Detailed instructions on increasing the battery life of iOS devices from an Apple Store employee

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

I worked at Genius Bar for almost two years and I can say that the most frequent question that users asked me was the low battery life of iOS devices. It was rather difficult to determine the exact cause of the increased battery discharge, and I set myself the task of identifying the specific reasons that lead to this.

This article is the culmination of my many years of research and anecdotal evidence that I have collected during my time as an iOS specialist while working at the Genius Bar, as well as in the process of testing my personal devices and those of my friends.

The recent iOS 7.1 update brought us improved design and performance improvements, however some users have complained of increased battery drain immediately after the update, which has been confirmed by various blogs. I will warn you right away that I will not advise you to turn off all the useful functions of iOS, my goal is to convey to you my practical observations that really work.

Before we start, one quick note. In fact, 99% of the time apps are causing the battery drain, not iOS itself. I assure you, if you restore your iPhone and don't install any apps or set up email accounts, it will work for ages. Of course, no one does that, but we don't need it. I hope my advice will help you live in harmony with your device, using all your favorite features and applications, and without suffering from over-discharge problems.

But first, we need to make sure that such a problem exists.

How to check for high battery drain on your iOS device

There is a very simple and quick test of the battery life of the device - this is the built-in statistics function. We go to Settings - General - Statistics and see what iOS shows us.

The Usage line shows us how long you have actually used your device, and the Waiting line is the time since the last charge. The point is that the usage time should be significantly less than the waiting time (unless you have used the device every second since you unplugged the charging cable). If this is not the case and the usage time is almost equal to the waiting time, then you are in serious trouble.

Well, here's the testing method itself. Memorize the statistics (take a screenshot approx. Per.), Then lock the device and put it aside for 5 minutes. Now check the new readings with the old ones. If everything is in order, the waiting time should increase by exactly 5 minutes, and the usage time by no more than 1 minute. If the usage time increases by more than 1 minute, there is a charge leakage problem. Something continues to run in the background, preventing the device from entering sleep mode correctly.

Here are the main causes of increased battery drain and how to fix them.

Step 1: Disable Location & Content Updates for Facebook

This step will be very specific, but it is very common and quite effective. Moreover, it has been tested by me and confirmed on many devices.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an iPhone 5s and noticed that the battery was draining too quickly. Being a real nerd, I decided to launch the Instruments app from Xcode to see what the problem was. Typically, Instruments acts as a System Monitor for your iPhone, allowing developers (and nerds like me) to see all running processes on the device and how much memory and CPU they are consuming in real time.

During testing, Facebook was always on the list of active processes, even though I was not using it at the time. Therefore, I decided to disable location detection and background content refresh for Facebook. You will never believe what happened - my iPhone charge level went from 12% to 17%! Madness. I've only seen this kind of thing on the iPod touch; I've never seen such a thing on an iPhon before (on it, the percentages always show the correct count and only change downward).

I tested this situation on several other iPhones and the result was similar: after disabling background updates and determining the location for Facebook, the battery level increased.

Ashamed, Facebook, ashamed.

Step 2: Disable Content Updates for Unimportant Apps

There is no need to completely disable background updates; you just need to disable them for Facebook and those applications for which this function is not vital.

If you have applications that you open often, and their quality and developers are trustworthy, it would be wiser to leave this feature enabled and use always up-to-date data without bothering about anything. Background updates are a great feature for those apps that really need it, but for all installed apps it is not required at all.

Step 3: stop closing apps from the multitasking bar

In iOS 7, the multitasking interface and the mechanism for completing applications have changed - now you just need to double-click the Home button and swipe up the card of an unnecessary application.

Most users find that shutting down apps saves your battery, because otherwise they hang in the background and use up resources. This is the greatest delusion.

Yes, in this way you completely close the applications, but in fact, the effect of this is only negative, and here's why. When you close an application, it is completely unloaded from memory, which means that the next time you access it, the device will have to restart it using the processor power, which in turn will drain the battery. Plus, iOS itself automatically closes apps when it runs out of memory, so you're doing useless work that the OS has to do.

The point is that applications in the multitasking panel do not work in the background, iOS "freezes" them in the state in which you close them and returns to it the next time you open them. If you have not enabled Content Refresh for your apps, they will never run in the background unless they are playing music, using location detection, recording audio, or checking incoming VOIP calls (the most harmful of all of the above). In each case (except the last one) you will see a background process indicator next to the battery icon in the status bar.

Step 4: Temporarily disable push notifications for mail

If steps 1-3 did not resolve the battery drain issue, try temporarily disabling push notifications and see how that affects the situation. This great feature allows you to receive instant notifications about new messages, but sometimes, if not working correctly, it can cause an increased battery drain.

I've seen a lot of devices where push was the main reason for discharging. But at the same time, I have also seen a large number of push devices that hold their charge perfectly. Everything is very individual and depends a lot on your email provider and server settings. Try changing your push settings to sample every hour, every 30 or 5 minutes and see if the battery runs out. If that doesn't help, turn push back on. You can also try turning off notifications for individual accounts if you have more than one. You can check the result using the test described at the beginning of the article.

