
ZDNET's cardinal takeaways:
- Squeeze other hours from your iPhone - nary artillery switch required.
- Simple iOS tweaks costs thing and return seconds to implement.
- These free mounting tweaks hit an costly upgrade anytime.
I'm judge you've had nan dreadful acquisition of your iPhone hitting 1% erstwhile you're miles distant from an outlet. It's nan worst.
If this happens much often than not, particularly connected an older phone, a speedy Google hunt will show you to caput to a repair halfway aliases Apple Store to get a caller artillery aliases upgrade to a newer model. Yeah, no. Not everyone tin driblet hundreds of dollars conscionable for much artillery life. Luckily, location are plentifulness of iOS tweaks you tin effort to compression other hours retired of your charge.
The champion part? They're each free -- and easy -- to implement.
Apple perpetually updates iPhone package pinch caller tricks and nosy feature, and sometimes, it besides upgrades its power-management devices and fixes imaginable battery-draining bugs. For example, it mightiness optimize CPU throttling connected your iPhone aliases reside network-stack inefficiencies. Skip an update, and you could miss retired connected imaginable battery-health gains and mightiness moreover beryllium moving an OS that's making things worse for you.
How to update to nan latest iOS update connected iPhone:
- Open Settings > General > Software Update.
- Tap Download and Install if an update is available.
Also: Update to iOS 26? We tested nan nationalist beta connected our iPhones - these features are a large deal
Apple keeps a changelog of its latest OS releases here. I wouldn't urge moving beta software connected your main device, arsenic it could incorporate bugs and perchance person nan other effect of what you're trying to achieve.
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Your surface brightness tin really wreak havoc connected your artillery life. Manually lowering it by moreover 10-20% tin springiness you other time. You should besides move connected Auto-Brightness, if it's not already enabled. It does precisely what you'd expect: automatically adjusts your screen's brightness based connected ambient surrounding ray -- to not only optimize your artillery life but besides supply a much comfortable viewing acquisition successful different conditions.
How to dim and automate surface brightness connected iPhone:
- Swipe down from nan top-right to unfastened Control Center.
- Drag nan Brightness slider down until comfortable.
- Go Settings > Accessibility > Display and Text Size > toggle connected Auto-Brightness.
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The iPhone 14 Pro and later models characteristic an "Always-On Display," which keeps a dimmed type of your fastener surface visible moreover erstwhile nan instrumentality is locked. Reports propose this characteristic tin devour astir 1% of your artillery per hr -- adding up to astir 24% complete a afloat day. That's astir a 4th of your charge. By simply turning it off, you tin reclaim a important chunk of that capacity.
How to disable nan always-on show connected iPhone:
- Go Settings > Display and Brightness.
- Toggle disconnected Always On Display.
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If you've ever been successful an area pinch debased aliases nary service, you've astir apt noticed your artillery drops quickly. That's because your iPhone is perpetually scanning to find and link to a compartment tower—and that consumes power. Plus, cellular information mostly uses much power than Wi-Fi, since it has to transmit and person signals complete agelong distances and support connections pinch distant towers.
Also: How to clear your iPhone cache (and why it makes specified a large difference)
In short, cellular connections drain your battery. If you request to conserve power, move to Wi-Fi -- but beryllium cautious connected nationalist networks.
How to usage Wi-Fi complete cellular connected iPhone:
- Open Settings > Wi-Fi and toggle it on, and past subordinate a known network.
- In Settings > Cellular, toggle disconnected Cellular Data.
- In Settings > Cellular, disable Wi-Fi Assist to forestall auto-fallback to cellular.
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If you request cellular work for immoderate logic and conscionable don't want to trust connected Wi-Fi alone, astatine slightest make judge your 5G awesome isn't patchy. While 5G offers faster speeds and little latency, 4G LTE is considered much businesslike successful areas pinch anemic aliases spotty coverage.
How to move from 5G to LTE connected iPhone:
- Go Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options.
- Tap Voice and Data, prime LTE.
- Optional: Disable 5G Standalone nether Voice and Data successful Settings.
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Apple offers a characteristic connected each iPhones moving iOS 9 aliases later called Low Power Mode. When enabled, it limits inheritance activity for illustration app refreshes, disables automatic downloads, lowers surface brightness, throttles nan CPU, and slows down immoderate animations. That each mightiness sound drastic, but it tin springiness you an other hr aliases 3 connected a debased battery. Your artillery icon turns yellowish to bespeak it's active.
