1. Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh is a workhorse of a setting that does a lot behind the scenes to keep your apps’ content constantly updated. Even when you aren’t using an app, this setting is responsible for ensuring the second you click on it, you’ll be able to view the most recent posts and content. Unfortunately, this setting is constantly fetching data and draining your resources, which leads to a slower device. To turn it off, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
2. Location Services
Location Services is a setting that gives GPS the ability to access your location so that it can provide directions, weather reports, etc. This is an important setting, but it’s also one that takes up a good amount of battery power and resources. It’s also a setting that needn’t be enabled for all of your apps. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and manage permissions for each app. Instead of having the setting set to “Always” you can choose “While Using the App” to conserve battery power.
3. Push Email
Push email is a setting that regularly checks your phone for new emails and pushes them through. With this setting enabled, you won’t have to wait even a second for email updates, but the downside is that it increased CPU usage and drains your battery. If you don’t mind waiting a little longer for new emails to pop up, you can change the setting. Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data and select Fetch or adjust the schedule to a less frequent interval.
4. Visual Effects and Animations
Visual effects and animations, such as app transition animations and movement on your Lock Screen, enhance your experience and make your phone more fun to use. But they aren’t doing anything positive for your battery and phone’s speed. These effects eat up CPU and GPU resources and well as battery power. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion and enable Reduce Motion. Your phone may not look as lively and cool, but the trade-off will be a faster, more efficient device.