iOS 16: 15 Tips to Make Your iPhone Battery Last Longer

There are complaints regarding battery life with every major operating system upgrade, and iOS 16 is no exception. There are typically brief periods of high battery consumption following an upgrade due to background syncing and upgrading, but problems can sometimes persist for longer.

Problems with battery life might be caused by newly incorporated Apple features, faults that need to be repaired, or simply an increase in usage following an update. Whatever the reason, we've compiled a list of tips for squeezing extra battery life out of your iPhone in situations where every ounce counts.

Notably, there are not many options that do not eliminate critical iPhone functionality, so you will need to balance energy consumption with the feature set you want enabled, turning things off and on as necessary when greater battery life is required.

1. Turn Off Live Activities

With iOS 16.1, Apple added a Live Activities feature that enables apps to display a persistent notice on the Lock Screen or in the Dynamic Island of the iPhone 14 Pro. From the Lock Screen or Dynamic Island, Live Activities may be used to track a sports game, a flight, your fitness progress, and more.

Everything you do on your iPhone, including Live Activities, drains the battery. There have been claims on Reddit that deactivating the feature improves battery life, thus it should come as no surprise that eliminating a persistent notice prevents excessive battery consumption. You can disable Live Activities by following these steps:

1. Open the Settings application.
2. Go to Face ID & Passcode.
3. Enter the iPhone's passcode to unlock it.
4. Scroll down and turn Live Activities off.

You must take this one step further to prevent Live Activities from appearing on the Lock Screen. In the Settings app's app-specific sections, you can stop Live Activities app-by-app or prevent apps from using Live Activities capabilities.

You cannot completely disable the Dynamic Island, however you can dismiss any running animation by swiping left on it.

2. Delete Lock Screen Widgets

With iOS 16, Apple revamped the Lock Screen and added widget support. On the Lock Screen, widgets are always displayed, and many of them are renewing in the background, which drains the battery.

You may wish to create a Lock Screen without widgets if you're concerned about battery life. iOS 16 allows you to choose between several Lock Screens, so if you periodically want to use widgets, you can.

We have a comprehensive iOS 16 Lock Screen guide with details on adding widgets, uninstalling widgets, and building Lock Screens.

Widgets may also be placed on the Home Screen prior to iOS 16. We recommend that users who are concerned with battery life avoid utilizing Home Screen widgets.

3. Disable Haptic Keyboard Feedback

Apple added a nice feature to iOS 16 that provides haptic feedback when using the on-screen keyboard. It vibrates each time a key is pressed for a more gratifying typing experience, but you may not realize that it depletes battery life.

Apple explicitly states in a support document that keyboard haptics may reduce battery life, so you should avoid using it when you're low on juice. It is not activated by default, however you can disable it by doing the following steps:

1. Open the Settings application.
2. Tap Sounds and Touch.
3. Tap the Keyboard Feedback button.
4. Deactivate Haptic.

4. Turn Off Always-On Display (iPhone 14 Pro)

Always-on display is not a feature of iOS 16, but it is relevant because it was debuted alongside the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, the first smartphones with iOS 16 pre-installed. Always-on display, as the name suggests, keeps the time, background, widgets, and Live Activities displayed on the Lock Screen even while the iPhone is locked.

The display uses a 1Hz refresh rate to conserve battery, and Apple has clever tricks such as turning off the display when a connected Apple Watch is no longer nearby (signaling that the iPhone owner has left the room) or when the iPhone is in a pocket, but an always-on display still drains battery faster than a display without an always-on feature.

Using the following methods, you can disable the always-on display:

1. Open the Settings application.
2. Touch Display and Brightness.
3. Toggle Always On off.

The amount of battery life that the always-on display consumes isn't exactly known because it will vary depending on the use case, but even if it's only a small percentage, it's still worth turning off, especially if it's not a feature that you find handy.

5. Don't Use iCloud Shared Photo Library

With the help of the iCloud Shared Photo Library feature in iOS 16.1, you may utilize a regular Photo Library with up to five other people. Anyone can upload, edit, and remove pictures. When using iCloud Shared Photo Library, it's possible that photos from other people will sync to your iPhone at random intervals, wasting battery power.

If you're worried about the battery, it might be beneficial to avoid utilizing one of the functions by not setting it up and rejecting requests to join. You can enable a setting that only permits Wi-Fi syncing if you want to use iCloud Shared Photo Library while still conserving battery and data.

1. Open the Settings application.
2. Down the page, select Photos.
3. Then select Cellular Data.
4. Disable cellular data.

Photos shared with you won't download to your device when you just have a cellular connection since uploads are limited to Wi-Fi.

6. Choose Non-Animated Wallpapers

With iOS 16, Apple added some gorgeous animated wallpapers. Animated wallpapers use a little bit more battery than static wallpapers. Choose anything that won't update during the day if you're optimizing and don't care much for the animations.

For instance, the Weather wallpaper alters according to the weather, while the Photo Shuffle option alternates between your chosen photos throughout the day. Additionally, the Astronomy wallpaper adjusts according to the current situation.

7. Use Focus Modes

Less notifications imply less opportunities for apps to wake up your display and drain your battery, so using Apple's built-in Focus option can help you receive fewer alerts throughout the day.

You can limit the number of work-related notifications you receive during your personal time and ensure that only work-related notifications are sent to you during working hours with Focus Modes. When you're driving, sleeping, exercising, or in any other situation you can think of, you can limit notifications. You can even exclude specific emails, messages, calendars, and other items using Focus Filters.

