Sherri Ross

There are many ways to help prolong the battery of your iPhone, no matter if it’s on iOS 8 or 9 (though some work better on 9 than 8). Below are a few tips & tricks to help you get the most out of your battery.

1. First and foremost, for iOS9 users, there is now a ‘Low Power Mode’ built in. It will prompt you to switch to Low Power mode when your battery life reaches 20% or less, but you can turn it on any time you wish by going to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode. I use this all the time when I know I will be away from a power source for hours. I can still send and receive text messages, but mail retrieval (among other things) is disabled until I exit Low Power Mode, making the strain on my phone very little.
2. Turning off Location Services in Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Again, anything that doesn’t need to be running in the background (including fetching your location for no good reason, which many apps do) will help extend your power. Note: Turning this feature off does prohibit “Find My Phone” from working (located under Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Settings) so please use this sparingly when needed. 
3. Turn off ‘Background App Refresh’ for apps you don’t use frequently. You can find it under Settings > General > Background App Refresh. I have this turned off period, but that’s a personal choice. The setting helps apps refresh data when needed, but I’m still able to get my live plays and scores from the ESPN app with it turned off.
4. Turning off sounds (as in keyboard clicks), vibrations, screen brightness, and more all save power. Setting your phone to auto-lock (Settings > General > Auto-Lock) also helps, too.
5. Manage Notifications. If you have notifications turned on for all, or most, of your apps then your phone is constantly checking for activity in those apps, reducing its battery life. Setting notifications for only your most important (or critical) apps can help reduce drain on the battery. Go to Settings > Notifications and click through each app in there to see what notifications you have turned on. Anywhere you are able, slide the button to turn OFF all notificationsfor that app and you will save some power. Seriously, do you need to know the minute Payless has a sale or someone repinned you on Pinterest?

I hope this helps you get a bit better battery life from your phone. If you would like more information or help with any of these tips – or any other technology questions – you can reach me at sherri [at] yougotrossed dot com. Happy Teching!