If you purchased an iPhone 6, you’re in for a treat in the battery department. Rated for the same 10 hour battery life as the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6 is performing better than expected, lasting most of the day in our informal tests, and with reviewers. While the iPhone 6 does have an improved battery over its predecessors, it won’t completely absolve you from worrying about your phone dying.
Thankfully, there are easy ways to extend your battery life, and Apple has even included a new feature that will show you which apps are sucking your battery dry.
Find your battery usage
IOS 8 brings some long-standing Android features over to iOS, specifically a battery breakdown showing you which apps are sending you toward the charger. You can find the info under Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage. Battery usage is viewable in 24 hour and seven day segments, giving you a short and long-term view of your usage.
This information will give you a better understanding of which apps use the most energy, and which to avoid using when your battery is running low. You may be surprised which apps are a drain on your phone.
Background updates & location services
The biggest change you can make to help save battery life on your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus is turn off location services and background updates for apps that don’t need to be constantly updated on your whereabouts.
Head to Settings > General > Background App Refresh, and you will find all of the apps that can update in the background, without having to be opened. If there are apps that you rarely use, or that don’t need to be updated in the background, shut them down. They can be an unneeded drain on your battery life.
Thanks to iOS 8, there are new controls for location services, outside of on and off. There is now a “while using the app” feature (only some apps have it) that will let apps like Google and Instagram only use your location when you open them. This will limit your worries about random apps using your location in the background, and help your battery last a bit longer.
A quicker recharge
Probably the best hidden feature of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is the ability to recharge at a much faster rate than it currently does. Thanks to the larger batteries in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, they take noticeably longer to charge than their predecessors.
To help address this problem, Apple has allowed the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to take full advantage of the 12 watt (2.1-Amp) power adapter that comes with the iPad, a substantially stronger power adapter than the five watt (1-Amp) adapter that ships with iPhones.
Previous iPhones have been able to charge with the iPad power adapter, but didn’t charge any faster than they did with the iPhone adapter. With the iPad power adapter, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus can be recharged in about two hours.
While battery isn’t as big of an issue on the iPhone 6, and a non-issue on the iPhone 6 Plus, these tips will help you extend the already improved lifespan of your iPhone’s battery. Because who really wants to sit next to an outlet?
Photo via Micah Singleton
