Your iPhone battery drains fast because of one or more of these: apps running in the background, high screen brightness, location services always on, too many notifications, an old battery, or a software bug

The most common culprit is background app refresh—apps keep working even when you are not using them, checking for updates and location. The second most common is your screen brightness set too high or your display staying on too long. Third is location services enabled for apps that do not need it. If your phone is older than three years, the battery itself may have degraded and no longer holds a full charge.

You can find out which app is draining your battery fastest by opening Settings > Battery > Battery Usage, which shows you the percentage each app has used in the last 24 hours or last 10 days. Start there—if one app is using 40% of your battery and you barely use it, that is your answer. If the drain is spread across many apps or the list looks normal, the problem is usually a setting, not an app.

Key Takeaways

  • Check Settings > Battery > Battery Usage to see which apps are draining power fastest, and uninstall or restrict the ones you do not use.
  • Turn off background app refresh for apps that do not need to run when closed, especially social media and news apps.
  • Lower screen brightness or enable Auto-Brightness, and reduce the time before your screen locks to the shortest comfortable setting.
  • Turn off location services for apps that do not need your location, or set them to "While Using" instead of "Always".
  • If your iPhone is three years old or older, the battery may have degraded and a replacement at an Apple Store or authorized repair shop may be the only real fix.

Background App Refresh Is Draining Your Battery Without You Knowing

Background app refresh lets apps keep running and checking for new information even after you close them. Social media apps, news apps, email, and weather apps do this constantly. Each one wakes up your phone's processor, checks the internet, and updates its data—and your battery pays for all of it.

To turn it off globally, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and tap the toggle to Off. If you want to keep it for some apps but not others, leave the toggle on and scroll down to see the list of apps. Turn off the toggle next to any app you do not need updating in the background. Most people can safely turn it off for social media, news, games, and shopping apps. Keep it on for Mail, Messages, and Calendar if you want those to stay current.

After you make this change, check your battery usage again in a few hours. If the drain slows noticeably, background refresh was the problem.

Screen Brightness and Display Timeout Are Eating Battery Life

Your screen is the single biggest battery drain on any phone. A bright screen uses far more power than a dim one, and a screen that stays on longer drains faster than one that locks quickly.

First, lower your brightness. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and drag the brightness slider down to around 30 to 40 percent—most people find this readable indoors. Then turn on Auto-Brightness by toggling it on. This lets your phone adjust brightness based on the light around you, so you are not running maximum brightness in a dark room.

Second, reduce the time before your screen locks. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and choose 1 Minute or 2 Minutes instead of 5 Minutes. Your screen will turn off faster when you are not using it, saving battery every time you set the phone down.

Location Services Running All the Time Drains Battery Faster Than You Think

Location services use your phone's GPS, which is a power-hungry radio that stays on constantly if you leave it enabled for every app. Many apps ask for location permission but do not actually need it all the time—or at all.

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. You will see a list of every app that has asked for your location. Tap each one and choose one of three options: Never (app cannot see your location), While Using (app can see it only when you are actively using the app), or Always (app can see it anytime). For most apps, "While Using" is the right choice. Set it to "Never" for apps that do not need location at all—games, note-taking apps, most messaging apps. Only leave "Always" on for Maps, your weather app if you want local forecasts, and any navigation app you use regularly.

After you change these settings, your battery should last noticeably longer, especially if you had location set to Always for many apps.

Too Many Notifications Wake Your Phone and Drain Battery

Every notification that arrives wakes your screen, lights up your display, and makes your processor work. If you get dozens of notifications per hour, your phone is waking up dozens of times per hour.

Go to Settings > Notifications and scroll through the list of apps. For each one, tap it and turn off notifications you do not actually need. You do not need notifications from social media, games, or shopping apps. Keep notifications on for Messages, Mail, Calendar, and phone calls. For everything else, ask yourself: "Do I really need to know about this the moment it happens?" If the answer is no, turn it off.

You can also turn on Focus modes to silence notifications during certain times. Go to Settings > Focus and create a Focus for work hours or bedtime. This keeps your phone from waking up for notifications you do not want to see anyway.

Your Battery May Be Degraded If Your iPhone Is Three Years Old or Older

iPhone batteries degrade over time. After about 500 full charge cycles—roughly one year of normal use—a battery starts to hold less charge. After three years, most batteries hold only 70 to 80 percent of their original capacity. After four or five years, they may hold only 50 percent.

To check your battery health, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. Look at the Maximum Capacity number. If it is 80 percent or higher, your battery is still in decent shape. If it is below 80 percent, your battery has degraded and is the reason your phone drains fast.

If your battery health is below 80 percent, you have two choices: replace the battery or replace the phone. An Apple Store or authorized repair shop can replace your battery for a fee that varies by model—typically between $50 and $100. This is usually cheaper than buying a new phone and will make your battery last as long as it did when the phone was new.

Software Bugs or Updates Can Cause Sudden Battery Drain

Sometimes a new iOS update introduces a bug that causes one app or one system process to use too much battery. If your battery drain started suddenly after an update, a bug may be the cause.

Check Settings > Battery > Battery Usage again and look for any app or process using an unusually high percentage. If you see something like "System Services" or a specific app using 30 percent or more, that is unusual. Try restarting your phone first—hold the power button and slide to power off, wait 10 seconds, then power back on. Restart often fixes temporary bugs.

If the drain continues, check the App Store to see if there is an update for the app that is draining battery. Developers often release updates to fix battery drain bugs. If no update is available and the app is not one you use often, you can uninstall it and see if battery life improves.

If the drain is in "System Services" or you cannot identify the cause, your phone may have a software bug that Apple has not yet fixed. Check Settings > General > Software Update to make sure you are on the latest iOS version. If you are and the drain continues, you may need to contact Apple Support or visit an Apple Store.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does closing apps in the app switcher save battery?

No. Closing apps does not save battery because apps in the background are not using much power—they are suspended in memory. Closing them and reopening them later actually uses more battery because your phone has to reload them from scratch. The only exception is if an app is actively running in the background (you can see this in Battery Usage), in which case disabling background refresh for that app is the real fix.

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

Turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth saves a small amount of battery, but not much—usually 5 to 10 percent of daily drain. If your battery is already draining fast, turning these off will help a little, but it is not the main cause. Focus on background app refresh, screen brightness, and location services first, which save much more battery.

Does low power mode really work?

Yes. Low Power Mode reduces performance and limits background activity, which can extend battery life by 15 to 25 percent. You can turn it on manually in Settings > Battery, or set it to turn on automatically when your battery reaches 20 percent. The trade-off is that your phone runs slower and some features like automatic downloads are disabled.

Why does my battery drain faster in cold weather?

Cold temperatures slow down the chemical reactions inside your battery, making it deliver power more slowly. Your phone may also use more power to keep the battery warm. This is temporary—when your phone warms up, battery performance returns to normal. Cold weather does not permanently damage the battery unless it gets extremely cold.

Can I fix battery drain by doing a factory reset?

A factory reset can fix battery drain if a software bug is the cause, but it is a last resort because you lose all your data unless you back up first. Before resetting, try the steps in this guide—background app refresh, brightness, location services, and notifications fix the problem in most cases. If none of those work and you are on the latest iOS version, contact Apple Support before resetting.