How to Get Better iOS 7.1 Battery Life

The iOS 7.1 update for iPhone and iPad has finally arrived, and we’re already seeing complaints about poor iOS 7.1 battery life. Those looking to improve battery life on their iPhone or iPad after installing Apple’s latest update are in luck.

iOS 7.1 is Apple’s latest iOS 7 update and introduces a host of new features for iPhone and iPad. These include CarPlay, changes to the keyboard, UI tweaks in the Phone app, fixes for major bugs including springboard issues, and performance improvements that users say have improved the software’s speed.

It also appears that the iOS 7.1 update is causing problems for iPhone and iPad owners. Users have been complaining of a number of issues with Apple’s new update, including poor iOS 7.1 battery life.

While iOS 7.1 battery life was pretty good in our initial reviews, some users will experience poor battery life after the upgrade. This is nothing new, iOS updates always screw up some iPhone and iPad owners.

iOS 7.1 is killing my phone’s battery life. Even airplane mode doesn’t help that much 😩😠

— Jamie Lynne 🙂 (@BlackJamieBJ) 12 March 2014

This iOS 7.1 update has really ruined my battery life. 5% down in 2 minutes. 😤 #iphoneproblems #iPhoneUpdate

— Merlin™ (@WizzardOfTime) 12 March 2014

iPhone users don’t update to ios 7.1 but I have many issues and 5s battery life is short

— John Paul Hegarty (@CorkComputers) 12 March 2014

Fortunately, there is something these iPhone and iPad users can do to improve their battery life within iOS 7.1. Some are simple tricks that only require a few seconds of your time. Other fixes will be much more involved.

How to Get Better iOS 7.1 Battery Life

Turn off Push Email

Turning off the push email service is one of the first things to try if the iOS 7.1 battery life is bad. When push is turned on, your iPhone or iPad constantly pulls data from servers and checks for new mail. Background running process tends to have a negative impact on battery life so turning off push is definitely worth a try.

To set up email manually, go to .

Those who are not ready to completely turn off push can change the intervals during which the device will check for new mail. Setting it to longer intervals can help improve bad iOS 7.1 battery life.

Decrease Screen Brightness

The screen has the potential to suck up most of the battery life of an iPad and iPhone. You should be able to extend the battery life of the iPhone or iPad a bit more by keeping the brightness of the screen to a minimum.

If you decide to leave Auto-Brightness on, it should get your screen brightness back to normal pretty quickly. However, if battery life is absolutely important, you may want to turn this off and set the brightness to the lowest level possible.

The brightness of the iPhone or iPad screen can be changed within the Control Center, the menu accessible by swiping up from the bottom of the phone. It can also be accessed from device settings.

Turn off 4G LTE

Like the display, 4G LTE connectivity has the potential to drain battery life. So iPhone and iPad owners would be wise to turn it off when not needed. Turning it off when a device is on the edge of its 4G LTE connection is also wise, as constant network searching can hurt overall battery life.

Turn off 4G LTE data.

To turn off 4G LTE when you don’t need high data rates, go to Just remember to turn it back on when you need it.

Use Airplane Mode

Airplane Mode will cut data, texts, and calls, but it will also save battery life during those dreadful moments when your iPhone or iPad is about to run out.

Use Airplane mode if you’re desperate for iOS 7.1 battery life.

It’s easy to flip in Airplane Mode. Pull up and open Control Center. Again, it will cut out essential services, but you can always bring them back when you need them, just by turning Airplane Mode off.

Turn off Location Services and Notifications

Limiting location services and notifications can help save iPhone battery life. Turn them off and your iPhone or iPad won’t light up every time a notification pops up.

Turn off notifications.

To disable notifications, go to

Notifications will still appear on the iPhone or iPad, but now they will alert or alert you with a sound instead of lighting up the entire device. Notifications pop up even when the phone is in use.

Location services also have the potential to light up your iPhone or iPad screen, which means they have the potential to drain basic battery life.

To turn off Location Services for certain apps, go to the apps you don’t want to use your location information for. You can turn it off completely, but you won’t be able to use the maps and the device won’t know where they were taken.

Turn off Background App Refresh

Background App Refresh is one of the nifty features that came with iOS 7 in September. When opened, it will ensure that the latest data is available when you open an app. It’s extremely useful for those who constantly check the news or Facebook, but for others it’s a feature that can be turned off to save battery life.

Turn off background app refresh.

Before disabling it completely, it’s probably worth disabling the feature for apps you don’t use. This will help minimize activity and keep you working for apps you trust. If that doesn’t work, try disabling it completely.

To do this, go to. When turned off, these apps are not updated in the background.

Uninstall Recent Apps

iOS 7.1 has gone through a beta process so developers can weed out potential issues with the new software. However, there is always a possibility that a third-party app is unintentionally causing abnormal battery drain on iPhone or iPad.

Of course, this will be extremely difficult to detect because it requires uninstalling an app, checking battery life, and then repeating the process until things get better.

We strongly recommend that you go to the App Store and take a look at your purchasing tab. This will show you the recent apps you downloaded. If the battery drain issue is a recent one, this will make it much easier to narrow down the culprit.

Restart iPhone or iPad

If none of these tips work, and there’s a chance they won’t, one of the easiest ways to improve battery life on an iPhone or iPad is to turn it off completely. Most of the time, turning off the phone or tablet will improve things significantly. If you haven’t installed any new apps or made any usage changes, try restarting.

To do this, press and hold the power button, slide the iPhone or iPad to turn it off, leave it off for a minute, and then turn it back on. This is not a guaranteed fix, but it is a solution to try if your iPhone or iPad started seeing random battery drain on iOS 7.1.

reset all settings

If your iOS 7.1 battery life started well, but is now dropping significantly, you may need to reset iPhone settings. It’s not a restore so you won’t lose any apps or data, but what it will do is give you a clean slate for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other user settings. You may have changed settings in the last few months causing battery drain.

Reset your settings.

To do this,. This is a process that will take a few minutes, but it is one that can clear errors and help better preserve battery life.

restore iPhone or iPad

Besides taking the iPhone or iPad to an Apple Store for maintenance, the most drastic measure you can take is to completely restore the device and software.

Those who go this route should note that this will wipe the data on the iPhone or iPad and will take a long time to complete. Before doing this, you need to connect and synchronize photos and data to the computer and perform a full operation. iTunes or iCloud backup. This will ensure that your data is not lost.

Once your iPhone or iPad is backed up, go to Once this process is complete, you have a few options. You can restore the iPhone or iPad from a new backup or use the phone as if it just came out of the retail packaging.

There’s a very good chance this will remove everything that’s been blocking your iOS 7.1 experience, and the device could feel as good as new.