In this guide, we’ll walk you through several effective ways to reduce battery drain on your iPhone and make it last longer on a single charge.
We’ve listed over forty ways to increase your iPhone battery life. These battery optimization tips work for all iPhones, including the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, and older models running iOS 26 or iOS 18. Make sure you go through all of them, but use only the suggestions you’re comfortable with.
Several tips mentioned here also work for iPads.
If you just set up your new iPhone 17 or updated your iPhone to iOS 26
It isn’t uncommon to experience poor battery life for the first few days after setting up a new iPhone or updating to the next major iOS release, such as iOS 26. The reason behind this is simple.
For one, if you just got a new phone or software version, you might simply be spending more time than usual on your device as you try out the new features.
But most importantly, iOS might still be indexing the content of your new phone, reorganizing files in the background, downloading new assets, updating apps, and more.
While it can be nerve-racking to see your battery level deplete before your eyes, please be patient, as this indexing process can take a few days. If you’re still experiencing low battery life 3-4 days later, then read on to find out ways you can improve it.
1. Use Dark Mode
If your iPhone has an OLED display (iPhone X, XS, XS Max, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, entire iPhone 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 series), enabling Dark Mode and using a black wallpaper will extend the battery life.
To enable Dark Mode, invoke Siri and ask it to turn on Dark Mode. You can also go to iPhone Settings > Display & Brightness and choose Dark.
2. Turn off the Always-On display
Always-On display on iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max, and the entire iPhone 17 lineup can consume a significant amount of battery, and turning it off will increase the use time you get on a single charge.
To turn off the Always-On display, go to iPhone Settings > Display & Brightness > Always On Display and turn off the switch for Always On Display.
3. Reduce the screen brightness
The brighter the screen, the faster it will deplete your iPhone battery. To increase your battery life, reduce the iPhone brightness from Control Center or go to Settings > Display & Brightness and drag the brightness slider to the left.
If you use your iPhone in the sun, you’ll need to crank the brightness all the way up, which will obviously drain its battery much faster.
4. Make sure you haven’t disabled auto-brightness
Auto-brightness automatically adjusts your iPhone’s display brightness according to the lighting conditions around you. It’s enabled by default, and you should use it. This will ensure that the screen brightness is lowered when you enter a room or a dark environment, thus saving battery. If you’re unsure, go to iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and make sure Auto-Brightness is on.
5. Limit frame rate
If you have an iPhone 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, 17, Air, 17 Pro, or 17 Pro Max, limiting the screen refresh rate to 60 fps instead of 120 can help extend the battery life. To do that permanently, go to iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Motion and enable Limit Frame Rate. And to turn it off temporarily, just enable Low Power Mode.
6. Use Low Power Mode or Adaptive Power Mode
Low Power Mode limits battery-hungry features like 120Hz screen refresh rate, mail fetch, automatic updates, background app refresh, and more. It’s a proven way to extend your iPhone battery life. You can ask Siri to enable Low Power Mode or do it from Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode.
Note: Once your iPhone is charged above 80%, it will automatically disable Low Power Mode, but you can use an automation to prevent that.
Additionally, iOS 26 has a new Adaptive Power mode, which can extend your battery backup by making small adjustments in the background. You can turn it on in iPhone Settings > Battery > Power Mode.
7. Turn off Background App Refresh
Background app refresh regularly fetches new content in the background, consuming data and battery. Go to iPhone Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Background App Refresh and choose Off.
8. Turn off the keyboard haptic vibrations
Haptic feedback on each keypress can feel great while typing. But Apple has confirmed that turning it on may consume more battery power. So, to get the longest possible use time per charge, make sure you turn off keyboard vibrations by going to iPhone Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback and switch off Haptic.
9. Disable automatic mail fetch
If you fetch emails less frequently or manually, it will help extend the iPhone battery. Go to Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts > Fetch New Data. From here, turn off Push and select Manual for all added accounts.
10. Don’t force-close apps!
Several iPhone users have a habit of force-quitting an app every time they are done using it. Please don’t do that. If you frequently force close and open apps, it actually uses more battery. So avoid doing that, and force-quit apps only if they aren’t working correctly or you won’t use them in the next several hours. Interested in learning more about this? Read why force-quitting apps to save battery life is a terrible idea.
