Turn on Low Power Mode to cut background drain when ready
Low Power Mode is the fastest way to extend your battery. It reduces CPU speed, limits background app refresh, disables automatic downloads, and turns off some visual effects. On most iPhones, you can turn it on in Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen, press and hold the battery icon, and tap Low Power Mode.
Low Power Mode kicks in automatically at 20% battery on newer iPhones, but you can enable it at any charge level. Many people turn it on at 50% or 60% to stretch a full day of use. The trade-off is real — apps load slightly slower and some features pause — but the battery gain is substantial, often adding 2 to 4 hours of use.
You can also set Low Power Mode to turn on automatically at a specific battery percentage. Go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode and toggle on "Turn On Automatically" to choose 20% or 80%.
Key Takeaways
- Low Power Mode is the single fastest way to extend battery life and can be turned on at any charge level, not just when your phone warns you.
- Background app refresh, location services, and automatic mail fetching drain battery even when you are not using your phone, and turning them off saves hours of use.
- Screen brightness and display settings account for the largest battery drain on most iPhones, so lowering brightness or using auto-brightness makes a real difference.
- Closing apps in the background does not save battery on modern iPhones, but disabling background refresh for specific apps does.
- Older batteries degrade over time, and if your iPhone is more than two or three years old, a battery health check may show why your phone drains faster than it used to.
Disable background app refresh for apps you do not use constantly
Apps refresh their content in the background even when you are not looking at them — email fetches new messages, news apps pull headlines, social media apps load feeds. Each refresh uses power. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and toggle off the apps you do not need to update constantly.
You do not have to disable it for everything. Keep it on for messaging apps, email, and anything you need to notify you of urgent updates. Turn it off for games, news apps, shopping apps, and entertainment services. The difference between refreshing five apps and refreshing twenty is measurable over a full day.
Background app refresh is especially heavy on battery when your phone is on Wi-Fi or cellular, so disabling it for apps that do not matter to you is one of the easiest wins.
Lower screen brightness or use auto-brightness
Your screen is the single largest battery drain on an iPhone. The brighter the display, the faster the battery empties. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and drag the brightness slider down. Most people can work comfortably at 40% to 60% brightness indoors.
Turn on Auto-Brightness in the same menu. Your phone will adjust brightness based on ambient light, so you get a bright screen in sunlight and a dimmer one indoors without draining battery unnecessarily. This is one of the easiest settings to enable and one of the most effective.
If you use your phone heavily outdoors, auto-brightness will keep the screen bright enough to see but will dim it when you move inside, saving battery without forcing you to manually adjust.
Turn off location services or limit it to specific apps
Location services use GPS, Bluetooth, and cellular data to pinpoint your location. Apps like maps, weather, and fitness trackers need it, but many apps request location permission and use it in the background even when you do not need them to. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and toggle off location entirely, or scroll down to individual apps and change their setting from "Always" to "While Using" or "Never."
Maps, fitness apps, and weather need location to work properly, so keep those on. Social media, shopping apps, and games rarely need your location, so set them to "Never" or "While Using." The difference is significant if you have ten apps set to "Always" — turning that down to two or three saves hours of battery per day.
Disable mail fetch and set it to manual or less frequent intervals
Email apps check your mailbox on a schedule — every 15 minutes, every 30 minutes, or every hour. Each check wakes your phone and uses power. Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data and change the default from "Every 15 Minutes" or "Every 30 Minutes" to "Hourly" or "Manually."
If you do not need to see email the moment it arrives, set it to hourly. If you check email only a few times a day, set it to manual and fetch only when you open the Mail app. This is especially helpful if you have multiple email accounts — each one checking every 15 minutes adds up fast.
Push notifications (which arrive when ready) still work even if fetch is set to manual, so you will not miss urgent emails.
Check battery health and replace the battery if it is degraded
iPhone batteries degrade over time. After 500 full charge cycles (roughly two to three years of normal use), a battery typically holds 80% of its original capacity. If your iPhone is older than that and drains faster than it used to, a degraded battery is likely the reason.
Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging to see your battery's maximum capacity. If it is below 80%, your battery is degraded. Apple offers battery replacement at an Apple Store or through mail-in service. The cost varies by model but is usually between $50 and $100. Third-party repair shops often charge less, though quality varies.
If your battery health is above 80%, the drain is likely caused by apps or settings, not the battery itself. If it is below 50%, replacement will make a noticeable difference in how long your phone lasts on a single charge.
Close unused apps and disable visual effects
Closing apps in the background does not save battery on modern iPhones — iOS suspends apps automatically when you switch away from them. However, some apps continue running in the background even when suspended, which is why disabling background app refresh (covered above) matters more than force-closing.
Visual effects like parallax (the way icons shift when you tilt your phone) and animations use power. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and toggle on "Reduce Motion." This disables parallax and speeds up animations, saving battery and making your phone feel snappier.
Disabling visual effects is a small gain compared to lowering brightness or disabling background refresh, but it adds up when combined with other changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does closing apps in the background actually save battery?
No. iOS automatically suspends apps when you switch away from them, so force-closing does not save power. What does save power is disabling background app refresh for apps you do not need to update constantly. Closing apps repeatedly can actually drain battery faster because your phone has to reload them from scratch each time.
Should I turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to save battery?
Turning them off saves some battery, but the gain is small — usually 5 to 10% of your daily drain. If you use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth regularly, leaving them on is worth it because searching for a connection uses more power than staying connected. Turn them off only if you are in an area with no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth devices and need maximum battery life.
Does dark mode save battery on all iPhones?
Dark mode saves battery only on iPhones with OLED screens (iPhone 12 and newer). OLED displays turn off individual pixels to show black, so dark mode uses less power. On older iPhones with LCD screens, dark mode makes no difference to battery life. If you have an older iPhone, use dark mode only if you prefer the look.
What is the best way to charge my iPhone to keep the battery healthy?
Charge your phone to 100% and let it drain to 0% occasionally, but avoid doing this every day. For daily charging, aim to keep your battery between 20% and 80% as much as possible — this slows degradation. Optimized Battery Charging, turned on in Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging, learns your charging habits and slows charging to 80% overnight, then finishes the last 20% before you wake up.
Why does my battery drain faster in cold weather?
Cold temperatures slow the chemical reactions inside your battery, making it deliver power more slowly. Your iPhone may show a low battery warning even though the battery is not actually damaged. Warm your phone to room temperature and the battery will work normally again. If your phone shuts down in the cold, this is temporary and not a sign of permanent damage.