How to Improve iOS 12 Battery Life: Tips to Avoid Rapid Battery Drain

Every time the battery on your iPhone starts draining, you can’t put the blame on an invisible bug. From what I have experienced, the power sucking features and mismanagement are often found to be the wrecker-in-chief. So, if your iOS 12 device starts running low on power unexpectedly, you should first deal with the usual suspects before shooting down the bug. Take a look at the tried and tested tips to improve iOS 12 battery life!

Ever since iOS 12 came out, I have been testing it on iPhone X. I haven’t noticed massive battery draining on the device. As the OS is still in beta, I don’t expect it to run smoothly as yet. More after the jump…

Tips to Improve iOS 12 Battery Life

The moment I found the power going slightly berserk, I disabled all the unnecessary features. And succeeded in getting immediate respite. Hopefully, you also succeed in fixing the rapid battery consumption on your iPhone!

Take a Peek At How Battery Is Consumed and Track Down the Culprits

Before getting into the firefighting mode, let’s track down all the villains that have been consuming the large share of the battery on your device. Once you have nabbed the culprits, you will have multiple options to deal with them. Luckily, it’s a lot easier to view the power consumption pattern now than ever before! Settings → Battery.

Simple Yet Effective Tips

First off, we are going to begin with the simple solutions. In most cases, they can get your work done. In case, they don’t click, move on to the slightly advanced fixes.

Force Quit Apps When Not Needed

After using an app, many of us forget to quit it. As a result, it keeps on running in the background and eating into battery. Therefore, it’s better to force quit the app as soon as you have used it.

Force Restart Your Device

Whenever you find your iOS device draining the battery a bit too fast, the first solution you should try is force reboot it. What makes it so effective is the ability to flush out bad bits that tend to get stuck from time to time.

Make Sure to Turn Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth When They Are Not in Use

Another simple thing you should always keep in mind is to turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth if you are not using them. Go to Settings → Wi-Fi/Bluetooth → Turn it off.

Turn Off Automatic Downloads and Updates

When you download an app on your iPhone, it’s automatically downloaded on your other iOS device synced with the same iCloud account. Hence, you don’t need to install it on your other device. Thought it’s a helpful feature, it can eat into some extra battery on your device.

If you have enabled automatic app updates, all of your apps are updated as soon as new versions are available. I find it very handy, but when I wish to have more control over the power consumption, I disable it.

Open Settings app → Tap on iTunes & App Stores → Under Automatic Downloads section, turn off the switch next to Music, Apps, Books & Audiobooks, and Updates.

Keep Display & Brightness in Check

Always be sure to keep display and brightness in check. I mean, keep it at the medium level.

Once you are in Display & Brightness section, the first thing I would tell you to do is turn off “True Tone.” Basically, it adapts the device display as per the ambient lighting conditions. As a result, colors appear to be consistent in different conditions. The only problem with this feature is that it doesn’t work all the time consistently. In this case, it’s better to adjust the brightness manually.

The second thing I would suggest you take care of is the Auto-Lock. Keep it as short as possible. If it’s set to Never, deselect it as the longer the screen remains awake the more battery is consumed.

And the third, turn off Raise to Wake. Every time you pick your device, you may not necessarily want to wake the screen. Therefore, it’s apt to disable it.

Avoid setting Display Zoom as your iPhone view. It’s wise to select the Standard view for iPhone as it’s more efficient and can extend the battery life of your iOS 12 device.

Step #1. Open Settings app → Tap on Display & Brightness.

Step #2. Now, turn off True Tone, and Raise to Wake. Make sure to set the auto lock to the minimum level.

Also, make sure to choose Standard under Display Zoom section.

Enable Low Power Mode

Low power mode can be of immense help in letting you maximize the battery life of your iPhone. Once this power efficient feature is enabled, it turns off a number of power sucking features like automatic downloads, mail fetch, Hey Siri and background app refresh. Besides, it also reduces visual effects thereby saving plenty of juice of your device.

Step #1. Launch Settings → Tap on Battery.

Step #2. Turn On Low Power Mode.

