Battery life has always been an issue with battery-powered devices, and since we now use mobile tablets and phones more than ever, and expect them to work longer during the day, extending battery life is almost critical.

For that reason I thought it might be a good idea to pass along a few battery saving tips that I’ve found useful for my own iDevices. This list is certainly not comprehensive, but rather focuses on those particular tips I think you’ll find the most useful.

But first, one thing I want to remind you about. Unlike rechargeable battery devices of the past, you can plug-in your iPad or iPhone whenever you get the chance, and then leave it plugged in for an extended time, if you need to. Your device won’t “overcharge”, and unlike the old Ni-Cad batteries, won’t develop any type of “charging” memory.

So, for example, I routinely plug my iPhone in whenever I have an opportunity, such as when I’m sitting at my desk (as I am right now as I write this) or driving in my car (using a car-adapter). That way, when I’m out and about, there’s a much better chance I won’t run out of power just about the time I need it.

Anyway, with that said, here are my best tips for saving your battery power…

(Note: these instructions assume you are using either iOS 7 or newer, although many of them will still work for older iOS versions).

  • Reduce Screen Brightness – Since your display is one of the biggest battery drains, reducing the brightness when you don’t need it can really help. To do this, open the Control Panel by swiping up from the bottom of your screen. You should see the brightness slider, which you can drag to the left to turn the brightness down. (You can also do this in Settings–>Display & Brightness).
    iPhone-Brightness-Bluetooth
  • Turn Off Bluetooth – Bluetooth is a wireless technology that allows you to connect external devices (keyboards, speakers, etc.) to you device. If you don’t have a need to do this, it doesn’t need to be on. You can turn it off by opening the Control Panel (swipe up from the bottom of the screen) and tapping the circle-button with the strange looking “B”. You can also go to Settings–>Bluetooth and switch it off.

 

  • iPhone-location-services01Turn Off Location Services – Using what is called Location Services, your device can use GPS to find your location, which can be very useful for some of your Apps (such as mapping). But this feature can be a big battery drain, so if you don’t currently need your location, you might as well turn it off. Go to Settings–>Privacy and you’ll see an Off/On for Location Services. You’ll also see where you can turn it off/on for specific Apps.

 

  • iPhone-multitasking01Exit from your Apps – When you leave an App by pressing the Home button, the App actually continues to run in the background, and in some cases, can continue to drain your battery. You can truly “exit” an App, by double-pressing the Home button, and from the multi-tasking screen, swiping the App thumbnail upward.

 

  • iPhone-fetch-mailFetch Email Less Often – Many who use iPads and iPhones have the device automatically fetch their mail, which can be another battery drain. You can reduce how often this happens (or even completely turn it off so you have to manually fetch mail) by going to Settings–>Mail, Contacts, Calendars–>Fetch New Data. Scroll to the bottom and you can choose the time frequency.

 

  • iPhone-auto-lock01Change the Auto-Lock – Your device automatically goes to sleep after a certain period of inactivity, and the shorter you set this time, the less power that is used. To change the time, go to Settings–>General–>Auto-Lock.

 

  • Manually Sleep your Device – When you are done using your device for a task, instead of letting it go to sleep on it’s own, press and release the Power button which manually forces it to sleep.

As I’ve already said, these are only a few of the many things you can do to help preserve your batter power. I’d love to hear your own tips and which ones you find the most useful.  Just leave me a comment below!

 

comment01

READ LATER - DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS PDF >> CLICK HERE <<