It doesn’t seem fair that a device as expensive as an iPhone should lose battery power after just as few hours, but sadly, that’s the reality for some of us. And as we are running around like chickens with their heads cut off searching for a charger, we may also be contemplating trading in our phones for an even more expensive model with the hope that will solve all of our charging problems. But the problem may simply be that some of the settings you use the most — and leave on — are causing major battery drainage. The good news is that those settings can be adjusted to help minimize the effect they have on your phone’s battery. This is the phone setting you should never have on if you want your battery to last all day — and a few more valuable tips on how to increase the longevity of your device’s battery.
Turn Off Location Services
Location monitors your position constantly via Wifi, your cellphone network and apps, according to Gabriel Araujo, Flutter Developer at Revelo. In addition to possibly compromising your privacy, this constant monitoring will consume more battery power. “If you want your battery to hold longer, you should leave this setting deactivated and only activate it when necessary,” Araujo says. “You can turn off location services completely via Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, or even set up which apps will have access to it when not opened.”
Disable Active Listening – Siri
In addition to turning off Location Services, disabling Siri can help keep your battery running longer. “The active listening feature is the one that allows you to say ‘Hey Siri’ and get an answer from your phone,” Araujo says. “Since it keeps running in the background and constantly trying to make sense of everything happening in the device’s surroundings, it’s a good idea to deactivate this setting if you are hoping to save battery.”
Turn Off Unnecessary Wireless Features
“Bluetooth, cellular data, and wifi are prime examples of wireless features that will consume a nice chunk of your battery, since they keep running in the background and are always ready to be used,” Araujo says. “If you wish to save more battery, try keeping only the necessary wireless features on. For example, if you are connected to WiFi for the whole day, why keep cellular data on? Even if you’re not using any bluetooth devices, consider turning it off.”
Disable App Refresh and Content Updates
This setting enables your apps to update their content without you even knowing or opening the app, Araujo notes. “As you can imagine, this means that your apps can constantly check for updates, which consumes a lot of your battery, especially if you have many apps installed on your device,” he says. “Disabling this setting should help you save battery since you’ll be avoiding these constant checks and the bandwidth/battery usage that comes from it. You can find this setting by navigating to Settings > General > Background App Refresh.”
Turn Off Notifications
Notifications are power consuming, Araujo says — especially when your device’s screen lights up with a preview of every notification you receive. “To deactivate these notifications for a certain time, you can either turn them off completely for the apps you do not want to receive notifications from or set your ‘Focus Status’ to ‘Do Not Disturb’ in Settings > Focus,” Araujo says.
Other tips for saving battery
Some other tips that Araujo recommends for saving battery power include:
Auto Screen Brightness
The main power user of your mobile phone is your screen, since it needs power to light up every pixel and animate every transition, Araujo says. “To avoid high battery usage, you can turn on the Auto Brightness feature, since it’s the best way to balance brightness and battery usage,” he says. “If you need even more energy savings, you can also reduce your screen’s brightness to the minimum possible. To activate auto screen brightness, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Auto-Brightness. To lower your brightness and make it even more battery friendly, turn off Auto-Brightness and use the slider bar in Settings > Display & Brightness to set it to the minimal usable configuration for your eyes.”
Automatic Screen Lock
“As stated before, the screen is your main enemy when it comes to battery saving,” Araujo says. “To avoid long times of turned on screens, you can set up the Auto Lock feature in your device with a reasonable timer.. What it will do is lock your phone and turn off the screen once the set time limit is passed without any user interaction. Less screen time on, less battery usage.”
Activate Low Power Mode
To save more battery, Araujo recommends activating your phone’s low power mode. “It will do several things automatically, like disabling background activities like downloads and mail fetching,” he says. “It can also reduce your phone screen’s refresh rate and deactivate some wireless connections for better battery usage. To use this feature, head over to Settings > Battery and Toggle > Low Power Mode.”
