iPhone Battery

Nothing is more important to a mobile device than battery life. Obviously, without electricity the iPhone is nothing but a brick. There are many battery saving tips that can help, but none of these is a comprehensive solution. BattSaver for iOS 7 provides highly customizable, one-stop radio management tools to extend battery power.

Users can toggle any number of specific options to control when and where radio components are turned on or deactivated to save juice. While the number of toggles can be overwhelming, there are battery saving Strategy presets such as iMessage friendly, Normal, Aggressive, and Ultimate. Each level will take more aggressive steps to disable cellular and Wi-Fi radios depending on circumstances.

If your iPhone 5s needs charging all the time, it turns out you're not alone. A relatively small number of users have reported that their brand new iPhone 5s battery drains abnormally fast. As it turns out, some iPhone 5s batteries are not performing as they should due to a manufacturing issue, and Apple is moving to correct the problem.

Apple did not specify exactly why the larger capacity 1570 mAh power pack was experiencing the problem in some units, however they are contacting affected customers about the issue. Of course, if you suspect that battery life on your iPhone 5s is substandard, the device is covered by a one year AppleCare warranty. Apple can test the device to confirm there's a problem before issuing a replacement or taking corrective action.

The best way to save battery life while using iOS 7 is by turning off everything you don't use. For example, the parallax effect may be neat, but what good is the illusion of 3D when your phone is dead? Or do you really need your phone to automatically update all your apps? Here are a few iOS 7 features you may want to disable or limit so you can get more use out of your battery.

Turn Off Parallax

You can turn off the parallax effect by navigating to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion > OFF.

Turn Off Auto Downloads

You can go back to manually updating your apps by navigating to Settings > iTunes & App Store and scrolling down to Automatic Downloads.

If your iPhone 5 battery is acting up, it might be covered under warranty. For those who prefer to go it alone, iFixit covers the steps on how to replace the battery yourself. Not only are iPhone 5 batteries available for $10 online, the repair can take as little as 15 minutes if you're already comfortable working with your iOS hardware.

A few tools are necessary, including an iPhone penalobe screwdriver, Phillips #00 screwdriver, plastic opening tools and a small suction cup. Of course, iFixit sells a Pro Tech Toolkit designed to help the intrepid do-it-yourself fan to open and repair a multitude of modern electronic devices. These items can also be purchased individually to help safely gain access to the insides of your iPhone 5.

The new iOS and Android app Carat promises users better battery life by delivering tips on how to conserve energy. According to TechCrunch, the app was designed by a " top-notch" team of "M.S. and Ph.D scientists from the UC Berkeley electrical engineering and computer science department’s Algorithms, Machines, and People Laboratory (AMP Lab)."

The free app uses gathered information from your device to decide what apps are hogging your iPhone's battery power. To do this the app has to take "measurements" from your device. This means you will need to allow it access for it to work. It also takes a few days to collect data before it can start sending you battery saving tips. So don't expect instant results.