Turn on Low Power Mode to cut power use when ready

Low Power Mode is the fastest way to extend your iPhone's battery life. It reduces performance, limits background activity, and dims the screen slightly—but your phone stays fully usable. Most people notice the difference in how long their battery lasts before needing to charge, not in how the phone feels to use.

To turn it on, open Settings, tap Battery, then toggle Low Power Mode to on. Your status bar will turn yellow and show a battery icon. You can also swipe up from the bottom of your screen (or down from the top right on newer models) to open Control Center, then tap the battery icon to enable it. Low Power Mode turns off automatically when your battery reaches 80% during charging.

Low Power Mode disables some features while active: background app refresh slows down, mail stops fetching automatically, and some visual effects pause. These changes are temporary and reverse when you turn the mode off.

Key Takeaways

  • Low Power Mode is the single fastest way to extend battery life and can be turned on in Settings or Control Center in seconds.
  • Dimming your screen brightness or enabling auto-brightness saves more battery than any other single setting because the display uses the most power.
  • Turning off location services, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi when you are not using them prevents your phone from constantly searching for connections.
  • Closing apps running in the background and disabling background app refresh for apps you do not use frequently can add hours to your battery life.
  • Checking which apps drain the most battery in Settings helps you decide whether to uninstall them, limit their use, or disable their background activity.

Lower your screen brightness or use auto-brightness

Your screen is the biggest battery drain on your iPhone. Lowering brightness extends battery life noticeably—sometimes by several hours depending on how bright you normally keep it. The easiest approach is to let your phone adjust brightness automatically based on the light around you.

To enable auto-brightness, go to Settings, tap Display & Brightness, then toggle on Auto-Brightness. Your phone will dim in dim rooms and brighten in sunlight without you having to adjust it. If you prefer to control brightness yourself, swipe up from the bottom (or down from the top right) to open Control Center and drag the brightness slider down. Most people find 30 to 50 percent brightness is comfortable indoors and still saves significant battery.

Enabling Dark Mode also helps because iPhones with OLED screens (iPhone 12 and newer) use less power displaying black pixels. Go to Settings, tap Display & Brightness, select Dark, then choose Dark or Auto to switch at sunset. Older iPhones with LCD screens see minimal battery savings from Dark Mode, but it does not hurt.

Turn off location services and background location tracking

Apps that track your location use GPS, which drains battery quickly. Many apps request location permission but do not actually need it constantly—they only need it when you are actively using them. Disabling location services for apps you do not rely on saves battery throughout the day.

Go to Settings, tap Privacy & Security, then Location Services. You will see a list of every app that has requested location access. Tap each app and choose "Never" if you do not need location, or "While Using" if the app only needs to know where you are when you have it open. Apps like Maps and Weather genuinely need location, but apps like social media or games rarely do. Turning off location for even three or four apps can add an hour to your battery life.

You can also disable location services entirely by toggling off Location Services at the top of that same menu, though this will break navigation and location-based reminders until you turn it back on.

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 email arrives when ready, news apps fetch headlines, and social media loads new posts. This convenience costs battery. Disabling it for apps you check only occasionally recovers noticeable battery time.

Go to Settings, tap General, then Background App Refresh. You will see a list of every app with permission to refresh in the background. Toggle off the apps you do not need constant updates from—for example, a weather app you check once a day, a news app you read weekly, or a game you play rarely. Keep it on for email, messaging, and apps you use throughout the day. Disabling background refresh for five to ten apps typically adds one to two hours of battery life.

You can also toggle off Background App Refresh entirely at the top of that menu to disable it for all apps at once, though this will make all apps slower to load new content.

Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you are not using them

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios search for connections constantly, even when you are not actively using them. Turning them off when you leave home or do not need them saves battery. You do not need to disable them all day—just when you know you will not be connecting to a specific device or network for a while.

Swipe up from the bottom (or down from the top right) to open Control Center. Tap the Bluetooth icon to turn it off, or tap the Wi-Fi icon to disconnect from Wi-Fi. Both will turn gray when disabled. You can also go to Settings and toggle them off there. If you use wireless headphones or a smartwatch, keep Bluetooth on while you are using them and turn it off when you get home. If you are on a long car ride without needing Wi-Fi, turning it off for that hour saves battery.

Note that turning off Wi-Fi means your phone will use cellular data instead, which also drains battery. The savings come from not searching for Wi-Fi networks you are not connecting to, not from avoiding Wi-Fi itself.

Check which apps are draining your battery the most

Some apps use far more battery than others. Identifying the worst offenders helps you decide whether to uninstall them, use them less, or disable their background activity. Your iPhone tracks this information and shows it to you.

Go to Settings, tap Battery, then Battery Usage. You will see a list of apps ranked by how much battery they have used in the last 24 hours or the last 10 days—tap the time period at the top to switch. If an app is using 15 percent or more of your battery and you do not use it daily, consider uninstalling it or disabling its background app refresh. If you use the app frequently but it drains a lot of battery, check whether it has location services or background refresh enabled and disable those features.

Some apps like Maps or Spotify will naturally use a lot of battery because you are actively using them—that is normal. Look for apps using significant battery even though you barely open them. Those are the ones to target.

Disable push notifications and fetch for email accounts you do not check often

Email accounts set to push or fetch constantly check for new messages, which wakes your phone and uses battery. If you have multiple email accounts, disabling push for accounts you check only occasionally saves battery without affecting the ones you rely on.

Go to Settings, tap Mail, then Accounts. Tap the account you want to change, then Fetch New Data. Choose "Fetch" instead of "Push" for accounts you do not need when ready notifications from, or set fetch to happen every 30 minutes instead of every 15. You can also disable notifications entirely for an account by going to Settings, tapping Notifications, finding the Mail app, and toggling off notifications for that specific account.

Keep push enabled for your main email account if you rely on it, but switch secondary accounts to fetch or manual. This change alone can add 30 minutes to several hours of battery life depending on how many accounts you have.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does closing apps in the background actually save battery?

Closing apps by swiping them away from the app switcher does not save much battery because iOS suspends apps automatically when you are not using them. The real battery drain comes from apps that continue running in the background—those are the ones to target by disabling background app refresh in Settings.

Will Low Power Mode slow down my iPhone noticeably?

Low Power Mode reduces performance slightly—apps may load a fraction of a second slower and some animations pause—but most people do not notice a meaningful difference during normal use. The battery extension is worth the tiny performance trade-off for most users.

Does turning off 5G save battery?

Yes, 5G uses more power than 4G LTE. If your phone supports 5G, you can disable it by going to Settings, tapping Cellular, then Cellular Data Options, and toggling off 5G. This saves battery but slows down data speeds in areas with 5G coverage.

Is it bad to keep my iPhone plugged in overnight?

Modern iPhones have built-in protections that stop charging at 100 percent and slow charging after your battery reaches 80 percent, so overnight charging does not damage the battery. However, keeping your battery between 20 and 80 percent most of the time does extend the overall lifespan of the battery over years.

What temperature should my iPhone be to avoid battery drain?

iPhones perform best and drain battery slowest between 62 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Extreme heat or cold slows down the battery temporarily, but this is not permanent damage. Avoid leaving your phone in direct sunlight or in a hot car for extended periods.