The 3 iPhone Settings That Are Draining Your Battery, Tech Experts Warn
July 11, 2023 by Lisa Cupido
This post has been updated since it was originally published on August 8, 2022.
Your iPhone comes with so many settings, it can be overwhelming sifting through them and deciding which you should keep enabled and which are worth disabling for the sake of a better running phone. For the most part, the settings on your phone will help you achieve a better smartphone experience, but there are a few exceptions. Depending on which tech expert you ask, you’ll hear different answers when you ask them about the settings that are most draining to your battery. But three settings kept popping up to the top of the list: these are the settings that Steven Walker, CEO of Spylix, and Tech Expert Jason Wise, Chief Editor at EARTHWEB, say are a constant drain on your battery.
Background App RefreshThe best and most needed setting to disable to prevent draining out battery life is by disabling Background app refresh mode, according to Steven Walker, CEO of Spylix. “This feature automatically keeps finding the new updates of the currently using apps, which may not be helpful for the users,” Walker says. “Usually, we keep apps opened both when they use or keep the phone idle. But the background app refreshing system keeps the phone busy by refreshing all the apps altogether.”
With mobile data on, Background App refresh creates significant pressure on the battery, Walker says. “As a result, this consumes the battery almost at the same rate when we keep the phone idle,” he says. “But we hardly need that refreshing updated data — instead, it reduces the battery life. The battery has a specific capacity for load handling. So, the battery loses its power in the long run and drains out before serving for the expected time.”
The good news is that it takes just a few seconds to disable the Background App refresh. Take these steps to turn it off and give your phone battery back a bit of life.
•Go to Settings.
•Tap General.
•Tap Background App Refresh.
•Turn off Background App Refresh entirely by toggling it off.