Our iPhones can become one of the most important assets we own. It allows us to stay connected, helps us check our email and upload photos, capture memories with a camera, allows us to watch movies and even navigates our way to our destination. Given all that activity, it might not come as a massive shock when our phone dies after an intensive day of use, but it’s still a major inconvenience if it dies when you’re still miles from your destination or just minutes away from taking an important phone call. In this article, we will discuss how you can increase your iPhone battery life.
What’s killing your battery?
Have you ever wondered how much of your iPhone battery life is being used by individual Apps? You can find out which Apps are using up your iPhone battery life by going to the Settings application.
If you start seeing an app showing up there consistently, you’ll know that running the app is costing you valuable battery life.
To access Battery Usage:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Battery.
You will sometimes see notes beneath each item that provides more information on why the app drained so much battery and can suggest ways for you to fix it.
Turn Off Location Services
One of the coolest features of the iPhone is its built-in GPS. The GPS is sometimes handy and allows your phone to know where you are and give you exact driving directions, give that information to apps that help you find restaurants, and more.
The behaviour in which each app uses the GPS feature is called Location Services. For privacy reasons it’s a good idea not to let certain apps use location services. If you’re not using Location Services, and don’t plan to right away, turn them off for each app and save some power.
You can turn off Location Services by following these steps:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Privacy.
- Select Location Services.
- Moving slider to Off/white.
Prevent Background App Refresh
Back round App refresh looks at the apps you use most often, the time of day that you use them, and then automatically updates them for you so that the next time you open the app, the latest information is waiting for you. For instance, if you always check social media at 7:30 am, the IOS learns that and automatically updates your social apps before 7:30 am. Needless to say, this useful feature drains battery.
Reduce your screens brightness
You can control the default brightness of your iPhone screen with this slider. Needless to say, the brighter the default setting for the screen, the more power it requires. Keep the screen dimmer to conserve more of your battery by tapping:
- Select “Settings”
- Display & Brightness
- Move the slider as needed
Don’t Automatically Update Apps
There’s now a feature that automatically updates them for you when new versions are released.
This is convenient, but can also be a drain on your battery. To change this behaviour and only update apps when you want to:
- Tap Settings.
- Select iTunes & App Store.
- Find Updates in the Automatic Downloads section.
- Move the slider to Off/white.
Keep Wi-Fi Off
Connecting to Wifi is always a good idea to save on data costs on your service and can be often faster than the 3G or 4G network , though when turned on at all times can be a sure way to drain your battery life.
So, unless you’re using it right this second, you may want to keep Wi-Fi turned off.
To turn Wi-Fi off:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Wi-Fi.
- Move the slider to Off/white.
You can also turn off WiFi via Control Center. To access that setting, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap the WiFi icon to gray it out.
Make Sure Personal Hotspot Is Off
This only applies if you use the iPhone’s Personal Hotspot feature to share your wireless data connection with other devices.
But if you do that, this tip is key.
Personal Hotspot turns your iPhone into a wireless hotspot that broadcasts its cellular data to other devices within in range.
This is a tremendously useful feature, but as you may have guessed if you’ve read this far, it also really drains your battery.
To make sure you turn off Personal Hotspot when you’re done using it:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Personal Hotspot.
- Move slider to off/white.
Don’t close your apps.
You may have heard that clearing ’em out will save battery life, but it’s a myth. Frequently swiping up to close apps actually uses up more battery power and makes your phone run slower.
Ditch vibrate mode.
It sounds unreal, but having your phone set to buzz for every call, text or notification drains your battery much more than silent or loud mode. Switch to one of the latter to extend your phone’s life.
Hot and cold temperatures Affect iPhone Battery Life
The iPhone is designed to function in a range of temperatures, between 62° to 72° F (room temperature), being the ideal comfort zone. It is very important to avoid exposing the device to temperatures higher than 95° F, which can permanently damage battery capacity.
Charging your iPhone in high temperatures can reduce battery life further. Hot temperatures are a hidden drain on your iPhone battery effectiveness. The same applies to very cold environments, where you might notice decreases in battery life.