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Are you tired of your iPhone battery draining faster than your enthusiasm during a Monday morning commute?

Moderate iPhone users who use the phone for web browsing, messaging, phone calls, and a few apps tend to have a charge that lasts around a day.

Of course, power-intensive tasks (such as gaming), some settings and apps can significantly affect battery life.

An iPhone battery charging with an external battery.

Well, fear not, my tech-savvy friends, because we're about to unlock the mystical secrets of optimizing your iPhone battery life!

Did you know?

Battery life is the length of time a device can work on battery power before you have to plug it in to recharge the battery. Visit the Apple official website and open the specs for your phone. Scroll down to the Power and Battery section for the exact battery times for your phone.

Look at your battery usage

Did you know that your iPhone can tell you a thing or two about your battery life?

Go to Settings > Battery to view your battery usage.

Step 1

Look at your battery usage over time, or scroll down to see which apps use the most juice.

iPhone battery usage information under Settings.

Step 2

Tap on Battery Health and Charging to optimize battery charging and check your battery's maximum capacity.

iPhone battery usage information under Settings > Battery Health & Charging.

This works better if your phone isn't charging, so unplug and check it out!

Did you know?

Apple designs their batteries to work at peak performance for about 500 charges. The second image above shows 78% battery capacity, meaning this is an older phone. In this case, iOS shows a message suggesting the owner replace their battery. Check to see if you might have a message too.

1. Try this first!

Preserving your iPhone battery life doesn't require magic spells, just two simple tricks:

  1. Dimming the screen

  2. Embracing Wi-Fi like it's a cozy blanket on a chilly day

Brightness

A man blinded by a light. The text reads, 'When you check your phone at  night and forget to turn down the brightness.'

Step 1

For screen dimming, open Settings > Display & Brightness (or swipe down from the top-right of the screen) and slide that brightness all the way down.

iPhone Display & Brightness slider highlighted in Settings.

Step 2

To activate Auto-Brightness, head to Settings > Accessibility, tap Display & Text Size, and let your iPhone adapt to lighting conditions like a chameleon.

iPhone Display & Text size menu with Auto-Brightness highlighted.

Wi-fi

A spinning wi-fi symbol.

When you're on a data adventure, Wi-Fi is your trusty sidekick.

Skip the cellular network's power-hungry ways and keep Wi-Fi activated at all times.

Visit Settings > Wi-Fi to join a network and bask in the battery-saving glory.

Settings > Wi-Fi menu.

2. Stop multitasking

Ever glanced at your email or your WhatsApp during class? You're quite the multitasker! Your iPhone is a pro at multitasking, too.

A multitasking office worker.

When an app uses the battery in the background, it means you're using another app at the same time. In other words, your battery is powering more than one app at once.

Save your precious battery life and turn off Background App Refresh.

Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and select Off.

Step 1

Settings > General  menu with Background App Refresh highlighted.

Step 2

Settings > General > Background App Refresh menu showing a series of apps.

Flaticon Icon

If there is an app you need throughout the day, leave the Background App Refresh ON, but only do this for the apps you need, such as maps or Slack.

Did you know?

If the Mail app lists Background Activity, and it's on your list of apps that use a lot of battery life, you can choose to fetch data manually or increase the fetch interval. Go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords > Fetch New Data.

3. Adjust location services settings

Location, location, location! It's not just something to consider when buying a house.

Map icon

Lots of different apps want to know and use your location, but most of them don’t need to track your location all the time. For most apps, allowing Location Services while using the app makes the most sense.

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services to adjust your settings.

Step 1

Settings menu with Privacy & Security highlighted.

Step 2

Settings > Privacy & Security menu with Location Services highlighted.

Go through your apps and choose if they can use your location. Select from these options:

  • While Using the App or Widgets

  • While Using the App 

  • Ask Next Time Or When I Share

  • Never

4. Put your phone face-down

Did you know that when your iPhone is facing up, the screen lights up every time you receive a notification?

iAn Phone screen full of notifications.

Those notifications might be one of the reasons why your iPhone battery drains quickly. Instead of letting notifications drain a little bit of the battery every time the screen lights up, put your phone face-down when you're not using it. It's like magic!

To solve this permanently, you can turn off push notifications in Settings > Notifications. Tap the app and set Allow Notifications to Off.

Step

Settings menu with Notifications hightlighted.

Step 2

Settings > Notifications menu with notification adjustment options.

Did you know?

Did you know that all iPhone models have the Raise to Wake function enabled by default? It might be causing you trouble, especially if you're someone who frequently picks up or walks with your iPhone swinging in your hand. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and toggle off Raise to Wake.

5. Activate low power mode

Your iPhone has your back when it comes to battery life — Low Power Mode! The iPhone lets you know when your battery is at 20% and again at 10% and lets you turn on Low Power Mode with one tap.

You can turn it on at any time by going to Settings > Battery.

Or, ask Siri to activate Low Power Mode.

iPhone Settings > Battery with Low Power Mode toggle highlighted.

Flaticon Icon

Low Power Mode reduces display brightness, optimizes device performance, and minimizes system animations.

So, think of Low Power Mode as the magical switch that flips all the right levers, adjusts all the right dials, and whispers to your iPhone, "Go forth and conquer the day!"

An animation of a battery draining.

Did you know?

Screen brightness has the biggest impact on iPhone battery life, but it's also the easiest to fix!

6. Turn it off

Roy from The IT Crowd says 'Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?'

Restarting your phone is like taking a quick break to organize your thoughts. You and your phone both need a quick breather, so be sure to restart every now and then!

Flaticon IconIf you'll be spending time somewhere with low or no cell coverage, swipe down from the top-right corner and tap the Airplane Mode icon.

You won't be able to receive or make calls, but your phone will stop searching for a stronger signal and extend your battery life.

Quiz

Sarah is concerned about her iPhone battery life and wants to make it last longer. What could she do to make her battery last longer without compromising her phone use? Select all that apply:

Take Action

A man raising his hands, which have electricity running through them. He says, 'More power!'For more battery power, try these tips:

License:

This Byte has been authored by

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Anita Damjanovic

Customer Education Specialist | Educator

PhD

English

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