Allow Notifications Only from Selected Apps

Another important thing you should do is allow only a few apps to send alerts. If you have allowed too many apps to send notifications, chances are your device hardly gets time to breathe.

Step #1. Go to Settings → Tap on Notifications.

Step #2. Now, tap on the app in question and turn off the switch next to Allow Notifications.

Enable Low-Quality Image Mode for Messages

Love sending images via iMessage? iOS lets you send low-quality images in order to preserve both the data and battery of your device. If you are craving to increase the battery life, you shouldn’t leave it out.

Step #1. Launch Settings → Tap on Messages.

Step #2. Turn On Low-Quality Image Mode.

Advance Fixes for Unexpected Battery Draining Issues

Disable Background App Refresh

“Background App Refresh” plays a good role in keeping apps ever ready to run smoothly. However, it’s known to be one of the biggest power hungry features. Thus, it would be apt to use it smartly.

The latest iOS versions allow you to either completely turn off this feature or let only a few apps refresh in the background. Besides, you can also configure your device to refresh apps only on WiFi.

Step #1. Open Settings app → Tap on General → Tap on Background App Refresh.

Step #2. Now, tap on Background App Refresh and then either select Off or Wi-Fi based on your need.

Disable Location Services

To me, Location Services is the biggest battery killer. If it’s possible, I keep it disabled. If any apps require the access to my location, I make sure the app doesn’t keep track of it all the time. Give this effective trick a try and I’m sure it can do a world of good for your iPhone’s battery.

Step #1. Open Settings app → Tap on Privacy → Go to Location Services.

Step #2. Now, turn off Location Services.

Alternately, allow each app (you use) to have access to your location only when you are using it.

Disable Auto-Fetching of New Data

One more notable thing worth implementing is to prevent your account from fetching data automatically. I bet, it can turn out to be very helpful in boosting the battery life of the device.

Step #1. Launch Settings app → Passwords & Accounts → Tap on Fetch New Data.

Step #2. Next, you need to turn off the switch next to Push → Now, select Manually option.

Disable “Messages on iCloud”

Syncing all of your Messages history with iCloud is pretty neat. There are a couple of obvious advantages of this feature–security and better management. The only downside is that if you have large file size, syncing can take hell lot of time. Consequently, draining plenty of battery. Thus, giving a miss to this feature won’t be a bad idea. To do so, head over to this complete guide.

Delete Documents and Data

Don’t let apps to pile up their documents and data. If you don’t clean them up on a regular basis, they can’t just hijack plenty of storage but also slow down the device. Refer this complete guide to get rid of all the documents and data.

Update All Apps

One of the simplest ways to make apps run smoothly is to update them from time to time. More often than not, outdated apps tend to become too problematic for the device. Aside from consuming more battery, they also lag in performance. Therefore, upgrading them to the latest version can bring some respite to the battery.

Step #1. Open App Store on your device → Tap on Updates tab.

Step #2. Now, hit the Update button next to each app that’s not updated or tap on Update All.

Update iOS on your iPhone/iPad

If none of the solutions mentioned above have clicked, the problem might be due to a bug. iOS often comes with several bug fixes and performance enhancements. Therefore, going for the upgrade be worth a shot.

Step #1. Head over to Settings → Tap on General.

Step #2. Now, tap on Software Update.

Step #3. Next, tap on Download & Install.

Then, follow the instructions to upgrade the OS as usual.

Downgrade Your iPhone/iPad from iOS 12 to iOS 11

Have failed to take control of the unexpected battery draining, I would recommend you to take a back seat for a while. And jump onto it again only when Apple introduces the more refined version of iOS 12. I mean to downgrade your iPhone from iOS 12 to iOS 11.

If you like exploring the new features that have come with the latest iOS version, going back might be a setback. However, considering the situation, it appears to be a better option.

Wrapping up

As iOS 12 is still in beta, we shall continue to update this post. So, stay tuned with us to check out other tricks to take control of the battery life. Have any question? Shoot in the comments below.

You might want to catch up with these posts as well:

• How to Share Passwords using AirDrop in iOS 12
• How to Use Screen Time in iOS 12
• How to Create Memojis in iOS 12
• How to Use Multiple Face ID on iPhone X

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