How to use Low Power Mode on iPhone and iPad

Your iPhone has a nifty feature called Low Power Mode. When your battery gets down to 20%, you'll be prompted to activate this mode. It can give you an extra one to three hours before your iPhone kicks the bucket. 

Here's the best part: You can automatically enable Low Power Mode before you reach that critical point to extend your battery life even further. Curious about how it works? Let's find out.

What does Low Power Mode do?

Low Power Mode comes to the rescue when your iPhone battery is running low. This feature optimizes your device's settings to conserve battery life and make the most of your remaining charge.

Let's take a look at  what Low Power Mode does on your iPhone/iPad:

• Disables non-critical features: Low Power Mode scans your iPhone's settings and selectively disables or adjusts certain features and settings that are not immediately needed. 

• Slows down background tasks: To conserve power, it slows or pauses various background tasks and processes that typically consume power. These include email retrieval, background app refreshes, and automatic downloads.

• Adjusts display settings: Low battery mode reduces display brightness. It also shortens the amount of time before the display automatically turns off when idle, so the display remains active for shorter periods of time.

• Limits connectivity options: iPhone Low Power Mode also temporarily disables certain connectivity features. For example, it turns off 5G connectivity (except for video streaming) and may also limit other wireless connections.

• Optimizes performance: To further extend battery life, the battery save mode reduces the overall performance of your iPhone's CPU and GPU. 

So, does Low Power Mode work? Absolutely. It extends battery life up to 3 hours and comes to the rescue when traveling or in emergencies. It's especially valuable for older iPhone models, optimizing performance even as the battery ages.

Turn on or off Low Power Mode on iPhone and iPad

As I mentioned, you can switch on Low Power Mode whenever you want. Let's say it's gonna be a jam-packed day, and you know you won't have access to a charger for a while.

To get Low Power Mode up and running, follow the steps below:

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to Battery and tap on it.
3. Turn on the toggle next to Low Power Mode. 

   

While your iPhone is in Low Power Mode, the battery indicator in the status bar turns yellow.

You might be thinking, why not just use Low Power Mode more often to extend your battery life? Well, I wouldn’t recommend it. 

Sure, your phone might last longer on a single charge, and your battery may wear out more slowly over time, but there’s a trade-off: your phone will run up to 40% slower, and some features (including background app updates) will be limited. Personally, I wouldn’t risk missing timely notifications for the sake of a few extra percent of battery life. So, I’d suggest using your iPhone's low battery mode only when you really need to conserve power.

How to turn the Low Power Mode off? If the phone is charging, this mode will turn off automatically when your device is more than 80% charged. To disable Low Power Mode manually, go to Settings > Battery. Or you can just say to Siri, "Hey, Siri. Turn off Low Power Mode."

How to add Low Power Mode to the Control Center

Where is the Control Center on the iPhone? Just swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen, and you’ll see a few icons that give you quick access to certain actions. Right there, you can toggle Low Power Mode, saving you the trouble of going through the Settings app each time. However, it’s not enabled by default, so you’ll need to add the Low Power Mode toggle to the Control Center yourself first.

Here's how to do it:

1. Swipe down from the top-right corner to open the Control Center.
2. Press and hold on the screen.
3. At the bottom, tap Add a Control.
4. Select Low Power Mode.
5. Once added, you can press and drag the toggle to move it anywhere in the Control Center.
6. Tap the screen again to finish.

The Control Center will now have a Low Power Mode shortcut option. 

Quick access Low Power Mode on Home Screen

In iOS 14 and later, you can also add Low Power Mode to your iPhone's Home Screen for quick access using the Shortcuts app. 

To add the Low Power Mode shortcut to the iPhone Home Screen:

1. Go to Shortcuts and tap the + button in the upper right corner.
2. In the search bar at the top, type "low power" and choose Set Low Power Mode.
3. Tap the word "Turn" and choose Toggle from the Action menu.
4. Tap the Settings button and choose Add to Home Screen.
5. Give your shortcut a name like Low Power Mode, and choose an icon if you like.
6. Tap Add in the upper right corner and tap Done.

That's it. A Low Power Mode icon now appears on your iPhone Home Screen. To enable or disable Low Power Mode, just tap the shortcut icon from the Home Screen.

Enhance your iPhone experience even further 

At its core, Low Power Mode is a powerful feature that helps optimize your iPhone's battery life. It's a built-in lifesaver, but tracking and preserving your battery life can be even more convenient with the Batteries and  Usage. They are part of the Setapp platform, which includes 250+ other useful Mac, iOS, and web apps. Better yet, you can try Setapp for free and experience these improvements firsthand.