How to save your iPhone battery life

Last year’s iPhone XR became famous for having an amazing battery life and this year’s iPhone 11 is set to do even better, giving us an extra hour. And when you do need to refuel, fast-charge gives you 50% in just 30 minutes.

But if you’re happy with your trusty iPhone 7 and don’t fancy splashing out on the latest iPhone, here’s some tips on how to get some extra juice out of your battery.

Let’s be honest: a phone, no matter how fabulous it looks, is only great when we know we can rely on it, anytime, anywhere. Since most of us take our trusty iPhones with us wherever we go, battery power plays a huge role in a phone’s performance and popularity.

Here are the hacks you need to know to save your iPhone battery and make the most of all the features your iPhone has to offer:

iPhone screens are bigger and better than ever, so you can get a bit more out of your battery life by adjusting the screen brightness.

Swipe up from the bottom of the display to open the Control Centre, then drag the brightness slider as far down as possible.

Yes, we’re telling you to go get the latest iOS update (and not just for the cool new features). It’s good for your iPhone battery life, too. Just go to Settings >General > Software update to get manual updates on your devices, or plug your phone into a power source for a wireless update.

Low power mode is a helpful battery-saver on your iPhone -when your device goes down to 20% and then 10%, low power mode is turned on automatically. You can turn it on manually by gong to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode or by swiping up from the bottom of the display and tapping the battery icon in the Control Centre. It’ll automatically turn off once your phone is charged back up to 80%. It reduces display brightness and disables battery-sapping features like iCloud sync until your phone is charged.

Using Airpods when you want to listen to some tunes or watch the next episode of Stranger Things can help extend your battery life when you need it to. Headphones don’t use as much power as the iPhone’s internal speakers.

The stereo output of the iPhone 7 onwards has the potential for louder volume. That means you should be conscious of sound impacting your battery life. So, turning down the volume is another easy battery-saver.

Hands up if you thought that you should let your battery drain to zero before recharging? A common myth, and unfortunately one that will shorten your phone’s lifespan. By a lot.

When it comes to battery best practice, if you let lithium-ion batteries die, then they degrade over time. Do this 300+ times and the battery won’t be able to hold a charge as long as it once could, and performance will decline after a year or two. According to Battery University, you should be charging your phone when it’s around 50% to optimise performance and keep the phone going for longer.

Turning off location services is another good way to extend battery life. Just head to Settings > Privacy, then tap on Location Services and toggle the switch off. Oh, and be sure you know where you’re heading before you do that…

With the hyper-sensitive home button on newer iPhones, it’s easy to unlock the screen when you need it. Which means that the screen should be turned off when you’re not using it. That makes sure it’s not consuming power unnecessarily.

If you want to get the maximum battery life from your iPhone, set the Auto-lock to one minute in Settings > General > Auto-Lock. You should also press the Sleep/Wake button at the top of your iPhone as soon as you’ve finished using it.

Keep the computer plugged in, with the power on, when charging your iPhone with the USB cable. Your battery will drain if the computer’s off or in sleep mode.

And be careful when trying to charge your iPhone in its case – excess heat may affect the battery.

Recent iOS updates have been designed to be the most battery-efficient iOS updates ever. You can see which apps are the biggest battery drainers so you can improve your iPhone battery life. To view and manage your usage, go to Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage.

Keeping an eye out for a new phone with a brilliant battery life? Register your interest and be the first to know about new phone releases.