iPhone Battery

As smart phones have become an integral part of daily life, battery life has become a ubiquitous concern that people monitor, like gas is for drivers. As devices have become more powerful, the drain on batteries has likewise grown. It is a constant challenge for manufacturers to improve battery life, which always seems to be the weakest link. Aside from advances in the physical properties of batteries, advances in software can greatly improve the life of a battery by optimizing the device's power usage.

As it is a perennial concern of consumers, smartphone manufacturers are always looking to improve the battery life of their devices. During the keynote address at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that, through simple system tweaks, iOS 9 has added an extra hour of battery life to the iPhone. Additionally, a new Low Power setting will supposedly extend battery life by up to three hours.

According to Apple's iOS 9 page:

Checking battery usage in iOS 8 provides basic statistics on what apps have been consuming the most juice. Under Settings -> General -> Usage -> Battery Usage top power-consuming apps in the past week or past 24 hours are listed. While this can be helpful, there are many battery details hidden from view.

The jailbreak tweak DetailedBatteryUsage unlocks these secret power statistics, adding a plethora of information to the Battery Usage area. Once installed, a battery level graph as well as background usage stats are revealed.

To some consumers battery life is one of the most important features on a mobile device. Apple claims that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus get up to 10 hours of internet use on LTE and up to 14 hours of talk time on 3G. If you are finding that your new iPhone is falling short of Apple's battery claims you may want to check the new battery usage tool found in iOS 8. Just navigate to Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage and you'll find a list of apps and how much power they're each using.

The battery usage tool shows you the apps that have used the most battery life in the last 24 hours or last 5 days. The knee jerk reaction would be to eliminate these power sucking apps, but just because they're at the top of the list doesn't meant they're evil battery killers. It just most likely means you use them a lot.

Older devices are no stranger to battery issues. As iPhones are charged and discharged, the battery will naturally lose some capacity over time. Apple has recognized that a range of iPhone 5 units with specific serial numbers can suddenly loose their charge.

For those experiencing the problem with their iPhone 5, Apple has offered to replace the battery free of charge. Since a specific range of serial numbers is affected, the company has set up a web page that makes it possible to check your device for eligibility under the replacement program.