Although iPhones are quite beloved, they have always been plagued by the issue of the battery. Getting a complete day out of your iPhone battery is a struggle for many. On top of that, many users have been facing severe battery drain issues on their iOS devices, especially since updating to iOS 17 (which quite frankly becomes a debate with almost every new iOS release).

Nonetheless, having your iPhone die on you when you still have a couple of hours left to get back home can be inconvenient. Fortunately, there are some things you can try to extract the most out of your iPhone battery and squeeze out that extra hour to get you home in peace.

1. Check for iOS Updates

Battery drain issues are typical when the OS has recently been released. As the OS gets more optimized and efficient with the latest releases, the more power-efficient your device will be. Hence, it is crucial that you ensure you are always on the latest update.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Next, tap on 'General' to proceed.
  2. Tap 'Software Update' to continue.
  1. iOS will now check for updates. If one is available, install the update.

On that note, if your iPhone is already updated to the latest version, and you've started experiencing battery drain just immediately after, wait patiently. It's normal to experience some battery drain after an update, especially a big one. This could be due to background tasks like file indexing, app updates, or new features that require more power.

Still, to know how to fix the battery drain issue and tips on preserving battery life, read on.

2. Update All Apps

Keeping all apps updated is just as important as keeping the system updated. If the apps are not optimized for the OS they are running on, they will be inefficient and, hence, command resources like memory, processing power, etc. That will ultimately lead to more battery drain than usual.

  1. Head to the App Store on your iPhone. Next, tap on your account icon in the top right corner to proceed.
  2. Tap on 'Update All' to update all the apps that have a newer version available.

3. Force Restart your iPhone

Force restarting your iPhone can help clear out minor glitches that could have been causing problems with the battery.

  1. Press and release the 'Volume Up' button quickly.
  2. Similarly, press and release the 'Volume Down' button.
  3. Press and hold the 'Lock/Side' button until the Apple logo appears on your screen.

4. Check Which App is Draining the Most Battery

If you're facing unusually high battery drain, check that an app has not gone rogue on your system. If it is responsible for the battery drain on your iPhone, you can take further corrective actions for it.

  1. Head to the 'Battery' section in the Settings app.
  2. Scroll down to see the battery usage by app.
  3. If you see a third-party app draining a significant amount of battery, you can either uninstall it or disable background activity for that app. You can also reach out to their support team, mentioning the issue.

You can also see other information about your battery and try to spot any unusual behaviors and patterns like the battery dropping rapidly when it shouldn't, or perhaps problems with the charging.

5. Check Your Battery Health

It's possible that the battery draining issue has nothing to do with iOS 17 but with the fact that your iPhone's battery simply needs replacing. With every charge cycle, your battery ages chemically, and its capacity to hold the charge also goes down. Apple says if your battery health is below 80 percent (i.e., the battery can retain only 80 percent of its original charge capacity), you should get it replaced by an authorized service center.

  1. Navigate to Settings > Battery.
  2. Tap on 'Battery Health & Charging' to proceed.
  3. Check the 'Maximum Capacity' percentage. If it is below '80%', it is time for you to get the battery replaced.

If battery health is not the issue, below are some settings that you can tweak to maximize the battery of your device. Some of them, like enabling the auto-brightness or using the dark mode, won't affect any functionality. But others include trading off functionality for extended battery. You can choose to follow whichever suits you and ignore others.

6. Enable Auto Brightness

If your iPhone is constantly on the highest brightness, it will drain your battery faster. Keeping the brightness automatic will automatically lower it when you are indoors and will result in battery saving.

  1. Head to the Settings app and select 'Accessibility'.
  2. Tap on 'Display & Text Size'.
  1. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and turn on the toggle for 'Auto Brightness'.

7. Turn On Dark Mode

If your iPhone's brightness tends to be more than 50 percent, switching to dark mode even during the day can save a significant amount of battery.

  1. Swipe down from the top right corner of the screen to open the Control Center.
  2. Tap and hold the 'Brightness Bar'.
  3. On the subsequent screen, tap on the 'Dark Mode' icon to turn it on.

8. Change Auto-Lock Duration

It is important that your screen turns off when you are not using your iPhone. It not only protects your privacy but also saves battery life.

  1. Launch the Settings app and tap on 'Display & Brightness'.
  2. Select 'Auto-Lock' to proceed.
  1. Choose a duration from the list you want your iPhone to lock when left idle.
Note: Attention is detected when you are looking at the screen. The chosen duration countdown will start once you look away from the screen and it is not being used.

9. Turn Off 'Hey Siri' or 'Siri'

The 'Hey Siri' feature continuously listens and consumes the battery life and resources of your iPhone. If you're desperate to extend the battery life, turn off the feature.

  1. Launch the Settings app and choose the 'Siri & Search' option.
  2. Tap on the 'Listen for' option.
  1. Select 'Off' from the options.

