Owning an iPhone is wonderful, but there's something that keeps us all up at night: the battery percentage dropping faster than we'd like. Although Apple has optimized iOS to the fullest and recent models like the iPhone 15 surprise us with longer-than-expected battery life, the reality is that Certain applications act like veritable energy vampiresdraining battery life and even causing the device to overheat.
It's not just about how much time we spend glued to the screen, but also how some apps continue to work behind our backs. In this regard, it's crucial to know How to identify the culprits behind electricity bills And what settings can we adjust to make the phone keep up with our day without having to be constantly tethered to a charger or carry an external battery around?
Why do some apps consume more resources than others?
Not all apps are created equal. At the top of the consumer pyramid we find the graphically demanding video gamesThese processes put a strain on the GPU and force the system to activate cooling mechanisms, which significantly increases energy consumption. Streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ follow, which, although used only occasionally, demand considerable power to process high-resolution video.
However, the real danger lies in applications that silently consume resources. Social media is famous for thisbecause they are constantly refreshing data, sending notifications, and accessing the camera or microphone. Similarly, navigation tools like Google Maps or Waze keep the GPS permanently activeThis puts extra strain on the hardware. We can't forget email; applications like Gmail run in the background, checking for new messages in real time, which prevents the processor from resting.
Step-by-step guide to finding the apps that use the most data
Each user has a different usage pattern, so the only reliable way to know what's happening on your device is by checking the iOS internal menu. To perform this diagnosis, follow these steps:
- Enter the menu Settings from your iPhone.
- Scroll down until you find the section on Battery.
- In this section, you can activate the battery percentage display or Low Power Mode. To get straight to the point, scroll down until you find the daily usage chart.
- If you click on the option of the last 10 daysThe system will break down exactly which applications have been the most resource-intensive during that period.
- At the end you will see a detailed list with the percentage of battery consumed per application. If any application is taking up 20% or more, it's probably poorly optimized or you're overusing it.
An important detail is to click on "Show activity"This will allow you to differentiate between the time the application was open on screen and the time it spent running in the background, giving you the definitive clue as to whether the application is a problem even when you're not using it.
The "Top" of the most demanding applications
Although it varies depending on the profile, there are usual suspects that tend to appear on all high-consumption lists:
- Instagram and Facebook: As visual platforms that are entirely dependent on the network and constantly access geolocation and the camera, their data and energy consumption is massive.
- tik tok: It's designed to keep us on the device for as long as possible, and that prolonged use, combined with video processing, makes it one of the heaviest.
- WhatsApp: Although it seems lightweight, the automatic downloading of multimedia and the management of multiple functions in the background significantly impact battery life.
- X (Twitter): Despite being text-based, pop-up advertising and the loading of multimedia content have increased its battery and data consumption.
- YouTube: It requires keeping the screen on and the processor active for video streaming, which puts it among the top consumers.
Tips and tricks to extend your battery life
Once you've identified the energy thief, it's time to take action. Beyond simply closing the app, there are settings that make a real difference. One of the most effective is activate dark modeEspecially on OLED screens, turning off black pixels saves up to 20% of energy. It's also recommended disable background refresh in Settings > General, limiting it only to essential applications.
Other quick settings that help a lot are Turn off Bluetooth, AirDrop, and Siri When you don't need them, it prevents your iPhone from constantly searching for nearby devices. It also always prioritizes Wi-Fi over cellular data (LTE/5G), as it is much more energy efficientFinally, disable features like "Raise to Wake" in the Display & Brightness menu, and avoid installing Beta versions of iOS, because they are not optimized and often have performance issues that drain the battery.
For those using other systems, on Android the path is similar through Settings > Battery, where each app can be configured as "Restricted" or "Optimized" to limit its activity. Samsung even has a diagnostic tool in the device's Maintenance menu that analyzes the overall health of the battery.
Maintaining the battery life of our iPhone depends on a combination of conscious habits and technical adjustmentsBy controlling background activity, limiting GPS usage, and opting for efficient visual settings like dark mode, we can prevent social media and other apps from interfering with our browsing history. iPhone games that use little battery be the exception and let the rest drain our energy, ensuring that the device accompanies us throughout the day without surprises.