11. Turn off the location for unnecessary apps
Continuous location access for third-party apps or Apple services drains the battery. One solution is to turn off location access entirely. But this isn’t recommended as it stops your ability to use weather, delivery services, ride-hailing, and similar apps. But if you must, go to iPhone Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and turn off the toggle for Location Services or disable it just for unnecessary applications.
12. Disable location for System Services
Tap System Services at the bottom of the Location Services screen. Next, turn off the unused toggles. Here’s a screenshot of my preferred settings.
13. Turn off Significant Locations
Tap Significant Locations under Location Services > System Services and turn it off. This can help extend the iPhone battery a bit.
14. Enable Auto-Lock after 30 seconds
If you have the habit of leaving your iPhone unlocked, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and select 30 seconds. When you enable Low Power Mode, the display is set to auto-lock after 30 seconds of inactivity.
15. Turn off Raise to Wake
From the Display & Brightness screen, turn off Raise to Wake. This will prevent your iPhone screen from lighting up accidentally when you’re holding it in your hands.
16. Make sure the iPhone isn’t too hot or cold
Extreme temperatures (either too hot or too cold) can negatively affect the battery. For optimal battery life, try avoiding extreme temperatures.
17. Remove the case while charging wirelessly or with fast chargers
Consider switching to normal wired charging if you often charge your iPhone wirelessly or via a fast charger. Wireless, MagSafe, and fast charging can generate substantial heat, which can negatively affect your iPhone battery in the long term. Plus, if you charge your iPhone in a car on a sunny day with windows closed or somewhere hot, avoid doing that, or at least remove the case for better heat dissipation.
18. Disable notifications for unnecessary apps
Every time you get a notification, all the pixels of your iPhone screen light up, which leads to a bit of battery drain. Now, imagine you get 50 app notifications a day. This equates to your iPhone lighting up 50 times! To cut down on this activity, set unimportant apps to deliver alerts quietly or turn off the notifications altogether for apps like games, coupons, news, etc., by going to Settings > Notifications > app name.
19. Put your iPhone face down
When your iPhone is kept facing down, the incoming notifications don’t light up the screen (but still sound an alert). This can help extend the battery life.
20. Use Wi-Fi instead of Cellular
Cellular data (4G and 5G) uses more battery than Wi-Fi. So, when you’re in a location with both Wi-Fi and cellular, connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi.
21. Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi if not necessary
In situations where you don’t need Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, go to iPhone Settings and turn them off to save battery.
22. Disable one SIM if you’re using two
I use dual SIM on my iPhone. I’ve noticed that if I keep both SIM cards active (or on standby at night), it consumes significantly more battery. If you don’t need to use one of the SIM cards for outgoing calls or internet, go to iPhone Settings > Cellular > tap a cellular plan and toggle off Turn On This Line.
Tip: To ensure I don’t miss anything important, I set incoming calls on my temporarily disabled number to forward to my other active number.
23. Enable Airplane Mode while traveling
When you’re in a car, bus, or train, your moving iPhone constantly tries to connect to signals from different cell towers. Enabling Airplane Mode turns off all radio connections (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth), which helps extend the battery life.
24. Use 5G Auto
If you’ve an iPhone 12 or later, go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Voice & Data and choose 5G Auto to reduce battery usage.
25. Disable Personal Hotspot
Hotspot consumes a significant amount of battery. So, make sure you use it only when necessary. Plus, if you have a habit of leaving it enabled, go to iPhone Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot and turn off Allow Others to Join.
26. Remove widgets that constantly refresh and show suggestions
Weather, Siri Suggestions, and other similar widgets refresh regularly. To get the most out of a single charge, reduce the number of iOS widgets on your iPhone Home Screen, Today View, and the iOS Lock Screen.
27. Disable Hey Siri
With Hey Siri enabled, your iPhone’s microphone is always on and ready to catch the hot word. You can turn it off from Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri or Siri > Talk & Type to Siri > Off.
28. Turn off AirDrop
Go to iPhone Settings > General > AirDrop and select Receiving Off. This will make your iPhone invisible for AirDrop to other nearby Apple devices.
29. Remove or cut down usage of battery-hogging apps
Head to Settings > Battery, check which apps use the most battery on your iPhone, and reduce their usage or delete them. Plus, if an app is poorly coded and eats a lot of battery, get in touch with the app developer and request them to fix it via an update.
