How to Improve Your iPhone Battery Life

The iPhone is a great device for performing a wide variety of functions, like sending email, watching a movie, getting directions to a destination, playing games, surfing the internet, or of course, making a phone call. One thing hampers the iPhone's ability to be a worry-free productivity device - the battery life. It can vary widely depending on how you use your iPhone, so here are a few tips for getting the most out of your iPhone battery. Try some of these out in the order listed:

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• iPhone

1. Don't auto-check email too frequently. Setting your email to manual check, as opposed to an automatic 15 or 30 minute check will go a very long way toward preserving battery. This can be done under Settings > Fetch New Data. Also, beware of making frequent email requests in areas with little data coverage. The iPhone may become hung in a state of data requesting. The less the iPhone has to make requests for data, the longer the battery will last.

2. Be sure to exit applications when you are finished with them. Before you lock your iPhone or put it down, make sure to exit any applications by pressing the home button. Simply locking the screen (by pressing the power button on top of the iPhone) leaves applications running. This can be troublesome if the application running makes consistent requests for data, such as the Google Maps GPS service.

3. Turn off location services and use GPS sparingly. Pound for pound, GPS will drain the iPhone's battery more than any other single feature. You can turn off Location Services under Settings > General if you use it infrequently.

4. Turn off Wi-Fi when you are not using it. If you don't access wireless networks frequently, turn off Wi-Fi. You can always turn it on when you are in the vicinity of one by accessing the Settings menu.

5. Turn off 3G if you do not access wireless data frequently. This is along the lines of step 4.

6. Use airplane mode in areas that have little to no cellular call coverage. If you are in an area where you are unable to receive calls, use the iPhone in airplane mode. Otherwise, the iPhone will intermittently try to discover a cellular network, and these requests for data will drain its battery.

7. Screen brightness is the type of thing that you find you can really live without if you try to. You can control the iPhone's screen brightness under Settings > Brightness. Experiment for a few minutes. Set it as low as you can while still maintaining a comfortable viewing screen.

8. Cycle the battery often. Simply put, if you want your iPhone's battery to stay healthy, it needs to exercise! Don't be afraid to let it run down near empty before charging it. This actually helps lithium-based batteries. Apple recommends completely running you iPhone battery down once a month.

9. Keep the iPhone cool. Heat can disrupt the battery's performance, not to mention damage the rest of the electronics in the iPhone.

10. Buy a portable battery. There are several options for portable iPhone batteries that you can carry in your pocket and plug into your iPhone when needed. Most cost in the range of $50, but some can be found for cheaper. The price may be well worth it should you find yourself in a pinch, and it allows you to use your iPhone without worry.

Tips & Warnings

• Buying a portable battery will help you to be well-prepared.
• Beware of making frequent email requests in areas with little data coverage. This can cause the iPhone to remain in a state requesting data, leading to sharply lower battery life.