This will disable 'Siri' and 'Hey Siri' requests right away and you'll only be able to use Siri by manually activating it. You'll need to set it up again if you want to use it again.

10. Disable Raise to Wake

Your iPhone screen wakes up whenever you raise your iPhone. This uses the Gyrometer on your device to detect the motion. Turning this feature might save you some battery life without compromising much on convenience.

  1. Open the Settings app and head to 'Display & Brightness'.
  2. Turn off the toggle for the 'Raise to Wake' option.

11. Turn Off Lossless Audio and Use High-Efficiency Streaming

If you have turned on Lossless audio for the Music app on your iPhone, it significantly consumes more data, which in turn consumes more battery. Turning off this feature might provide you with some extra juice.

  1. Head to the Settings app, and tap on 'Music'.
  2. Select the 'Audio Quality' option.
  1. Turn off the toggle for 'Lossless Audio'.
  2. Next, go to 'Mobile Data Streaming'.
  3. Choose the 'High Efficiency' option on the next page.

12. Kill Background Apps

Closing background apps such as games, social media apps, and audio/video apps is absolutely necessary as they continue to eat up the battery even when running in the background. We recommend closing all the apps in the background if not in use.

  1. Swipe up from the bottom of your iPhone.
  2. Swipe up on each tile of the individual app to kill the process. You can also use multiple fingers at once to close multiple apps in a single go.

13. Choose 5G Auto or LTE

5G facilitates blazing-fast cellular speeds on your iPhone. However, it also consumes significantly more battery. Hence, selecting the '5G Auto' or 'LTE' spectrum should be your preferred choice to save some battery life.

  1. Launch the Settings app and head to 'Mobile Service'.
  2. Select 'Mobile Data Options' to continue.
  1. Go to 'Voice & Data'.
  2. Select 'LTE' or '5G Auto' to preserve battery life.

14. Disable App Background Refresh

This is not the most recommended tip. However, if you are hell-bent on saving battery on your device, disabling background app refresh can save a significant amount of battery.

Do note you might not receive notifications for instant messaging apps and mail apps since they won't be able to check for messages in the background.

  1. Head to the Settings app and tap on 'General'.
  2. Tap on 'Background App Refresh'.
  1. Turn off individual toggle for specific apps that you do not wish to have running in the background.
  2. To turn off the background app refresh for all apps, tap on 'Background App Refresh' to proceed.
  1. Then, tap on 'Off'.

15. Remove Lock Screen Widgets

Lock screen widgets continuously fetch data from the internet or system (depending on the information they are displaying). This, in turn, consumes more battery life.

  1. Tap and hold the lock screen and provide authentication to edit it. Tap on 'Customize'.
  2. Choose the 'Lock Screen' thumbnail.
  1. Tap on any of the widgets displayed on the screen.
  2. Then, tap on the '-' icon on each widget to remove them. Tap 'X' to close the overlay window.
  1. Once removed, tap on 'Done' to save changes.

16. Disable Always-On Display (AOD)

If you own a Pro series iPhone with an Always-On Display, disabling the AOD might help a little. Now, the AOD does not consume as much battery since the refresh rate of your iPhone can drop to as low as 1 Hz. However, if you want to save every last ounce of battery, every little drop in the bucket counts.

  1. Head to Settings > Display & Brightness.
  2. Go to the settings for 'Always On Display'.
  3. Turn off the toggle for 'Always On Display'.

17. Turn Off Automatic Updates for Apps

iOS periodically checks for available updates of apps that are installed on your iPhone. This consumes extra data as well as a battery.

  1. Open the Settings app and select the 'App Store' option.
  2. Turn off the toggle for 'App Updates'.

18. Disable StandBy Mode

StandBy mode continuously listens to multiple sensors on your device to judge when it should show the StandBy screen. Though by turning it off, you will lose out on a unique, convenient, and useful feature, it will definitely help you stretch the battery life on your device.

  1. Go to 'Standby' from the Settings app.
  2. Turn off the toggle for 'StandBy'. That's it.

19. Reset All Settings

If there is nothing wrong with your iPhone's battery, no app is causing the issue, and none of the above tweaks are helping you prolong the battery life, the last resort is to reset all the settings to factory state on your iPhone. This won't affect your data but you'll need to reconfigure the settings again. However, it can help solve the battery drain issues.

  1. Go to Settings > General.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom and tap 'Reset or Transfer' iPhone.
  3. Tap on 'Reset'.
  1. From the options that appear, tap on 'Reset All Settings'.
  2. Enter the iPhone passcode to provide authentication and tap on 'Reset All Settings' from the confirmation prompt.
  3. Your iPhone will restart immediately, and all the settings will be reverted to the factory state.

Experiencing battery drain issues on your iPhone can be frustrating, to say the least. However, with the methods mentioned above, you can solve this issue on your iPhone.