How to alteration Low Power Mode connected iPhone:
- Go Settings > Battery > toggle Low Power Mode connected (battery icon turns yellow).
- Or adhd to Control Center: Swipe into Control Center, deed +, hunt and adhd Low Power Mode.
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If you ain an iPhone 15 Pro aliases Pro Max aliases immoderate iPhone 16 model, you tin return advantage of Apple's caller Adaptive Power Mode successful iOS 26. It leverages on-device AI to automatically make mini capacity adjustments -- for illustration somewhat lowering surface brightness aliases allowing immoderate processes to return a spot longer -- to widen your artillery life erstwhile needed. It's much subtle and seamless than Low Power Mode.
Also: Should you move connected Adaptive Power connected iOS 26? Here's my proposal aft testing it
Keep successful mind, it's only disposable successful nan iOS 26 beta correct now, truthful you mightiness want to hold for nan charismatic merchandise earlier trying it connected your regular driver.
How to alteration Adaptive Power Mode connected iPhone:
- Make judge you're moving iOS 26.
- Open Settings > Battery > Power Mode.
- Select Adaptive Power Mode.
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Did you cognize each small buzz aliases click invokes nan Taptic Engine connected your iPhone? Thousands of cardinal presses passim your time adhd up fast, and they each devour power. Apple moreover notes connected a support page that haptics mightiness impact your artillery life. So if you're hopeless to conserve each past drop, move disconnected keyboard haptics (and moreover nan click sounds) until you're backmost adjacent a charger.
How to disable keyboard feedback connected iPhone:
- Open Settings > Sounds and Haptics.
- Tap Keyboard Feedback.
- Toggle disconnected Haptics (and Sound if desired).
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Apple's "Hey Siri" characteristic tin lend to artillery drain because your iPhone must perpetually perceive for nan command, and erstwhile active, it uses some nan microphone and nan Neural Engine. Like immoderate task, this consumes power. If you seldom usage nan basking word, move it off. You tin ever invoke Siri by holding nan broadside button.
Also: 10 easy ways to make Siri activity amended connected your iPhone today
How to disable "Hey Siri" connected iPhone:
- Go Settings > Siri.
- Tap Talk to Siri > prime Off.
- Optional: Disable Allow Siri When Locked to forestall accidental wakeups.
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Did you cognize each push notification and alert you person passim nan time uses power? Think astir it: They aftermath your iPhone screen, tin play sounds, and often vibrate. You should disable each non-essential notifications to trim aftermath cycles and prevention power. Besides, do you really want to beryllium spammed each day? Get them nether power and eke retired a fewer other percent of artillery life.
Also: You should extremity putting your telephone look up connected nan array - here's why
How to negociate your notifications connected iPhone:
- Open Settings, scroll to an app, pat Notifications.
- Toggle Allow Notifications disconnected entirely, aliases uncheck Lock Screen, Banners, Sounds, and Badges selectively.
- Repeat for societal media, games, news, and different high-churn apps.
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While AirDrop has a minimal effect connected artillery life, it still uses power. The Bringing Devices Together feature, successful peculiar -- which lets you stock interaction info and different contented simply by bringing 2 iPhones adjacent -- continuously scans via Bluetooth LE and peer-to-peer Wi-Fi. If you don't usage AirDrop often, move receiving disconnected aliases astatine nan very slightest disable Bringing Devices Together to extremity nan inheritance scans and trim powerfulness drain.
Also: How to stock files betwixt Android and MacOS pinch AirDroid
How to limit AirDrop connected iPhone:
- Open Settings > General > AirDrop.
- Select Receiving Off, aliases astatine slightest disable Bringing Devices Together.
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Live Activities connected iPhones show ongoing, real-time accusation from apps straight connected nan fastener surface aliases successful nan Dynamic Island -- contributing to artillery drain. For instance, a nutrient transportation app's Live Activity mightiness show nan clip remaining until your bid arrives.
Also: Your iPhone is getting a awesome upgrade - 10 champion features I can't hold to effort successful iOS 26
You should disable them for apps that push changeless updates you don't need, specified arsenic societal networks, if you want to minimize power consumption. You tin moreover supress them each connected nan fastener surface successful 1 fell swoop.
How to disable unrecorded activities connected iPhone:
- To move disconnected successful circumstantial apps, spell Settings > scroll to nan app > toggle Live Activities off.
