Improve your iPhone’s battery life utilizing this one easy setting

With how reliant most of us have turn into on our smartphones in recent times, battery life has turn into a little bit of a ache level. Whereas processors, shows, and digital camera tech have all advanced exponentially within the cellular house, battery know-how has inched alongside at a relatively a lot slower fee. The result’s an end-user expertise that always includes being tethered to a wall outlet, carrying round exterior battery banks, or, as is my choice, counting on a multi-wireless charging stand setup.

With the discharge of iOS 26 a couple of quick weeks in the past, many are discovering their iPhones to be draining battery capability at a fair quicker fee than regular, doubtless owing to Apple’s liberal use of its slick new Liquid Glass materials all through the iOS working system. There are several tips and tricks that may enable you to eke out some further juice in at this time’s post-iOS 26 world, however one tweak particularly usually goes underappreciated and even solely unnoticed: adjusting Background App Refresh settings.

Background App Refresh refers to an utility’s capacity to replace its content material behind-the-scenes, even when your iPhone’s display is locked. This operate is helpful for holding ongoing software program and companies up-to-date always, nevertheless it additionally takes a toll on battery life. Fortunately, Apple makes it straightforward to manually change on or off Background App Refresh on a per-app foundation, whereas additionally offering a toggle to restrict updating to Wi-Fi solely (mobile information is mostly extra power-hungry than Wi-Fi).

Sure apps — assume ones used for electronic mail, messaging, climate, and navigation — profit from the flexibility to replace within the background and to drag in related info as wanted. Different apps, like sure video games, social media services, and purchasing storefronts, may faucet into Apple’s Background App Refresh operate, however I would argue that the sacrifice to battery endurance is not well worth the trade-off on the subject of these latter varieties of apps.

Find out how to alter Background App Refresh on iPhone

The operate lives inside the iPhone’s Settings utility

To tweak settings referring to Background App Refresh in your iPhone, observe these steps:

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Navigate to Normal > Background App Refresh.
3. A full listing of your put in apps will seem on display — toggle Background App Refresh off for any app you utilize occasionally or that you do not want refreshing behind-the-scenes.
4. Optionally, faucet on Background App Refresh on the prime of the display, after which change the default Wi-Fi & Mobile Knowledge to both Wi-Fi solely, or to off.

It is value noting that Background App Refresh is robotically disabled throughout the board for all apps everytime you put your iPhone into Low Power Mode. When you exit Low Energy Mode, your manually-configured settings will return to their regular, user-customized state.