iPhone, iPod touch and iPad Battery Life - Tips & Tricks

Are suffering from poor battery life on your iOS device? Does your iPad no longer last 10 hours? Consider using these tips & tricks to increase your battery life.

• New Device There is NO need to prime your battery with a full charge when you first open the box. The first full or partial charge of a Lithium Ion battery is the same as every other charge it will have. Despite this it is good practice, and in line with the 'frequent charge' rule below, to give it some charge asap as it is has most likely been shipped partially charged. Feel free to play with your new toy while it is charging and to remove it from a charge while only partially charged. Don't waste a moment in enjoying your new gadget

• Top up the charge frequently! Charge your device often to prevent rapid erosion of the Lithium-ion battery's capacity. If possible do not let your battery run down to zero (except to recalibrate the battery meter as detailed below. Your battery will fast charge for 1.5 to 2 hours to reach 80% charge and then 'top-up' charge for 2 to 4 hours more to reach 100%, so try to charge a weak battery for at least 2 hours. Lithium-ion batteries lose capacity as soon as they are manufactured but a properly maintained battery is designed to retain an average 80% of its capacity after between 400 to 500 charge cycles.

• Leaving On Charge You can leave your device on charge for as long as you want. There is a protective mechanism in all Lithium-Ion batteries that prevents 'overcharge'. i.e. don't worry about those long overnight charges.

• Recalibrate Your Battery Meter - If you charge your device regularly and also use the 'Numerical Battery' you may want to consider running down the battery once per month followed by a full charge. The battery meter tracking the battery's capacity will lose accuracy over time and this full discharge will recalibrate it. If you use the stock Apple battery icon then there's probably no need for such accuracy unless you start to get strange readings.

• Stay updated - new firmware and software updates often include more battery-efficient code so update and keep current if you can. Note, jailbreakers/unlockers will want to avoid updating until any new firmware has been deemed jailbreakable.

• Turn off Wi-Fi - Your iOS device will search for a network everywhere to turn off Wi-Fi go to Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off, turning off the Wi-Fi function 'Ask to Join Networks' can help as well.

• Turn off Bluetooth - Turn off Bluetooth when not in use. Go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.

• Turn off Location Services. - Application can track your location using Location Services. To disable location services, go to Settings > General > Location Services or use location services only when needed.

• Turn off Notifications - To disable notifications, go to Settings > Notifications and set Notifications to 'Off.' Setting “View in lock screen” to 'Off.' will disable your screen from lighting up when you receive a new notification from any given app.

• Disable Auto-check or reduce fewer email accounts - This can be accomplished by turning off an email account or by deleting it. To turn off an account, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose an email account, and set Account to Off. To remove an account, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose an email account, and tap Delete Account. To disable auto-check go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, toggle Push at the top to Off, and then set Fetch to Manually.

• Use Airplane Mode - To disable all radio signals (Cellular Network, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) on your iOS device with a simple setting turn on Airplane Mode, go to Settings and set Airplane Mode to 'On.'

• Disable iCloud - iCloud checks for new data all the time to disable iCloud go to Settings > General > iCloud > Turn everything to 'Off.'

• Disable Time Zone Adjustment - If you don't travel frequently disable Time Zone Adjustment go to Settings > Location Services > System Services > and set 'Setting Time Zone' to 'Off.'

• Disable Location Based iAds - To disable location based advertising go toSettings > Location Services > System Services > and set 'Location Based iAds' to 'Off.'

• Disable iTunes Ping - Ping iTunes's social network can be known to drain battery to disable Ping go to Settings > General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions > and set Ping to 'Off.'

• Disable Sending Diagnostic & Usage Reports to Apple - iOS sends diagnostic & usage reports back to the mothership to disable go to Settings > General > About > Diagnostic & Usage > and set it to 'Don’t Send.'

• Quit Applications from Multitasking - Make sure to completely close apps when you are done with them to save battery power. Simply double tap the home button and remove the application from the multitasking bar the same way you would remove applications from the home screen.

• Equalizer - turn the EQ off if you don't need it. To disable go to Settings > Music > EQ and set EQ to 'Off.'

• Turn down the Brightness- Dimming the brightness is another way to extend battery life. Go to Settings > Brightness and drag the slider to the left to lower the default screen brightness. Turning on Auto-Brightness allows the screen to adjust its brightness based on the lighting conditions. Turn the brightness down as low as possible (~10-25% is best).

• Lock the Screen - Use a short 'Auto Lock' time. Turn the screen off whenever it's not in use by a quick press of the power button (top).

• Disable Raise to Speak - Disabling Rise to Speak will disable Siri when you raise the iPhone 4S to your face to disable go to Settings > General > Siri. and set 'Raise To Speak' to 'Off.'

• Change your wallpaper - Setting a darker wallpaper will not require the device to work harder, a white wallpaper will use more power opposed to a black wallpaper. To change your wallpaper go to Settings > Wallpaper and choose a photo or from your Photo application choose a photo and 'Use as Wallpaper' on the bottom left.

• Maintenance in storage - If your don't use your device regularly, try to complete one full charge cycle per month to slow battery degradation. This can be staggered, e.g. use 50% of battery, charge full and then use 50% again. When not in use store your device below 45° C (113° F) to prevent heat damage to the battery's capacity. Store your device with a partial (~40% best) charge.

• Keep your iOS device cool! Lithium-ion battery capacity rapidly decays if exposed to high temperatures. Don't leave your device in the car. Maximum operating temperature suggested is 35° C (95° F). Avoid charging when hot as this can further damage the battery's capacity. If possible remove any cover/skin when charging to help prevent overheating. Turn your iOS device off and let it cool down if you receive a message similar to this:

• Restore your device in iTunes - If these solutions did not help you consider restoring your iOS device in iTunes. Be sure to backup your device beforehand.

Safety note: If your battery ever becomes too hot to touch while charging then remove from charge immediately and leave to cool [note that it is normal for the device to get warm while charging but it should never be too hot to touch]. If this happens on a regular basis you may need to speak to Apple and possibly return your device and/or USB cable as one or the other may be faulty. Also be aware that cheap USB charging cables and wall adapters should be avoided. It's worth the expense of buying brand names.

Adapted from Battery Life and Conservation by Studangerous. If you have suggestions for more battery tips leave them below!

Minimize the amount of mobile substrates. In other words remove tweaks. You should notice an increase in speed as well.

AutoProtect seems heavy. Are you playing a lot of games as well?

All day?

If you followed all the steps you should be having fantastic battery life. You must be forgetting something.