iOS 11 Battery Life: Tips To Fix Drain On iPhone And iPads

iOS 11 comes with a new look and numerous new features that are useful to iPad and iPhone owners, but the update may also drain devices' batteries.

Apple launched iOS 11 in September alongside the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus. While those iPhones have a stronger A11 Bionic chip, older models see their battery life decrease faster. However, buying a new iPhone 8 or iPhone X shouldn’t be the only solution to save battery life.

Here are a few tips to make batteries on iPhones and iPads last longer.

Battery Low Power Mode

The most obvious tip is to turn on the Low Power Mode option on the device. To enable the battery-saving feature, users can go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode (turn toggle on). The setting can also be moved to the Control Center for easier access. To do so, users can go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls > tap the + icon next to Low Power Mode. Once the setting is displayed on the Control Center, users can press down and hold to enable to feature.

Check Your Apps And Turn Off Background App Refresh

It's also helpful to find out what is causing the device’s battery to drain by checking what apps are mostly using power. Users can see the list of apps and how much percent it has been used for over that last 24 hours or week by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage. For example, if the user's top used app is Instagram, they might want to lay off the social media platform for a bit.

Some apps might also be refreshing in the background too much, which kills the battery. To turn off refresh option, users can go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh (turn toggle off). iOS 11 users can also manually choose which apps they don’t want to refresh automatically in the background in the same location.

Location Services

Location Services, which allows apps to know where users are, can also drain iPad and iPhone batteries. To turn Location Services off, users can go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. iPhone and iPad owners can turn the feature off completely, or can manually select which apps they want to allow to keep track of where they are.

Avoid Heat

One reason why an iPhone or iPad’s battery life may decrease is because the temperature may be too hot. Users should avoid leaving their devices in direct sunlight on a hot day or near hot surfaces.

YouTube App Battery Drain

Some users were complaining this month that their battery life was diminishing quickly, and that their devices were getting hot when watching videos on YouTube. The platform launched a fix for the problem this week under its 12.45 version. Those who had that problem should update the app to avoid battery issues.

iPad and iPhone owners who have not updated to the latest iOS 11.1.2, which was released this month, can do so by going to Settings > General > Software Update.