How to improve your iPhone's battery life
Enterprises and business users love the iPhone because of its
back-end management and security features that allow employees to bring
their own from home (BYOD) and use it in the workplace. The one thing
that lets the device down from full marks is its battery life. Compared
to the old business favorite BlackBerry, the iPhone's battery life is
far from comparable.
Here are 15 simple things you can do to make your iPhone run that little bit longer :
1. Turn off auto-brightness
Some, including Apple, believe that the iPhone's
"auto-brightness" feature will help conserve battery life by dynamically
and automatically increasing or reducing the brightness of the screen,
based on how light it is around you. Yet others argue this alone can
actually lead to battery draining.
It may not be easy to read your iPhone's screen in direct sunlight,
and you may not get the most out of your high-resolution display, but
this is about conserving your battery rather than anything else.
The best practice seems to point to disabling the auto-brightness. Go to
Settings >
Brightness & Wallpaper > then
reduce the brightness to 10-25 percent, or whatever feels comfortable.
2 .Disable system Location services
Location services use GPS for location-aware apps and services.
While it's useful knowing where you are on Google Maps, what you don't
see is what is going on behind the scenes. Ads are being displayed based
on your location, traffic data is being downloaded, and your iPhone is
always pinging out to see where you are to keep an eye on which time
zone you're in. All of these things are unnecessary and churn up your
battery life.
Go to
Settings >
Privacy >
Location Services. When
On, scroll down to
System Services, then uncheck all of these items. When you're not using Location Services, such as GPS, then simply turn it
Off.
3.Disable push email
Push email is very useful for when you're running against the
clock. Emails are downloaded automatically and instantly from the server
when they arrive, rather than waiting for you to 'send and receive.'
But if you don't mind waiting that long, you can reduce the download
cycle so your iPhone isn't constantly listening for new email. Instead,
it will run a schedule every few minutes that helps in conserving the
battery life.
Go to
Settings >
Mail, Contacts, Calendar > under
Fetch New Data set
Push to
Off — then scroll down and set the 'fetch' schedule to
Every 15 minutes so that it runs the 'send and receive' schedule every quarter-hour.
If you need certain email accounts to push email to your device, select
Advanced and confirm the setting for each separate account.
4.Disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth when you're out and about
Wi-Fi and other wireless radios should be disabled when they're
not being used as they use a significant amount of battery life. If you
are not near or not using a Wi-Fi hotspot, or sending items to other
devices using Bluetooth, these can and should be turned off.
Go to
Settings >
Wi-Fi > set to
Off. Also, go to
Settings >
Bluetooth > set this to
Off.
5.Enable Wi-Fi while you're at work
However, if you are at work or at home, and you're in a building
where cellular signal is weak — such as a thick-walled house or a city
apartment — you might find it helps your iPhone's battery life by
actually leaving Wi-Fi turned on.
Anecdotal reports suggest that when your iPhone has good cellular
signal, the device's battery will remain at a relatively stable
discharge rate. But when you're on an older GPRS, EDGE or 3G, your
iPhone's battery life may decrease far quicker because it is constantly
searching and 'pinging' for a higher quality cell site with better
signal.
Go to
Settings >
Wi-Fi > and set to
On. Also, set
Ask to Join Networks to
Off to keep that Wi-Fi hotspot connected.
6.Disable unnecessary push notifications
Applications use notifications to inform you of what's going on
in the world, such as new email, text messages, reminders and who is
responding to you on social networks. But these notifications turn the
iPhone's display on, and often include audio and vibrations.
You can customize when you receive notifications through by going to
Settings >
Notifications.
You can suppress audible and vibration notifications, as well as those
that turn on the display so they arrive silently. But these can still be
included in the Notification Center so these can be checked when you
periodically check your phone.