- To suppress each connected fastener screen, unfastened Settings > Face ID and Passcode > toggle Live Activities disconnected nether Allow Access When Locked.
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You tin astir apt show I'm getting into nan nitty-gritty of iPhone functions astatine this point. Feel free to prime and take what you want to disable to prevention battery. Another niche extremity I suggest, however, is to region your lock-screen widgets. After all, they refresh periodically and sometimes make web aliases GPS calls. If you don't glimpse astatine them often, removing them stops these perchance battery-draining inheritance checks.
How to region fastener surface widgets:
- Press and clasp nan fastener surface > pat Customize.
- Select nan widget area > pat each widget's button to remove.
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Speaking of inheritance refreshes, did you cognize apps do this, too? Background App Refresh does precisely what it sounds like: It lets apps fetch updates successful nan inheritance for things for illustration emails, societal feeds, and news. Disabling it intends your apps will only update erstwhile you unfastened them, perchance extending your artillery life.
How to disable Background App Refresh connected iPhone:
- Go Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
- Select Off, aliases scroll down to disable individual apps.
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You astir apt thought I was done pinch show settings? Not rather -- I've sewage a mates much tricks. The iPhone Pro models, starting pinch nan iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, characteristic Apple's ProMotion technology, which shifts nan refresh complaint betwixt 10Hz and 120Hz. By limiting nan framework rate, you tin trim GPU load and prevention power.
How to headdress framework complaint connected iPhone:
- Open Settings > Accessibility > Motion.
- Toggle Limit Frame Rate on.
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Dark Mode connected iPhones tin not only prevention your eyes but besides your battery. It only does truthful connected OLED displays, but fortunately, that's nan iPhone X and each later models. OLED panels ray up individual pixels, truthful pinch Dark Mode enabled, achromatic areas of nan surface devour little power, reducing power usage and extending artillery life.
How to alteration Dark Mode connected iPhone:
- Go Settings > Display and Brightness.
- Under Appearance, pat Dark.
- Optional: Enable Automatic and schedule it for Sunset to Sunrise.
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Finally, Apple offers a characteristic called Optimized Battery Charging that's meant to widen your artillery by minimizing nan clip it stays astatine a afloat charge. Using instrumentality learning, it learns your charging habits and pauses astatine 80% until conscionable earlier you typically unplug. In different words, it holds astatine 80% until you request a afloat 100%, reducing clip spent astatine max voltage. This helps forestall artillery deterioration caused by prolonged periods astatine a afloat charge.
How to alteration Optimized Charging connected iPhone:
- Open Settings > Battery > Battery Health and Charging.
- Toggle connected Optimized Battery Charging.
- On iPhone 15+ besides alteration Optimized Charge Limit to headdress astatine 80%.
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What astir Focus Modes - do they thief artillery life?
Yes. Focus Modes thief by letting you whitelist circumstantial apps and contacts; during "Work" aliases "Sleep," only captious alerts ray up your display. That intends less wake-ups and little inheritance processing. I already mentioned disabling notifications above, but you tin return it a measurement further pinch Focus Modes.
Also: The champion Apple deals correct now: Save connected MacBooks, iPhones, and more
How to group up a Focus Mode:
- Open Settings > Focus > pat + to create a profile.
- Under Allowed Notifications, take People and Apps.
- Optionally schedule it by time, location, aliases app.
How do I place nan biggest artillery hogs connected iPhone?
To spot what mightiness beryllium draining your iPhone's battery, spell to Settings > Battery. There, you'll spot usage by app and really overmuch clip each spent connected surface aliases successful background.
Also: How to hole an iPhone siren that's not going disconnected - and why it mightiness beryllium happening
Can removing my lawsuit while charging help?
Possibly -- chiefly if your instrumentality gets basking while charging. Removing nan case tin amended power dissipation, which mightiness velocity up charging and protect your iPhone's artillery health.
Should I effort a artillery battalion aliases a powerfulness bank?
Yes! I ever recreation pinch one. All nan settings tweaks successful nan world won't thief if you're stranded somewhere, staring astatine a reddish artillery icon, acold from an outlet. Here are nan apical picks ZDNET's editors recommend:
- Best MagSafe artillery packs: I tested nan champion options to boost your phone's battery
- The champion iPhone powerfulness banks: Expert tested and reviewed
Get nan morning's apical stories successful your inbox each time pinch our Tech Today newsletter.
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