iPhone battery tips that actually work
Is your iPhone battery not getting you through the day? Want to go more than a single day on one charge? Depending on how much you use your iPhone, that isn’t an impossible feat — as long as you have your iPhone set up to optimize battery life as best it can.
Here are iPhone battery tips that actually work, and best of all, they don’t involve giving up important functionality or features!
Limit location services
Location services let apps see where you’re located and can report that information back to the app. If you have apps set to Always, this can happen in the background without your knowledge.
I’ve never found a reason to completely disable location services, and there are even a few apps I let have full access. However, letting all apps run rampant in the background isn’t a good idea.
My suggestion? Simply limit apps with access to location services and you’ll get far. For example, I let Fantastical and a few other apps use my location specifically for location-based reminders. All others only have access to my location while I’m actually using the app, or never.
To check your location services settings and change them, just follow these steps:
Launch the Settings app and tap on Privacy.
Choose Location Services.
Tap on each app and choose how you want to limit it. My best recommendation is to only allow apps to use your location while you’re using them, if at all.
Disable Background App Refresh for most apps
Background App Refresh lets apps poll data and perform actions in the background while you aren’t even using them. That includes while your iPhone is in your pocket and not even in use.
You can always disable background app refresh altogether, but I’ve never found this necessary. Just turn it off for most apps and leave it on for the ones that are important to you.
I am currently only allowing four apps access to background app refresh, and I have over 200 installed.
Here’s how to pick and choose what apps can refresh on their own in the background:
Launch the Settings app and choose General.
Tap on Background App Refresh.
Turn OFF background app refresh for apps that aren’t absolutely necessary.
Limit apps that show notifications on the Lock screen
If you only choose to implement one tip from this list, this is the one you should really consider.
Your iPhone has a gorgeous retina display on it, and it takes a lot of battery life to power the pixels behind it. That means every single time your iPhone’s screen lights up, your battery takes a hit.
Notification Center gives you the option to control what notifications show on the Lock screen. This can save tremendous amounts of battery life. If you turn off Lock screen access, you’ll still see an app badge, notifications will still filter into Notification Center, and an audible tone will still play. The only difference is that your screen doesn’t light up.
Follow these steps to disable Lock screen access on an app by app basis:
Launch the Settings app and tap on Notifications.
Go through each app and turn OFF the Show on Lock screen option for notifications that aren’t absolutely necessary.