7.Reduce auto-lock period
Reducing how long it takes for your iPhone to turn its display
off helps conserve the battery life. When the smartphone is put down on a
table, for example, it can take a minute or two -- perhaps even longer
-- for the display to turn off. This means the display can quietly chip
away at the device's battery life while it's not actively being used.
Go to
Settings >
General >
Auto-Lock > set this to
1 Minute or
2 Minutes. The shorter time period, the greater the benefits to your iPhone's battery life.
8.Disable vibrations
Vibrations are useful to enable, particularly when you're working
in loud environments or even very quiet ones, so you can leave your
iPhone on silent and receive a buzz in your pocket when a new message or
notification has come through. A physical motor spinning in your device
causes these vibrations, but this uses precious battery life. These can
be limited or disabled altogether.
Go to
Settings >
Sounds and
select whether or not you want to enable vibration when your phone
rings, or if you want it enabled while it is set to silent.
9.Disable 4G (and LTE) connectivity
While 4G is much faster than 3G cellular connectivity, it uses a
lot more battery power. Long-term evolution (LTE) uses an entirely
different hardware radio and often drains the battery even quicker. When
not using high-bandwidth applications, streaming videos, or tethered to
a laptop or tablet, disable 4G and LTE connectivity. You'll receive
slower (albeit still rather fast) download speeds but it will also help
conserve your iPhone's battery throughout the day.
Go to
Settings >
General >
Cellular > Set
Enable 4G (or
Enable LTE) to
Off.
10.Close unused or dormant apps regularly
Some iPhone apps don't completely close when they're not longer
being used. Instead they lie dormant in the background. When using
memory or battery intensive applications, these are still churning up
power in the background. It's suggested that when you no longer need to
use an app, close it down completely.
On your iPhone in an unlocked state,
double-press the Home button >
touch and hold any open app until it
enters a 'wiggly' state > then
tap the red close button on each app that you no longer need. You can then return to your device by
pressing the Home button again.
11.Install a battery-monitoring app
Many Android phones already include a feature that determines
which installed (and in-built) apps are using the most battery life,
allowing you to close them and conserve power. But iPhones do not
contain this feature, leading many to third-party apps to monitor device
usage in order to extend the battery life.
There are plenty of applications in the App Store that monitor battery usage, but only a few — such as
Battery Doctor — will work out which apps are using the most battery power so you know when to limit their usage.
12.Be aware of where you put your iPhone
Almost above all else, keep your iPhone and its internal battery
within the operating range, so that it doesn't get too hot or too cold.
An iPhone will generate heat depending on what it is being used for, so
keeping it at a level temperature is important.
The warmer your iPhone gets, the faster the battery will deplete.
Sometimes it's better to keep your iPhone out of your pocket and carry
it in your bag — carefully to ensure the screen or case doesn't get
knocked about or damaged — or even clipped to your belt. Some cases will
also result in the device getting warm, so choose your accessories and
cases carefully.
13.Check for iOS updates regularly for unfixable bugs
In some cases, software bugs have led to complaints that battery
life decreases quicker than normal. These bugs occasionally work their
way into Apple's iOS, the software that runs on iPhones and iPads, but
can often be fixed with a software update. Normally, iPhone users are
notified automatically when an update is available, and the change log
will note if any bugs persist, particularly those relating to battery
life.
14.Adjust human behavior: pick up your phone less!
While it is often tempting to pick up your phone and check to see
if there are any messages, notifications, or missed calls, one of the
easiest ways of keeping your battery ticking over is to stop picking it
up every few minutes. Putting your phone to 'sleep' and 'waking' it up
will drain battery life.
15.Cheat, and buy an external battery
If all else fails and battery life continues to be a problem,
consider an external battery pack. Some external batteries will extend
the battery life of your iPhone for twice the ordinary length, if not
longer. There are some wrap-around cases that clip to your phone and can
be activated with a switch, though these will make your iPhone thicker
in size and heavier to carry. Others plug into the charging port at the
bottom to give your iPhone additional juice.
via
ZDNET
