It’s no exaggeration to say that your entire life is essentially on your iPhone, which means when your battery dies , it can be extremely inconvenient and even catastrophic. Keeping your iPhone charged is an absolute necessity, so have you ever wondered how you can get more out of your battery? Read on to learn how your trusty handheld device can stay charged and ready.
How the iPhone battery worksApple’s mobile batteries use high-density lithium-ion cells designed to store a lot of energy in a small space, resulting in an extremely thin battery that charges quickly and is great for maintaining its overall health. They also don’t receive a constant current throughout the charge; the first 80% charge fairly quickly and the last 20% much slower. This fast/slow system ensures you get power quickly when you need it, while avoiding short circuits in the battery and ultimately extending its long-term life.
In fact, the iPhone’s battery is much more powerful than you think. It’s designed to retain 80% of its original capacity even after multiple charge cycles, allowing even devices that are years old to retain their charge, depending on how the battery is cared for Still, when your phone starts draining battery faster, you may find yourself sorely lacking that extra 20% capacity – for example, you’ll regret it if you’re in an unfamiliar city and find yourself unable to plot any routes. Use your dead phone a little
That said: There are a lot of misconceptions out there about how best to extend your Apple smartphone battery life. We’ll go over some of them below, so you actually have a grasp on how to keep your devices powered and in top condition.
1. “The battery should be exhausted before charging.”While this may be sound advice for older devices and cameras, iPhones are unique in the way they calculate charge cycles. By tracking a full charge from 0% to 100% (rather than every time you plug it in), your iPhone can accurately assess the health of its lithium-ion battery. Charging your phone for a few minutes doesn’t count as a complete “cycle,” but fully discharging and charging does affect the overall battery health measurement.
In other words, waiting until you plug your phone in when it’s close to 0% charge actually puts more stress on your battery life than charging it frequently.
2. Do not leave the phone plugged in when theApple battery is fully charged.Good news – you don’t need to worry about your battery wearing out from being plugged in all the time, especially since overnight charging is the best time to charge. iPhone’s power management technology is smart enough to stop the flow of electricity when the battery is full, so you can keep it charged overnight without worrying about shortening its lifespan.
3. “Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and close unused apps to extend battery life.”Not really: The technology behind wireless connections like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi has come a long way in the past few years, so they don’t require nearly the same energy as before. Therefore, disabling these settings will worsen your device experience without significantly extending battery life.
5 sure-fire ways to extend your iPhone’s battery life1. Turn down the brightness of your iPhone’s displaySince the process of lighting up the display uses more power than any app, adjusting your iPhone’s auto-brightness setting is a great way to reduce battery usage. Auto-brightness dims the screen based on the amount of ambient light 2. Enable low- power mode in iOSLow Power Mode was added to iOS 9 to squeeze every last drop of power out of your iPhone by limiting power-hungry background processes.
Normally, it’ll ask to activate when your battery drops below 20%, but you can always activate it manually if you’re having a long day. To toggle low-power mode, just go into Settings > Battery and flip the switch.
3. Update iOS to the latest versionKeeping iOS up to date is generally a sound approach, as each system update is bound to fix bugs and improve performance. When your phone runs efficiently, your battery has to do less work to keep everything running smoothly.
4. Avoid using iPhone in extreme temperaturesUsing your iPhone for extended periods of time in freezing weather or under strong direct sunlight will inevitably damage the battery. While it won’t damage your device, battery capacity will decrease with greater exposure to extreme heat and cold temperatures. Try to keep your phone as close to room temperature as optimal possible for iPhone battery life and performance.