When the Focus mode expires, you'll still receive all of your notifications, but they'll come in a single alert rather than several. The best way to conserve battery life is still to disable unused app notifications, however Focus allows you to maintain your alerts while reducing the quantity you receive at any given time.

Although Apple simplified the setup process for Focus modes in iOS 16, it still requires some work to get everything up and running, therefore we have a Focus tutorial. In the Focus section of the Settings app, you may access all of the Focus functions.

8. Use App Summary

Additionally, it is vital to move any app that provides unimportant notifications to the App Summary, which collects notifications and sends them to you once or twice each day. Although App Summary isn't a part of iOS 16, it's worth utilizing if you haven't before.

In the Settings app's Notifications section, you can turn on App Summary for apps.

9. Limit When and How Often Apps Can Access Location

The following advice isn't particular to iOS 16, but it's always a good idea to check these settings to ensure that services and apps aren't carrying out actions you don't want them to.

Battery life can be increased by restricting which apps can access your location and how frequently they can do so.

1. Open the Settings application.
2. Pick out privacy.
3. Select Location Services.
4. By tapping on each app's name in the list, you may review the list and make changes to the settings.

Each app offers four options for location settings, albeit not every app will always offer all four options depending on what it does. The following are your options: When using the app, never, ask the next time, or when I share.

Setting location access to Never will prevent an app from ever accessing your location, which is the ideal option unless an app really needs to know where you are, like a mapping app.

When an app requests your location in the future, Ask Next Time will prompt a popup asking you to temporarily allow it. Location access is disabled with this setting unless specifically authorized by the prompt.

Only while the app is open and being used actively will it be able to determine your location. Location access expires if you quit the app or move to another one.

Allowing an app to access your location at all times, whether it's open or closed, is always a good idea. Only the apps that you absolutely must have should be used in this manner as it will significantly reduce battery life.

Clearing the clutter will ensure that no apps are accessing your location without your express permission. Many apps will request location information even though they don't actually need it to work (for instance, a banking app may want location access to show nearby ATMs, which is also possible by entering a zip code).

You can also completely disable Location Services, although this is not recommended since it may have an adverse effect on important apps like Maps.

10. Limit Apps Using Bluetooth

The majority of apps demand Bluetooth connectivity for location tracking, searching for Chromecast devices, or other ineffective purposes. Your iPhone notifies you when an app makes this request.

To be sure that no sly program is wasting your energy and connecting to Bluetooth sources without your knowledge, it is worthwhile to check the apps that use Bluetooth. Access Bluetooth settings by:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on Privacy.
3. Tap Bluetooth.

Turn off any app that doesn't require a Bluetooth connection in order to function, including apps like Facebook, HBO Max, Hulu, and others. You can easily turn an app's functionality back on if it stops functioning.

Although turning off Bluetooth is an option, most users find it impractical because it is used by AirPods, Apple Watches, and other devices.

11. Use Low Power Mode

Toggling on Low Power Mode via Control Center, the Settings app, or using Siri is an easy way to preserve battery life without having to fiddle with many settings. Low Power Mode reduces background activities, quickly switches off your display when inactive, caps the refresh rate of your display, caps email fetch, reduces visual effects, and more.

With the aid of Shortcuts, Low Power Mode may be programmed to activate at a specific battery level, providing convenient automated activation as required.

12. Use Wi-Fi and Airplane Mode

One of Apple's power-saving suggestions is to connect to Wi-Fi whenever you can to maximize battery life. Make sure to connect to Wi-Fi rather than a cellular signal at home or at the office.

Turn on Airplane Mode or disable your cellular connection if there is no Wi-Fi available and you are aware of a weak cellular signal to save your battery from being drained while trying to connect. This obviously only works when you don't currently require a cellular connection, but it can make a significant difference since you definitely can't accomplish much with low signal.

13. Manage Apps Draining Battery

You can make sure nothing is covertly draining your power without your notice by checking which apps on your iPhone are using the most battery life. By accessing the Settings app and selecting the Battery option, you can view your battery usage statistics.

You may view your battery level for the past 24 hours or the previous 10 days on battery consumption statistics, and you can also check which apps have consumed the most battery life. Delete any apps that are using an excessive amount of battery and that you don't require. If you do require the app, limit how frequently you use it and the capabilities it has, such as location.

14. Limit Background Activity

Limiting background activity and background refresh has long been a go-to strategy for reducing battery consumption. Nearly all apps use them to update even when they are not open.

You can either completely disable background app refresh or choose which apps can do so.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Select General.
3. Choose Background App Refresh.

From here, you can touch the Background App Refresh option once again to completely disable it or select to have it only activate while you are connected to WiFi, which uses less battery power than cellular data to download.

By clicking the option next to each app in the list, you can also decide to only enable Background App Refresh for the apps you use the most.

15. Change Your Mail Settings

You can conserve battery life by altering the time and frequency at which the Mail app checks for new emails, in addition to disabling Background Refresh.

1. Open up the Settings app.
2. Tap Mail.
3. Tap Accounts.
4. Tap "Fetch New Data" at the bottom.

From here, you may disable Push (which alerts you instantly when a new email message is available) and modify Fetch settings individually for each account for those that don't support Push (like Gmail accounts).

Longer intervals between Fetch scans for new messages and disabling Fetch altogether in favor of manual checks that download new messages only when the Mail app is launched can also help preserve battery life.

Automatically, manually, hourly, every 30 minutes, and every 15 minutes are among the settings you can select.

Conclusion

There are countless ways to increase battery life, but since everything you do with your phone will sadly consume the battery, the key is to figure out what works for you, what you don't need, and where you can make concessions.