8 tips to maximise your iPhone’s battery life

When your iPhone is showing some age, the battery life is usually one of the first aspects to take a hit. Some users see this as an opportunity to upgrade their devices, while others may choose to simply get their battery replaced. But just because your iPhone’s battery health is not what it used to be, doesn’t mean you have to jump on an expensive repair or upgrade.  

If you’re still waiting for a new phone to launch, or simply aren’t ready to upgrade just yet, here are some other handy tips that will help you increase the battery life on your iPhone with some simple steps.  

Use low-power mode

If all you need is a temporary hack to increase how long your phone can stay on standby with the remaining power, you can use the iPhone’s built-in low-power mode. This will cut down elements like your maximum refresh rate and general performance to deliver the maximum battery life you can get. The function is ideal during travelling, power cuts or similar scenarios. 

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Uninstall battery-sucking apps

If your iPhone has recently started exhibiting poor battery life, chances are some app is the culprit. To fix this, head into your settings and check your battery usage to figure out which app(s) are draining your battery. You can find this page under Settings > Battery > Battery usage by app. Figure out which apps are draining your battery and then decide whether they need to be uninstalled or modified.  

Use Dark Mode

Newer iPhone versions often feature OLED display panels, where each individual pixel can turn itself off to show black hues. When you implement dark mode on your iPhone, many pixels across the screen show black colours as you navigate between apps. Use this to your advantage and enable dark mode to help your OLED panel turn off more pixels during daily use and save plenty of battery life.  

Improve your charging habits

Poor charging habits are notorious for ruining your iPhone’s battery life in the long run. To make sure your battery last as long as possible, turn off software optimisations that don’t let your iPhone charge to 100%. Also charge your phone with fewer intervals and prefer getting a longer charging session instead of three-four shorter sessions. 

Turn down the brightness

This may feel too obvious, but you’d be surprised at the increase in battery life you can get just by turning down your brightness. A smartphone’s display is usually the highest energy-sucking component, and simply reducing the brightness can significantly increase your battery life. Most phones also have an auto-brightness sensor, something you can use to your advantage when you quickly frequent between light and dark areas.  

Update to the latest iOS version

A sudden episode of poor battery life may not always have something to do with your phone and usage. It can very well also be a bad software update that’s causing the problem. Whenever such instances occur, Apple will also quickly release a second update to fix this issue. Hence, one must always update to the latest stable iOS version to keep their iPhone’s battery life good. 

Avoid extreme temperatures

Extremely high or even low temperatures can ruin your battery efficiency in both the short-term and the long-term. To avoid this, simply avoid using your iPhone in areas of extreme temperature. Rather, switch off the phone and wait for more stable weather before you turn it on gain.  

Optimise your app refresh settings

One of the many tricks iOS allows you to do on your iPhone is optimising how apps use (or don’t use) your system’s resources in the background. If you have many apps that frequently update themselves in the background, even when you’re not using them, these may be contributing to your diminishing battery life. Head over to Settings > General > Background App Refresh to change these settings as per your needs.  

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Those are some quick tips you can implement to improve the standby and usage time of your Apple iPhone. Note that these tips may not drastically improve your battery life, and if you’re still unhappy with your screen-on times, you may want to consider a battery replacement or an iPhone upgrade.