https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/nicolenguyen/what-to-do-if-your-battery-life-sucks-on-ios-11
5 Ways To Make Your iPhone's Battery Life Less Horrible
Posted on Nov 7, 2017, 10:01:10 PM GMT
Chris Ratcliffe / AFP / Getty Images
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For some iPhone users, iOS 11.0, the update for Appleâs mobile devices
released in September, has been rife with problems. Thereâs a weird bug that
messes up the letter âI,â as well as a design flaw in the Calculator app
that seems to affect quick number crunches.
Many also say that iOS 11 has destroyed their deviceâs battery life.
An Apple representative did not comment on the battery issue and instead sent
BuzzFeed News two support articles, one of which suggested updating to the
latest software as the first step. (Apple released another iOS update, 11.1,
last week.)
A few users have actually said that theyâve seen battery improvement with iOS
11.1.
But it looks like a lot of others who updated their phones to iOS 11.1 are
still experiencing battery issues.
If your phoneâs battery life is still subpar, here are some ways you can make
it go the extra mile.
You *should* always update to the latest version of iOS, no matter what,
because itâs important for your phoneâs security. Each update includes
security patches for bugs, and Apple publishes notes on which bugs itâs
patched. Some hackers are known to target these bugs in older versions of the
software, since they know not everyone quickly updates their OS.
Hereâs the tl;dr version: Adjust settings so that your phone runs on Low
Power Mode* settings all the time, instead of just when thereâs 20% or less
battery left.
*Low Power Mode dims your brightness, turns off âHey Siri,â loads app
content in the background, turns on âauto-lockâ after 30 seconds, and
disables some visual effects. A quick fix is having this mode (enabled in
Settings > Battery) turned on at all times.
Before we begin, here's a pro tip.
Nicole Nguyen / BuzzFeed News
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When you open the Settings app, you can swipe down in the middle of the screen
to reveal a search bar to go directly to a settings page, instead of digging
through menus. For example, instead of going to Settings > General >
Accessibility > Reachability, you can just search for Reachability.
Keep your display as dim as possible â and, if you can, force it to go even
dimmer.
A display at 100% brightness is a big power suck, so make sure Auto-Brightness
(Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations) is turned on (it
should be, by default).
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If you have serious battery retention problems and are not visually impaired,
try enabling the Low Light Zoom filter, which takes your phoneâs display
brightness down a few notches more.
Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Zoom and turn Zoom to on, then
scroll down, and under Zoom Filter, select Low Light. This setting will make
your screen noticeably darker and is not for everyone, especially those that
often look at their phones in direct sunlight â but it could help ease your
battery woes. I like turning the low-light filter on at night, when itâs
easier to see the dimmed screen.
Turn off âHey Siri.â
Hey Siri allows you to activate the Siri voice assistant with your voice,
hands-free, instead of holding down the home button (or if you have an iPhone
X, the side button). When your phone is constantly listening for âHey,
Siri,â itâs using more power â and you can easily turn this off by going
to Settings > Siri & Search and disabling Listen for Hey Siri.
Reduce visual effects.
Go to Settings > Accessibility > enable Reduce Motion, which will disable the
âparallaxâ effect that makes wallpapers look 3D and shows animated effects
(like notifications, app switcher, etc.). This setting does, however, prevent
iMessage screen and bubble effect from auto-playing.
Then, go to your Settings app and open the Battery page.
Tap the âLast 7 daysâ tab. Take note of what apps are listed under the
Battery usage section.
Nicole Nguyen / BuzzFeed News
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On my phone, Twitter was taking up a ton of energy, with 22% of all battery use
over the last seven days due to background activity. Turns out, Iâm not the
only one. Background activity means an app is loading content and using your
battery even while it is not on-screen.
If âBackground activityâ is listed underneath most apps on the Battery
page, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh, and disable the
feature either entirely or just for the worst offenders (which are probably
social media apps like Twitter and Instagram).
If you use the default Mail app, try turning off the option for checking and
downloading email in the background, too.
Go to Settings > Accounts and Passwords > Fetch New Data > turn Push off and
change Fetch from Automatically to Manually.
This will disable notifications for new emails. You can also set your fetch to
be less frequent (every 30 minutes or hourly) if you still want to receive
email updates and preserve battery.
One thing to note: As the season changes and temperatures drop, youâll also
see serious battery drain if itâs really cold outside.
Below-freezing temperatures will impact iPhone battery life negatively (though
only temporarily), or could even cause the device to shut off completely,
according to Appleâs usage guidelines. Keeping the device in an insulated
coat pocket or small gear bag during extreme weather conditions will help.
Finally, is your phone a year-old or more? It might need a new battery.
All lithium-ion batteries (the kinds in phones, tablets, and most modern
electronics) experience decay. After 500 charge cycles, the iPhone battery is
designed to retain only 80% of its original capacity, so depending on use, you
may start to see battery life dwindle after a year or so. Getting a new battery
($79 out of warranty through Apple), instead of spending a lot more money on a
newer phone, may make your life better.
Apple Support can run a remote test that will check your iPhoneâs overall
battery health. Thereâs also an app called Battery Life that will determine
whether or not you need a replacement. And you can use Geekbench 4 ($1) to run
a battery benchmark test, and let you compare your results to others with the
same model.
Iâd really love to know what apps are draining your battery, and whether iOS
11.1 is better or worse for your battery life.
Leave a comment, or @ me.
Nicole Nguyen covers products and personal technology for BuzzFeed News and is
based in San Francisco.
Contact Nicole Nguyen at nicole.nguyen@xxxxxxxxxxxx.
Got a confidential tip? Submit it here.
Sent from my iPhone
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