The most common reason: a single app running in the background

Your iPhone battery drains quickly because one app—or sometimes two or three—is using power even when you are not looking at it. This happens most often with apps that track your location, play music or podcasts, or refresh content constantly. The app may be broken, or it may be working exactly as designed but in a way that burns through your battery.

The second most common reason is that your screen brightness is set too high, or your phone is checking for mail and notifications too often. The third is that your battery itself is old and no longer holds a full charge. You can find out which one is happening to you in about five minutes by looking at your Battery Usage data.

Key Takeaways

  • Open Settings > Battery to see which apps have used the most power in the last 24 hours or 10 days, and whether they were running in the background.
  • If one app is using more than 20 percent of your battery, force-close it and check whether it has permission to use your location or run in the background.
  • Screen brightness, mail refresh rate, and background app refresh can drain your battery even if no single app is broken.
  • If your battery drains from 100 to 0 percent in a few hours even after you turn off background refresh, your battery may be degraded and your phone may need service.

How to check which apps are draining your battery

Go to Settings on your home screen. Tap Battery. You will see a list of apps ranked by how much power they used in the last 24 hours. The percentage next to each app shows what share of your total battery that app consumed.

Scroll down and look for any app using more than 20 percent of your battery. Tap that app name to see whether it was running in the foreground (while you were using it) or in the background (while your phone was locked or you were using something else). If an app you barely use is showing 15 or 20 percent background usage, that is usually the culprit.

You can also tap the "Last 10 Days" tab at the top to see the pattern over a longer period. If the same app appears at the top every day, it is consistently draining your battery.

Turn off background app refresh for apps that do not need it

Many apps are set to refresh their content in the background by default. A news app might check for new stories every 15 minutes. A weather app might update every hour. A social media app might refresh your feed whenever it feels like it. Each one drains a little battery, and together they add up.

Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. You will see a list of every app on your phone. Toggle off the switch next to any app that does not need to update when you are not using it. Most people can turn this off for news, social media, games, and shopping apps without losing anything important. Keep it on for mail, messages, maps, and music apps if you use them regularly.

After you turn off background refresh for the worst offenders, check your battery usage again in a few hours. You should see a noticeable difference.

Check location services and turn off what you do not need

Apps that use your location constantly—maps, weather, fitness trackers, dating apps—can drain your battery faster than almost anything else. Your phone has to keep your GPS radio on, which is power-hungry.

Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. You will see a list of apps that have permission to use your location. Tap each one and choose "Never," "While Using," or "Always." Choose "While Using" for maps and navigation apps so they work when you need them but do not track you in the background. Choose "Never" for apps that do not actually need your location—many apps ask for it but do not really use it.

If you see an app with an arrow icon next to it, that means it used your location in the last 24 hours. If it is an app you do not recognize or do not use, remove its location permission.

Lower your screen brightness and turn on auto-brightness

Your screen is usually the single biggest battery drain on your phone. A bright screen at full brightness can use 30 to 40 percent of your battery in a few hours of active use.

Go to Settings > Display & Brightness. Turn on "Auto-Brightness" so your phone adjusts the screen brightness based on the light around you. Then manually lower the brightness slider to somewhere in the middle range. You can also turn on Dark Mode (Settings > Display & Brightness > Dark) if your phone has an OLED screen, because dark pixels use less power than bright ones.

If you spend a lot of time on your phone, these two changes alone can add several hours to your battery life.

Check your mail refresh rate and notification settings

If your phone is set to check for new mail every minute, or to fetch mail from multiple accounts constantly, that drains your battery. The same goes for apps that send you dozens of notifications per hour.

Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts. Tap each account and look at the "Fetch New Data" setting. Change it from "Every 1 Minute" or "Every 5 Minutes" to "Every 15 Minutes" or "Every 30 Minutes." If you do not need mail notifications at all, turn them off in Settings > Notifications.

For other apps, go to Settings > Notifications and turn off notifications for anything you do not actually need to know about in real time. Many people get dozens of notifications per day from apps they barely use.

What to do if your battery still drains quickly after these changes

If you have turned off background refresh, location services, and notifications, lowered your screen brightness, and your battery still drains from full to empty in a few hours, your battery itself may be degraded. Batteries in iPhones lose capacity over time—usually after 500 to 1,000 charge cycles, which is roughly two to three years of normal use.

Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. Look at the "Maximum Capacity" percentage. If it is below 80 percent, your battery is degraded and your phone will not hold a charge as long as it used to. If it is below 50 percent, your battery should be replaced.

You can replace your battery through Apple, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or an independent repair shop. The cost varies, but Apple charges between $69 and $99 depending on your phone model.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a software update fix battery drain?

Sometimes. If a bug in iOS is causing an app to use too much power, a software update may fix it. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check for updates. However, if your battery was draining before the update, the update alone usually will not solve it—you will still need to turn off background refresh and check your apps.

Does closing apps in the app switcher save battery?

No. Closing apps by swiping them away from the app switcher does not save battery and may actually use more power, because your phone has to reload the app from scratch the next time you open it. Let iOS manage which apps stay in memory.

Should I turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to save battery?

Only if you are not using them. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi use very little power compared to your screen or location services. Turning them off saves a small amount of battery but usually not enough to notice. Keep them on if you use them regularly.

What does "Low Power Mode" do?

Low Power Mode reduces performance and background activity to extend your battery life by a few hours. Go to Settings > Battery and turn on "Low Power Mode" when your battery is below 20 percent. Your phone will run slower, but it will last longer.

Can I use a third-party battery case or power bank instead of replacing my battery?

Yes. A power bank or battery case can extend your battery life without replacing your phone's internal battery. However, if your battery is below 50 percent capacity, replacing it is usually cheaper and more convenient than carrying an external charger.