How To Make Your iPhone’s Battery Last Five Hours Longer - By Experts

Over the past ten years, the batteries inside iPhones have been getting more and more powerful - but the demands we throw at them have kept pace.

But it is possible to eke out the battery life - by switching off advanced features which drain a surprising amount of juice.

‘It’s a careful balancing act between prolonging the life of your phone battery on a daily basis and maximising the battery’s overall calendar life,’ said Paul Shearing, a chemical engineer at University College.

'There are really no magic secrets, but there a few things everyone can do to make their battery last longer’.

1) Turn off push notifications

Many apps request to send you ‘push notifications’ which appear on your phone’s main screen - but they’re a serious battery drain.

Thankfully, you can switch them off even once an app’s installed. Just go to Settings > Notifications, and switch off Notifications for as many apps as you can.

2) Uninstall Facebook

Here’s the good news - if you uninstall just one app, it can boost your iPhone’s battery life by as much as 15%.

Now the bad news: the app you have to uninstall is Facebook.

You don’t have to stop using the social network altogether - you just switch to browsing it via the Safari web browser instead of the app.

Tests showed that iPhones lasted up to 15% longer minus Facebook - which experts believe is due to the app’s constant attempts to connect to the network.

3) Turn on Low Power Mode

There’s a menu option buried in your iPhone which can extend your battery life by up to four hours.

‘Low Power Mode’ disables non-essential tasks such as flashy visual effects - and stops your phone’s screen switching on when you get a message.

It can extend battery life by up to four hours, according to Boy Genius Report - but you have to switch it on.

By default, you’re offered an option to switch it on when your phone’s battery hits 20% - but you CAN have it on all the time, if you need your phone for the long haul.

Just go to Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode - or if you’re feeling flashy, ask Siri to enable Low Power Mode.

4) Don’t use vibrate

Using vibration instead of ring tones actually consumes more power – making the entire phone vibrate is harder than making a tiny speaker vibrate.

Where possible, switch your phone to silent instead.

5) Go dark

Turn the brightness settings down on your phone. Most of your phone’s battery drain is from running the screen. On any phone, set the screen to turn off after 30 seconds.

6) Don’t use animated screensavers or wallpapers.

It even makes a difference to switch to a black, or dark, screen background so it doesn’t burn as much electricity when you’re in the menus.

6) If all else fails, accessorise

If you’ve followed the above tips and your phone battery still doesn’t last very long, it’s time to consider a charging accessory.

The Apple Smart Battery Case is £80, and works with the new iPhone 6 and 6S models.

It’s similar to existing products by Mophie and other manufacturers, but Apple claims their version is better, as you can see how much battery life is available on the phone’s screen.