Do you often find yourself on long commutes or cross-country trips, anxious about your smartphone’s battery life? While a portable charger can offer peace of mind, it’s even better if you don’t have to worry about your battery running low at all. For iPhone users, iOS 17.4 offers several settings adjustments that can help you get the most out of your battery.
iOS 17.4 also includes tools to keep an eye on your battery’s health. The Battery Health menu lets you check your battery’s health percentage (aim for 80% or higher) and offers a new menu that shows the number of charge cycles your battery has undergone, as well as whether its overall condition is “normal.”
In addition to these best practices, iOS 16 and iOS 17 have some lesser-known but effective tips that can help you extend your iPhone’s battery life even further.
This guide covers two specific features in iOS 16 and iOS 17 that can drain your battery and explains how to disable them to help preserve battery life. Here’s what you need to know.
Remove Widgets from Your iPhone Lock Screen
Lock screen widgets are handy, but they come at a cost. These widgets require apps to constantly run in the background, fetching data to keep the information updated, which drains your battery over time.
To save battery on iOS 17, it’s best to minimize the use of lock screen widgets. The easiest approach is to switch to a different lock screen profile. Simply press and hold your current lock screen, then swipe to select one that doesn’t feature any widgets.
If you’d rather keep your current lock screen but remove the widgets, press and hold the lock screen, tap “Customize,” choose “Lock Screen,” then tap the widget box and press the “—” button on each widget to remove it.
Turn Off Your iPhone’s Haptic Keyboard Feedback
iOS 16 introduced haptic feedback for the iPhone keyboard, allowing users to feel a slight vibration with each keypress. This feature adds a tactile element to typing but, according to Apple, it can also negatively impact your battery life.
Apple hasn’t disclosed exactly how much battery life haptic feedback uses, but if you’re trying to conserve energy, disabling it is a smart move. The feature is off by default, but if you’ve turned it on, you can disable it by navigating to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback and switching off “Haptic.”