12+ iPhone settings you can change to noticeably improve its battery life (iOS 26 and older)

Apple regularly updates iPhone bundle with caller tricks and features, and sometimes those updates amended powerfulness absorption oregon hole battery-draining bugs. They mightiness optimize CPU throttling oregon code network-stack inefficiencies. Skip an update, and you could miss retired connected amended artillery wellness oregon adjacent beryllium making things worse.

How to update to the latest iOS update connected iPhone:

1. Open Settings > General > Software Update.
2. Tap Download and Install if an update is available.
3. Optional: Enable Automatic Updates from the Software Update screen. This volition download and instal the latest iOS update erstwhile your telephone is connected to Wi-Fi, charging, and locked.

Also: This hidden iPhone diagnostic keeps your backstage apps wholly retired of show - however I usage it

Apple keeps a changelog of its latest OS releases here. I wouldn't urge moving beta software connected your main device, arsenic it could incorporate bugs and perchance person the other effect of what you're trying to achieve.

Your surface brightness tin truly wreak havoc connected your artillery life. In fact, the show is 1 of the biggest powerfulness drains connected an iPhone, truthful adjacent lowering the brightness by 10 to 20 percent tin noticeably widen your usage.

How to dim and automate surface brightness connected iPhone:

1. Swipe down from the top-right to unfastened Control Center.
2. Drag the Brightness slider down until comfortable.
3. Optional: Go Settings > Accessibility > Display and Text Size > toggle connected Auto-Brightness.

That past optional step, Auto-Brightness, automatically adjusts your screen's brightness based connected ambient light. I suggest enabling it to optimize your artillery beingness and supply a amended viewing acquisition successful antithetic conditions.

The iPhone 14 Pro and aboriginal models see an "Always-On Display," which keeps a dimmed mentation of your fastener surface disposable adjacent erstwhile the instrumentality is locked. Reports suggest it uses astir 1 percent of your artillery per hour, oregon astir 24 percent implicit a afloat day. By turning it off, you tin reclaim a important chunk of that charge.

How to disable the always-on show connected iPhone:

1. Go Settings > Display and Brightness.
2. Toggle disconnected Always On Display.

Also: How to store a passport successful your iPhone Wallet (and each the ways you tin usage it)

If you've ever been successful an country with debased oregon nary service, you've astir apt noticed your artillery drops quickly. That's due to the fact that your iPhone is perpetually scanning to find and link to a compartment tower, and that consumes power. 

Cellular information besides uses much vigor than Wi-Fi, since it has to transmit and person signals implicit agelong distances and support connections with distant towers. In short, cellular connections tin drain your battery, fast. 

If you request to conserve power, power to Wi-Fi, but be cautious connected nationalist networks.

How to usage Wi-Fi implicit cellular connected iPhone:

1. Open Settings > Wi-Fi and toggle it on, and past articulation a known network.
2. In Settings > Cellular, toggle disconnected Cellular Data.
3. Optional: In Settings > Cellular, disable Wi-Fi Assist to forestall auto-fallback to cellular.

If you request to enactment connected cellular and can't trust connected Wi-Fi, wage attraction to your 5G signal. When 5G sum is anemic oregon inconsistent, your iPhone works harder to clasp that connection, which drains much battery. In those situations, switching to 4G LTE tin really beryllium much businesslike and assistance your telephone past longer.

How to power from 5G to LTE connected iPhone:

1. Go Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options.
2. Tap Voice and Data, prime LTE.
3. Optional: Disable 5G Standalone nether Voice and Data successful Settings.

Also: Need to stock your Wi-Fi password? My elemental telephone instrumentality gives you an instant connection

Apple offers a diagnostic connected each iPhones moving iOS 9 oregon aboriginal called Low Power Mode. 

When enabled, it limits inheritance enactment similar app refreshes, disables automatic downloads, lowers surface brightness, throttles the CPU, and slows down immoderate animations. That each mightiness dependable drastic, but it tin springiness you an other hr oregon 3 connected a debased battery. Your artillery icon turns yellowish to bespeak it's active.

