Save iPhone battery: All tips, tricks, settings and shortcuts!

Depending on the daily usage time and intensity as well as the completed charging cycles, the iPhone battery can age quite quickly. This is noticeable in a reduced performance and a steadily decreasing maximum capacity. There was this post yesterday about the latter: iPhone Battery Capacity – When Should the Battery Be Replaced? In it I have already given two tips for saving the battery in Apple smartphones. These will be explained in more detail here and supplemented by further settings and usage options. If you want your iPhone battery to last as long as possible, give them a try.

Take advantage of OLED display: dark mode and dark wallpaper

The Apple iPhone has had an OLED display in its main series for years. That means the iPhone SE is exempt, too the 3rd generation uses an LCD display. However, if you are using an iPhone X, 11, 12, 13 or 14, then you can take advantage of the screen's OLED technology. Use the dark mode and dark or completely black backgrounds on the lock and home screen. 

You set the dark mode as follows:

1. Opens the Settings on your Apple iPhone
2. Tap the point in their overview Display & brightness an
3. Select "Dark" at the top

You can set new backgrounds for the lock screen and home screen as follows:

1. Opens the Settings on your Apple iPhone
2. Select the point from their overview background image from
3. Tap the blue "+Choose new wallpaper" button
4. Scroll down and select a background under "Color".
5. Tap the circle at the bottom left and select black as the new color
6. Swipe left until the last item "Monochrome" is selected
7. Tap the "Add" button at the top right
8. Use the big "Set as background pair" button to define both backgrounds

An extra tip for saving battery life with regard to the OLED display is not to use the maximum display brightness if you can avoid it. Even the minimum brightness is sufficient in dark environments. The lower the brightness of the display is selected, the longer the battery should last.

Do not overload the battery when charging: Activate "Optimized charging of the battery".

Especially if you charge the iPhone regularly at the same time, the "optimized charging" of the battery can be of great benefit to you. Because if this function is activated, the iPhone battery is only charged quickly up to 80% charge. After that, i.e. from 80% to 100%, it is loaded more slowly. This prevents overcharging. In addition, the heat development is contained, so that the battery does not succumb to a chemical aging process as quickly. According to Apple, the iOS system should recognize when slow loading makes sense.

This is how you activate the optimized charging of the iPhone battery:

1. Opens the Settings on your Apple iPhone
2. Pick the point Battery as well as in it Battery status & charging process from
3. Activate the button "Optimized battery charging" at the bottom

iPhone battery saver: Turn it on manually or use a shortcut

Battery saver mode can be useful in a variety of situations. It should not only be activated when the battery is already at a charge status of 40% or below. This mode is also suitable for use at night, when battery consumption should be at a minimum. You can activate the iPhone power saving mode manually and automatically depending on the charging status, the time, your location and other factors. Below are a few examples.

The iPhone power saving mode can be activated manually in this way:

1. Opens the Settings on your Apple iPhone
2. Pick the point Battery from
3. Activate the switch in it Power saving mode

By the way, the whole thing is faster with this control center:

1. Opens the Settings on your Apple iPhone
2. In it, select the Control Center item
3. Adds "Low Power Mode" from the bottom category "More Controls" to the top category "Included Controls" (tap the plus icon)

The power-saving mode can be switched off automatically, e.g. B. activate depending on the charge level. To do this, simply set up a shortcut and let it take care of the changeover for you in the future:

1. Opens the Shortcuts app on your Apple iPhone
2. Select the "Automation" tab at the bottom center
3. (If you've already created automations, tap that in the top right Plus symbol)
4. Tap (then or otherwise) the Create Custom Automation button
5. Scroll down and tap "Battery Status".
6. Use the slider to set a charge status (e.g. 50%)
7. Below that, tap “Falls below xy%”.
8. Then tap on the top right Continue
9. Select the "Add action" button at the top
10. Looking for Power saving mode and select "Configure power saving mode".
11. It should automatically have "On" selected as an option - if not, set it to "On" (see screenshot below)
12. Tap in the top right Continue
13. Disables the "Confirm before run" switch
14. Then you confirm this with "Do not confirm"
15. Includes the whole top right Ready ab

Instead of selecting "Battery status" as the trigger for the power saving mode (item 5), you can also enter a time (first item in the "Time of day" list) or a location (items "Arrival", "Exit", "Before leaving" or " Select CarPlay"). You can also set several shortcuts so that the power saving mode starts at night, when the battery is low and on the go. A shortcut guide with the location as a trigger can be found here as an example: Open the iPhone app when arriving or leaving a place.

Disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and mobile data whenever possible

At home or at work, you probably use a WLAN network to connect to the Internet. On the way you will definitely rely on the mobile data. And you connect to the headphones via Bluetooth. But all three of these radio technologies consume electricity, even if they are becoming more and more efficient. In order to put less strain on the battery, you should deactivate the interfaces that are not currently being used. If you tend to forget that, then use shortcuts here as well. So you can z. For example, you can specify that all connections are automatically cut at bedtime. Arriving or leaving a location can also be set as a trigger for (de)activating WLAN, Bluetooth and mobile data.

Black and white mode: Grayscale for the iPhone display

Actually intended as an operating aid, it can Grayscale mode for the iPhone display also serve to save the battery. Because this setting does not display millions of different colors, but only a much smaller number of gray tones as well as black and white. In addition to the lower energy consumption, this setting also ensures less sensory overload when using the smartphone.

And this is how you set it all up:

1. Opens the Settings on your Apple iPhone
2. Tap on the point Accessibility
3. Choose in it now Display & text size from
4. Scroll down and type Color filter an
5. Activates the controller and below it the grayscale

Keep battery level between 20% and 80%

So that a battery does not come into “battery stress”, the state of charge is also important. It has been proven that lithium batteries age faster when they are deeply discharged or charged up to 100%. The conclusion is that you are doing the battery a favor by keeping it between 20 and 80 percent charge.

In a way, the iOS already takes care of this by first filling the battery up to 80% during optimized charging and only recharging the remaining 20% ​​when the system assumes that the user will soon disconnect the iPhone from the charger and start using it.

Unfortunately, there is no automatic solution for discharging to a value below 20%. Here you simply have to keep an eye on the battery status yourself and plug the iPhone into the charger in good time.

Analyze screen time and draw conclusions from it

In the iPhone settings you will find, among many other things, the so-called Screen time. Tap on this menu item and you will not only find statistics on your iPhone usage, but also options for their management. Time-outs, app limits and other restrictions can be set here. So if you use up a lot of battery through games, social media or other time-consuming apps, let them remind you of downtime when you use them. In addition, by analyzing your usage data, you can draw conclusions about how you will use your smartphone in the future.

Play frequently used media such as music or videos locally instead of streaming them

If you find yourself listening to the same tracks, albums, and playlists over and over again, then maybe instead of streaming them every time, you should download them for local playback. In the meantime, you can not only switch off the WLAN or mobile data, but also save battery because of the local playback. After all, the permanent communication of the device with the servers of the music streaming service is more complex than opening local files.

The same applies to videos, although they are a little more difficult to store on the iPhone. YouTube videos can only be downloaded directly if you have a YouTube Premium Subscription uses. However, you can download internet videos via Mac and then transfer them to iPhone for e.g. B. to watch on the go without an internet connection. Useful Mac apps for video download are the 4K Video Downloader and ClipGrab. Videos from which you only need the audio can be converted into MP3 files.

What options do you recommend for a longer battery life?

Which of the above tips and tricks do you adopt for your iPhone usage? And what advice have I missed for maintaining high battery capacity over the long term? Feel free to leave a comment with your experiences and opinions!

Johannes Domke

After graduating from high school, Johannes completed an apprenticeship as a business assistant specializing in foreign languages. But then he decided to research and write, which resulted in his independence. For several years he has been working for Sir Apfelot, among others. His articles include product introductions, news, manuals, video games, consoles, and more. He follows Apple keynotes live via stream.