We’ve all been there. Out in the world, having a great time, when you glance at your phone and notice the battery indicator has changed to red. Panic sets in and you wonder how you lost so much in such a short time. Especially, when you hadn’t even been scrolling social media for the last hour. So, what’s the deal?
Your favorite apps could be to blame for your battery drain. They are convenient and we are encouraged to download an app for everything, but some may be taking more than they give.
Do you use Fitbit, Verizon, Uber, Skype, or Facebook? Congrats! You are using the Top 5 biggest battery drainers, according to phone-storage app pCloud. Your biggest drains may be different. Google often tops the charts and of course, the crowd favorite, Netflix.
But there is good news. A simple check of the “Battery” menu in “Settings” can show you where your power is being spent. How you deal with the offenders is up to you. I’m definitely not deleting Instagram, even if it is in the Top 20 biggest users.
You won’t be surprised to find out that social media apps top the list. Dating and fitness apps, work and conferencing apps, and games can all suck the life out of your phone too. Once you see where your battery life is being spent you may be able to use it a little more wisely. Or not. No one has to know.
The battery drain comes not only from the time we spend using apps but also because of features that are continuously running in the background. These features are what makes the apps useful but the more access an app has to things like photos, location, and Wi-Fi, the more of a drain they will be.
These features running in the background may be convenient, but not necessary. You can control how those apps run by going to “Settings,” and choosing the “Background App Refresh” menu. You can turn it off completely or choose to have it only work on wi-fi. As a bonus, doing this could save you some data on your cellular plan too.
Another drain is your screen brightness. Using dark mode can reduce your battery usage by up to 30% but it is still not a widely available setting for the most popular apps. Go dark where you can and lower your screen brightness to help keep your battery in the green longer.
If you are going to be away from your charger for a while, you can enable Low Power Mode. Located at the top of the Battery menu, this feature will reduce some of those background features until you can charge again. You might not get your email on time, but you’ll be able to get a Lyft home when you need it.
Having a full memory can tax your battery as well. Some apps take up an impressive amount of space considering all the icons are the same size. If you look in your settings under “General” and then “iPhone Storage,” you’ll find out where you might be able to save some space.
Travel and food delivery apps can take up a lot of memory. If your vacation is over, get rid of those travel apps. They are just excess baggage now. Have five apps for ordering food but only really use one? Get rid of those leftovers. Your battery life gains might not be huge, but every little bit helps.
Take charge (you see what I did there?) of your battery and make your iPhone’s power work for you.
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Thanks for the reminder.
I read your tips every day, learn something new each time.
Thank you so much for sharing,
It is very difficult for we older folks to keep up with something
That seems to be foreign to our brains.
You have made things a bit easier for us.
Thanks again