This Underrated iOS Feature Can Help Extend Your iPhone's Battery Life

The iPhone is an incredible smartphone that gets better with each new generation. From improved UI and faster processors to enhanced camera tech, Apple always brings something new and exciting to the table. But when it comes to battery life, the iPhone could use a little help, especially if you're the type of person who has multiple apps running at the same time. Everything from web browsing to listening to music to calling someone has an impact on your iPhone's remaining battery, and you'd be surprised just how much power a function as mundane as making a phone call can deplete.

Fortunately, there's an underrated iOS feature that can help extend your iPhone's battery life: Charge Limit. Introduced with the iPhone 15, this lesser-known setting may end up netting you an extra year or two on the total life of your phone battery. That definitely beats having to carry a portable charger everywhere you go or hoping there's a wall outlet wherever life takes you and your iPhone that day.

As mentioned, the Charge Limit setting is only available on iPhone 15 models or later, as part of the iOS 17.0 rollout. (Even if you're using an older iPhone that's been upgraded to iOS 17, Charge Limit still won't be available.) To access this feature, open the Settings app, then tap Battery > Charging. You'll then be taken to a screen with a Charge Limit slider, which can be adjusted to 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 100%.

Even switching from 100% to 95% is going to make an impact because of good old-fashioned science. The lithium-ion battery in your iPhone is designed to last longer when it's not fully charged all the time. The chemicals that make up your phone's internal power pack have less moving around to do when you set the charge limit to a lower threshold, leading to less degradation over time.

And capping the charge limit at around 80% is also a great way to cut down on heat generation. This is particularly useful for those of us rocking iPhone cases with minimal heat dissipation, such as a heavy-duty OtterBox products. It's also helpful if you happen to live in an area that's prone to hotter temperatures, especially during the spring and summer months.

While the Charge Limit setting is reserved for iPhone 15 or later, there are still a few things you can do with older iPhone models to improve the longevity of the battery. First and foremost, there's the Optimized Battery Charging setting, which you can access by tapping Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. You can think of this feature as "Charge Limit Lite." 

How it works is instead of putting a hard cap at whatever charge level you choose, your iPhone will automatically monitor your daily charging habits so the device won't charge past 80% until that final 20% is needed. The iOS Battery dashboard also has a Low Power Mode setting that can be toggled on or off. When enabled, your iPhone reduces background activity (e.g., downloads, mail fetch) until your device is fully charged.

You can try keeping your screen backlight at 70% brightness or less as well, or selecting a faster Auto-Lock duration by tapping Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock. You may also want to turn off Auto-Brightness (Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size) to prevent your iPhone's ambient light sensor from taking over.