Apple iOS 11 tips, tricks for iPhone, iPad: Six ways to improve battery life

Apple iOS 11 tips and tricks: Here are some power-saving tricks you should try to help your iPhone or iPad last longer.

iOS 11, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, is out now for iPhone and iPad. Battery life has been a niggling issue on smartphones and tablets and each iOS update brings with it a range of complaints about battery life. It’s a common problem that pops up once the latest software becomes available. Here are some power-saving tricks you should try to help your iPhone or iPad last longer.

Check out which apps are eating the power

Apps like Facebook have been known for eating up battery life. I’m sure it’s hard for you to remove the Facebook app from the iPhone, but you need to find out those apps and services that suck up the most power. To do that, go into your Settings > Battery and check out the Battery Usage tool. It will then show you a list of apps doing the most harm to your iPhone’s or iPad’s battery. Once you figure out which app is draining battery life, try deleting it from the device, at least the ones you can. For apps you can’t delete, ensure they are not running in the background when not needed.

Disable auto-brightness and adjust manually

You need to manage the device’s display properly – after all, it can be a reason for draining of battery. Your iOS device has an “auto-brightness” feature that automatically increases and reduces the brightness of the screen. Although a good feature, it can drain the battery. The best way is to disable Auto Brightness. Simply go into Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Auto-Brightness > Off. Now you can manually adjust your screen brightness— it is best to keep this at about 30 per cent for most of the time. You can always adjust brightness of the screen from the Control Center depending upon your personal preference.

Use Low Power Mode

Low power mode is actually very useful. When your device’s battery hits 20 per cent, iOS prompts you to turn on it to save the battery. It essentially reduces background app refresh, reduces frequency of mails fetch, disables ‘Hey Siri’, and automatic downloads. You can turn it on or off anytime. To do that, head over to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode and set to turn on. Better to keep this on at all times.

Disable widgets

Widgets are useful, but they can also decrease battery life of your device. You can access them by swiping right, and many of these widgets are enabled by default. However, iOS allows you to disable those widgets you don’t need by scrolling to the bottom of the list and tapping Edit. Once you select edit, you should now see a list of apps and services. To deactivate a widget, tap the red circle with the white line and tap Remove.

Switch off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth when not in use

Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the major drain on battery life. When you’re sleeping at night or not using a Wi-Fi hotspot and Bluetooth, these radios can be turned off on the “settings” screen. Head over to Settings, tap the Wi-Fi button off, and the Bluetooth button also off.

Turn off location services

Location services have been an integral part of iOS apps, since most of these are dependent on the device’s GPS system to detect your location. You can always turn off the location services, in case when the phone’s battery is about to die. Go into Settings> tap on Privacy. Now you will be able to select individual apps and turn off the location services. If you want to turn off Location Services completely, then simply tap the main toggle at the top to turn it off.