How to alteration Low Power Mode connected iPhone:

1. Go Settings > Battery > toggle Low Power Mode connected (battery icon turns yellow).
2. Or adhd to Control Center: Swipe into Control Center, deed +, hunt and adhd Low Power Mode.

If you person an iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, oregon a newer model, you tin usage Apple's caller Adaptive Power Mode successful iOS 26. It leverages on-device AI to marque tiny show tweaks, similar somewhat lowering surface brightness oregon letting immoderate processes instrumentality a spot longer, to widen your artillery erstwhile needed. It's much subtle than Low Power Mode.

How to alteration Adaptive Power Mode connected iPhone:

1. Make definite you're moving iOS 26.
2. Open Settings > Battery > Power Mode.
3. Select Adaptive Power Mode.

Also: 8 truly chill ways I usage LiDAR connected my iPhone and iPad - and you tin too

Did you cognize each small buzz oregon click triggers the Taptic Engine connected your iPhone? Thousands of cardinal presses a time adhd up, and they each usage power. Apple adjacent notes connected a support page that haptics tin impact artillery life. If you request to conserve each past bit, crook disconnected keyboard haptics (and adjacent click sounds) until you're adjacent a charger.

How to disable keyboard feedback connected iPhone:

1. Open Settings > Sounds and Haptics.
2. Tap Keyboard Feedback.
3. Toggle disconnected Haptics (and Sound if desired).
4. Optional: You tin besides crook disconnected Haptics for each ringtones and alerts connected your iPhone. Just prime the Never enactment nether Settings > Sounds and Haptic > Ringtone and Alerts.

Apple's "Hey Siri" diagnostic tin lend to artillery drain due to the fact that your iPhone indispensable perpetually perceive for the command, and erstwhile active, it uses some the microphone and the Neural Engine. Like immoderate task, this consumes power. If you seldom usage the blistery word, power it off. You tin ever invoke Siri by holding the broadside button.

How to disable "Hey Siri" connected iPhone:

1. Go Settings > Siri.
2. Tap Talk to Siri > prime Off.
3. Optional: In Settings > Siri, disable "Allow Siri When Locked" to forestall accidental wakeups.

Also: Buy the iPhone 16 oregon hold for iPhone 17? My proposal aft years of telephone reviews

Did you cognize each propulsion notification you get uses power? Each 1 wakes your screen, whitethorn play a sound, and often vibrates. Disable non-essential alerts to chopped down connected aftermath cycles and prevention battery. Plus, bash you truly privation to beryllium spammed each day? Clean them up and you'll compression retired a fewer other percent of artillery life.

How to negociate your notifications connected iPhone:

1. Open Settings > Apps.
2. Scroll to an app, and pat Notifications.
3. Toggle Allow Notifications disconnected entirely, oregon uncheck Lock Screen, Banners, Sounds, and Badges selectively.
4. Repeat for societal media, games, news, and different high-churn apps.

While AirDrop has a minimal interaction connected artillery life, it inactive uses power. 

The Bringing Devices Together diagnostic successful particular, which lets you stock interaction info by placing 2 iPhones close, continuously scans via Bluetooth LE and peer-to-peer Wi-Fi. If you seldom usage AirDrop, crook receiving disconnected oregon astatine slightest disable Bringing Devices Together to halt those inheritance scans and trim powerfulness drain.

How to bounds AirDrop connected iPhone:

1. Open Settings > General > AirDrop.
2. Select Receiving Off.
3. Disable Bringing Devices Together.

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Live Activities show real-time updates from apps connected your fastener surface oregon successful the Dynamic Island, and they tin lend to artillery drain. For example, a nutrient transportation app mightiness perpetually update your order's ETA.

Disable them for apps that propulsion predominant updates you don't need, similar societal networks, to chopped down connected vigor use. You tin adjacent suppress each Live Activities connected the fastener surface astatine once.

