.2 on an iPhone 4S) but everything has worked according to plan (back-up and restore). Whether the battery behave now, I will have to wait and see, but I appreciate your taking the time to write this helpful post.

    Cheers!

    John Zimmer
    http://mannerofspeaking.org

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Tags: Applebatterybattery lifediesiPadiPhoneiPodiTunesMacTurns Off
David Payette: I'm a former Apple employee and the founder of Payette Forward, and I'm here to help you with your iPhone.