What’s causing your iPhone battery to drain rapidly all of a sudden? If your iPhone is losing battery quicker than expected or faster than what you consider normal, we’re here to assist you. We’ll address typical battery concerns and guide you through straightforward remedies to prevent your iPhone battery from draining rapidly.
1. Restart Your iPhone
Whenever you encounter any problems with a device, whether it’s made by Apple or another manufacturer, a straightforward restart usually provides assistance. While restarting your iPhone may not entirely resolve your battery drain problem, it’s likely to provide some improvement. If you encounter difficulties while attempting to power your iPhone off and on, here’s the proper method for shutting down your iPhone.
2. Examine Your iPhone Battery Health
This serves as a helpful initial step, whether you’re concerned about the iPhone update affecting battery life or not. Your iPhone will provide specific recommendations within Settings to conserve battery life. To identify reasons for accelerated battery drain on your iPhone, follow these steps to review Battery Health suggestions:
- Access the Settings app, then scroll down and select Battery.
- Tap on Battery Health & Charging.
- Examine your iPhone battery health.
On the subsequent screen, your iPhone will propose adjustments to settings that can enhance battery life. You can tap on each suggestion to navigate to the corresponding setting requiring modification. Even if you opt not to implement the change, you’ll gain insight into what is contributing to your battery drain.
3. Update Apps to Prevent Your iPhone Battery from Draining Quickly
With the release of new software like the iOS 17 update, developers also need to keep up. Apps that require updates might not perform efficiently on the latest iOS software. If you haven’t enabled automatic app updates, it’s advisable to update all apps on your iPhone to mitigate battery drain.
4. Adjust Your iPhone Screen Brightness If Your iPhone Keeps Losing Charge
Maintaining your iPhone’s screen at maximum brightness is often a primary culprit when your iPhone battery depletes rapidly, but this issue is easily addressed. Surprisingly, this is one of the key contributors to battery drain and consumes more power than one might realize! Here’s how to adjust the screen brightness on your iPhone:
Access the Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of the screen. If your iPhone features a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen instead.
Drag the Brightness slider down towards the bottom to reduce your screen brightness.
5. Activate Auto-Brightness to Prevent iPhone Battery Drain
Auto-Brightness functionality automatically adapts your screen brightness according to ambient light conditions. This feature helps conserve your iPhone’s battery by avoiding unnecessary screen brightness. To enable Auto-Brightness:
- Access the Settings app, then scroll down and select Accessibility.
- Tap on Display & Text Size.
- Scroll to the bottom and switch on Auto-Brightness.
6. Disable the Always-On Display
If you own an iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, your device includes the Always-On Display feature, which maintains your Lock Screen at a consistent brightness level, regardless of whether you’re actively viewing your iPhone. But does the Always-On Display function contribute to battery drain? Any reduction in screen brightness can help conserve your iPhone battery life, so if your iPhone battery is depleting faster than desired, consider turning off the Always-On Display:
- Access the Settings app, then scroll down and select Display & Brightness.
- Choose Always-on Display.
- Toggle the Always-On Display switch to the off position (the switch will appear gray when disabled).
7. Activate Low Power Mode
The battery-saving benefits of Low Power Mode on the iPhone are often overlooked by many users. This mode restricts unnecessary background processes when your iPhone battery level drops to 20 percent or lower. To enable Low Power Mode from the Control Center:
- Access the Control Center by swiping down from the upper-right corner of your screen. If your iPhone features a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen instead.
- Tap on the battery icon to activate Low Power Mode. When the icon turns white, Low Power Mode is enabled.
8. Adjust Location Services
Location Services could be another factor contributing to your iPhone’s rapid battery drain. Many apps request access to your location for various legitimate purposes. However, for most apps, it’s sensible to enable Location Services only while using the app. Here’s how to do it:
- Access the Settings app, then scroll down and tap Privacy & Security.
- Select Location Services.
- Choose individual apps to specify when Location Services can be utilized.
If the app doesn’t require your location to function properly, select Never.
You can also disable Precise Location if the app doesn’t need to pinpoint your exact whereabouts.
9. Turn Off Automatic Downloads and Updates
When enabled, Automatic Downloads will download apps purchased on another device. You can also toggle whether apps update automatically, and if you’re worried about battery drain, it’s advisable to disable this feature.
