If the battery in your iPhone drains too quickly
“Battery life” is the amount of time that your device works before it needs to be recharged. Battery life is a combination of many factors, such as how much you use your device and which apps you use. Learn what to do if you think your battery is draining too quickly.
Check for battery suggestions and Insights
iOS can suggest how you can extend battery life with battery suggestions and Insights. Go to Settings > Battery. Any suggestions or Insights appear at the top of the screen.
Suggestions
Tap the suggestion to adjust the feature:
Enable auto-brightness: Auto-brightness is off. To improve battery life, enable auto-brightness.
Enable auto-lock: Auto-lock is off, and your iPhone is often idle. To improve battery life, enable auto-lock.
High Brightness: High screen brightness consumes a lot of energy, and your brightness is set to higher than the recommended level. To improve battery life, reduce brightness.
Background Location: An app has been using your location in the background. To improve battery life, set the app’s location access to While In Use.
Insights
With iOS 18, Insights inform you of activities happening in the background that can affect battery life and thermal performance for a while. When the activity finishes, battery life will return to normal. You might see one of these Insights:
Ongoing iOS Update: A recent software update is finishing in the background.
Ongoing Device Setup: Your iPhone is completing setup steps in the background.
Check battery usage
To get an overview of your battery usage, go to Settings > Battery and check the Activity chart and Battery Usage by App. Here’s how to understand the data:
Screen Active (or Screen On), shown with dark-blue bars in the Activity chart, displays the amount of time that an app or apps used the battery while the iPhone screen was active (or on).
Screen Idle (or Screen Off), shown with light-blue bars in the Activity chart, displays the amount of time that an app or apps used the battery even though the iPhone screen was idle (or off) – for example, when playing music.
Battery Usage by App displays a list of apps that have used the battery as well as the proportion of the battery that each app used. Tap the app to see its on-screen and background usage times. You can improve battery life by reducing your use of the app that has used the most battery.
It’s normal for some apps to use a large portion of battery. For example, graphics-intensive or processor-intensive apps or games that stream high-quality video often use more battery than other apps.
If your battery level decreased more than you expected during a certain time, tap the time period on the Activity chart. You can see which apps contributed to your battery usage during that time period and the proportion of battery that the app used.
Under each app, you might see usage types such as these:
Background Activity: Most of the app’s battery usage – such as playing music or tracking location – happened while the app was active in the background. You can improve battery life by reducing your use of the app.
No Mobile Coverage and Low Signal: Your iPhone was searching for a Wi-Fi or mobile signal or being used in a low signal environment, and this affected your device’s battery life. To improve battery life, if you can, use your iPhone in a place with a strong signal. If you know you’ll be in an area with no coverage for some time, enable Airplane Mode.
Notifications: The app’s notifications wake the device. To improve battery life, you can adjust the app’s notifications to wake the device less often.
Connected to Charger: The app was used only while your iPhone was charging, so the battery wasn’t used.
Use Wi-Fi when you can
Wi-Fi uses less battery power than mobile networks. When you use apps that use the internet, make sure that Wi-Fi is on and connect to a Wi-Fi network if possible. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and choose a Wi-Fi network.
If you can, use your iPhone in a place with a strong signal. Both Wi-Fi and mobile connections use less energy when used in places with high signal strength. If you know you’ll be in an area with no coverage for some time, enable Airplane Mode.
With iPhone 12 models and later and iPhone SE (3rd generation), you can turn on 5G Auto, which enables Smart Data mode. When 5G speeds don’t provide a noticeably better experience, your iPhone will switch to LTE automatically, saving battery life.
To turn on 5G Auto, go to Settings > Mobile > Mobile Data Options > Voice & Data. Tap 5G Auto.
If battery life is less than expected after an update
If you notice that your battery life has decreased after updating your iPhone, wait a few days and then check again.
Even though you can use your iPhone immediately after an update, certain tasks related to the update continue in the background and might affect battery life and thermal performance. While they are ongoing, you may see the Insight Ongoing iOS Update in Settings > Battery.
Use Low Power Mode
You can extend the battery life of your iPhone by turning on Low Power Mode. Low Power Mode reduces the amount of power that your iPhone uses. When Low Power Mode is on, certain settings and features, such as Mail fetch, Hey Siri, Background App Refresh and some visual effects, are reduced or disabled.
To use Low Power Mode, go to Settings > Battery and turn it on. Low Power Mode turns off automatically when you have charged your iPhone to above 80 percent.
Check battery health
How long a battery lasts depends on battery capacity and your use of software and hardware features.
iPhone batteries, like all rechargeable batteries, have limited lifespan and might eventually need to be replaced. Here’s where you can check your battery capacity:
On iPhone 15: Tap Settings > Battery > Battery Health
On iPhone 14 and earlier: Tap Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging
If you see Service next to Battery Health, consider replacing your battery to restore full performance and capacity. Follow the onscreen instructions.
