Tips to Save Battery Life on your iOS Device

Improving Battery

We love our technology when it works. But when it dies, it's very frustrating. You'll think things such as, "I literally just charged this an hour ago," or, "Why is my battery draining so fast?"

Usually, this is the result of battery aging. Your battery can only take so much before it starts getting old, and it needs to be replaced.

Other times, it can be software-related. This guide should hopefully help you get at least a bit more juice out of your battery, and hopefully keep it charged for a pretty long time.

Method One. Background App Refresh

Background App Refresh is exactly what the title says. It's the process where apps in the background refresh their content. While it is very useful, it can be a major drainer of your battery.

It's recommended you either disable certain apps you think are causing lots of drainage, or disable the whole thing altogether. Here's how to do so.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to General.
3. Scroll a pretty lengthy ways down to Background App Refresh.
4. Disable it with the switch, or disable certain apps.

Method Two. Personal Hotspot (iPhone)

If you keep Personal Hotspot on, it can be a mega drainer. I discovered my battery was draining like mad last month, and went to check why. Personal Hotspot can really drain your battery if left on for too long. Once I disabled it my battery drain was noticeably slower. Here's how to disable.

1. Launch Settings.
2. Scroll down to Personal Hotspot.
3. Find the switch and toggle it off if it isn't already.

You can also get to the same screen by going to Cellular, then Personal Hotspot. That's just a slower way of getting there though.

Method Three. Delete Unused Apps and Use Safari More

Background App Refresh takes care of background refreshing. Unfortunately, it doesn't take care of other background activity.

As you may know, certain apps use a specific amount of battery. Whether it is in the foreground or background at that time, and depending on whether the app does background / foreground activity in the first place, the app will use up your battery.

It is recommended you delete the app if you are not using it. If the app has a web client, it's recommended you use that instead. You could also make it seem like an app by adding the URL as an icon on the home screen, so no background activity happens. Here's how to do all that.

List1: Checking Apps Using the Most Battery

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down to Battery.
3. Scroll down to the apps section of the Battery History Window, and see the apps that are draining your battery. Then you can go delete them as needed.

List2: Replacing Apps with Website Icons

1. Open Safari.
2. Type in the URL of the web client. For example, www.facebook.com.
3. If the website requires sign-in, do so, and be sure to save your password when Safari prompts you to, so you don't have to login everytime you open the website.
4. Make sure you are on the main page, or the main dashboard. Then locate the Share button in the Safari toolbar, where all the other functions are such as Back and Forward.
5. In the Share Sheet, select Add to Home Screen.
6. Type in the name for the icon, for example, Facebook, Twitter, etc, and hit Save.
7. Go to your homescreen and confirm the icon has appeared on one of your pages.

Method Four. Low Power Mode (iPhone)

Low Power Mode improves your iPhone's battery life span by disabling several background activity, like fetching mail, disabling "Hey Siri" and decreasing Auto-Lock time. It is suggested when you reach 20% battery, and 10%.

Here's how to enable it (iPhone only, iPads do not support this feature).

1. Launch Settings.
2. Scroll down to Battery.
3. Find the Low Power Mode switch and turn it on.

Low Power Mode will automatically disable itself when battery life reaches 80%.

Method Five. Adjust Screen Brightness

If your screen is too bright, it can cause some battery drainage as well. Here's how to adjust it. There are two ways.

The first way is to:

1. Open Settings.
2. Find Display and Brightness.
3. Find the brightness slider and bring it down to about 5 or 10%, or you can bring it down all the way. Also, if you want brightness to always stay at 0, disable Auto Brightness.

The second way is to: 1. Tap at the top of the screen to focus on the status bar. 2. Swipe up with three fingers to launch Control Center. 3. Find the Brightness slider and bring it down.

Method Six. Turn on Reduce Motion

Reduce Motion reduces the user interface effects. There's really not much information on it, but it helps with battery life apparently, and it makes sense as it's making UI effects less flashy.

Here's how to get it up and running.

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down to General.
3. Select Accessibility. Side note: As of iOS 13, Accessibility is not in General, it is in the main Settings screen. I just thought I'd point that out, since iOS 13 is coming next week.
4. Find Reduce Motion. Side Note: As of iOS 13, Reduce Motion has moved to a new window called Motion under Accessibility.
5. Find the switch and turn it on.

conclusion

There are several ways to improve battery life. And as I find them I'll keep adding on.

Hopefully this guide helped you.

If you need further assistance, feel free to contact me, via my AppleVis profile.

Regards,

Tunmi