Improve iPhone 15 battery life: How-to

Experiencing shorter battery life than expected with iPhone 15 or 15 Pro? It’s not just you. Let’s look at 7 tips and tricks to improve iPhone 15 battery life, why you might be seeing spikes in battery use, and more.

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Update 2/4/24: We recently saw a report that one of the top complaints from iPhone 15 Pro users is disappointing battery life. Read more on that here and check out our poll to share your experience.

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The iPhone 15 lineup comes with what Apple says is the same battery life as the iPhone 14 models.

But along with the initial setup and honeymoon phase with your new iPhone consuming more battery, this year there’s an overheating issue with certain apps. Apple is working on a software update but you can reduce or eliminate the issue in a couple of ways right now.

Table of contents

iPhone 15 overheating

After early buyers saw overheating issues with iPhone 15 devices, Apple resolved the problem with iOS 17.0.3 in October 2023.

What causes battery use spikes?

• Restoring a backup
  • Downloading a large photo/video library is particularly draining
  • iPhone creates more heat when restoring and uses more battery
• Using apps with constant location tracking
• High background app activity
• Using your new iPhone more than normal checking out new features, cameras, etc.

Many other factors are at play, but these four are notable.

If you just got your iPhone 15, even after you’ve restored from a backup, it takes time to fully download your entire photo library, all your apps/data, etc. Your iPhone is working harder and is hotter than normal so it’s using more battery than normal.

In the Photos app, you can pause syncing/downloading with iCloud until the evening. If it hasn’t done this automatically, open Apple’s Photos app > Library > All Photos > swipe to the bottom and tap “Pause.” Having that continue when you’re charging in the evening will help save battery.

How to improve iPhone 15 battery life

7 options instead of using a battery pack:

1. How are apps using battery?

Head to Settings > Battery to check out the details of your battery usage. “Last 24 Hours” is the default and shows which apps are using the most energy (including Home & Lock Screen and Siri).

• Tapping the “Last X Days” toggle on the right-hand side gives you a broader look at what’s eating up your power.
• Look for “Background Activity” under an app to learn if it’s been using energy behind the scenes.
• Also, take a look at battery life suggestions just above battery usage (near the top). This will give you quick, actionable ways to reduce battery drain.

2. Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode is a quick way to extend battery life. The feature works by suspending mail fetch, background app refresh, auto-downloads, and more with a single button. This isn’t an everyday-use feature, but it is handy.

You can turn on Low Power mode under Settings > Battery or ask Siri to do it. However, it’s useful to have quick access to Low Power Mode in Control Center. Navigate to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, then tap the + icon next to Low Power Mode if it’s not already there.

• This is useful to stop all the background activity from apps when you’ve recently set up a new iPhone

3. Auto-Lock, screen brightness, and always-on display

If you notice “Home & Lock Screen” on your battery usage is higher than you’d expect, it’s good to check those settings.

Auto-Lock at 30 seconds will help you preserve the most battery life.

Navigate to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock.

Lowering your screen brightness will also help with battery life, but this will come down to personal preference. You can do that in Control Center (swipe down from the top right corner) or Settings > Display & Brightness.

With iPhone 15 Pro HDR brightness going up to 1600 nits and outdoor peak brightness going to 2000 nits, this is something to keep an eye on.

Always-on display

Like the 14 Pro, the iPhone 15 Pro always-on display shouldn’t eat lots of battery since the refresh rate is very low. But if you’re looking to stretch out your battery as long as possible, turning it off can save just shy of 1% of drain per hour.

Head to Settings > Display and brightness > Always On Display at the bottom.

Another option is to leave always-on enabled but turn off colored wallpapers and/or notifications:

4. Hot and cold temps

Apple says the ambient temperature “comfort zone for iPhone is 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C). Temps above 95° F (35° C) have the potential to “permanently damage battery capacity.”

• Outside of keeping your iPhone from extreme heat, it’s good to remove your iPhone case if you notice it gets hot while charging or restoring from a backup.

• Meanwhile, temperatures below 32° F (0 ° C) can temporarily reduce battery life. If you live in a climate with cold temps, keeping your iPhone closer to your body in an inside pocket can help extend battery life by keeping it warmer.

5. Background app refresh

Low Power Mode turns off background app refresh across the board, but you can customize which apps use this feature for a more convenient experience as well as improved battery life. Head to Settings > General > Background App Refresh.

You can also opt to only use background app refresh on Wi-Fi in addition to Wi-Fi and Cellular or turn the feature off totally. However, most users will find leaving Wi-Fi and Cellular on while customizing which apps are used for background app refresh to be the best fit.

Turning off Background App Refresh prevents apps that you’re not actively using from updating (until you open them again).

6. Location services

Dialing in your location services settings is another way to extend battery life. (It can reduce cellular data use too). Head to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services to update the privileges for your apps.

• Look out for any apps that ask to Always use your location and switch to While Using, Ask Next Time, or Never.

7. Push and Fetch

If you choose not to use Low Power Mode, you can manually control Push and Fetch for your email/internet accounts.

Head to Settings > Mail > Accounts > Fetch New Data. One approach is to leave your primary account(s) as push to receive new mail ASAP, and turn less important accounts to fetch every hour or even set them to manual.

Improve iPhone 15 battery life wrap-up

Hopefully, these tips will reduce your iPhone battery drain and Apple will likely launch the software fix for the overheating problem very shortly.

If you find you’d rather not change the settings above, another option is to just pick up a power bank or MagSafe battery pack.

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