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 runtime. When you turn it on, your phone reduces processor speed, limits background activity, and dims the screen slightly — changes you will barely notice, but your battery will feel when ready. Most iPhones can run an extra 3 to 5 hours in Low Power Mode compared to standard use.
Open Settings, tap Battery, then tap Battery Health & Charging. Scroll down and toggle on Low Power Mode. You can also add it to Control Center so you can turn it on with one tap from the home screen. The best time to switch it on is around 30 percent battery remaining, not when you hit 20 percent — starting earlier gives you more total runtime.
Your phone will ask whether to enable Low Power Mode automatically at 20 percent. Turn this on so you do not have to remember. Even if you forget to switch it manually, your iPhone will do it for you.
Key Takeaways
- Low Power Mode extends your battery life by 3 to 5 hours and should be turned on around 30 percent remaining battery.
- Reduce screen brightness to 40 percent or lower, or use Auto-Brightness to let your phone adjust based on the room's light.
- Turn off location services for apps that do not need it, and disable background app refresh for apps you do not use constantly.
- Keep your iPhone between 20 and 80 percent charged most of the time to slow the long-term wear on your battery.
- Close apps running in the background, disable push notifications for non-urgent apps, and turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you are not using them.
Lower your screen brightness or use Auto-Brightness
Your screen uses more power than any other component in your iPhone. Reducing brightness to 40 percent or lower will noticeably extend your battery life, especially if you spend hours looking at your phone each day. If you are indoors and do not need maximum brightness, dropping to 30 percent makes a real difference.
The easier approach is to use Auto-Brightness, which lets your phone adjust the screen based on the light in the room. Open Settings, tap Display & Brightness, then toggle on Auto-Brightness. Your screen will brighten in sunlight and dim indoors automatically, so you do not have to think about it. This saves battery without requiring you to manually adjust the slider throughout the day.
If Auto-Brightness feels too aggressive, you can also set a lower maximum brightness. Go to Settings, Display & Brightness, and drag the brightness slider to around 50 percent, then turn on Auto-Brightness. Your phone will never go brighter than that level, but will still dim in darker rooms.
Turn off location services for apps that do not need it
Apps using GPS drain your battery quickly because the location chip runs constantly. Many apps request location permission but do not actually need it — weather apps, news readers, and games often ask for it but work fine without it. Turning off location for these apps saves meaningful battery time.
Open Settings, tap Privacy & Security, then tap Location Services. You will see a list of every app that has requested location access. For each app, tap it and choose "Never" unless the app genuinely needs your location to work — Maps, Uber, and weather apps are legitimate uses. For everything else, set it to "Never." You can always turn it back on later if an app stops working.
You can also turn off Location Services entirely if you do not need it, but most people use it for Maps or find-my-phone features. A middle ground is to leave Location Services on but disable it for individual apps, which is what most people should do.
Disable background app refresh for apps you rarely use
Background App Refresh lets apps update their content even when you are not using them — so your email is fresh when you open it, or your news app has new stories ready. This is useful for apps you check constantly, but wasteful for apps you open once a week. Turning it off for those apps saves battery without affecting the ones you actually use.
Open Settings, tap General, then tap Background App Refresh. You will see a list of apps. Toggle off Background App Refresh for any app you do not use daily — games, rarely-used social media accounts, or niche tools. Leave it on for email, messaging, and news apps you check regularly. The battery savings are modest per app, but they add up if you have many apps with this feature enabled.
If you want to be aggressive, you can turn off Background App Refresh entirely, but you will notice that apps take longer to load and show older information. Most people should leave it on for their main apps and turn it off for everything else.
Keep your iPhone charged between 20 and 80 percent most of the time
Modern iPhone batteries degrade faster when they spend time at very high or very low charge levels. Keeping your battery between 20 and 80 percent most of the time slows this wear and extends the battery's lifespan — meaning it will hold a charge better a year from now. This is a long-term strategy, not something that helps today, but it matters if you plan to keep your phone for several years.
You do not have to obsess over this — just avoid leaving your phone plugged in overnight every night, and try not to let it drain completely. If you charge it to 100 percent occasionally, that is fine. The goal is to avoid spending most of your time at the extremes.
Your iPhone has a feature called Optimized Battery Charging that helps with this automatically. Open Settings, tap Battery, tap Battery Health & Charging, and toggle on Optimized Battery Charging. Your phone will learn when you usually charge it and will slow charging to 80 percent until you need it, then finish charging to 100 percent just before you wake up. This reduces the time your battery spends at full charge.
Close apps running in the background and disable push notifications
Apps running in the background consume battery even when you are not looking at them. Closing them is straightforward: swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or swipe down from the top right on newer iPhones) to open the app switcher, then swipe up on any app you want to close. This does not hurt the app — it will reopen normally when you tap it again.
Push notifications also drain battery because your phone has to wake up, read the notification, and light the screen. Disable push notifications for apps that do not need them. Open Settings, tap Notifications, then tap each app and choose "Off" or "Deliver Quietly" for non-urgent apps. Keep push on for messages, calls, and work email, but turn it off for games, social media, and shopping apps.
You can also set Do Not Disturb to turn on automatically at certain times, which silences notifications without disabling them entirely. Open Settings, tap Focus, tap Do Not Disturb, and set a schedule. Your phone will still receive notifications, but will not light up or make noise, which saves battery.
Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you are not using them
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi both search for connections in the background, which uses power. If you are not actively using them — not listening to wireless headphones, not connected to a Wi-Fi network — turning them off saves battery. The savings are modest compared to screen brightness or Low Power Mode, but they add up.
Open Control Center by swiping down from the top right (or up from the bottom on older iPhones), then tap the Bluetooth icon to turn it off, and tap the Wi-Fi icon to turn it off. They will turn back on automatically when you need them, or you can turn them back on manually. Many people leave these on all the time out of habit, but if you are on cellular data and not using wireless headphones, there is no reason to.
One exception: if you use Find My iPhone or have a smartwatch connected via Bluetooth, leave Bluetooth on. The battery savings are not worth losing the ability to find your phone or use your watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Low Power Mode slow down my iPhone?
Yes, slightly. Your processor runs slower, which means apps may take a fraction of a second longer to open and some animations will be less smooth. Most people do not notice the difference in everyday use. The trade-off is worth it if you need your battery to last several more hours.
Will turning off location services break my maps or find my phone?
No. Maps will still work when you actively use it — it will just ask for permission to use your location at that moment. Find My iPhone works through your Apple ID, not location services. You can safely turn off location for most apps without breaking anything important.
Can I use Low Power Mode all the time?
Yes, you can leave Low Power Mode on permanently if you want. Some people do this to extend battery life by a full day. The only downside is slightly slower performance and dimmer screen, which most people adjust to quickly.
Does closing apps in the background actually save battery?
It saves some battery, but less than you might think. The bigger battery drain comes from apps that run in the background even after you close them — like music apps or navigation. Closing apps is worth doing, but it is not as important as lowering screen brightness or turning on Low Power Mode.
What is the best way to charge my iPhone to keep the battery healthy?
Charge it to 80 percent most of the time, and let it drop to 20 percent before charging again. Avoid leaving it plugged in overnight every night. Turn on Optimized Battery Charging in Settings so your phone handles this automatically. Occasional full charges are fine — the goal is to avoid spending most of your time at the extremes.