Skip to main content

How to see which apps are draining your iPhone’s battery life

apple iphone 14 pro battery life drain problem settings
Andrew Martonik / Digital Trends

The iOS 16 update has been out in the wild for a week, available to those who have an iPhone 8 through to the iPhone 13, as well as coming pre-installed in the iPhone 14, which was released last Friday. After installing the update, people haven't considered one element: the number of apps running in the background that drain their iPhone's battery life.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • iOS 16

  • Apple iPhone 8 through 14 or second-generation iPhone SE

Contrary to popular belief, the iPhone's battery dying from having too many apps open at once is a myth. Apps don't necessarily "run" in the background, either. Most of them are suspended a few seconds after they're closed, while others are forcibly suspended after finishing tasks such as syncing and uploading files within 10 minutes.

If you're still superstitious about how much battery life your favorite apps are consuming and you want to save your sanity, here's how you can check.

iPhone 14 Pro battery life settings.
Andrew Martonik / Digital Trends

How to check battery consumption by app usage

Checking how much battery your apps consume is extremely easy. All you have to do is go to the Settings app and follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Open the Settings app, scroll down to the Battery tab, and tap it.

Step 2: In Battery, scroll down to the list that reads Battery usage by app. This will give you a breakdown of the apps you use most often and the percentage of their power consumption.

Step 3: To see Activity by app, tap Show activity. This calculates how much time you've spent on each app as well as how long they've been running in the background.

Checking how much battery your apps are eating up not only helps prolong the daily battery life of your iPhone, but it will also help you better manage your screen time (as well as the screen time of your children old enough to own an iPhone). If you're shocked by the amount of time you've spent on your phone, maybe take a look at our Screen Time guide so you can help cut down on time in specific apps.

Cristina Alexander
Cristina Alexander has been writing since 2014, from opining about pop culture on her personal blog in college to reporting…
Another report suggests the iPhone 15 Pro will be pricier
The Apple logo on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Apple is expected to manufacture a slightly smaller number of iPhone 15 handsets compared to the iPhone 14 last year, but the company is eyeing an increase in revenue when the device launches in the fall.

How? Because it’s considering increasing the cost of the iPhone 15 Pro models.

Read more
How to fast charge your iPhone
iPhone 12 Mini with charger

While they may not be some of the longest-lasting smartphones on the market, modern iPhones boast more than respectable battery life that should be able to get you through an entire day's use without breaking too much of a sweat. Of course, that assumes a lot of things — including a battery that's still relatively new and in good health, plus a usage pattern that doesn't include all-day streaming or gaming.

If you fall into either (or both) of these categories, then overnight charging isn't going to cut it, and you'll want to get your battery topped up again as quickly as you can so you can get back on the road. Thankfully, every iPhone released in the past six years supports much faster charging, but the downside is that with very few exceptions, Apple has never supplied you with the right adapter to get the best possible charging speeds from your iPhone.

Read more
These are the only 2 reasons I’m excited for the iPhone 15 Pro
The App Library on the iPhone 14 Pro.

It’s peak summer right now, though fall is just around the corner with back-to-school season on the horizon. With that also comes Apple’s annual iPhone event.

This year, we are definitely expecting the iPhone 15 lineup, as well as Apple Watch Series 9, and maybe a new Apple Watch Ultra. The rumors for the iPhone 15 series have been going strong for months, though there has also been a lot of back-and-forth too, mostly relating to the iPhone 15 Pro models.

Read more