How to Save Battery on iPhone?

We are not going to deny that one of the biggest concerns we have in our day-to-day life is that the iPhone does not run out of battery. It is true that with the most recent models, autonomy has increased considerably, but in the oldest, we are seeing how the duration is scarce. That is why we bring you a series of tricks to save battery on your iPhone.

Battery saving mode operation

Known as Low Consumption Mode really and not as “battery saving,” in the end, this is a functionality that works for it. It has been within iOS for many years and has certain effectiveness in saving battery on the device. Here we tell you the most important thing about this modality.

How can it be activated?

Although we will tell you what this function implies in all senses in the following sections, we believe that the first thing you should know in this regard is the most obvious: knowing how this mode can be activated. Its activation is extremely simple, and there are different ways to proceed.

The first one is to go to Settings> Battery, having a tab called precisely “Low consumption mode” that you must press in this section. If it is green, it will mean that it is already activated, and you will also realize that this is the case because the battery icon turns orange (upper right of the screen).

However, a shortcut from the Control Center allows activating this iPhone battery-saving mode to be much faster and can be done anytime. A battery icon represents it, and when you see it with white shading and the already mentioned orange color of the upper icon, it means that it is active. If it does not appear in this place, you must go to Settings> Control Center and add it.

However, even though it is a very effective action to reduce the consumption of autonomy. You must know that activating the low consumption mode makes the device go a little slower. 

Since the operation of this mode makes the animations go a little slower and makes other background processes also deactivate, we will tell you about it below.

However, even though it is a very effective action to reduce the consumption of autonomy. You must know that activating the low consumption mode makes the device go a little slower. Since the operation of this mode makes the animations go a little slower. 

As well as making other background processes also deactivate; however, we will tell you about it below.

What does the iPhone do when it wakes up?

As Apple itself explains, activating the iOS battery saving mode implies that several processes are deactivated or reduced. In other words, when the low consumption mode is activated, there will be a series of internal processes that the iPhone carries out. 

And that will not stop until the mode is deactivated or continues to be carried out, but with much longer times that ultimately imply increased battery savings.

Well, what are those processes? Mail push notifications are disabled, and downloads and updates are in the background, which will also help you save mobile data if you are connected to the internet. This means that new podcasts are not downloaded, or the iCloud Photo Gallery is not synced. In addition, 5G will also be disabled in your iPhone has this capability.

Another action that iOS takes when battery saving mode is activated is to lock the iPhone automatically after 30 seconds. In this way, you will ensure that even if you forget to lock it, the screen will turn off, also one of the elements that generate the most consumption, and therefore more battery will allow you to save.

Other ways to save battery with iOS settings

If you spend a lot of time away from home, you may not always have access to an outlet to plug your iPhone into for charging. You may even have access to it, but you find it very tedious to load it. There are some ways to extend the autonomy of the iPhone so that this problem is not such, or at least it occurs as late as possible.

Brightness control

The screen of any device usually consumes a lot of resources. Not in vain. The battery life is measured many times by the hours on the screen. Some iPhones tend to consume less if they have an OLED panel since the technology of these screens is much more efficient than IPS. 

In any case, all of them consume. Therefore it is advisable always to adjust the brightness to be at a sufficient level with which we can see the content without difficulty. It does not exceed luminosity either, and this serves to save battery.

Remember that you must go to Settings> Display and brightness to deactivate this automatic function. Once you have it like this, you can adjust this parameter from the Control Center through the bar enabled. Another way you will have to do it is from the settings above panel. 

And if ever you were too careful, and you cannot see the content on the screen, you can ask Siri to raise it to the maximum and then adjust it manually, being able to see the screen. 

However, this practice is one of the most efficient to be able to achieve that battery saving you are looking for; many users choose to leave the brightness automatically, making it the iPhone itself that decides to raise it and lower it depending on the circumstances, however, doing it manually is sure that, if you are attentive,

Turn on dark mode iOS. 

If you have a version that is equal to or later than iOS 13, you will have the possibility to enjoy an interface known as dark mode, in which dark colors and especially black, predominate. These colors have very low consumption on OLED screens, so you should activate them. Those with this type of screen are the iPhone X and later, except the iPhone XR, 11, and SE (2nd generation).

As we have seen with previous functions, it can be activated from the Control Center if you have enabled direct access. If not, you will have to go to Settings> Display and brightness. A highly recommended option is to have it enabled automatically depending on the day, so you don’t have to change it manually. 

In addition, continuing with the reason why it is recommended to activate the dark mode on those iPhones that have an OLED screen. It is also highly recommended that, if you can, you use black wallpapers. And that is in the same way as in the system, the black color is represented by the off pixels, so these pixels do not consume energy. The same thing happens with a black screen background, and it is a very good way to add a small energy saving.

Turn off less important notifications.

That the iPhone notifies you when a family member, friend, or colleague writes to you through a messaging app can be very important to you. Still, it may not be so important to receive notifications from applications that are only for advertising purposes on many occasions. 

Therefore, disabling the possibility of these notifications being sent to you can be a good option on two counts. In addition to eliminating inconvenience, you will also be helping to save the phone’s battery.

