Battery care guide
How to make your iPhone battery last longer
The short version: keep your iPhone out of the heat, avoid leaving it sitting at 100% for hours on end, and let iOS manage the charging for you. A handful of small habits genuinely slow the wear — but every battery ages eventually, so we'll also cover how to tell when yours has simply had enough.
Get more out of a single charge
If your phone is draining faster than it used to during the day, these settings usually make the biggest difference.
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Slow the long-term wear
Every iPhone battery ages a little each time it's used — these habits just slow that process down.
Keep it cool
Heat is what ages a battery fastest. Keeping a phone somewhere warm — direct sun, a car dashboard, or under a thick case while fast charging — can permanently reduce how much charge it's able to hold over time.
You don't need to leave the phone flat before charging, either. Modern batteries don't work that way — charging whenever suits you is perfectly fine.
Avoid sitting at 100% for long stretches
A battery kept topped right up for hours on end wears faster than one kept nearer the middle. You don't need to obsess over the exact number, but plugging in through the day rather than leaving it pinned at full is kinder to the cell.
Let iOS manage the charging
Optimised Battery Charging is switched on by default and learns your routine, holding the phone around 80% overnight and topping it up to full just before you usually wake up. On newer iPhones, Settings → Battery → Charging lets you set your own charge limit, which is handy if your phone is plugged in for long stretches at a desk.
Charging overnight isn't something to worry about either — the phone stops charging once it's full and only tops up again once the level drops a little, so there's no risk in leaving it plugged in while you sleep.
What's a charge cycle? It's not one plug-in — it's using 100% of the battery's capacity in total, however that adds up across the day. Charging from 50% to 100% twice counts as one cycle, not two, so topping up little and often doesn't use cycles up any faster than one big charge. Most iPhones are rated to keep a large majority of their original capacity after several hundred cycles, which for most people works out at well over a year of normal use.
Checking your battery's health
When good habits stop being enough, your phone will tell you.
Settings → Battery → Battery Health
The Maximum Capacity figure shows how much charge your battery holds now, compared with when it was new. As this number drops, so does your screen-on time. If the word "Service" appears next to it, that's your phone telling you the battery's worn enough to be worth replacing — most people start to notice the difference somewhere around the 80% mark.
Battery worn out? It's an easy fixA battery replacement is one of the cheapest, quickest repairs there is, and it can make an older iPhone feel new again. We come to you, and it's covered by our 12-month warranty. See battery replacement prices → |
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Battery replacement
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Battery life questions
A few things people often ask us about iPhone battery care.
Is it bad to charge my iPhone overnight?
No. Your iPhone stops charging automatically once it reaches 100%, so there's no risk of overcharging by leaving it plugged in while you sleep. Optimised Battery Charging simply reduces how long it spends sitting fully charged, to help slow long-term wear.
Should I let my battery run down to 0% before charging?
No — that's an older myth left over from a different type of battery. Modern iPhone batteries are happiest charged whenever suits you, rather than run flat first.
How do I know if my battery just needs replacing?
Check Settings → Battery → Battery Health. If Maximum Capacity has dropped noticeably, or you see the word "Service" next to it, that's a clear sign the battery is worn and a replacement will likely bring back a full day's use.
Will a battery replacement fix a slow iPhone?
Often, yes. iOS can quietly slow performance on a worn battery to avoid unexpected shutdowns, so a fresh battery frequently brings the speed straight back along with the extra battery life.
Battery not what it used to be?Book a battery replacement and we'll come straight to you, wherever you're based. Book your battery replacement → |
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