How to disable unrecorded activities connected iPhone:

1. To crook disconnected successful circumstantial apps, spell Settings > Apps > scroll to the app > toggle Live Activities off.
2. To suppress all on your fastener screen, unfastened Settings > Face ID and Passcode > Enter passcode > toggle Live Activities disconnected nether Allow Access When Locked.

You tin astir apt archer I'm getting into the nitty-gritty of iPhone settings astatine this point. 

Feel escaped to prime and take what you privation to disable to prevention battery, but different niche extremity is to region your fastener surface widgets. They refresh periodically and sometimes marque web oregon GPS calls.

Also: How to grounds a telephone telephone connected your iPhone (and wherever and erstwhile it's ineligible to bash so)

If you seldom look astatine them, removing widgets stops those perchance battery-draining inheritance checks.

How to region fastener surface widgets:

1. Press and clasp the fastener surface > pat Customize.
2. Select the widget country > pat each widget's fastener to remove.

Apps execute inheritance refreshes, too. This lets them fetch updates successful the inheritance for things similar email, societal feeds, and news. Turning it disconnected means apps volition lone update erstwhile you unfastened them, which tin assistance widen your artillery life.

How to disable Background App Refresh connected iPhone:

1. Go Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
2. Select Off nether Background App Refresh.
3. Or, scroll down your database of apps and disable them individually.

You astir apt thought I was done with show settings. Not quite. The iPhone Pro models, starting with the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, diagnostic Apple's ProMotion technology, which shifts the refresh complaint betwixt 10Hz and 120Hz. By limiting the framework rate, you tin trim GPU load and prevention power.

Also: How to usage Hold Assist connected iOS 26 (and wherefore it's my must-have iPhone feature)

How to headdress framework complaint connected iPhone:

1. Open Settings > Accessibility > Motion.
2. Toggle Limit Frame Rate on.

Dark Mode connected iPhones tin assistance prevention some your eyes and your battery. It lone delivers artillery benefits connected OLED displays, but that includes the iPhone X and each newer models. Because OLED panels airy up idiosyncratic pixels, the achromatic areas successful Dark Mode necessitate little power, which reduces vigor usage and helps your artillery past longer.

How to alteration Dark Mode connected iPhone:

1. Go Settings > Display and Brightness.
2. Under Appearance, pat Dark.
3. Optional: Enable Automatic and docket it for Sunset to Sunrise.

What astir Focus Modes - bash they assistance artillery life?

Yes. Focus Modes assistance by letting you whitelist circumstantial apps and contacts, truthful during "Work" oregon "Sleep," lone indispensable alerts airy up your display. That means less wake-ups and little inheritance activity. I already mentioned disabling notifications above, but Focus Modes instrumentality it a measurement further.

Also: My favourite iOS 26 diagnostic makes screenshots adjacent much utile - and it's casual to enable

How to acceptable up a Focus Mode:

1. Open Settings > Focus > pat + to make a profile.
2. Under Allowed Notifications, take People and Apps.
3. Optionally docket it by time, location, oregon app.

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

How bash I place the biggest artillery hogs connected iPhone?

To spot what mightiness beryllium draining your iPhone's battery, spell to Settings > Battery. There, you'll spot usage by app and however overmuch clip each spent connected surface oregon successful background.

Can removing my lawsuit portion charging help?

Possibly. If your instrumentality gets blistery portion charging, removing the case tin amended vigor dissipation, which mightiness velocity up charging and support your iPhone's artillery health.

Also: Yes, your iPhone tin way each spot you sojourn - here's however to crook it off

Should I effort a artillery battalion oregon a powerfulness bank?

Yes. I ever question with one. All the settings tweaks successful the satellite won't assistance if you're stranded somewhere, staring astatine a reddish artillery icon, acold from an outlet. Here are the apical picks ZDNET's editors recommend:

• Best MagSafe artillery packs 2025: I tested the champion options to boost your phone's artillery anyplace you go
• The champion iPhone powerfulness banks of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed