Turn on Low Power Mode before your battery drops below 20 percent
Low Power Mode is the single fastest way to extend your iPhone's battery life during the day. When you turn it on, your phone reduces processor speed, limits background activity, and dims the display slightly — changes you will barely notice, but your battery will feel when ready.
Open Settings, tap Battery, then toggle on Low Power Mode. Your phone will ask if you want to turn it on now; select Enable. The battery icon in the top right corner turns yellow to show Low Power Mode is active. Most people can go from 20 percent battery to a full charge by evening if they switch it on early enough.
You can also set your iPhone to turn on Low Power Mode automatically. Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging, scroll down, and tap Low Power Mode. Choose either "20%" or "10%" — whichever you prefer. This way you do not have to remember to switch it on manually.
Key Takeaways
- Low Power Mode cuts battery drain by roughly half and turns on automatically if you set it to set up at 20 or 10 percent battery.
- Background app refresh, location services, and push notifications drain battery even when you are not using your phone, and turning them off for apps you do not need saves hours of battery life.
- Keeping your screen brightness at 40 to 50 percent and enabling Auto-Brightness prevents the display from using more power than necessary.
- Closing apps running in the background, disabling Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you are not using them, and turning off visual effects all add up to noticeably longer battery life.
- Extreme heat and cold damage your battery permanently, so avoid leaving your iPhone in direct sunlight or in a cold car for extended periods.
Turn off background app refresh for apps you do not use constantly
Apps running in the background consume battery even when you are not looking at them. Background App Refresh lets apps check for new information — email, messages, news updates — without you opening them. This is useful for a few apps but wasteful for most.
Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. You will see a list of every app on your phone. Toggle off Background App Refresh for apps you check manually — news apps, social media, games, and anything else you open only when you want to. Leave it on for Mail, Messages, and any app you need to notify you of urgent updates.
This single change often adds two to four hours to your battery life, especially if you have many apps installed. Check this list every few months when you read new apps, because Background App Refresh is on by default for everything.
Reduce screen brightness and turn on Auto-Brightness
Your display is the biggest battery drain on your iPhone. Keeping it at full brightness all day can cut your battery life in half. Set your brightness to 40 to 50 percent for indoor use — you will adjust quickly and barely notice the difference.
Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and drag the brightness slider to the middle or slightly lower. Then toggle on Auto-Brightness. This feature uses your phone's ambient light sensor to adjust brightness automatically based on the room you are in, so you do not have to think about it. In bright sunlight it will increase, and indoors it will dim — all without draining extra battery.
If you use your phone outdoors often, keep Auto-Brightness on and accept that your screen will be brighter in sunlight. The alternative — manually adjusting brightness every time you move — uses more battery than letting the sensor do the work.
Turn off location services for apps that do not need it
Location Services uses your phone's GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi to pinpoint where you are. This is essential for Maps and weather apps, but many apps request location access and never actually need it. Each app using location drains your battery steadily.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. You will see every app that has requested location access. Tap each app and choose "Never" for anything that does not require your location to work — social media apps, games, news apps, and most others. Keep it on "While Using" or "Always" only for Maps, weather, and any app you genuinely use for location-based features.
Turning off location for just five or six apps can add one to two hours to your battery life. Check this list when you read new apps, because many ask for location permission during setup.
Disable push notifications and set mail to fetch manually
Every time your phone receives a push notification, it wakes up the screen, plays a sound, and uses power. Notifications from dozens of apps throughout the day add up to significant battery drain. You do not need when ready alerts from every app.
Go to Settings > Notifications. Scroll through your apps and turn off notifications for anything non-essential — games, shopping apps, social media, news. Keep notifications on for Messages, Mail, Phone, and anything where you genuinely need to know when ready.
For email specifically, go to Settings > Mail > Accounts & Passwords > Fetch New Data. Change the setting from "Push" to "Fetch" and set it to fetch every 15 or 30 minutes instead of when ready. This means your phone checks for new mail on a schedule rather than every time a message arrives, cutting email-related battery drain significantly.
Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you are not using them
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi search for connections constantly, even when you are not actively using them. If you are at home with Wi-Fi and do not use Bluetooth headphones, turn both off. If you are out and only use cellular data, turn off Wi-Fi so your phone stops searching for networks.
Swipe down from the top right corner of your screen to open Control Center. Tap the Bluetooth icon to toggle it off, and tap the Wi-Fi icon to toggle it off. They will turn back on automatically if you need them — for example, if you open a Bluetooth app or go to a location where you have saved a Wi-Fi network.
Leaving Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on all day can drain 10 to 15 percent of your battery. If you use them regularly, this trade-off may not be worth it, but if you forget to turn them off, you are wasting power.
Avoid extreme heat and cold, and do not leave your phone in direct sunlight
Your iPhone's battery is a chemical system that performs poorly in extreme temperatures. Heat above 95°F and cold below 32°F damage the battery permanently, reducing how much charge it can hold. Leaving your phone in a hot car or in direct sunlight for hours can permanently reduce battery capacity.
Keep your phone between 50°F and 95°F when possible. If your phone gets too hot, you will see a warning on the screen — stop using it and let it cool down. Do not charge it while it is hot. In winter, keep your phone in an inside pocket rather than an outside pocket where it is exposed to cold.
This is not about one day of use — it is about the long-term health of your battery. A phone left in a hot car regularly will have noticeably worse battery life within a few months.
Disable visual effects and reduce motion
Your iPhone uses animations and visual effects throughout the system — when you open apps, switch between screens, and interact with notifications. These effects look smooth but require processing power and battery. Turning them off is invisible to most users but saves battery.
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and toggle on Reduce Motion. This removes most animations without changing how your phone works. You can also go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and toggle on Reduce Transparency to simplify visual effects further.
These changes save a small amount of battery — usually 30 minutes to an hour per day — but combined with other adjustments, they add up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does closing apps in the background actually save battery?
Closing apps manually does almost nothing because iOS automatically manages background processes. The exception is if an app is actively running — you can see it in Control Center or App Switcher — in which case closing it saves battery. Otherwise, focus on Background App Refresh instead, which is where the real drain happens.
Will Low Power Mode slow down my phone noticeably?
Low Power Mode reduces processor speed slightly, but most people do not notice the difference during normal use. Apps open a fraction of a second slower, and games may have slightly lower frame rates. The battery extension is worth the tiny performance trade-off for most users.
Should I charge my iPhone to 100 percent every time?
Modern iPhones manage charging automatically to protect battery health. You can charge to 100 percent without damage, but if you want to extend battery lifespan, charging to 80 percent and keeping it between 20 and 80 percent is slightly better. Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging and toggle on Optimized Battery Charging to let your phone manage this automatically.
Does dark mode really save battery on my iPhone?
Dark mode saves battery only on iPhones with OLED screens — iPhone 12 and newer. On older iPhones with LCD screens, dark mode makes almost no difference. If you have a newer model and use dark mode, you will see a small improvement, especially at lower brightness levels.
What is the fastest way to charge my iPhone without damaging the battery?
Use the charger that came with your phone or any certified charger rated for your model. Avoid extremely fast chargers marketed for "rapid charging," as they generate heat that damages the battery long-term. Charging overnight with Optimized Battery Charging turned on is the gentlest method for battery health.