How to Use Low Power Mode on iPhone

The iPhone’s battery has slowly and steadily improved over the years. Sure, some people say they’d like a bigger battery on future iPhones, and while some of us agree with that, it doesn’t mean the iPhone’s battery is bad. 

Fortunately, even with a smaller battery compared to other smartphones in the market, Apple knows how to make the iPhone’s battery last, thanks to its high performance. 

However, if you’re a power user, your battery main drains faster than others. Fortunately, that’s what Low Power Mode on iPhone is for. 

What Is Low Power Mode?

Low Power Mode is a useful iPhone feature that helps you reduce the power your iPhone uses. That way, your iPhone’s battery will last longer without you doing anything about it. 

How does this work, I hear you ask? Well, when Low Power Mode is turned on, your iPhone will reduce the background activity of a lot of features, including:

• If you have an iPhone 12 model, the usage of 5G will be reduced.
• Your screen will lock automatically after 30 seconds.
• Your iPhone might lower the display brightness.
• If you have an iPhone with ProMotion—currently available on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max—the refresh rate will be limited to 60 Hz.
• Some visual effects and animations will be reduced.
• Your iPhone won’t sync your photos to iCloud.
• Automatic downloads won’t be available. 
• Your iPhone won’t fetch emails in the background.
• Background app refresh will be reduced.

Believe it or not, this will save a lot of battery power, so you’ll last more time, even if your battery is low. 

How to Turn on Low Power Mode on iPhone

There are a couple of ways you can turn on Low Power Mode on your iPhone, and they’re both pretty easy. 

If you want to turn on Low Power Mode from your settings, do this:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on Battery.
3. Toggle Low Power Mode on.

Pretty easy, right? Well, there’s an even faster way, but you need to add the Low Power Mode control to your Control Center like this:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and select Control Center.
3. Search for the Low Power Mode control and tap the green plus button on the left side. 

Now you have the Low Power Mode control in your Control Center. If you want to access it, all you need to do is swipe down from the top right corner of your screen (if you have an iPhone with Face ID) or swipe up from the bottom of your screen (if you have an iPhone with Touch ID), and tap the battery icon. 

No matter which way you use it, you’ll know Low Power Mode is turned on if you see a yellow battery instead of a green one in the top right corner of your screen. 

How to Turn on Low Power Mode Automatically

If you’re iPhone’s a little older, and its battery isn’t what it used to be, you’ll probably want to use Low Power Mode pretty often. 

Unfortunately, Low Power Mode is automatically turned off after you charge your iPhone back to at least 80%, so you’ll have to remember to turn Low Power Mode on again every day. But instead of turning it on for yourself every time, you can make your iPhone turn it on automatically. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick way to set this up, as Apple doesn’t have a way to schedule Low Power Mode. However, there is one workaround you can try with the help of the Shortcuts app. Setting up a new automation is quite a lot of steps, but it’ll be worth it. 

Just follow these steps: 

1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone. 
2. Tap the Automation tab at the bottom of your screen.
3. Tap on Create Personal Automation.
4. Scroll down until you find the battery section.
5. Tap Battery Level.
6. Choose the battery level to trigger your automation. 
7. Tap on Next in the top right corner of your screen.
8. Select Add Action.
9. In the search bar, enter Low Power Mode.
10. Select Set Low Power Mode.
11. Tap Next in the top right corner. 
12. If you don’t want to be bothered by the automation every time your iPhone falls below 50%, toggle Ask Before Running. And if you do, tap Don’t Ask to confirm your decision.
13. Finally, tap Done in the top right corner of your screen.

And that’s it! You won’t ever have to worry about turning Low Power Mode back on again, as your iPhone will do the rest for you. Of course, suppose you don’t want to use Low Power Mode automatically again. In that case, you can go to your automation in the Automation tab, select your Low Power Mode automation, and toggle Enable This Automation off. 

Never Struggle for Battery Again

Low Power Mode is a life saver in a lot of situations, especially if your battery life isn’t as good as it used to be. Make sure to turn it on, or automate it, so your iPhone will last you until the end of the day every day.