No matter how long your iPhone’s battery lasts, getting more mileage out of it is always better. After all, most of us use our iPhones for nearly everything these days: reading emails, taking photos, streaming videos, browsing, paying by Apple Pay and even actual phone calls. A dead battery can bring life to a halt, so conserving that power can help you keep your life on track.

5 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR IPHONE BATTERY LAST LONGER

1. USE THE LOW POWER MODE

In iOS 9, Apple introduced a way to get an extra three hours of battery life. The catch: The Low Power Mode doesn’t actually kick in until you’re down to 20% battery life. Once the charge reaches a critically low level, a warning appears, along with the option to enable Low Power Mode. Once Low Power Mode is enabled, the power indicator goes from the ominous red to a less-worrisome orange. The reason that Low Power Mode works so effectively is that it shuts down unnecessary background apps. You can automatically enable this mode by going: Settings > Battery > Turn on Low Power Mode.

2. MANAGE THE BATTERY-DRAINING APPS

In both iOs 8 and iOS 9, you can get a better handle on battery life by simply finding out which apps consume the most juice. To do this, go to: Settings > General > Battery to view a list of apps that you’ve been using in the last day or last week. The apps listed at the very top are the ones that are causing the most battery drain. Expect Safari to be near the top of the list, but many other apps like Facebook are power hogs, too.

Naturally, reducing use of these apps will help reduce drain, but there is another way to manage the damage done by these apps. Go: Settings > General > Background App Refresh. You can then turn off background refreshing for the biggest battery-draining apps. After all, not every one of those apps needs up to the minute updates on your whereabouts anyway!

3. REDUCE UNNECESSARY NOTIFICATIONS

Some lock screen notifications are absolutely essential, but many are not. The more notifications you get, the faster your battery is draining. Navigate to your notifications menu from the settings page. Once there, you can go down your list of apps to disable notifications from the ones that you really don’t need to see immediately. This can greatly improve battery life.

4. MANAGE BRIGHTNESS SETTINGS

The display on iPhones today is so bright that it rivals a MacBook Air’s brightness. However, the battery on the iPhone is much smaller and less equipped to handle that kind of power drain. Navigate to your brightness menu by: Settings > Display > Brightness. Slide the brightness bar down as low as you find tolerable. The lower you go, the longer your battery will last.

5. TURN OFF BLUETOOTH

Many iPhone users have Bluetooth enabled without needing it (or even realizing it’s on.) Bluetooth is a major battery hog, and for most people it’s just not necessary. If you don’t currently use Bluetooth headphones or other accessories, turn your Bluetooth off by navigating to the Bluetooth options from the Settings menu.

Of course, there may be times when prolonging your iPhone’s battery life is the least of your problems. When your iPhone screen shatters, if your battery dies for good, or when any tech-related emergency pops up, call us. We are a team of tech experts who can repair any broken device, from the iPhone and iPad to the Galaxy, Nokia, Blackberry, HTC, LG and more.