If your iPhone battery always seems to be running low faster than it should, your settings might be to blame. While iPhones are designed to be smart and efficient, certain default settings and features can quietly drain your battery throughout the day. From background app activity to screen brightness, even small things can add up and leave you reaching for your charger more often than you’d like.
The good news is that a few simple tweaks can make a big difference. By adjusting some key settings, you can help your iPhone run more efficiently and extend your battery life without sacrificing performance. Here are three iPhone settings that could be hurting your battery—and how to fix them so your phone stays powered up when you need it most.
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1. Optimized Battery Charging
Optimized Battery Charging is a feature designed to help slow down battery aging by learning your daily charging habits. When it’s turned on, your iPhone will delay charging past 80 percent until it thinks you’ll need it—usually right before you wake up or unplug it. If this setting is off, your phone may frequently charge to 100 percent and stay there for hours (especially overnight), which can stress the battery over time. To protect your battery, make sure Optimized Battery Charging is turned on by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging and switching it on.
2. Low Power Mode
Low Power Mode is a helpful tool when your battery is running low, but relying on it all the time can interfere with your phone’s normal operations. It temporarily disables background app refresh, mail fetch, and some visual effects to save energy—but if left on constantly, it can lead to slower performance and possibly stop some apps from functioning the way you need them to work. Instead of using it as a permanent solution, only turn on Low Power Mode when your battery is under 20 percent or when you really need to stretch it, and focus on managing other settings for long-term battery health.
3. Auto-Lock
Auto-Lock determines how long your iPhone screen stays on when you’re not using it. If it's set to a long time—or you have it on Never—your screen can stay on much longer than necessary, quickly draining your battery.
To fix this, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and choose a shorter time, like 30 seconds or 1 minute. This small change can have a big impact on saving your battery throughout the day.
