Please don't die. Please don't die. Please don't die.
There was a lot of buzz yesterday when Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, seemingly debunked the popular practice of quitting background apps on your iPhone to conserve battery power. While double-clicking and swiping to close apps is second nature to a lot of iOS users, when you shut down frequently used apps, it actually uses more power. Imagine if you had to shut down your car at every stoplight. Not only would you lose time starting up your car over and over, you would use more fuel, since cars need a little extra gas to get the engine running (yes, I know that’s not quite the case with modern cars; but I’m making a metaphor here). The same goes for iOS - an app needs to restore connections, launch processes, and get everything up and running. That takes more energy than if it was sitting idle in the background.
So if quitting apps doesn’t make your iPhone last longer on a charge, what will? I’ve got a couple of proven tips.
1. Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
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When you’re not using Wi-Fi, or you’re in an area where you won’t have access to a Wi-Fi network, you can save some juice by turning off Wi-Fi altogether. And unless you’re using a Bluetooth device, like a Pebble, there’s no need to waste power broadcasting a Bluetooth signal. Shut them both down easily from the Control Center (swipe up from the bottom of the Lock Screen).
2. Turn off Location Services
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Location Services is a great tool for apps to pinpoint your location and give you more targeted experiences (or just help you find where you are). But if you don’t use it, this GPS-pinging, Wi-Fi-sniffing feature can be shut down to save battery life. Under Privacy, go to the Location Services screen and disable it.
3. Turn off Push
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Having your email refreshed constantly and your Calendar updated in real time is nice; but it can also chew into your iPhone’s uptime. If you don’t care about up-to-the-minute updates, adjust your Fetch New Data settings under Mail, Contacts, and Calendars. Turn off Push for your main Mail account, then set your Fetch settings to Hourly (or Manually if you only want those apps updated when you launch them).
4. Say “Goodbye Siri"
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The “Hey Siri” feature is one of the things I love the most about my iPhone. I use it multiple times every day. If you don’t, it’s time to switch back to summoning Siri with a press of the home button. Deselect Allow “Hey Siri” from General > Siri.
5. Enable Airplane Mode
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What if you’re stuck with barely any battery, no access to power, and you just need to make sure you iPhone is ready for one more call to summon your ride or send one last text when you need it. Switch over to Airplane Mode from the Control Center. This will shut down all the pinging and searching and requesting that your iPhone does and turn it into a fancy iPod touch, essentially. You can still wear down the rest of the battery if you continue to play games or listen to downloaded music on it, but it should last longer.
6. Low Power Mode
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Introduced with iOS 9, Low Power Mode is a god-send for those of us who use our phones all day, only to find it gasping when we get ready to leave for our evening commute home. Low Power disables “Hey Siri,” mail fetch, and a few visual effects to help your iPhone last till you get home. What’s nice about Low Power Mode as opposed to Airplane Mode is that you can still receive calls and messages. When you hit 20% battery life, your iPhone will ask you automatically if you want to switch to Low Power Mode. You can also turn it on manually in the Battery settings.
7. Kill Power Hungry Apps
And while you’re in the Battery settings, you should take a peek at the app list and see if anything unusual stands out. If an app you haven’t been using frequently has been using an unusually high percentage of battery power, you might want to check and see if something unusual is up with it. Check to see if the usage is consistent over a 7-day period. Then either reinstall or delete the app altogether if there’s a comparable web-based alternative that you can access from Safari (like with Facebook).
Armed with these tips, you can make your iPhone last all day without having to resort to closing apps.
