Any iPhone user knows that although the phones are smart, powerful, fun and easy to use; the battery life can be poor. Here are 10 tips to help boost and conserve your battery’s performance, most of which will work on anything iOS 7 or above.

1. Turn On Low Power Mode (iOS 9)

Apple claims that the new Low Power Mode will allow you to gain 3 extra hours of battery life from your iPhone. When it’s on, it will reduce power consumption, meaning that mail fetch, background app refresh, automatic downloads and some visual effects are reduced or turned off. You’ll be prompted to activate it each time your iPhone hits 20% and 10% battery, but if you’re looking to conserve and stretch your battery for longer, it’s worth turning it on before those points. Here’s how to turn it on manually:

Settings > Battery > Turn on Low Power Mode

2. Turn Down the Brightness (Or Turn On Auto-Brightness)

You can control the brightness of your iPhone’s screen with a slider (see screenshot). Obviously, the brighter you make the setting for the screen, the more power it uses up. The iPhone uses a sensor to detect ambient light in your environment, therefore dimming the screen in in a dark environment and brightening it when there’s more ambient light. When Auto-Brightness is turned on, it ensures that you’re never using more battery than you need by altering the brightness to your environment. Here’s how to get to these settings:

Settings > Display & Brightness > Turn on Auto-Brightness

3. Turn On Auto-Lock 

With Auto-Lock, you have the ability to automatically set your phone to go to sleep after a certain amount of time of user inactivity. The sooner the screen sleeps, the less power is used to run the screen and other services. It’s best to set Auto-Lock for 1 or 2 minutes. Here’s how:

Settings > General > Auto-Lock > Choose 1 or 2 Minutes

4. Disable Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is faster than 3G & 4G, but it’s only available when there’s a hotspot or router to connect to. For most people, a lot of places they go to during their day won’t have this kind of connection available, so it’s not really worth keeping it on all the time and draining your battery by doing so. The best thing to do is disable the Wi-Fi when you don’t need it, and just tap it back on again when you do (possibly at home/work). To do this:

Settings > Wi-Fi > Turn off Wi-Fi

5. Turn Airplane Mode On in Poor Service Areas

Your iPhone uses more energy trying to stay connected to a network or finding one to connect to when cellular coverage is poor. Therefore, it’s a good idea when you’re in a bad service area (such as underground on the tube) to turn on Airplane Mode, as this stops cellular transmissions being broadcasted or received from your iPhone. Just make sure you switch Airplane back off again when you need to use your phone. Here’s how to turn it on:

Settings > Airplane Mode (right at the top) > Turn On

6. Disable Cellular / Mobile Data

If you’re able to go without data but still need to be contactable, it’s a good idea to turn off 3G or 4G sometimes in order to keep your battery lasting longer. The benefit when compared to turning on Airplane Mode is that you will only disable the cellular data part of your signal, so you’ll still be able to make/receive calls, and send/receive text messages. The only thing you can’t do is access anything that requires internet connection, unless you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network. Here’s how to turn it off:

Settings > Mobile Data > Turn off Mobile Data 

7. Reduce Background App Refreshing

The Background App Refresh looks at the apps you use most often and the time of day that you use them, and then automatically refreshes the content for you when connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data, so that the next time you open the app, the latest update/information is there for you. Despite it’s obvious usefulness, it’s wise to reduce the amount of apps this feature is being used on, or, if you’re really not fussed, switch it off all together. To reduce it / turn it off:

Settings > General > Background App Refresh

8. Don’t Automatically Update Apps

If your iPhone is on iOS 7 or later, you don’t have to manually update your apps. There is a feature that automatically updates them for you whenever a new version is available, which is great, but can be majorly battery draining. To reduce the loss of battery on this, it’s advisable to turn the feature off. Here’s how to do it:

Settings > iTunes & App Store > Switch off “Updates” in the Automatic Download Section

9. Reduce Motion and Animations

The 3D / parallax effects first introduced in iOS 7, and available on all later updates, that make your icons and notifications seem to float over the wallpaper might appeal to the eye, but when switched on are constantly using your iPhone’s graphics processor and are therefore draining the battery. You could most definitely live without these effects if you were trying to get the last hour of use out of your iPhone on a boring journey home. Here’s how to reduce the motion:

Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion > Switch On

10. Find The Apps That Are Killing Your Battery

This one involves getting more to the root of the “battery draining problem”, rather than just not doing certain things and switching features off. In iOS upwards, there’s a feature available called Battery Usage, which shows the apps that have been using up the most power over the last 24 hours and the last 7 days and the amount of time they’ve been on the screen. If you keep monitoring it, you’ll be able to see if any apps are showing up at the top consistently, and therefore costing you precious battery life. From this, you can decide if it’s worth getting rid of some high usage apps – that’s the hard part! To do this:

Settings > Battery > Battery Usage

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.

Autumn is the season of change, and as far as the weather is concerned, certainly not for the better. As the nights draw in and temperatures fall, we can prepare ourselves for several months of inclement weather ahead - more rain, higher winds, sharp frosts and potentially heavy snowfall. 

Occasionally, the worst of the winter weather is bad enough to pose the threat of damage to our homes, as well as widespread disruption to the wider communities we live in. Storms can bring winds high enough to bring down trees and power lines, or do damage to the roofs of our homes. Sustained heavy rain can lead to flooding, causing extensive damage to homes and business properties.

The combination of heavy snow and plummeting temperatures, meanwhile, brings a variety of risk factors, such as knocking out power and heating supplies, confining us in our homes, causing water pipes to burst when a freeze is severe enough, and also sparking flooding when the big melt commences.

Autumn is therefore the time when we should be thinking ahead and asking what we would do if the worst came to the worst.

Minimise impact

Government advice on preparing for winter emergencies largely centres on having contingency plans in place should our homes become uninhabitable. The main focus of this is flooding, as this is probably the most common reason why people are forced to evacuate their homes. But it could be anything from your hot water and central heating packing in during a severe cold snap to your home suffering heavy structural damage during a storm.

The main thing is to have a plan for where you would go in an emergency. Especially if you have young children or elderly relatives living with you, the priority is to get everyone safe. Having friends or family you have discussed this with in advance means this essential first step can happen as quickly as possible.

If things are going to get so bad you have to leave your home, there is probably not much you can do to stop it. However, there are steps you can take to minimise impact, or to prevent problems escalating unnecessarily. For example, apart from flooding, the classic winter home emergency is your boiler packing in.

It doesn’t have to reach sub-Arctic temperatures for your home to quickly become unbearably cold without central heating. And it doesn’t take much for an under-serviced boiler to stop working. Take the opportunity to get it checked out and remedy faults before they turn into a major issue.

Similarly, give your home a maintenance once over and make sure everything is in reasonably good order. If you know of any little snags that need looking at, don’t leave them. If you know there is a small leak in the roof somewhere, don’t wait for it to become a torrent when the rain gets heavy and persistent enough. It is also a good idea to clean out your guttering, especially to remove autumn leaves, as this will mean water moves from your roof more freely and reduces the likelihood of damage.

Finally, make sure you have up to date insurance policies that cover all bases. The only thing that can make a home emergency worse is to realise that your insurance hadn’t been renewed and you will now have to foot a huge repair bill on top of all the stress.

At Row.co.uk, we offer bespoke policies for every emergency, from boiler breakdown to gas and electricity supply outages, damaged roofs and windows to burst pipes and leaks. Our policies are there to cover you for fast, efficient repairs, paid for in advance, to take some of the weight of worry off your shoulders in an emergency situation and keep you in your homes whenever possible. Click here to get an instant custom quote. 

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.