
A dying iPhone can strike at the worst moments, disrupting your work, communication, and daily routines. Sometimes, battery issues stem from settings you can easily control. In this blog, we’ll cover the various causes of rapid battery drain and how you can prevent your iPhone battery from draining quickly.
Reasons Why Your iPhone is Dying Quickly
Every iPhone user faces battery problems at some point, and understanding why this happens is the first step to fixing it. Here are several reasons why your iPhone battery may be draining quickly.
Heavy Use
Opening multiple apps simultaneously puts extra strain on your battery. Streaming video, taking photos, and playing games can all drain your battery quickly.
Screen Brightness
Screen brightness directly impacts how quickly your iPhone battery drains. Keeping your screen at maximum brightness requires substantial battery power, especially during outdoor use. Auto-brightness features help, but manual high-brightness settings will rapidly drain your power.
Background Activity
Apps continue to refresh and update even when you’re not actively using them. Music streaming, video apps, and location-tracking apps running in the background consume significant power. These continuous background activities gradually drain your battery even when your phone is idle.
Low Cell Signal
Poor cellular coverage forces your iPhone to work harder to maintain a connection. When searching for a signal, your phone increases the power it is using. Weak signals cause your phone to search for better connections, constantly draining the battery.
Notifications
Push notifications wake up your iPhone’s screen frequently throughout the day. Each time your screen lights up for a notification, it uses battery power. Multiple apps sending notifications and activating your screen will cause your iPhone to die faster.
Damaged Charging Port or Cable
Physical damage to the charging port affects how your iPhone charges and maintains battery life. Bent pins, debris, or water damage in the port can cause inconsistent charging. Poor charging connections put additional stress on your battery over time.
Software Updates & Bugs
Recent app updates can unexpectedly affect battery performance. New software features might use more battery power than previous versions, and some updates may contain bugs that affect battery efficiency.
Extreme Temperatures
Very hot or cold conditions significantly impact your iPhone’s battery performance. Heat speeds up battery drain and can permanently damage battery cells. Freezing temperatures make it harder for your battery to maintain its charge.
Battery Age
iPhone batteries naturally lose capacity over time through regular use. After about two years, most batteries show a noticeable decline in performance. Daily charging cycles gradually wear down the battery.
Poor Battery Health
Declining battery health directly affects how long your iPhone holds a charge. Battery capacity naturally decreases below its original level over time. When battery health drops below 80%, performance issues become more noticeable.
Certain Settings
Some iPhone settings consume more battery power than others. Location services, GPS tracking, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi scanning draw significant power. High-performance settings prioritize speed over battery efficiency, affecting overall life.
Faulty Battery
Manufacturing defects can cause batteries to drain unusually fast. Internal battery damage affects charging and power retention. Faulty batteries may show irregular charging patterns.
How to Improve Your iPhone’s Battery Life?
If your iPhone needs frequent charging throughout the day, you probably have some unnecessary background processes draining your battery power. Here are ways to extend your iPhone’s battery life:
1. Check Your iPhone Battery Health
Your iPhone has a built-in feature that shows how healthy your battery is. To check this, simply go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. From this screen, you can see your battery’s overall health and get suggestions on how to improve its life. Your iPhone will give you personalized suggestions for extending your battery life.
2. Turn on Optimized Battery Charging
Optimized charging prevents battery aging by learning your charging routine. It’s easy to turn on; just go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. Your phone will charge to 80% and wait to reach 100% until a specific time, based on your routines. By minimizing the time your iPhone spends fully charged, this setting helps prevent the battery from draining too quickly.
3. Use MFI Cables and Chargers
Using the right charging equipment is important for your iPhone’s battery health. Look for the “Made for iPhone” (MFI) logo when buying chargers and cables. Cheap, non-certified chargers can actually harm your battery. It’s worth spending a bit more on good chargers to protect your phone.
4. Update Your Apps
Keeping your apps up to date helps them run more efficiently and use less battery power. Old versions of apps might not work well with your current iOS and might drain the battery more often. To update your apps, go to the App Store and tap your profile picture to see available updates. To make this even easier, set your apps to update automatically.
5. Enable Auto-Brightness and Auto-Lock
Auto-brightness helps your screen adjust to your surroundings and saves battery life. You can turn this on by going to Settings > Display & Text Size > Auto-Brightness. Setting a short auto-lock time means your screen won’t stay on needlessly when you’re not using it. A 30-second auto-lock will help preserve your battery life.
