While the iPhone 4 has very good overall battery life, some use older models like the 3G or 3GS that don’t charge the same amount. Even those of us with the latest model, there are times when we can afford to squeeze an hour or two off the battery. Here are a few simple tips you can do to improve your iPhone’s battery life right now:
Get a WiFi Hotspot
When you’re at home, at work, or anywhere else with a WiFi network, you’ll likely get better battery life by jumping to that hotspot compared to staying on 3G.
If you forgot how to do this, open the Settings app, slide the WiFi bar to ‘ON’ and enter the credentials to log into the network.
turn off wifi
Likewise, when you know you won’t be in range of a WiFi network, you can significantly save battery life by turning WiFi off. When your WiFi radio is turned on but you are not connected, your precious iPhone will continue to scan for possible networks. You can easily understand how this can kill your battery.
To turn it off, just reverse the instructions in Tip #1. Settings>WiFi>Off.
For jailbroken iPhone users, SBSettings allows you to quickly and easily change this via a status bar drop-down menu.
turn off bluetooth
If you’re not using or are about to use a Bluetooth device, you can extend your battery life by turning off your iPhone’s Bluetooth radio. This is also on the Settings screen, under “General” and then “Bluetooth”. You can always turn it back on when you need it.
This can also be changed quickly and easily in SBSettings for jailbreak types.
Beware of Push Notifications
When you install a new app that offers push notifications, you’re asked to allow it to receive them. Sure, give them permission for Skype, Google Voice, or anything else you know should be alerted about. If you have too many apps waiting for push notifications, this can hurt battery life.
To see which apps are currently greenlit for push, open your Settings app, hit Notifications and change permissions there.
Turn Down Screen Brightness
We all love staring at the “Retina” screen, but if your battery life is starting to be an issue, you might want to turn it down a bit.
You can access this from your settings menu under “Brightness”.
This is another tweak that can be made faster in SBSettings, jailbreak folks.
Use Flow and Navigation Sparingly
If you’re listening to music on Pandora or watching movies on Netflix, your battery life will (obviously) take a hit. While trying to extend your battery life, you may want to watch your usage of these apps and save them for later.
Also, Navigation and other location sensitive apps can lower the level. Do not keep Navigon or Google Maps running if you know where you are going.
Tips for Jailbreaking iPhone Users:
If you’ve jailbroken, this could open up a whole new can of worms for potential battery drain. The biggest tips we have for you:
Auto3G
You can try the Cydia app Auto3G. Automatically turns off your phone’s 3G radio when locked. So it will use slower data rates when the screen is off. When you turn it back on, it will reconnect to 3G. The app is $5.99, but if you really want to save some battery life and you’re jailbroken – it can be very helpful!
don’t go overboard
Carefully add jailbreak apps and tweaks. If you try something and think you won’t use it, remove it immediately via Cydia.
Avoid Backgrounder
Don’t install Backgrounder unless you really need it. Backgrounder keeps running apps in the background, while iOS multitasking freezes the app in a saved state. The iOS version works fine for most people and doesn’t hurt your battery. You can check if it is installed by opening Cydia and going to “Manage” > “Packages”.
