Is your iPhone or iPad's battery running out faster than you'd expect? Don't despair! This detailed guide will reveal various techniques to optimize your iOS device’s battery life. From adjusting your screen brightness to updating your device regularly, these strategies will maximize your device's battery life, ensuring you won't be left off charge midday.
Understanding the Battery Usage on iOS Devices
Before diving into optimization strategies, let's review how iOS devices consume battery life. Simply put, your device’s battery life is drained by any action performed. The more intensive the action, the quicker the battery depletion. Activities like watching videos, playing games, or utilizing GPS can drain your battery at a much faster rate. This understanding is critical as you adopt measures to optimize your iOS device’s battery life. Included in the Settings section of both iPhone and iPad is a feature called Battery Usage that breaks down the percentage of battery life used by each app.
Adjust Your Screen Brightness and Auto-Lock Timing
A major contributor to rapid battery drain in iOS devices is the screen brightness. Decreasing the brightness can effectively increase battery life. Go to Settings > Wallpaper & Brightness and reduce it to an optimal level. Additionally, consider activating Auto-Brightness to allow your device to adjust the screen brightness based on the ambient light automatically. Equally important is the auto-lock feature. The sooner your device’s screen turns off when not in use, the more battery life you conserve. Navigate to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and select the shortest time suitable for your user pattern.
Regularly Update Your iOS Device
Apple regularly releases updates that include improvements in energy efficiency. Hence, regularly updating your iOS is an easy way to optimize its battery life. Update your device by going to Settings > General > Software update.
Optimize Background App Refresh
The Background App Refresh feature in iOS lets apps check for updates and new content when you're not using them, which can dramatically impact battery life. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and disable the option for apps you don't use frequently.
Turn Off Dynamic Wallpapers and Motion Effects
Dynamic wallpapers and motion effects like parallax can look cool but are notorious for sucking battery life. To turn these off, go to Settings > Wallpaper & Display > Choose a New Wallpaper and select a 'Still' wallpaper. You can also reduce motion effects at Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Motion.
Restrict Location Services
Location Services allows apps and websites to gather and use information based on your current location. The more apps you allow, the quicker your device’s battery drains. To conserve battery, limit the number of apps that have access to your location information. Thus, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and adjust accordingly.
Keep Personal Hotspot Off
Using your iOS device as a hotspot can consume battery life rapidly. Keep this in mind and switch off your Personal Hotspot feature when you are not using it. You can do this from Settings > Personal Hotspot.
Enable Low Power Mode
This feature is particularly useful when your battery charge is running low and you won't be able to recharge your device soon. Activating Low Power Mode reduces the amount of power that your iPhone uses. Go to Settings > Battery and turn on Low Power Mode.
Remove Unnecessary Widgets
Widgets may be handy for quick information but keep in mind that they are updating regularly in the background, thus draining your battery. To remove unnecessary widgets, swipe right from the Home or Lock screen to access the Today View, scroll down to the bottom and click Edit. Then 'minus' the widgets you don’t need.