How to make your phone battery last longer (iPhone and Pixel)

There’s a lot of battery advice online, and much of it is outdated or just wrong. So for this guide we only used what Apple and Google say in their own support pages. The good news: the two changes that matter most take about 30 seconds.

There are two different goals here:

• Battery life: how long a charge lasts today.
• Battery lifespan: how healthy the battery stays over the years.

Some settings help one, some help both.

The two settings we’d turn on first

1. Limit how full your battery charges.

• iPhone 15 and later: go to Settings > Battery > Charging and choose a limit from 80% to 100%, in 5% steps. Your iPhone stops charging near that limit, and once in a while it still charges to 100% to keep its battery readings accurate (Apple).
• Google Pixel 6a and later: go to Settings > Battery > Battery health > Charging optimization, turn it on and pick Limit to 80%. Google says it suits people who usually end the day with charge left (Google).

2. Or let the phone learn your routine. If 80% isn’t enough for your day, use the smart option instead:

• iPhone: Optimized Battery Charging can pause charging at 80% overnight and finish before you usually unplug. It needs about 14 days to learn your habits (Apple). On iPhone 15 and later it’s available when your limit is set to 100%.
• Pixel: Adaptive Charging does the same, finishing at 100% shortly before you usually unplug. It also needs about 14 days to learn (Google).

Settings that help a charge last longer today

On iPhone (from Apple’s battery guidance):

• Turn on Auto-Brightness or lower the brightness.
• Use Wi-Fi when you can; Apple says it uses less power than cellular data.
• Turn off Background App Refresh for apps that don’t need it (Settings > General > Background App Refresh).
• Turn off Location Services for apps that don’t need your location.
• Use Low Power Mode (Settings > Battery) on long days. It pauses some background activity and limits performance until you charge again.
• Check Settings > Battery to see which apps use the most.

On Pixel (from Google’s Pixel help):

• Keep Adaptive Battery on (Settings > Battery > Battery Saver > Adaptive Battery). It learns which apps you use, and on a new phone that takes a few weeks.
• Turn on Adaptive brightness and Dark theme.
• Use a shorter screen timeout, such as 30 seconds.
• Turn off Always-on display and live wallpapers if you don’t need them.

Heat is the real battery killer

Apple’s numbers are worth knowing:

• The ideal temperature for an iPhone is 62° to 72° F (16° to 22° C).
• Using it above 95° F (35° C) can permanently reduce battery capacity.
• If your phone gets hot while charging, take it out of its case.

(Apple)

In practice: don’t leave your phone on a car dashboard, don’t charge it under a pillow, and don’t game while fast-charging on a hot day.

Storing a phone you’re not using

If you’re keeping an old phone in a drawer, Apple recommends charging it to about 50%, turning it off, and storing it somewhere cool. Top it up to 50% every six months. Storing it full or completely empty wears the battery faster (Apple).

Myths we’d ignore

• “Close all your apps to save battery.” Apple’s and Google’s guidance focuses on background refresh, location and screen settings, not on swiping apps away.
• “Always drain to 0% before charging.” Neither company recommends it. Today’s batteries don’t need it, and the charge-limit features above exist to avoid the extremes.

What helped your battery the most? Add your tip, with your phone model, in the battery thread in our forum.

Prices checked on 2026-10-22.

Sources

• Official Apple, About Charge Limit and Optimized Battery Charging on iPhone
• Official Apple, Maximizing battery life and lifespan
• Official Google, Get the most life from your Pixel phone battery