This post addressed a battery issue on the #Apple iPhone SE (#iPhoneSE), wherein the battery drains so fast and that the battery life is shorter than what’s originally indicated in the device specs. Read on to learn what could have possibly caused your iPhone’s battery to drain quickly and fix the problem with a few helpful workarounds. I’ve also included additional tips on how to extend battery life on your iPhone.
The iPhone SE is deemed the most powerful and most efficient 4-inch iPhone Apple has released to date. It comes with many enhanced features including those that are found in other highest-tiered iPhone variants including the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. One of the highlighted best features of the iPhone SE is the battery life, which according to prior reviews ‘is impressive!’ But contrary to what it has promised, other SE owners have experienced shortened battery life in just a few months of using the device.
What could have possibly caused this iPhone’s battery to drain quickly?
Several factors can cause your device’s battery to drain fast. Among the widely known are as follow:
- multiple apps running simultaneously
- poor signal strength
- online streaming of photos, videos, and audio files
- faulty or rogue apps and services
- bad battery
- faulty hardware
Recommended solutions and workarounds
The following methods can help improve and extend battery life on your iPhone SE and other iOS devices.
The very first thing you need to look into before you proceed with any of the battery problem troubleshooting methods is the phone’s battery condition. Ensure it’s not a bad or damaged battery that is causing you trouble. Once you’ve verified that the battery is good then you may now proceed with these workarounds:
Step 1. Calibrate your iPhone’s battery.
Battery calibration helps condition the battery and allows the software to properly calculate the range of battery life on your device. It’s generally recommended to calibrate the battery once a month as well as after every installation of major iOS update. Here’s how it’s done:
- Drain the battery completely. This means using your device until it powers down by its own. Keep your device off for about an hour. However, do this only if you won’t be using your iPhone for a several hours.
- After keeping your iPhone powered off for a while, put it on charge. Be sure to use original charging equipment for your iPhone and let it charge up completely. Do not unplug your device for at least two more hours and also don’t use it while charging.
- After the elapsed time, unplug your device.
- Perform a warm restart by holding the Power and Home buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears.
- Use your iPhone until it completely ran out of power again and repeat the cycle (fully discharge, fully recharge and reboot) once more. Doing so will help you get the most accurate battery life readings.
Step 2. Configure or change the power settings. This process involves disabling of some features on your iPhone including Display & Brightness, Auto-lock, Fetch New Data, and Sounds settings.
- Turning off Auto-Brightness and adjusting the screen brightness manually is recommended.
- Turning off network services such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, as well as GPS and location services when not in use can also help conserve battery life on your iPhone.
Step 3. Quit or close apps running in the background.
There are some apps that will continue to run in the background even after you exit them. In this regard, it’s recommended to close background apps when you’re not using them. Here’s how:
- Quickly double-press the Home key to open and view all recent apps.
- Swipe up to close all applications that are no longer in use.
Step 4. Perform a soft reset.
A soft reset or simple reboot can help eliminate software glitches that may have affected or shortened your iPhone’s battery life. Here’s how a soft reset is done on your iPhone SE:
- From the Home screen, press and hold the Power and Home keys
- Release both keys when the Apple logo shows up.
- Wait for your iPhone to complete the restart.
Step 5. Check the battery usage tool on your iPhone settings and see which app is draining most of your phone’s battery life.
To do so, head on to your iPhone Settings-> Battery-> Battery Usage Tool-> Show Detailed Usage, and then scroll to view more power usage details. You can get a broader look at power consumption over time by tapping on the Last 7 Days option.
Some apps will drain battery the most when the screen is on while others do the same with the display off. In case you see something odd, you can try to update the rogue app first. But if you think that app isn’t really that necessary then you can just have it uninstalled instead.
Step 6. Enable Low Power Mode and Airplane Mode when needed.
Turning on Low Power Mode as well as Airplane Mode if you’re in an area where cellular network is poor or unavailable, can also help conserve battery life on your device. Doing so will prevent your device from working extra hard in an attempt to find a signal or service, which would result to rapid battery life draining.
With the Low Power mode enabled, you can stretch out the last 10-20 percent of battery life significantly longer. Just go to Settings-> Battery-> Low Power Mode-> and then toggle the switch to turn the feature ON. Some of your iPhone features and services may be limited to add several hours of actual use to your device.
Enabling Airplane mode will also help by stopping your phone from searching for a better signal or any nearby networks momentarily. Just turn it off again in an area with better service.
More Battery-Saving Tips you can try on
If enabling Low Power mode is not good enough, there are still a few other workarounds you can try including:
- Set Auto-Lock to 1 minute.
- Hide the Clock app or place it in a folder. That animation utilizes GPU cycles and thereby using up power on your device.
- Disable other unnecessary sounds like keyboard clicks.
- Use headphones when listening to music.
- Set Email Fetch to Manually
- Close personal hotspots
- Upgrade your iPhone to the latest iOS version — iOS 9.3.3
Limiting background app refresh can also help save power on your iPhone. While this feature helps enhance your device’s functionality, it is also a factor that can rapidly kill battery life.
Having that said, you then can either disable Background App Refresh completely or select which apps are allowed to use the feature according to your preferences. To configure this feature, go to Settings-> General-> Background App Refresh-> and then tap the option to prevent all the Apps from refreshing contents automatically when Wi-Fi or Cellular is enabled.
Step 7. Contact your carrier or Apple Support for further assistance
If you couldn’t get the problem fixed with these recommended workarounds and your iPhone SE’s battery is still draining so fast, please contact Apple Support or your carrier for your other options.