It’s a common problem: your iPhone’s battery regularly dwindles below 10 percent, even when you’re only using it for basic purposes like scrolling web sites and checking your email. You can assume that the problem is the apps you download and use the most, and that may well be the case (apps like Facebook and Google Maps use a lot of battery power). But that’s not always the whole story and deleting apps might not be the best solution.
“There are many things that Apple’s iPhone is known for, but battery life is rarely one of them,” said tech expert Dylan Kaplan of EnjoyMachineLearning.com. “What the general public knows is that iPhone battery life is not their forte. However, there are things that can make it stronger.”
Here, Kaplan recommends two battery drain settings that you should turn off immediately for a faster battery.
Update background app
The Background App Refresh setting drains the battery because an application periodically fetches new content or updates, Kaplan revealed. “The iPhone’s algorithm, when background app updating is enabled, is that the application is in a suspend state when closed and continues to check for updates at consistent intervals, consuming battery power,” Kaplan said.
However, according to Kaplan, there’s good news: Disabling this setting can dramatically improve an iPhone’s battery life because it only needs to refresh and retrieve data when needed.
“To turn off background app refresh on your iPhone, you need to go to your Settings app, then tap General, scroll down, and find the Background App Refresh option,” Kaplan said. “Tap the switch next to Background app refresh to turn it off. You can also selectively disable background app refresh for specific apps by tapping the switch next to an app name in the Background app refresh section further down the same page in Settings.
With background app refresh turned off, Kaplan reminds us that apps still refresh in the background when you have them open, but they don’t automatically refresh when you’re not using them to save battery life.
location service
Despite how useful this setting can be (especially in emergencies), Kaplan warns that it can also drain too much battery as it’s constantly trying to connect to the satellite to pinpoint the user’s location via GPS.
“To turn off location services for all apps and features, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and toggle the switch to the off position,” Kaplan said. “If you want to be more selective about which apps and features can access your location information, you can choose from the following options:
Never: This option completely disables location services for the app or feature.
While using the app: This option only allows access to your location while the app or feature is in use.
Luckily, Apple gives us the choice of which apps have a location service, or just while using the app.”
Try changing both of these settings to make better use of your battery (since nobody has to fumble for a charger every few hours).
