If your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is losing battery life faster than normal, it could be the result of an app or service using more power than it ought to be. Thanks to "battery shaming," you no longer have to wonder about which app or service it might be, or try to quit them all just to stop the drain. Now you can see exactly what's using your battery life and how. Note: Facebook has recently been accused of abusing background processes to stay active longer. If that's the case, hopefully App Store review comes down on them. Battery is at the top level in Settings, and Battery Usage includes providing a breakdown of how much power each app or service is using while on screen (foreground) and while in the background. Launch Settings from your Home screen. Tap on the Show Detailed Usage button to get a breakdown of foreground and background power usage. Tap on Last 7 Days to get a broader look at power consumption over time. The screen lighting up, radios transmitting, and chips processing are the biggest single causes of power drain on your iPhone or iPad.
That's why Apple shows you "on screen"—the screen lit up—and "background"—the radios and processors working when the screen isn't lit up. Now, just because an app is using a lot of power on screen or in the background doesn't in and of itself mean there's a problem. For example, if you're reading Twitter or day or watching movies on an airplane, Tweetbot or Videos might show really high "on screen" usage. Likewise, if you're downloading a ton of podcasts or streaming a lot of Beats 1, Overcast or Music might show really high "background" usage. It's when the the numbers don't match what you're actually doing that there's likely a problem. If you've barely opened an app and it's still showing a very high level of battery use, that's where your attention should go. Looking at my screen, Tweetbot is really high but I use it a lot, and background isn't out of proportion to screen time. So, for every minute I'm using it, it's taking less than a minute to complete actions and otherwise finish things up.
Instagram is doing even better, using only a tiny fraction of the amount of time on background as it does on screen. Facebook, though, is the worst. It's using almost twice as much time in background as it is on screen, which is ridiculous. You can only reduce an app's "on screen" battery usage by reducing the amount of time you use the app. In other words, don't open it and it won't be "on screen". You can, however, reduce the amount of background activity an app is permitted. Because iOS coalesces network and location requests, it's tempting to think turning off one or a few apps won't make much difference. Fewer apps—or no apps—asking, however, means far less to coalesce and ultimately fewer and shorter background requests. Launch Settings from your Home screen. Tap on Background App Refresh. Switch Off any app whose background access you want to minimize.
Note that turning off background app refresh makes apps slightly less convenient. For example, if you turn off background app refresh on a messaging app, you'll still get notifications about new messages, but the app itself will only download new messages when you open it, and that might take a few seconds. You can also prevent apps from using your location in the background. Launch Settings from your Home screen. Tap on Location Services. Tap on the app you want to change. Tap on Never to prevent any location access or While Using the App to allow access only when the app is open. Note that turning off persistent location means apps can't alert you when you're near a friend or there's a special offer nearby. It also means that can't track you wherever you are, all the time. You'll need to figure out whether convenience or privacy (and potentially power savings) is more important to you. My recommendation is to turn off everything you think you don't need and then add back when and if it turns out you do need.
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