Very often, especially with Exchange accounts, a problem arises when the device constantly checks for new messages and, as a result, drains the battery for six hours. In this case, the usage time (in Statistics) will be the same as the waiting time.

Step: 5 Disable push notifications for unnecessary apps

Games often sin this way. For example, your kids have downloaded a game that annoys you with push notifications asking you to buy some extra content. Whenever you receive one of the notifications, your device wakes up from sleep mode and turns on the screen, waiting for your action. The notifications themselves do not affect the battery drain, so it makes no sense to disable them completely. However, each notification wakes the device from standby mode and turns on the screen for 5-10 seconds. If you receive 50 of these notifications during the day, it will already be 4-8 minutes of additional usage time. Therefore, just turn off notifications for annoying and unnecessary apps. Perhaps the effect will be small, but it will be.

Step 6: Disable Battery Percentage Display

Yes, you heard right. Disable these percentages and stop bothering about the charge level. The toggle switch you need is in the Statistics section, right above the usage and waiting times.

During my time at Genius Bar, I noticed that people who are worried about increased battery discharge constantly check how much percentage is left since the last check. In fact, in this way, you only reduce the charge, since the screen is constantly turned on, which in turn also consumes a certain amount of energy.

Stop this paranoid control and just enjoy life. After all, besides your iPhone's battery level, there are more important things to worry about. In the first couple of days it will be difficult for you, but after some time you will get used to it and forget about it.

Step 7: Visit the Apple Store

I know you are not happy with visiting Genius Bar, it is always noisy and crowded there, but I have a good reason to add this fad to the list. The fact is that Apple has now given all iOS specialists at Genius Bar the opportunity to conduct an Extended Battery Life Test, which can give a very detailed report on the use of your device's battery. Plus, this test only takes a few minutes. I haven't had the chance to try it personally, but many of my friends say the results are really impressive.

Another option for quickly discharging the battery (rather rare) is a physical malfunction of the battery itself. In this case, you will have it replaced free of charge if your device is still under warranty or for a small fee if the warranty has already expired.

Step 8: Turn on Airplane Mode when you are in areas with poor cellular coverage

One of the main reasons for the increased discharge of the battery is a weak signal of the cellular network. When the signal level drops to a critical level, the iPhone increases the power to the antenna to maintain the connection and prevent it from dropping.

This will easily destroy your iPhone's power if you are constantly in places with a weak network signal (one bar) or no signal at all (no network). The problem is that it can happen almost anywhere: in buildings made of metal structures or thick concrete walls; densely populated areas of the city or the center, where a large number of high-rise buildings are concentrated.

Often, on the upper floors, we have an excellent signal level, but as soon as you go downstairs or to the basement, the battery consumption will immediately increase, due to the increase in the antenna power. Do not forget that the battery will run out even when you are in the Wi-Fi range, because the iPhone will still try to maintain a cellular connection to receive calls and sms.

If, being in such a place, you still need to stay in touch and receive calls, I have bad news for you - there is nothing you can do about it. However, if the coverage is so bad that no one can reach you anyway, I recommend that you enable Airplane Mode by swiping upwards and tapping on the airplane icon in the Control Center.

One trick when using Airplane Mode that you may not be aware of. Immediately after its activation, you can turn on Wi-Fi by tapping on the corresponding icon. This is ideal for scenarios where you have a good Wi-Fi network at your fingertips and your cellular signal goes to zero.

More sophisticated users can be advised to disable only certain modules of the cellular network, such as EDGE, 3G, 4G, or LTE. Most users are unaware that their iPhone actually receives two types of signals at the same time: one for calls and sms, and the other for data transmission.

The signal strength indicator shows the signal strength for the "telephone" part. That is, a signal level of 2-3 divisions does not mean the strength of a 3G or LTE signal will be such. In practice, in this situation (2-3 divisions) - the 3G signal level will be 1 division, and the phone will do its best to maintain it, mercilessly consuming the battery. To disable only the data transmission module, you need to go to Settings - Cellular and disable the Cellular data toggle switch (or separate toggle switches for 3G and 4G approx. Per.). This will allow you to receive calls (if you still have a signal) and use Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet.

Conclusion

I guarantee that by following the above recommendations, you will get the maximum battery life on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

If your device still doesn’t make it to the end of the day, and you don’t smile at all walking into the noisy steel chambers, as I call Apple Stores, don’t worry. All is not lost for you.

This behavior of the device can be absolutely normal if you are an active user and do not let go of it throughout the day. In this case, I would advise you to purchase a car charger, a second charger for work (travel) or a case with an additional battery.

Hopefully this article will help you deal with your device's over-discharge problems and stop worrying about it, just use it and enjoy all the features. There are many more important things in life that deserve your attention. Therefore, the less we bother with the battery, the more time we have left to devote to people and things that really matter.