The fastest way to slow battery drain is to turn off location services, reduce screen brightness, and close apps running in the background
Your iPhone battery loses charge faster when apps track your location constantly, your screen stays at full brightness, and programs keep running after you close them. Turning off location services for apps that do not need it — maps, weather, and social media rarely need constant access — cuts power use when ready. Lowering screen brightness to 30 to 40 percent or turning on auto-brightness makes a visible difference within a day. Closing background app refresh for apps you do not use often stops them from draining power when you are not looking.
These three changes work because they reduce the work your phone's processor and screen have to do. The screen is the single largest power drain on any iPhone. Location services use your GPS chip, which is power-hungry. Background refresh keeps your processor awake. Stopping all three at once can add two to four hours to your battery life between charges.
Key Takeaways
- Turn off location services for individual apps in Settings > Privacy > Location Services, keeping it on only for maps and navigation.
- Reduce screen brightness manually or enable Auto-Brightness in Settings > Display & Brightness to cut power use by 20 to 30 percent.
- Disable background app refresh in Settings > General > Background App Refresh for apps you rarely use.
- Enable Low Power Mode in Settings > Battery to reduce processor speed and limit background activity, extending battery life by one to three hours.
- Keep your iPhone between 20 and 80 percent charge most of the time to slow the chemical aging of the battery itself.
Turn off location services for apps that do not need it
Location services use your GPS chip, which draws power constantly when active. Not every app needs to know where you are. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and scroll through the list. Maps and navigation apps should stay on. Weather apps can use your location once per day instead of constantly. Social media, shopping, and news apps rarely need location at all — set these to "Never" or toggle them off.
Some apps will ask for location permission the first time you use them. You can always say "Only While Using" instead of "Always", which limits the drain to moments when you actually have the app open. Check this list once a month because app updates sometimes reset these permissions.
Lower your screen brightness and use auto-brightness
Your screen uses more power than any other component in your phone. Brightness at 100 percent drains your battery roughly twice as fast as brightness at 50 percent. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and drag the brightness slider down to 30 or 40 percent. If you find this too dim, turn on Auto-Brightness instead, which adjusts brightness based on the light around you. Auto-Brightness uses less power than manual brightness at 70 percent or higher.
If you spend time outdoors, auto-brightness will raise your screen brightness in sunlight and lower it indoors, matching what you actually need. This saves power without forcing you to squint. You can also enable Dark Mode in Settings > Display & Brightness, which uses less power on iPhones with OLED screens (iPhone 12 and newer). Dark Mode makes almost no difference on older iPhones with LCD screens.
Close background app refresh for apps you do not use often
Background app refresh lets apps update their content even when you are not using them. This is useful for email, messages, and news apps you check regularly. It is wasteful for apps you open once a month. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and toggle off the apps you rarely use. Leave it on for email, messaging, and any app that sends you notifications you care about.
Turning off background refresh for five to ten apps can add 30 minutes to 90 minutes to your battery life, depending on how often those apps were updating. You can always turn it back on for a specific app if you miss the notifications.
Enable Low Power Mode to reduce processor speed
Low Power Mode cuts processor speed, limits background activity, and reduces visual effects. It extends battery life by one to three hours depending on how much you use your phone. Go to Settings > Battery and toggle on Low Power Mode. Your phone will feel slightly slower — apps take a fraction of a second longer to open — but everything still works. Most people do not notice the difference during normal use.
You can also set Low Power Mode to turn on automatically at a certain battery percentage. Go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode and choose 20 percent or 10 percent. This way you do not have to remember to turn it on manually. Low Power Mode turns off automatically when you charge your phone above 80 percent.
Keep your iPhone charged between 20 and 80 percent most of the time
The battery inside your iPhone is a rechargeable lithium-ion cell. It ages faster when you keep it at 0 percent or 100 percent for long periods. Charging to 100 percent and staying there for hours stresses the battery chemistry. Draining all the way to 0 percent and staying there also causes damage. Keeping your battery between 20 and 80 percent most of the time slows this aging process.
You do not have to hit these numbers exactly every time. The goal is to avoid leaving your phone plugged in overnight at 100 percent charge or letting it sit dead for days. If you charge your phone before bed, unplug it when it reaches 80 percent, or use Optimized Battery Charging in Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. This feature learns your charging habits and stops charging at 80 percent until shortly before you usually wake up, then finishes the last 20 percent in the morning.
Close apps and clear cache when battery drains unusually fast
If your battery drains much faster than usual, a single app or background process is usually the cause. Go to Settings > Battery and look at Battery Usage. The list shows which apps used the most power in the last 24 hours or the last 10 days. If one app is using 30 percent or more of your battery, that app has a problem. Try closing it completely, restarting your phone, and opening it again. If the drain continues, delete the app and reinstall it from the App Store.
You can also clear your cache, which sometimes fixes apps that drain power. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, find the app, tap it, and choose "Offload App". Wait a few seconds, then tap "Reinstall App". This removes the app and its cached data without deleting your account information. Reinstalling takes a few minutes but often fixes battery drain caused by corrupted cache files.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does closing apps in the app switcher save battery?
No. Closing apps by swiping them away from the app switcher does not save battery. iOS automatically suspends apps you are not using. Closing them manually just forces your phone to reload them from scratch the next time you open them, which uses more power. Leave apps in the switcher and let iOS manage them.
Will turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth save battery?
Yes, but not by much — usually 5 to 10 percent per day. Turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth saves power because your phone stops scanning for networks and devices. However, using Wi-Fi actually uses less power than using cellular data, so turn off Wi-Fi only if you are not connected to a network. Bluetooth uses very little power unless you are actively streaming audio or video.
Is it bad to use my iPhone while it is charging?
No, it is not bad for the battery. Using your phone while charging does not damage the battery itself. However, using your phone while charging generates heat, and heat speeds up battery aging. If you use your phone heavily while charging, the battery will age slightly faster than if you let it charge without use. The difference is small — a few weeks over the battery's lifespan.
How often should I restart my iPhone to save battery?
Restarting your iPhone once a week can help if apps are draining power unusually fast. A restart clears your phone's memory and stops background processes that may be stuck. However, restarting does not improve battery life on a healthy phone. If your battery drains normally, you do not need to restart regularly.
Can I replace my iPhone battery myself?
Apple and some third-party repair shops can replace your battery, but you cannot do it safely yourself. If your iPhone is more than three years old and the battery drains in a few hours, a replacement battery costs between 50 and 70 dollars at Apple. Older batteries lose capacity over time — this is normal and not a sign of a problem with your phone.