How to improve iPhone 7 and 7 Plus battery life

Apple says the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus come with the "best battery life ever", with both delivering longer life than last year's iPhone 6s. The iPhone 7, as claimed, can stay up to two more hours and iPhone 7 Plus up to one hour than the 6s. IBTimes UK brings you top customisations which will help you get the most from the battery on your new iPhone.

Always keep software up to date

Ensure that your iPhone 7 is running the latest version of iOS. To fetch updates manually on your devices, head over to Settings>> General>> Software update. If you see an update is available, just connect your phone to a power source, ensure that it on a stable Wi-Fi connection and update wirelessly. Alternatively, plug your iPhone to the PC and update using the latest version of iTunes.

Optimise your iPhone settings to save power

There are a couple of ways you can save power; first is adjust your screen brightness and use Wi-Fi instead of cellular data.

You might either lower the screen brightness or turn on auto-brightness. To reduce screen brightness, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to launch the Control Centre and then drag the brightness slider to the left. Auto-brightness adjusts your iPhone's screen to the lighting condition automatically. To enable this feature, go to Settings>> Display & Brightness and set Auto-Brightness to On.

It is recommended that you use Wi-Fi, as it takes less power than the mobile network does. Therefore, always switch to Wi-Fi. Turn on Wi-Fi by going to the Control Centre, then tap the Wi-Fi icon and log in to your desired Wi-Fi network. Alternatively, go to Settings>> Wi-Fi to get a Wi-Fi network.

Enable low power mode

Low power pode is another way to conserve battery on your iPhone 7. When the battery level of your device goes down to 20% and then again to 10%, your iPhone lets you know and turn on the low power mode with just one tap. To enable it manually, go to Settings>> Battery.

This feature does a lot of things to save power on your iPhone, as it reduces display brightness, optimises your phone's performance and minimises system animations. Apps like mail will not download content, and other features such as AirDrop, iCloud sync and Continuity will be disabled, although you can use other key features like calls, emails, messages and accessing the internet. Once your phone is charged, the low power mode switches off automatically.

Check battery usage

You can manage your iOS device's battery life by seeing the proportion of battery used by each app by going to Settings>> Battery. You might get to see a couple of messages listed below the apps.

Background activity: This message means battery was used by the apps while it was running in the background. To extend battery life, you might consider turning off the Background App Refresh by going to Settings>> general and then turn the feature off.

Also try fetching data manually or increase the fetch interval. For this, navigate to Settings>> mail, Contacts, Calendars>> Fetch New Data.

Location and background location: This message means the app is using location services. To enhance the battery performance of your phone, turn off the Location Services. Go to Settings>> Privacy>> Location Services and set it off.

Home & lock screen: This means the home screen and lock screen was displayed on your iPhone. If any app frequently wakes your display with notifications, try to turn off push notifications for that app. Go to Settings>> Notifications then tap the app and set Allow Notifications to Off.

No Mobile coverage or low signal: This means you are in low network coverage area and your iPhone is searching for better signal or, it could be that you have used your iPhone in low-signal conditions. In either case, your battery life is affected. In such situations, turn on the airplane mode. Open the Control Centre and tap airplane mode icon. When the airplane mode is on, you won't be able to make or receive calls.

Power on your PC to charge iPhone

Make sure that your computer is plugged in and power on when you are charging your iPhone 7 using the USB cable. If the computer is turned off, in sleep or standby mode, your iPhone's battery might drain.

Remove battery case while charging

Keep in mind that charging your iPhone inside the case may generate excess heat and as a result affect the battery capacity. Therefore, it is advised to remove the case while charging.

Other important tips

Turn off features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G/4G when not in use to save energy.

• Settings>> Wi-Fi and from there set Wi-Fi to off
• Settings>> Bluetooth and mode the slider to turn it off
• Settings>> Cellular and set the Cellular Data to off

It is advisable to go through at least one charge cycle per month, which means charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down.

Keep your iPhone locked when not in use. Press the Sleep/Wake button to lock it. Also set Auto-Lock interval from Settings>> General>> Auto-Lock and set the interval to a short period of time.