6. Place Your iPhone Face Down
Setting your phone face down is a simple trick that can preserve battery life. When face down, your phone won’t light up for notifications, preventing unnecessary screen activations that drain the battery. You can use a good case or screen protector to keep your screen safe when facing down.
7. Turn Off Raise to Wake
Raise to Wake turns on your screen whenever you pick up your phone. While convenient, this feature can drain your battery if you move your phone a lot. You can turn it off in Settings > Display & Brightness > Raise to Wake. Instead of the screen turning on automatically, you can tap it when you want to use it.
8. Set Dark Mode
Dark mode reduces power usage on OLED iPhone displays. Enable it through Settings > Display & Brightness. Schedule dark mode for automatic activation at sunset. Dark interfaces use less power than bright white screens. This setting particularly benefits newer iPhone models.
9. Get Rid of Widgets
Widgets can be convenient, but each one uses power to stay updated. Remove any widgets you don’t regularly use from your home screen to reduce background activity that may be draining your battery.
10. Turn On Reduce Motion
System animations contribute to battery consumption throughout the day. Turn on Reduce Motion in Settings > Accessibility > Motion to save power. This setting reduces unnecessary visual effects. Animation reduction creates smoother battery consumption patterns.
11. Stop Sending iPhone Analytics to Apple
Your iPhone regularly sends usage data to Apple servers, which uses battery power. To prevent background data collection, go to Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvements and disable analytics. Your iPhone will function normally without analytics sharing and maintain more battery life.
12. Turn on Airplane Mode in Areas with Bad Signal
Poor cellular signal causes increased power consumption. Airplane mode prevents constant signal searching in low-coverage areas. Enable this through the Control Center when the signal is weak.
13. Restart Your iPhone
Your iPhone needs regular restarts to work efficiently. Many background apps keep running silently and drain your battery. The screen stays active with countless notifications draining power. A quick restart shuts down all these processes at once.
14. Reduce Push Notifications
Your iPhone sends dozens of notifications throughout the day that drain your battery. Managing which apps can send you alerts helps save significant battery life. To change this, modify notification settings for apps that are sending you unnecessary updates or ads. This simple change helps save power.
15. Check Location Services
Some apps constantly track your location in the background, using a lot of battery power. To manage this, head to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Select App > Choose ‘While Using’ or ‘Never.’ Most apps work fine without location tracking enabled. Your battery lasts longer with fewer apps tracking your location.
16. Turn off Background Refresh Apps
Apps keep updating even when you’re not using them. Control this feature through Settings> General > Background App Refresh > Toggle Off. You can turn off this feature for all apps or choose specific ones. This change saves significant battery power throughout the day.
17. Limit Background Location Access for Apps
Many apps ask for your location, which can drain your battery. You can control location access through Settings> Privacy & Security > Location Services > Select App > Choose Access Level. Proper location settings will improve battery life.
18. Use Wi-Fi instead of Cellular Data
Using Wi-Fi saves more battery power than using cellular data. Connect to Wi-Fi networks whenever possible at home or work. Your phone uses less power to maintain a Wi-Fi connection. Turn off cellular data when you’re on Wi-Fi to prevent constant signal searching.
19. Check which Apps are Draining your Battery the Most
Your iPhone tracks which apps use the most battery through Settings> Battery > Battery Usage By App. Games and video streaming apps usually drain the battery fastest. Streaming music and using GPS regularly also drains the battery.
20. Reset All Settings
Sometimes, your iPhone needs a fresh start to resolve battery issues. To reset your settings, navigate to Settings > Reset > Reset All Settings. Only system settings will change back to normal. This option often fixes persistent battery drain issues.
Seek Professional Help
If you’ve tried all these solutions and are still experiencing issues with your battery, consider professional iPhone repair services at Cell Phone Hospital. Our experienced team specializes in fixing iPhone issues with high-quality replacement parts. Located in Tulsa, we have served our customers for over 15 years.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A healthy iPhone battery should have at least 80% of its full capacity to be considered in good condition. Regular charging and proper care will help maintain this optimal range longer.
Open Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging to view your battery’s health. You’ll find information about how well your battery holds charge compared to when it was new. Look at your battery usage list at the bottom to see which apps are draining your battery the most.