You can review everything related to notifications on your iPhone in Settings > Notifications, then tap on each app and review the permissions they have to notify you. In Settings> Do not disturb, you can also find an option that temporarily disables all notifications quickly and with access from the Control Center.

Goodbye to “sucking” apps and hello to battery saving

We understand that the applications that consume the most battery are those that you use the most, so recommending their uninstallation might not be the best idea. Although it could be interesting for you to see what they are consuming and, unless necessary, reduce their use. 

However, the most relevant thing that we want to tell you is that you locate the ones that are consuming the most because sometimes they may not be the most essential.

If you go to Settings > Battery, you can see the activity carried out by the apps you have on your iPhone, having data about the percentage of consumption they represent compared to the rest. 

If you find any that you don’t think is important, it is recommended that you uninstall them. And if you notice that one consumes excessively despite being important for your use, try uninstalling it and reinstalling it immediately to check if it has been optimized by deleting its junk files during uninstallation.

Do not allow automatic downloads.

The applications on your iPhone periodically receive updates that bring some visual, functional, or performance novelty. It is always advisable that these are always kept in the latest version, although if they are downloaded automatically by default, it could lead to greater battery consumption. 

If you think you can remember to update them yourself manually, we recommend that you do not allow them to occur autonomously.

If you go to Settings> App Store, you can deactivate this automatic download functionality. In addition, you can also prevent it with mobile data. You are not only favoring the fact of saving battery, but you will also prevent your mobile data rate from being consumed or at least lasting longer.

Prevent the screen from being activated accidentally

There are times when we are not going to use the iPhone, and we do not even want to check anything on the lock screen, yet the screen activates accidentally. Either because the “raise to activate” option is configured, or we have the touch screen option enabled. Although it is less common for it to turn on by accident in the latter case, it also happens.

If you want to deactivate these functions and that the screen only activates when you press the unlock button, it is advisable to go to Settings > Display and brightness to deactivate the elevation option. And if you also want to deactivate the touch function, you will have to go to Settings> Accessibility> Touch and deactivate that “touch to activate” function.

Also, monitoring the connections serves to save battery.

Although it could go into the iOS settings section, in the end, we want to differentiate some settings related to the phone’s internet connection or its continuous coverage of mobile data or voice networks. With the following tips, you will also be able to consume less battery if you manage to apply them at the right time (not permanently).

Use airplane mode in emergencies.

If the battery of your iPhone is already reaching the limit, it is best to activate the airplane mode. This function minimizes the interaction of your device with voice, data, and WiFi networks (although the latter can also be activated if desired). 

In this way, you will be consuming very few resources. Although turning it off maybe another option, the truth is that it is not advisable because if at any given moment you need to use it, even for a short time, it will take longer to turn it on, and Airplane Mode can be deactivated much faster.

To activate it, all you have to do is go to Settings since the second option appears to activate this mode. Also, in the Control Center, you have access to it. 

We advise you not to activate WiFi unless it is strictly necessary. Or if it is to make a specific query, for which you should not deactivate this Airplane Mode since it is enough for you to activate the connection to these networks in a normal way.

Turn off location (even partially)

Various system services and applications (native and third-party) need to have your exact or approximate location to offer you their functionalities. 

Other apps, however, do not need this permission to offer you their main functionalities. So you should deactivate the Location permissions in those apps that you do not consider they need since the consumption that occurs when having this function activated can undermine autonomy.

This is a practice that we always recommend carrying out, both for the autonomy section since location is a resource that can consume a lot in the long term, but also for the privacy of users.

If you consider that none of the applications you have to require this access to work correctly, or you want to be able to activate it only when you use them sporadically. 

You can also completely remove this permission from any application or service on your iPhone. All this must be done from the Settings panel> Privacy> Location.

Turn off WiFi or Data when you don’t need it.

If you are connected to the internet via a WiFi network, either at home or another safe place, it is recommended that you turn off mobile data because you will not need them to be connected. 

Yet, they will be searching in the background for a network to connect to if your WiFi fails (something that is not very common). In the same way, it happens the other way around, and it is that the consumption of WiFi activated when you are not connected to a network can also be a headache.

Cellular Data can be turned off from Control Center, but unfortunately, WiFi isn’t completely disabled from that panel, and you’ll need to go to Settings > WiFi to do so. You can also change that setting from Settings> Mobile data regarding mobile data. Of course, we insist on emphasizing that you only deactivate one or another function when you do not need them at that moment. 

So that this whole process is not a real hassle to carry out every time you go out or come home. We recommend that you download a shortcut of the many all over the internet just by activating it. You can choose whether to turn off mobile data and turn on WiFi, or vice versa.

Other tips to optimize resources to the maximum

Beyond those configurable settings from your phone, there are other methods with which you can guarantee that the battery will perform better in the long term and be able to save resources at the moment and increase its autonomy.

Please don’t wait for the iPhone to lock itself.

As we saw practically at the beginning of this article, screen consumption is one of the most relevant in devices such as the iPhone. Therefore, it is evident that the less time it is on, the more battery savings there will be because it is consuming fewer resources. 

