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Today’s iPhones have larger batteries than all previous iPhones, but have the newer features and the latest iOS 18 software and apps can quickly clear them. Of course, over time, the batteries in Apple phones gradually lose their sustainable capacity. But before you consider ditching your phone and buying a new one, like the new one iPhone 16know that there are tips and tricks to get a little more all-day battery life on your current iPhone.
Some causes of battery drain are easy to check, such as features enabled by default that can be disabled. Others may require a small lifestyle change as you change the way you use your iPhone during the day, break habits, and go without some small benefits. In all cases, it is useful to keep a power bank in your pocket or bag, just to be safe.
Here are eight tips for diagnosing and extending the battery life of your iPhone.
Apple’s iPhone 16, 16 Plus show off brighter colors and buttons
View all photos1. Find out what’s draining your battery
Some apps consume more of your iPhone’s battery than others, and it’s no surprise that the biggest offenders are the ones that track location, stream video, or generate images (games for example, especially fast online ones). If this causes your phone to warm up a bit, it will likely drain your battery faster than normal use.
There is a way to specifically check which apps are draining your battery the most. Go to Institutions > Battery and scroll down to see which apps are the biggest culprits taking up the largest percentage of your screen time. Also save the Insights and suggestions because it does all the analysis for you and shows you which apps and settings you need to change.
Keep in mind that these are the biggest uses of your battery, but you’ll have to go through them to see which ones are big battery hogs, like YouTube or TikTok. In my case, Safari accounts for the majority of my usage, which means a lot of endless scrolling through sites and forums, but YouTube comes in second.
2. Drop the battery-draining apps
Let’s face it: whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, or something else, one or two apps are probably consuming an inordinate amount of your battery every day. If you want longer battery life, uninstall the app by long-pressing the icon on the home screen and clicking the ‘x’ in the corner.
Yes, you can try limiting your usage before deleting these apps from your phone. If you believe in your willpower, you can simply put the offending app in a folder to keep it out of sight and out of mind.
But if you need some help from your iPhone itself, you can set a time limit for individual apps or entire categories. Go to Institutions > Screen time and tap App limits. From there, tap the Add limit button to select by entire categories or specific apps.
3: Lower the brightness of your screen
You can save battery life by lowering the brightness of your iPhone screen. This one is pretty simple: tap and drag from the top right corner to create the Control Panel and lower the brightness bar manually. Alternatively, you can find these controls in Institutions > Display & Brightness or if you prefer to be verbose, you can ask Siri to lower the brightness.
While you are in the Display and brightness submenu, tap Automatic locking to set your phone to have a shorter time before it locks itself. That way, if you put your phone down and pay attention to something else, the battery won’t run out.
4: Enable energy saving mode
Apple’s Low Power Mode helps extend iPhone battery life.
Whenever the battery drops below 20%, your iPhone will ask if you want to extend the remaining battery life by turning on Low Power Mode. But you can also activate it manually at any time, by opening the Control Panel (if a shortcut has been set there) or by going to Institutions > Battery and turn it on there.
Low Power mode is an all-encompassing setting that extends battery life by reducing the consumption of various active and passive sources. It reduces background activities such as downloads and email retrieval, lowers screen brightness; and turns off the Always On Display.
5: If your 5G signal is poor, switch to 4G LTE
Although carriers have been building out their 5G networks over the years, some phone owners will struggle to get a strong signal in areas with poor coverage – or in places where 5G is difficult to reach, such as inside buildings and underground. Your iPhone uses a lot of battery trying to stay connected, so if you don’t have a good connection, it’s best to manually revert to 4G LTE.
To do this, go to Institutions > Mobileand then tap Mobile data options. If you don’t see it Mobile data optionsselect the SIM card or eSIM that you are currently using. On the next screen, tap Voice and data and select LTE. You only use 4G LTE to connect to mobile networks, which should be more widely available from carriers.
Also keep in mind that downloading data also drains the battery, so limiting this manually may extend battery life. To do this, go to Institutions > Mobileand then tap Mobile data options. If you don’t see it Mobile data optionstap the SIM card or eSIM that you are currently using. On the next screen, tap Data mode then tap Low data modewhich pauses automatic updates and background tasks.
6: Selectively disable location services
Tracking your location will drain your battery, so it’s a good idea to disable this feature if possible if you don’t need it. Triangulating your position actually requires multiple sensors, so it doesn’t save an insignificant amount of battery: Your iPhone uses GPS, Bluetooth, and crowdsourced Wi-Fi to determine where you are.
Tap to see which apps track your location Institutions > Privacy and security > Location services and tap through to adjust each one individually. But you can also disable it Location services completely with the switch at the top of the screen.
It’s worthless that Location Services is required for Apple’s Find My feature, so if you want to track down another object associated with your account, you’ll need to have Location Services turned on. Likewise, you’ll need to have it enabled if you ever lose the iPhone you’re using, so make sure to reactivate it later.
7: Disable Always On Display
You can also disable your lock screen wallpaper to make the always-on screen of the iPhone 14 Pro black.
Introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro series in 2023 and only available on the latest Pro and Pro Max models, Always On Display does what it says on the tin: it keeps a dimmed version of your lock screen enabled. This allows you to check the time, on-screen widgets, and how many notifications you have without having to fully unlock your phone. But it also drains your battery by having that version of your screen constantly activated in low light.
If you can live without that quick, at-a-glance information, go to Institutions > Display and brightness > Always on display and turn it off. It may not be a huge power saver, but it’s one of the features on the newer iPhone Pro models that seemingly counteracts any battery growth Apple squeezes out of the phones. Under the Always On Display settings you can also change the Wallpaper And Notifications for a more minimalist version that displays only the date and time against a black background.
8: Install a new battery
A new battery can make your phone feel like new.
After years of use, your iPhone’s battery will degrade and it simply won’t hold as much energy as it would if it were brand new. Luckily, Apple has made it easy to check how your battery is doing: just visit Institutions > Battery > Battery status and you get a simple diagnosis, an estimate of the maximum capacity at full charge and how many full charge cycles the battery has completed.
Check this out: iPhone 16 Review: all about the buttons
Apple generally recommends replacing the battery when it falls below the maximum capacity of 80%. Keep in mind that it’s not just the maximum battery life that can suffer if you don’t replace with a new battery; the quality can deteriorate to the point where the battery itself can swell and warp enough to damage sensors and internal battery components. iPhone – which is rare.
Apple offers in-store battery replacement for $99 for the latest iPhone 15 models, which drops to at least $69 for the oldest iPhone SE and iPhone 5 models that the company still supports. Third-party phone repair shops may offer their own rates for battery replacements iFixit has a manual if you want to boldly order a new battery and attempt the replacement yourself – keep in mind that this may conflict with an AppleCare agreement if you go outside of Apple’s repair ecosystem.
