7 Important iPhone Settings You Need To Disable After iOS 13.3 Update

If you’ve been an iPhone user for a long time, then you should have known that not all enabled settings on your device are beneficial to you. Apple has a set of iPhone settings that many users find convenient because that’s what a smartphone should be.

In fact, during setup you will be able to notice that there are some settings that seem to be very vague as to the information they provide. But most of us don’t really mind them as long as we can start using our new phone.

Those iPhone settings aren’t really bad but they may have an impact on how your device works. There are settings that affect the battery or the overall performance. If you want to optimize your device, then here are 7 important iPhone settings you need to disable immediately.

Disable Background App Refresh For Some Apps

This option allows your apps to refresh their contents in the background when on Wi-Fi or cellular data. By default, this setting is enabled and all the third-party applications you installed are allowed to refresh in the background.

Not all apps needed to refresh in the background. So depending on how you would like your iPhone to work, you may need to be selective in dealing with some of your apps.

Also, if you only use cellular data when you’re out of range of your Wi-Fi network, it’s best to just use Wi-Fi to refresh apps in the background.

disable background app refresh iphone settings

You can find the setting for this feature by going to Settings > General > Background app refresh.

In this screen, you will be able to see which apps refresh in the background (most of the time, all of them), so if you have important apps that you want to use this feature, disable only those that aren’t important.

disable background app refresh iphone settings
You may disable background app refresh for select app or disable them all at once.

But if you would want your iPhone to conserve battery and data, then disable all of them by simply turning off the Background app refresh itself.

Disable In-App Ratings & Reviews

Have you ever tried installing an app that immediately asked you to give it a 5-star review after opening it for the first time? Well, that happens more often than you could imagine. The thing is, even if you wanted to give them a review later, the dialog box will keep on popping up until you do.

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It’s pretty annoying. Good thing Apple added a setting that disables these kinds of things. Since it is enabled by default, I suggest you disable it immediately before you run into some apps that will keep on asking you to give them 5 stars.

disable in-app iphone settings

Go to Settings > iTunes & App Store > In-App Ratings & Reviews.

Disable Select Location Services

Location Services are important to a lot of people but not all apps or services need to have access to your location.

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Depending on how you set up your iPhone, Location Services may be disabled by default out of the box. But the thing is, there are a ton of apps out there that may ask you if you want to use Location to continue using them or not.

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To access it, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services.

Needless to say, you may enable Location Services without even knowing it. If you want to try, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and make sure it’s disabled. Then, go back to the Home screen and open Maps. At the upper-right corner, you can see two icons. Tap the arrow icon and you will be prompted to turn on Location Services.

As I mentioned earlier, not all apps and services need to access your location so we have to disable select services. Go back to the Location Services screen and tap System Services. In this screen, you can see all the services that have access to your location.

disable location services iphone settings

We recommend only two services to be allowed to access your location and those are Emergency Calls & SOS and Find My iPhone. You need the former in case of emergency and the latter is important to locate your device if you lost or misplaced it.

Disable All Analytics

During the setup process, you will be prompted or asked at least a couple of times if you want to help Apple and app developers improve their services. If you do, then they need analytics from your iPhone so they would need your usage data.

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Depending on how you set up your device, you may need to turn off analytics so that Apple and app developers won’t have access to your analytics data. You can do so by going to Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvements.

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If you want to know more about your Analytics Data and what information Apple and app developers gather, tap Analytics Data and you will find a bunch of files. Tap any of the files to open it and you will see the information being sent from your device to whoever needs it.

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Going back, to disable analytics, simply tap the switch next to every option you can see on the screen.

Disable Push Mail

By default, the Mail app is set to push data. Which means that your iPhone is consistently connected to the mail server that when new data or messages are received, they will be pushed immediately or get downloaded into your iPhone.

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Rather than push, it’s better to change the setting to ‘Fetch’ and set it to download new messages at a given interval. This way, your iPhone won’t need to use data all the time but only when it needs to fetch them. You may set it to fetch new data every 15 minutes or even 30.

disable push mail iphone settings

To do it, go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Fetch New Data and then tap the switch next to Push to disable it. At the bottom, choose the interval you want your iPhone to fetch new data.

disable push mail iphone settings

The thing is, new data will also be fetched if you open the Mail app itself. Many of us actually still do this to check our email. So, changing the iPhone to fetch seems more practical.

Disable Unused Widgets

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Widgets are small applications that are constantly running in the background. Depending on their usage, some may need to be consistently connected to the Internet and download information such as the widgets of news outlets.

disable unused widgets iphone settings

You don’t need that many widgets running in the background so if you have some unused widgets, it’s best to just disable them and leave only the ones that are important.

disable unused widgets iphone settings

To do this, go back to the Home screen and then swipe from left to right to view your widgets. Scroll all the way down and then tap Edit. Now tap the minus button next to the widget you want to remove, and then tap Remove. Do the same to other widgets.

Disable Silence Unknown Callers

There is a setting in your iPhone that silences unknown callers and sent directly to voicemail. This is the best way to prevent scammers or phishers but the downside of this feature when enabled is that a friend or a family member may call your number using somebody’s phone during emergency and you won’t be able to receive it.

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That’s just one of the scenarios where allowing unknown callers to reach you is important. But you need to make up your whether or not you disable Silence Unknown Callers or not. If you want it disabled, then here’s what you need to do.

disable silence unknown callers iphone settings

Go to Settings > Phone and then tap the switch next to Silence Unknown Callers.

Bottom Line

By disabling the iPhone settings we mentioned above, you may notice your device to last a little bit longer than before. But then again, it’s all up to you if you want them to remain disabled or not. It’s your iPhone and the decision is always yours to set it the way to you want

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