If we follow this strictly, we would have to have the phone always off, but it is not a matter of exaggerating either.

You should have the screen on only when you are using the device. At any other time, it is advisable to block it manually. Even if you have the automatic lock activated, letting that time pass for the screen to turn off can be decisive at the end of the day to arrive with a lower percentage of battery than expected.

Do you have an Apple Watch? make the most of it

Smartwatches like Apple’s are a great attraction today because they are not simple devices that tell you the time. One of the slogans of the Cupertino company was to say that its Watch “gives the time, among other things.” Among the other most useful function of these is a very simple and practical one: receiving notifications.

Since the Apple Watch is directly associated with your iPhone, you will be able to manage a good part of the notifications from it without having to take out the phone. Thereby saving the device’s battery and making it noticeable at the end of the day that you have used it less because you have saved yourself having to Unlock it to check a notification. 

In addition, a good part of the notifications received on the Watch can be answered from it, so if it is not too long a text, it could be a good option to use its voice recognition for it.

Always keep the software up to date.

Always having the latest version of iOS compatible with your iPhone installed is, without a doubt, an excellent way to feel that every so often, you renew your mobile since visual and functional changes are introduced at least once a year. Security patches are also added to make it more secure. But the important thing, in this case, is that internal measures are also added to save the battery, both concerning its duration and its health.

There is some fear sometimes to update precisely for fear that the battery will be worse, but the truth is that in each new update, improvements are added in this section. And although in the first hours it can give the opposite sensation, as a general rule it stabilizes over the days and ends up giving the best performance.

Battery saving with on-time calibration

There are times when certain inconsistent things come up regarding iPhone battery percentage. For example, this is at a battery level that, in principle, is sufficient not to turn off and yet suddenly turn off due to lack of battery. 

That this happens to be in a percentage that is not 1% is not normal, nor is it that at the moment, a higher percentage appears than you had a few minutes ago without even having loaded the terminal.

Well, those problems stem from a lack of battery calibration. Therefore, and only in such cases, you should proceed to calibrate it. This will stabilize the values ​​and stop the appearance of unrealistic values ​​concerning the autonomy they offer.

Change it when its health has deteriorated.

In Settings> Battery, you can find the famous Battery Health function. This percentage is relative to its useful life, with 100% being its most optimal state. It must be said that this is not always an exact value because of how complex it is to determine, but it is normal that it goes down over time as the battery degradation also decreases.

What is recommended by Apple is to change it when it drops below 80%, at which time the information related to this advice will also appear in that settings panel. It is always recommended to change it at Apple or authorized service so that the battery is original and you can obtain a similar user experience as the first day you took your iPhone out of the box.

Use dark mode on iPhones with OLED screens.

It is a fact that many people already know, but having an OLED screen on your mobile device makes you save more battery on your mobile compared to LCD screens. The difference is that OLED panels can turn off each pixel, while LCD panels cannot.

Therefore, as the OLEDs can turn off the pixels, their autonomy in dark mode is much greater. And it is that when the OLED pixels are turned off, they do not consume energy, while the dark pixels of normal LCD phones emit some light. So if you want to save several hours of battery life, always keep the dark mode activated, especially if your screen is OLED.

Turn off unnecessary location and location services.

Although iOS for several versions has made a fairly optimized use of location services, having them active in the background always means a loss of autonomy, especially for apps that don’t need our location to give you functionality.

Disabling location services in the background is very easy. We can disable background location independently for apps that we do not use in the privacy settings tab. We will have to change the localization set to “When used” or “never.”Same for system services. 

We will make the apps only have access to our location when they are open. Many applications, when installing them, ask you for permission to activate the location, so you can choose the type of location you want. 

Keep in mind that this implies the loss of some functionality in some apps. Still, it greatly impacts the battery when we use very demanding apps of location, even if they do not use it to offer functionality, such as Facebook.

The most important thing: don’t get too obsessed

Finally, we highlight something that we consider vital above all else, and that is that you do not give it greater importance than it has. 

It is evident that nobody likes to run out of battery and that this is a real problem in some iPhones and more if they have a high level of wear. However, it can also be somewhat insane to constantly be aware of what battery you have in the device.

In this article, we have offered you several tips to make the autonomy greater and that the battery suffers little wear. But they are tips, especially those in the first section, that should not be applied permanently or simultaneously. 

In other words, don’t go crazy activating and deactivating each of the functions that we have mentioned at the same time. In the end, your user experience will be worsened by not being able to enjoy many of the advantages of your iPhone. 

Therefore, always have some common sense and resort to these tips when you think they are necessary.

Long years of using technology do not pass without a trace. You get so used to it that you literally try to do everything with it. If before we wrote notes on a piece of paper, now this is done in a special application. If before we called and discussed all cases at once, now we are in constant contact via instant messaging.

You can go on for a long time, but all this is the reason for the heavy load on gadgets and, especially, on smartphones. And at home, the batteries are the first to suffer. We ourselves do not notice how this happens, and sometimes we add trouble to them. I also ruined my phone battery and had to face issues with it. Here’s how it was.