Running low on battery by lunchtime is one of the most common complaints iPhone users share with us. The good news is that a few simple settings changes can make a real difference, and none of them require you to be particularly technical.

Here is what drains your battery, and what you can do about it.

Why does the battery drain so quickly?

Your iPhone is doing a lot of things at once, even when you are not actively using it. Apps are checking for new messages in the background, your screen is shining brightly, and various features are quietly using power to keep everything up to date.

The main culprits are:

Apps running in the background, refreshing their content even when you are not looking at them
Screen brightness, the display is the single biggest drain on your battery
Location services, apps that are constantly tracking where you are

The good news is that you can turn most of this down without losing anything important.

1. Turn on Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode is the single most effective thing you can do when your battery is running low. It reduces background activity, dims the screen slightly, and pauses some non-essential tasks. Your phone keeps working normally for calls, messages, and browsing, it just stops working as hard in the background.

How to turn it on:

Open Settings
Tap Battery
Tap the toggle next to Low Power Mode to switch it on

The battery icon in the top right of your screen will turn yellow to show it is active. Your phone will ask if you want to turn it off again once it reaches 80% charge.

You can also add Low Power Mode to your Control Centre so you can switch it on with one tap from any screen, but the Settings route is the simplest place to start.

2. Reduce your screen brightness

The screen is almost always the biggest drain on your battery. Turning it down, even a little, makes a noticeable difference over the course of a day.

The quickest way:

Swipe down from the top right corner of your screen to open Control Centre
You will see a vertical slider with a sun icon, drag it downwards to reduce brightness

If you prefer to go through Settings:

Open Settings
Tap Display and Brightness
Drag the Brightness slider to the left

It is also worth making sure Auto-Brightness is switched on. This adjusts your screen brightness automatically based on the light around you, which saves battery without you having to think about it. To check: Settings → Accessibility → Display and Text Size → Auto-Brightness.

3. Turn off Background App Refresh

Background App Refresh lets apps update their content even when you are not using them. This is how your news app has the latest headlines waiting for you when you open it, but it comes at a battery cost.

For most apps, it is not worth it. You can always refresh manually by opening the app.

How to turn it off:

Open Settings
Tap General
Tap Background App Refresh
Tap Background App Refresh again at the top of the next screen
Select Off

This turns it off for all apps at once. If there are a couple of apps you do want to keep refreshing in the background (perhaps your email), you can go back and turn it on for those individually.

4. Check which apps are draining your battery

Your iPhone keeps a record of which apps have been using the most battery. This is often quite revealing, you may find an app you barely use is quietly consuming a surprising amount of power.

How to check:

Open Settings
Tap Battery
Scroll down past the Low Power Mode toggle

You will see a list of apps with a percentage next to each one, showing how much of your battery they have used over the last 24 hours or the last 10 days (you can switch between the two). Tap any app in the list to see more detail, including whether it is using battery in the background.

If an app near the top of the list is not one you use much, it might be worth deleting it or adjusting its background permissions.

5. Avoid leaving your phone on charge all night

This one is a longer-term habit rather than a quick fix, but it matters for the health of your battery over time. Leaving your phone plugged in at 100% for hours puts a small amount of ongoing stress on the battery.

A better habit, if you can manage it, is to charge your phone earlier in the evening and unplug it before bed. Stopping at around 80% is ideal for battery longevity, though 100% occasionally is perfectly fine.

If you have an iPhone running iOS 13 or later, Apple has already built in a feature to help with this. Go to Settings → Battery → Battery Health and Charging and make sure Optimised Battery Charging is switched on. This learns your daily charging routine and slows the final stage of charging to reduce wear.

Battery performance naturally declines a little over a couple of years of use. If your phone is getting significantly worse despite trying these settings, it may be worth checking the battery health: Settings → Battery → Battery Health and Charging, if the maximum capacity is below around 80%, it might be time to think about a battery replacement, which Apple and many independent repair shops can do for a reasonable cost.

If you would like help going through these settings, or you are not sure which changes make sense for how you use your phone, that is something we cover in our one-to-one sessions across Hebden Bridge and the Calder Valley. Get in touch and we will sort it out together.

How to Keep Your iPhone Battery Lasting Longer