- Navigate to Settings – App Store.
- Disable automatic updates to prevent your iPhone battery from draining rapidly.
- Switch off Apps and App Updates to prevent them from occurring automatically.
10. Disable Raise to Wake
Every iPhone model comes with the Raise to Wake feature activated by default. The frequent activation of your iPhone screen might contribute to your issue, particularly if you handle your iPhone frequently or carry it while walking. After deactivating this feature, you only need to tap your iPhone to awaken it. To disable Raise to Wake:
- Access the Settings app, then scroll down and select Display & Brightness.
- Navigate to Raise to Wake and toggle it off. A gray toggle indicates that Raise to Wake is now disabled.
11. Restrict Push Notifications
From instant messages to updates about products back in stock, notifications serve as both a distraction and a significant drain on your battery. Disabling all Push Notifications can be challenging, but many go unnoticed due to their sheer volume.
- Navigate to Settings – Notifications.
- Limit your push notifications to prevent your iPhone battery from draining rapidly.
- You’ll encounter a list of your apps with notifications, indicating what types of notifications they can send you or displaying ‘Off’ if notifications are already disabled.
- Review each app, and if you can manage without its notifications, toggle off Allow Notifications.
You may want to retain notifications for important app notifications such as messenger and reminder apps.
12. Disable Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh enables your apps to search for new content and update even when you’re not actively using them. The aim is to reduce loading times when you open apps, as the latest information should already be available after being refreshed in the background. However, allowing all your active apps to continually update and refresh in the background can significantly deplete your iPhone battery. Here’s how to disable Background App Refresh to prevent your iPhone from losing charge:
Access the Settings app, then scroll down and tap General.
Choose Background App Refresh, then tap Background App Refresh once more.
Select Off.
13. Activate Reduce Motion to Prevent iPhone Battery Drain
Another factor contributing to battery drain after an iOS update could be the increased use of animations accompanying new software features. Your iPhone incorporates animations for various actions, including transitioning between apps and the Home screen. While each animation may consume only a small amount of battery individually, the cumulative effect of multiple transitions can quickly add up. To enable Reduce Motion and eliminate these minor animations:
- Access the Settings app, then scroll down and select Accessibility.
- Tap on Motion, then switch on Reduce Motion.
- Adjust settings to prevent iPhone Battery Drain.
- Also, toggle on Prefer Cross-Fade Transitions.
14. Avoid Non-MFi Cables and Chargers
MFi, short for ‘Made for iPhone, iPod, or iPad,’ refers to a licensing program enabling third-party companies to produce accessories for Apple devices. While some may overlook this, counterfeit versions can potentially damage your battery and contribute to rapid iPhone battery drain. Even if you opt not to use an MFi cable or charger, ensure you purchase from reputable brands.
15. Disable “Push Mail”
If you regularly check emails on your phone, chances are you’ve enabled “Push Mail” to ensure you never miss a new message. However, this feature causes your iPhone to frequently connect to your email provider, resulting in significant battery drain.
You don’t need to disable push mail entirely – adjusting the setting to check for new emails at specific intervals rather than continuously can significantly reduce the rate at which your iPhone battery drains:
- Navigate to Settings – Mail – Accounts – Fetch New Data.
- Switch off the push mail setting to prevent rapid drainage of your iPhone battery.
- Scroll down and choose ‘Every 15 Minutes’ or another preferred interval under Fetch.
If you have the Mail app installed, the Mail options won’t appear in your iPhone Settings.
16. Lay Your iPhone Face Down
Putting your phone face down on a surface serves a dual purpose. When your phone is positioned upside down, it conserves battery by suppressing notifications and preventing the screen from lighting up with interactions. Two birds with one stone. If you’re concerned about scratching the screen, consider getting a screen protector or using a phone case that offers screen protection.
17. Remove Widgets
Widgets may seem cool, but they could be contributing to battery drain, especially those that update frequently, such as weather or map widgets.
To remove a widget, press and hold it until the drop-down menu appears. Then, tap ‘Remove Widget’. If you wish to delete multiple widgets simultaneously, tap ‘Edit Home Screen’.
All your apps and widgets will start shaking. Tap the minus sign at the top-left corner of the widget to delete the wiggling squares. You can also swipe right to remove widgets from your Today Screen.