Whether you own an older iPhone with a worn-down battery or if you have a newer one that is not lasting as long as you would want, there are several ways you can improve battery performance. Thankfully, here I have listed tips as well as tricks to extend iPhone battery life.
Navigating through the settings below could meaningfully extend your battery life on the spot, however, the results will be dependent on what you are willing to trade for improved efficiency.
If you decide you’d rather not change many (or any) of the settings, a valid option is to just begin using a battery case or portable power bank or look into replacing your battery, or if necessary, upgrading your iPhone.
One more determinant: I understand that wireless charging is convenient with modern iPhones, however, wired charging charges them much faster, up to 50% in 30 minutes.
How do I get better battery life from my iPhone?
1. How are apps using your iPhone battery?
Navigate to Settings > Battery to figure out the details of your battery usage. “Last 24 Hours” is the default, it shows which apps are using the most energy.
Tap on “Last 10 Days” and toggle it to the right-hand side, it will give you a broader look at what has been eating up all the power.
You could also take a look at the battery life suggestions just above the battery usage. It gives you quick, actionable ways to reduce battery drain.
You can also check battery health on your iPhone, watch this video on How to do it
2. Low Power Mode as well as Performance Management
Low Power Mode is a quick and easy way to extend your battery life when required. The feature works by suspending mail fetch, background app refresh, auto-downloads, along with more with just a single click. This is not an everyday type of feature, however, is handy when required.
You can turn on Low Power mode by visiting Settings > Battery. However, it is useful to have quick access to Low Power Mode in Control Center. Make your way to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, then tap on the + icon next to Low Power Mode.
Another feature, that acts like an automatic low power mode, is iOS Performance Management. What happens is that, if your iPhone battery has been degraded, performance will be automatically reduced to conserve the battery to prevent it from shutting down unexpectedly.
You could just check if your iPhone is using Performance Management by navigating to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. You can disable performance management for iPhones with degraded batteries, but if you do, keep in mind that your iPhone will eat your battery faster. You can read more on the feature in Apple’s support doc.
Detail: If you do disable Performance Management, you don’t have the ability to turn it back on manually, you will have to wait until your iPhone unexpectedly shuts down again, as it will force it back on.
3. Auto-Lock and screen brightness
If you notice “Home & Lock Screen” on your battery usage is higher than required, it is a good idea to check the settings.
If you set it to Auto-Lock at 30 seconds, it will help you preserve the most battery life. Especially with most of Apple’s iPhones supporting raise to wake, 30 seconds is enough.
Make your way to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock.
You can lower your screen brightness to help the battery life, however, this is more of a personal preference. You could do that in Control Center, or navigate to Settings > Display & Brightness.
4. Background app refresh
Low Power Mode turns off background app refresh across the board, however, you have the ability to customize which apps use this feature for a more convenient experience and improved battery life. Make your way to Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
You could also opt to only use background app refresh on Wi-Fi in addition to Wi-Fi/Cellular. Or, you could just turn the feature off totally. However, the majority of users will find leaving Wi-Fi as well as Cellular on while customizing which apps are used for background app refresh to be more suitable.
Turning off Background App Refresh prevents apps that you are not actively using from updating.
5. Location services
Dialing in your location services settings is yet another way you could extend your iPhone’s battery life. This can help in reducing cellular data use, as well. Navigate to Settings > Privacy > Location Services to update the privileges for the apps you use.
If you spot any apps that ask to Always use your location, you can switch them to While Using, Ask Next Time, or Never.
6. Hot and cold temperatures
According to Apple the ideal ambient temperature for iPhones as well as other Apple devices is 62° to 72° F (16° to 22° C). Temperatures above 95° F (35° C) have the potential to “permanently damage the battery capacity.”
You should try your best to keep your iPhone from extreme heat, it helps if you remove your iPhone case if you notice it gets hot when being charged.
Meanwhile, temperatures below 32° F (0 ° C) have the ability to temporarily reduce battery life. If you live in a climate with cold temperatures, keeping your iPhone in a relatively warmer location, for example, in an inside pocket can help extend battery life by keeping it warmer.
7. Push and Fetch
If you wish to not use the Low Power Mode, you could just manually control Push and Fetch for your email/internet accounts.
You need to navigate to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data. You can leave your primary account(s) as the push to receive new mail ASAP, and turn less important accounts to fetch every hour or even set them to manual.
Concluding how to extend iPhone battery life
If you are in a pinch, you could use Low Power Mode and turn down your screen brightness to extend your iPhone battery life. However, hopefully, after reading the article you have a better idea of which apps are zapping your power the most.
Do not forget, that the best way for you to preserve your iPhone’s battery longevity is to keep Optimized Battery Charging turned on, to avoid leaving your iPhone at 100% charge as much as possible. You can head to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, to double-check.
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