Simple Battery Saving Tips for the iPhone 4/4s

My iPhone happens to be one of my most prized possessions. I don't go out without it and I surely do not let anyone touch it unless necessary. I often ask myself how I lived before this amazing gadget came into my life but the good news is that I survived.  I have a good number of apps and I seem to always need my phone for something ranging from my music to the flashlight app (in case of emergency).

Now imagine that I'm desperately in need of my iPhone and all of a sudden, the most dreaded incident happens! MY BATTERY JUICE IS ALL GONE! Ahhhh *screams* *pulls hair out* *runs around like a maniac* *flip tables acting like the incredible hulk*. That would be a disaster. In order to prevent this from happening, I have learned, through research and personal experience, how to preserve the battery life of my precious little gadget and here are a few of them.

1. Kill the apps running in the background - 

To do this,

• Double tap the home button
• Tap and hold one of the apps you would like to close. Your screen should look like this.

• Tap the minus sign on the top left corner of the app icon
• Do this for all the apps you would like to close 
• Tap anywhere on the screen above

... and you're done... for now!

2. Turn on Auto-Brightness

Auto brightness helps adjust the brightness of the screen accordingly and as needed. To do this, do the following:

Settings -> Brightness -> Auto-Brightness( ON)

3. Turn off Location Services

Location services seems like a great feature and almost every app seems to use it. However, location services use the GPS feature which drains the battery drastically. I know... I know... your friends on Facebook and Instagram need to know that you took that picture at the peak of Kilimanjaro. However, if you're not on Kilimanjaro, you really don't need to have the locations services feature running. Here's how to disable it.

Settings -> Location Services -> Location Services (ON) -> Turn everything you don't need off
I typically leave the map app running as I tend to need it more often than normal (I get lost all the time haha). I also leave the Find My iPhone feature on and turn others on as needed.

4. Turn Wi-Fi off

When you have wi-fi on and you are not connected to any particular network, you are banishing you battery to ultimate doom. To turn wi-fi off, go to Settings -> Wi-Fi->  Wi-Fi ( OFF)

5. Turn Bluetooth off

When you don't need it, turn it off. Settings -> General -> Bluetooth ( OFF)

6. Use Airplane Mode

If you like to play games on your phone when you are up in the air, then this feature would be helpful in saving your battery life as it shuts everything that needs cellular connection down. To turn on Airplane Mode on, go to Settings -> Airplane Mode->  Airplane Mode  ( ON)

7. Fetch Less Mail

I understand that your e-mail is important and you need to get that Facebook notification email as soon as possible however, the less your phone has access to a network, the less battery it uses. Check for mail every hour or even manually. Follow the steps below to do this:

Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendar -> Fetch New Data -> Select your preference 

8. Let your phone go to sleep: Auto lock

The sooner you set your phone to sleep, the less power it uses to run the different services. 

Settings -> General ->  Auto-Lock-> Select your preference 

9. Turn Data Push Off

Data push allows the iPhone to automatically access and suck email and other data from different servers whenever new data is available. Turning this feature off reduces the number of times your phone connects to the networks hereby extending your battery life. To do this, go to 

Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendar -> Fetch New Data -> Slide to Off 

10. Don't play games for hours on end

It's a no brainer that playing games, watching movies and browsing the web are total battery drainers. Limiting the use of these apps though, will help save your battery a great deal.