iOS 9 to increase battery life by hours

Last week, Apple announced the release of iOS 9 along with all its key features at WWDC 2015.

One of the exciting new features that iOS 9 will be bringing is an improved battery life, and not for new iPhones, this new iOS feature is aimed at squeezing out more battery life for the iPhone you currently have.

Apple have released a new feature that will help catch out those battery draining apps and they have also stopped iPhone screens from lighting up if they are face down on the table (which until now would light up every time you had a notification, even if you couldn’t see the screen).

iOS 9 will also tackle battery life by making it much easier for you to keep track of all those battery draining apps. This feature will help you see (with a new battery app) how long you are using individual apps and what they are doing in the background.

iOS 9 also has changed the way your phone handles app activity in the background.

App developers are also being encouraged to step away from old methods of updating their apps and move on to new more battery efficient methods.

Apps in the background can drain a surprising amount of battery life, however with the new iOS update, apps will now be at “absolute idle” when not in use to reduce battery power usage.

Apple states on their website, “Across the entire operating system, apps and key technologies have been made more efficient to trim battery usage wherever possible — so you get more battery life for the things you do every day. Thanks to ambient light and proximity sensors, your iPhone knows if it’s face down on the table and prevents the screen from turning on, even when you receive a notification. And the new Low Power mode lets you extend your battery life even further”.

Apple has said that the existing hardware will get up to an extra one hour of battery life with the new iOS 9 update, although some claim this new ‘Low Power Mode’ may be able to save up to 3-4 hours battery life.

The new ‘Low Power Mode’ when turned on will start switching off things to reduce power outage like sensors, push notifications for mail, background updates and downloads. Screen brightness will also be lowered and network speeds will even be reduced.

iOS 9 will ask you if you want to switch to this mode whenever you reach 20% remaining  battery life and again at 10%, allowing you to make the most of your dying battery life.

Apple has spent a lot of time optimising system apps for energy efficiency and pushing app developers to consider how much energy their apps are actually using. We are unsure if this means the App Store will start checking app efficiency but the rest of the changes and improvements to iOS 9 will definitely help your iPhone last through the day.