When your iPhone’s battery drains overnight, you should spring into action immediately. There are many instances when you may face this issue. A host of reasons can be cited as culprits, but the primary one is a software update.
I’ve noticed the battery drains quickly following an iOS update. Even as my phone stays idle during the night, I wake up to missing battery life. This situation calls for some troubleshooting actions.
Usually, my iPhone battery drains 10% to 15% overnight; but when this percentage reaches 25% to 30%, it’s time to think about the problem. Before you go for the battery replacement program, check out these tips and tricks to fix iPhone idle battery drain issues.
- Turn off Wi-Fi and Mobile Data on iPhone
- Turn Bluetooth off when you’re not using it
- Adjust brightness on iPhone
- Use Night Shift mode
- Enable Low Power Mode
- Disable Location Services on iPhone
- Turn off Background App Refresh
- Update iOS apps regularly
- Update iOS software
- Remove unnecessary apps from iPhone
- Check battery usage
- Start battery replacement program
1. Turn off Wi-Fi and Mobile Data on iPhone
Your iPhone remains mostly idle during the night. To go one step further, disconnect your device from Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. To turn off Wi-Fi, go to Settings → Wi-Fi → Turn off Wi-Fi.
To turn off Mobile Data, go to Settings → Cellular (Mobile Data) → Turn off Cellular Data.
Alternatively, you can turn off Wi-Fi and Mobile Data from the Control Center. Swipe down from the top right corner of your iPhone screen (or swipe up from the bottom middle of the screen if you’re using an iPhone with a Home button) and turn off Wi-Fi or Cellular Data.
There won’t be any notifications from apps on your device, preserving your phone’s battery life.
2. Turn Bluetooth off when you’re not using it
Do you listen to music or podcasts on your iPhone via Bluetooth headphones during the day? If you leave Bluetooth on through the night, you could be losing out on a few battery percentage points of power.
Disconnect any Bluetooth speakers or headphones from your iPhone. If you’re not using an Apple Watch, you can also turn off the Bluetooth option on your phone.
Settings → Bluetooth → Turn off Bluetooth. You can also disable Bluetooth from Control Center (swipe up if you’re using an iPhone with a Home button, or swipe down from the top-right if you’re using a newer iPhone). From Control Center, tap the Bluetooth icon to turn it off.
3. Adjust brightness on iPhone
Adjusting brightness on your iPhone will not only protect your eyes, but it’ll also save battery life. In addition to reducing brightness, you can also manage the Night Shift and Auto-Lock options on your device.
Settings → Display & Brightness → Move the BRIGHTNESS slider to left. This will reduce the phone brightness and you can see the results on your iPhone screen.
4. Use Night Shift mode
Using Night Shift mode is a handy way to save battery on your iOS device. Apple hasn’t made any big changes in this area for the last few years now. You can find this option under Display & Brightness in Settings. When you enable Night Shift, it automatically shifts the colors of your phone display to the warmer end of the color spectrum after sunset.
5. Enable Low Power Mode
Apple introduced Low Power Mode in 2015 with iOS 9. When you turn this option on, your Apple device will gain additional hours of battery life. However, your iPhone’s performance will take a hit until you disable Low Power Mode (mail fetch, automatic downloads,0 etc.). Note that enabling Low Power Mode on iPads running iPadOS 14 or later is accomplished in the exact same way. You can turn on Low Power Mode using Siri and 3D Touch as well.
6. Disable Location Services on iPhone
Third-party iOS apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, and others use GPS to find your location. If given your permission, they do so continuously. This can cause your iPhone’s battery to drain overnight when you use any such app on your iPhone. Try turning off Location Services on your iPhone to save some overnight battery life.
Go to Settings → Privacy → Location Services → Turn off Location Services.
A pop-up will appear from the bottom of your phone screen. You will be prompted to confirm your action. Note that your action will disable Locations Services for all apps. However, your personalized Location Services settings for apps will be restored temporarily if you use Find My iPhone to enable Lost Mode. Finally, tap Turn Off.
7. Turn off Background App Refresh
In a day, we open a lot of apps on our iPhones. Once we finish our task on the app, it’s easy to forget to kill the app so it’s not running in the background. This means the app is still consuming resources while you’re not using it.
With Background App Refresh enabled, app data is constantly refreshed. When you open the app again, you’ll see the new data.
While the feature is useful at face value, it eats up your iPhone’s battery pretty quickly. You can disable Background App Refresh on your iPhone to save battery life while you sleep.
Go to Settings → General → Background App Refresh → Tap Background App Refresh → Select Off.
Alternatively, you can turn off Background App Refresh for a particular app. On the Background App Refresh screen, you can see a list of apps that get refreshed in the background. You can disable the toggle for individual apps to turn off Background App Refresh.
8. Update iOS apps regularly
Regular app updates keep your device healthy and up to date with current tech. Stronger battery life is one of the benefits of updating apps regularly.
Apple and third-party developers add and remove some features from their apps. While Apple does it once a year, third-party developers follow this practice numerous times per month. Updates kill the bugs inside the apps and thus enhance the performance of iPhone apps.
9. Update iOS software
As mentioned above, Apple updates its stock apps every year. In June, Apple sends invitations to iOS developers to attend its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). This is around the time when Apple introduces its iOS update. The company makes some significant changes and upgrades in the operating system.
10. Remove unnecessary apps from iPhone
Hearing about this, reading about that; it’s easy to let a list of apps you’ve only ever used once pile up on your device. It’s wise to remove these forgotten apps from your phone—this ensures smooth performance and a stronger battery. Moreover, you get more space on your device to store other essential data.
11. Check battery usage
Battery Usage lets you know which app consumes how much battery on your iPhone. This feature was introduced by Apple in iOS 9, and in subsequent software updates, Apple has improved this feature a lot. To solve the idle battery drain issue, check battery usage on your iPhone.
12. Start battery replacement program
If your iPhone is covered by a warranty, you can get its battery replaced. However, you should go for this as a last resort, when all the above steps fail to give any results. Not sure about the warranty coverage of your device? You can check your service and support coverage on the Check Coverage page on Apple’s website.
That’s all for now!
My best advice is to disconnect your iPhone from Wi-Fi or Cellular data; use Low Power Mode during the night, and keep the brightness reduced. I notice that some of my friends and colleagues charge their devices even as the battery shows more than 50%. One should let the iPhone battery drain to 20% or less. When you charge a completely drained iPhone, the battery lasts longer.
What do you do to save your iPhone’s battery life? Share your thoughts and feedback with us in the comment section.
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A tech-aficionado whose superpower lies in blabbering interminably about new technologies. After 4+ years and 4500+ content pieces that helped diverse companies grow, I followed my passion and made iGeeks Media my home. When not gushing over technology, you will find me immersed in a fictional world, either reading or creating one.
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