How to Improve your iPhone’s Battery Life

Battery life has to be the biggest complaint when it comes to iPhone users. After the recent scandal with Apple purposely slowing older devices down to converse the battery power, more and more emphasis has been put on iPhone’s battery lives.

Although naturally with age, devices do get slower and batteries die a lot quicker, there are ways for you to try and get every last bit out of your iPhone's battery life before you inevitably have to replace it with a new one.

How to Extend Phone Battery Life

Top tips on maintaining a long relationship with your iPhone battery 

iPhone software update

It goes without saying, having the latest iOS software on your phone will help your device work and optimise at the best level it can. Apple uses its updates to iron out any bugs or issues with the current operating system, which includes any issues with battery problems.

Dim the screen or turn on Auto-Brightness to save battery on iPhone

The newer your device, the more pixels your screen is packing! Which means the more power the battery is going to require to fire up those pixels. So the higher the brightness, the more power is being sucked from your battery to keep the screen bright. So it goes without saying, keep your brightness down to an acceptable enough level and your battery will stay alive for longer.

Keep WIFI on and connected at all times

If there’s a Wi-Fi connection available, USE IT! Wi-Fi uses a lot less battery power than 3G & 4G, especially where the cellular connection is poor. This is because when you’re in a poor connectivity area, your device is constantly looking for a better signal thus reducing your battery quicker. With a consistent WI-FI connection, your device has to do less hunting! But if you're not in a WI-FI area, turn it off in the control centre because it will constantly look for a WI-FI connection.

Enable low power mode

Since iOS 9, Apple has brought out a feature for its iPhones called Low Power Mode which prompts you when you have 20% of your battery power remaining. What it does is reduce power consumption thus slowing the phone down slightly, stopping Mail fetch, Hey Siri, background app refresh, automatic downloads, and some visual effects too. You can turn on Low Power Mode at any stage of your battery life, thus giving you a longer iPhone battery life throughout the day.

Turn off auto e-mail push

Do you have your work and personal e-mails on your phone? There’s a strong chance that this is draining your battery life in a big way. When you have auto-push switched on, in the background it’s constantly looking for new e-mails which is a big no-no in the battery preservation game. Head to your mail settings and change your background refresh to “never” so it only updates when you visit your mail app.

View battery usage information to see what apps are hogging your battery life

Apps use up different amounts of battery. Some apps consume a lot more battery than others. Apps like Facebook especially take up a HUGE chunk of your battery usage, usually 20-30% even in the background. Regularly take a look at your battery usage (Settings > Battery) and see who the main culprits are. If it’s the same apps at the top, maybe delete them or use them a little bit less and turn off background refresh.

Enable quick Auto-Lock

When you’re not using your phone, you want it to lock and shut off any brightness as quickly as possible. Even if you’re not using it, if there’s brightness it’s using power. Head to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and put it to the quickest possible setting so you’re not using the battery when you don’t need it.

Disable Bluetooth if you’re not using it

Similar to WI-FI and cellular data, when you’ve got your Bluetooth switched on and not connected to a device, your device will constantly be looking for a partner. If you’re not using it, turn it off!

Turn down the volume

Using your iPhone’s internal speakers takes up WAY more battery life than your headphones do, so if you’re listening to music or any podcasts, make sure you’re always plugged in. Also, having the EQ turned on within Settings > Music takes up a lot of your battery power too.

Stop vibrating

You know that feeling when you’re in a group chat on Whatsapp and there's 100’s of messages flying around and all you can hear is a constant buzzing sound - that’s the sound of the vibration part of your device draining your battery like it’s going out of fashion. Head into Settings > Sounds & Haptics and turn off both of the vibration options.

Change your moving wallpaper & screensaver

Do you have one of those fancy wallpaper and screensaver that moves when you tilt your device in different directions? You should probably turn that setting off to stop your device from using excessive battery power.

Avoid high impact apps, games and videos

It goes without saying that using apps that require you to use your CPU more will drain your battery quicker. 3D games require your CPU a lot more than say, reading apps, so it’s good to avoid these sorts of apps if you’re looking to save your battery life. The same goes for your favourite series on Netflix - a big no-no when you’re in the red zone!

Minimise using your camera

Using your camera and your flash requires a lot of battery power so if you’re about to go into the red, we suggest staying well clear using the camera.

Disable background app refresh

Since iOS 7, apps have been allowed to periodically refresh in the background so when you launch the app, you'll have the latest update. But this does just waste your processing power and battery life. So, head to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and turn it off or allow your essential apps to refresh to save yourself some battery life.

Replace your battery

If all of the above is a little bit too much for you or if your battery is on its last legs, then maybe it’s time to get a replacement. Our iPhone battery replacements come with a 12-month warranty and are fully fitted by our qualified technicians. Follow this link to book your appointment today.