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There's a lot to like about Apple's latest OS for the Apple iPhones and iPads. Critics have raved about the new iOS 11 features included, but many other have taken issue with a new problem - a much shorter battery life.
There's a special kind of panic when you're reduced to frantically searching for a power cable everytime your phone is at 5%, so why does this happen after every update?
It's usually because Apple has included a new shiny feature that most people don't know about. iOS11's original sin seems to be the that Apple has decided to automatically turn on "Background App Refresh" feature that keeps your apps up to date in the background - even when you're not using them! Thanks to this new feature, some users are saying their phones are out of power in a matter of hours.
Some of your apps need this feature to function properly, but most do not. Turning off background refresh should improve your battery life pretty dramatically. Here's how you can do it:
- Open Settings
- Tap General
- Tap Background App Refresh
- Go through all your apps and turn off the ones that you don’t need to keep on—pretty much everything other than maps, email, news, and music apps
That's it! You can also turn off the "Auto-Brightness" function that can drain battery life fairly quickly. You can turn that off at Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Auto-Brightness.
Happy surfing!!