How do I stop my iPhone battery from draining so fast?

Why Is My iPhone Battery Draining So Fast?

Let’s face it: there’s nothing more frustrating than picking up your iPhone to make a call, check your emails, or scroll through social media, only to find that your battery is circling the drain—fast. One moment, you’re enjoying a good charge at 80%, and the next, it’s 30% and dropping. Sound familiar? We’ve all been there, and the good news is that, you’re not alone. Let’s break down why your iPhone battery might be draining so quickly and, more importantly, how you can fix that.

1. Background App Refresh: Sneaky Energy Hog

Your apps are like marathon runners—they’re constantly working in the background, updating information, and refreshing data. While that’s great for staying up-to-date, it’s also a major drain on your battery. Think of it like leaving the lights on in your house while you’re away. Sure, it’s nice to have everything lit up, but your energy bill (and your iPhone battery) won’t thank you for it.

Solution: Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and turn it off for the apps you don’t need running in the background. This small change can help preserve precious battery life.

2. Push Email: The Constant Ping

Every time your email is pushed to your phone, it’s like your iPhone running to the mailbox every minute, checking for new mail. While this is super convenient, it’s also a significant battery drainer. If you’re not expecting urgent emails, switching to fetch (where your phone checks for mail at intervals) could be a game changer.

Solution: Head to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data and switch from Push to Fetch. Set it to check less frequently, like every 30 minutes or an hour, to save some juice.

3. Brightness: Turn Down the Lights

A bright screen looks great, but it’s also one of the biggest battery drainers on your iPhone. Imagine leaving your headlights on all day—eventually, your car battery would die.

The same logic applies to your phone.

Reducing your screen’s brightness can have a big impact on your battery life.

Solution: Use Auto-Brightness by going to Settings > Display & Brightness and turning on Auto-Brightness.

This way, your phone adjusts based on the environment, saving battery when it’s unnecessary to have the screen at full blast.

4. Location Services: Track Wisely

Your iPhone’s location services are incredibly useful, but do you really need every app to know where you are at all times?

Apps that constantly use your location drain your battery as your phone’s GPS keeps pinging.

It’s like having someone constantly asking, “Where are you? Where are you?” It’s exhausting—for you and your battery.

Solution: Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and turn off location for apps that don’t need it. For others, switch to “While Using the App” instead of “Always.”

5. Too Many Notifications: A Battery Drip

Every time your phone lights up with a notification, it’s using power.

If your screen is lighting up every few seconds for notifications you don’t even care about, that’s an easy fix.

Limit the apps that are allowed to send you notifications.

Solution: Navigate to Settings > Notifications, and tweak which apps are allowed to interrupt your day (and your battery).

6. Poor Signal: The Silent Killer

When your phone is in an area with weak signal, it works overtime trying to connect.

It’s like running on a treadmill—no matter how hard it tries, it’s not getting anywhere fast, and it’s using a ton of energy.

If you’re in a low-signal area for long periods, your battery will pay the price.

Solution: If you know you’re in a poor signal area, consider turning on Airplane Mode to save battery. No sense in your phone frantically searching for a signal that isn’t there.

7. Outdated Software: Get with the Times

Apple is constantly working to improve iPhone efficiency, and one of the ways they do this is through software updates.

If you’re running an outdated version of iOS, you might be missing out on battery-saving features and bug fixes.

Solution: Make sure you’re running the latest version of iOS by going to Settings > General > Software Update and installing any available updates.

8. Widgets: A Tiny Power Drain

Those handy widgets on your home screen that give you the weather at a glance or update you on your stock performance are convenient—but they’re also using battery life to stay updated.

The more widgets you have running, the more power they’re draining.

Solution: Press and hold a widget until you see the option to remove it. Be selective with which widgets you keep active.

9. Extreme Temperatures: Keep Cool

Extreme temperatures—whether it’s scorching hot or freezing cold—can negatively affect your iPhone’s battery. Think of your phone like a person.

In extreme heat, we overheat. In extreme cold, we shiver and slow down.

Your phone behaves similarly.

Solution: Avoid exposing your iPhone to extreme temperatures, especially direct sunlight for extended periods.

If it overheats, let it cool down before you charge it.

10. Battery Health: Check the Status

Over time, all batteries degrade. It’s a sad fact of life.

If your iPhone is more than a few years old, you might want to check its battery health.

A degraded battery won’t hold a charge as well, no matter what settings you tweak.

Solution: Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health to check if your battery needs replacing. If your Maximum Capacity is significantly below 100%, it might be time for a new battery.

Bonus Tip: Optimize Battery Usage With Low Power Mode

When your battery is critically low and you need to squeeze out every bit of life, Low Power Mode is your friend.

It disables or reduces many power-hungry features like automatic downloads, mail fetching, background app refresh, and visual effects.

Low Power Mode gives you that extra time to finish your tasks before your phone runs out of juice completely.

Solution: Go to Settings > Battery and toggle Low Power Mode on. You’ll know it’s active when your battery icon turns yellow.