30. Turn off automatic downloads
When you enable Low Power Mode, it disables automatic downloads. You can also do that manually for the App Store, Music, Books, and Podcasts from the iPhone Settings app.
31. Update your iPhone
If you’re noticing significantly poor battery life on your iPhone, make sure to install the latest version of iOS from Settings > General > Software Update.
32. Don’t use dynamic wallpapers
Dynamic wallpapers like Weather & Astronomy and 3D spatial wallpapers consume more battery than still wallpapers. So, avoid using these if battery life is a concern. You can see these inside iPhone Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper.
33. Reduce motion effects and animation
Go to iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Motion and enable Reduce Motion to turn down iOS visual effects and save a bit of battery.
34. Disable Fitness tracking
You can stop your iPhone from tracking your steps walked, stairs climbed, and other such fitness data by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Motion & Fitness > Fitness Tracking.
35. Turn off EQ
Equalizer adds additional load to your iPhone battery. You can turn it off from Settings > Apps > Music > EQ.
36. Disable vibration and haptics
A tiny motor is responsible for providing vibrations and haptics to your iPhone. Turning off these vibrations can help save battery. To do this, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Haptics and select Play in Silent Mode (or Never Play) instead of Always Play. After this, go to the bottom of the previous screen and turn off System Haptics.
37. Stop sharing iPhone analytics with Apple
Open Settings, go to Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements, and turn off Share iPhone & Watch Analytics.
38. Disable Screen Time if you don’t use it
If you don’t use Screen Time features, go to Settings > Screen Time and tap Turn Off App & Website Activity.
39. About battery-demanding tasks
Video games, camera, GPS, video editing apps, and such eat a significant proportion of your iPhone battery. When you’re in a situation where the charger isn’t nearby, make sure you don’t use these things or use them sparingly.
40. Use the flashlight at a low level
Use the flashlight slider in Dynamic Island or touch and hold the flashlight icon in Control Center and set the flashlight brightness level to the minimum level. This brightness level will also affect the flashlight icon on the iPhone Lock Screen.
41. Restart your iPhone regularly
Regularly restarting your iPhone keeps it in good standing. For an overall smooth experience, make sure you turn off your iPhone and turn it back on once every few days.
42. Use Content blockers in Safari
Get a content blocker like BlockBear from the App Store. After that, go to iPhone Settings > Apps > Safari > Extensions and enable the content blocker app. You’ll also see a Content Blockers section in Safari settings to enable or disable it for websites. Here’s a detailed guide on using Safari extensions on iPhone.
43. Use built-in apps
Apple apps like Safari, Mail, and Calendar are optimized and may use less battery power than alternatives downloaded from the App Store.
44. Turn off your Apple Watch
You can disconnect your iPhone and Apple Watch by disabling Bluetooth or turning off your Apple Watch. Use this if you’re terribly low on iPhone battery.
45. Delete unnecessary apps
To keep your iPhone organized and reduce the burden on the battery, delete the apps you don’t use. If the app data is essential, follow our guide to learn more about offloading an app you don’t use often.
46. Free up local space
Indexing consumes battery. Fewer files mean quicker indexing and less power usage. If you have tons of unnecessary screenshots or documents in the Files app, delete them.
47. Make sure the laptop is charging when the iPhone is connected to it
When you connect your iPhone to a laptop, make sure the laptop is connected to a power source. If some Windows PC notebooks aren’t connected to a charger, they may drain your connected iPhone’s battery instead of charging it.
48. Download music and shows instead of streaming them
Streaming music continuously uses cellular or Wi-Fi to transfer data from the server to your device, which consumes more battery. To address this, download the music or TV shows locally on your iPhone beforehand.
49. Know your battery health
Go to iPhone Settings > Battery > Battery Health to see the maximum capacity of your iPhone battery. This guide will help you understand battery health in detail.
These are nearly all the methods to save battery on your iPhone. I don’t expect you to use all 49 of these tips together—I certainly don’t. But it’s good to know about them, and depending on your situation and the battery percentage, you can implement some of them whenever necessary.
Finally, if your iPhone is old or your work requires you to actively use the device for several hours, consider getting a good power bank that can charge your device at least twice.
Check out power banks on Amazon
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