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My old iPhone's battery life was awful until I flipped this setting
It's frustrating when your iPhone starts losing charge even while sitting idle. Mine had begun doing that more often, dropping around 15 to 20 percent overnight without being used. I assumed the phone was getting old, so I lowered the brightness, turned on Low Power Mode, and hoped it would stabilize, but the battery kept draining unusually fast.
Each morning, it started at 100 percent and by noon was already halfway down. Nothing seemed to help, so I opened the Battery section in Settings to see what was happening. The charts showed several apps running for hours in the background, even the ones I had not touched in days. It was clear the phone was staying active even when I wasn't using it.
The battery drain that didn't make sense
When healthy battery stats still drain fast
I was using an iPhone 15, and its battery health still read as normal. Its maximum capacity had dropped to 89 percent, which is typical after about two years of daily use. Apple says the iPhone 15 can retain around 80 percent of its original capacity after roughly 1,000 full charge cycles, and mine was a little over 300. By that measure, the numbers looked healthy.
Even with that reassurance, the charge continued to fall faster than it should have. It lost more power than expected, even while idle, and the charge still dropped during light use. The results were inconsistent, which made the cause harder to pinpoint. I thought it might be a recent software update or the growing list of apps I had installed, but nothing clearly explained it.
To narrow things down, I simplified my usage for a few days. I avoided long streaming sessions, turned off a few background options I already knew about, and kept my routine steady to see if anything changed. The drain kept showing up, and guessing was not helping. I wanted to know where the power was going, so I opened Settings ->Battery to look for clues I could not see from daily use alone.
Apps stayed busy behind the lock screen
My phone was active even when I wasn't
The battery screen made the issue easier to understand. The charge graph dipped during the hours I was not using the phone, and the activity chart below showed the same pattern. Together, they suggested the phone staying active even while the screen was off.
As I scrolled further, the apps responsible appeared near the top of the list, each with long periods of background activity. Music, social, and shopping apps were all there, quietly using power even though they weren't opened that day. It wasn't a one-time spike; the same pattern appeared in the records from previous days.
Those apps weren't idle when I left them. They were refreshing in the background, updating feeds, and syncing data on their own. The steady background activity matched the dips I had noticed during the week. With that pattern clear, I needed to figure out what was keeping those apps active and how to stop it from draining more power.
The smarter balance that actually works
A balanced fix for longer battery life
I went to Settings to see what kept those apps active when I wasn't using them. In Settings ->General ->Background App Refresh, I found the switch that allows apps to update over Wi-Fi or mobile data when they aren't on the screen. On my phone, it was enabled for nearly every app, including ones I rarely opened. No wonder the battery rarely got a break.
Background App Refresh helps apps that rely on live data or preloaded content, but most don't need constant access to them. Social, shopping, and entertainment apps often refresh just to load new feeds or recommendations, which quietly drain power if left running in the background. Limiting those updates is one of the easiest ways to help preserve battery life.
Instead of turning the feature off completely, I took a balanced approach. I set Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi only, so updates would occur only when connected to Wi-Fi. Then I turned it off for apps that don't need to refresh on their own. Most of those are apps I open manually anyway, like the App Store or a few games.
The change showed up the next day. The overnight drop was minimal, and the phone lasted longer through normal use. Notifications still arrived as usual, since push alerts come through Apple’s servers and do not depend on Background App Refresh. This toggle only stops apps from pulling new data when they aren't on the screen.
That small change created a better balance. The phone stays updated when it matters and no longer wastes power on background updates I do not need.
What I do now to keep my iPhone's battery healthy
Since then, I have kept Background App Refresh limited to Wi-Fi and only for the apps that actually need it, which makes the battery more consistent. I also avoid leaving the phone in direct sunlight, remove the case if it warms during charging, and keep daily charging between roughly 20 and 80 percent.
When I charge it to full, I leave the Optimized Battery Charging on so it delays the final part overnight. Together, these small changes made a clear difference. The battery now lasts comfortably through the day and feels steady again.