You have an iPhone that won’t retain its battery power until dinnertime, you don’t have a charger on you or an outlet nearby, and you really need to continue using your device. What do you do? If your immediate thought is: that’s easy, set it to Low Power Mode, congrats — you’re savvy enough to know one way to prolong your phone’s power without a charger. But how much so you actually know about this celebrated feature? Is the Low Power Mode really useful for your phone? We asked battery and tech experts to provide the info you need.
What is Low Power Mode?
First things’ first — what exactly is Low Power Mode and how does it work on your device?
“Low power mode is a feature that was introduced in iOS 9 as a way to help users conserve battery life on their devices,” says Harry Gallagher, CTO of Life Part 2. “When enabled, low power mode will disable certain features of your device in order to reduce power consumption. These features include:
-Reduced CPU performance
-Reduced screen brightness
-Disabled animations
-Reduced background app refresh
Low Power Mode can be toggled on and off from the Battery section of the Settings app, adds Thomas Lorenzo, CEO of IBR. “When Low Power Mode is enabled, the phone will reduce its CPU performance, disable some animations, and reduce its networking speeds,” Lorenzo says.
How useful is Low Power Mode?
As far as its usefulness, there’s no denying that Low Power Mode comes in handy when your battery has dwindled. “Low Power Mode can be a very useful tool for conserving battery life on the iPhone,” Lorenzo says. “When enabled, it can significantly reduce CPU usage, disable animations, and reduce networking speeds. This can result in a significant increase in battery life.”
What are the limitations of Low Power Mode?
Sounds great so far, but there are drawbacks to nearly every feature. For one thing, Gallagher stresses, low power mode is not meant to be used as a permanent solution to conserving battery life, but rather as a way to get you through a difficult situation. “For example, if you are about to run out of battery and you don’t have access to a charger, low power mode can help you last a little longer,” Gallagher says.
It also isn’t available on all devices. “It is available on the iPhone 6s and later, the iPad Pro, the iPad (6th generation), and the iPad Mini 4,” Gallagher adds.
Finally, the feature itself has limitations in terms of what you can do while it’s enabled.
“The limitations of Low Power Mode are that it reduces CPU performance, disables animations, and reduces networking speeds,” Lorenzo says. “This can result in a significant decrease in the overall usability of the phone.”
Bottom line: Low Power Mode is the perfect feature to use if you’re stuck in a jam and need to retain enough battery power to get you through the day. But it’s not a replacement for regular charging sessions.
