You know how it goes when you purchase a new iPhone: it’s incredible for the first year or so — so speedy and efficient. It may feel like you have all of the storage in the world and like you’ll be able to hold onto this model for a few years, for sure. Then, slowly at first and then all at once, your phone’s capacity for maintaining the same speed and efficacy begins to diminish. To a certain degree, it’s normal for any tech device to lose its oomph after bringing it home from the store. But there are ways you could be contributing to your iPhone’s battery decline — and that also means there are things you can do (easy things!) to help bring it back.
These five easy iPhone hacks will help extend your phone’s battery life. If you aren’t crazy about the idea of having to replace your phone every year or even every few years, try these tips first.
Dim Your Screen
Make this one of the first changes to your phone — a change that will make a world of difference: dim your screen as much as you can because a too-bright screen is one of the leading contributors to battery decline. In addition to manually toggling that brightness switch down, your can also set up auto-brightness, which adjusts your phone’s brightness levels based on the amount of light in any given room. Head to Settings > Display & Text Size > Auto-Brightness and tap on this feature.
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Use Quality Chargers
If you aren’t using a quality charger, preferably one from Apple or most certainly one that is Apple-certified, you are basically giving your iPhone carte blanche to run out of juice faster. Using a cheap charger can potentially damage your battery in the long run, while causing your phone to overheat in the short term.
Use Apple-Certified Charging Cables
Your charger isn’t the only iPhone accessory that needs to be up to snuff. Make sure your charging cables are Apple-certified to ensure they are designed to provide the right charge to your device.
Turn Off Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh exists purely for convenience. Instead of having to wait a few minutes or even seconds for apps to load once you click on them, this setting ensures that all of the latest content is ready for you as soon as you’re ready for it. Background App Refresh is the reason, for example, why you know exactly what your friends have posted on Instagram or Facebook the second your finger touches the app. If you’re just fine waiting those few extra seconds to get the tea, turn off Background App Refresh and benefit from a lot more battery power in return — because the setting is taxing on your battery. Simply go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and toggle it off.
Lower Audio Volume
Perhaps one of the simplest changes you can make that can help save battery power is reducing the audio volume on your device. Use the buttons on the side of your phone to lower audio or rely on Siri to turn the volume down. Believe it or not, this is one of those hacks you probably never thought would add up to much, but it can restore just a little bit of battery — and every bit counts.
