How to turn off battery throttling on your iPhone and improve your battery life

If you have an iPhone that’s running slowly, you may have heard about Apple’s new throttling feature, which automatically lowers the maximum performance of the device to reduce power usage over time and prevent unexpected shutdowns. It was first introduced with the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus in 2016, and it has since been present on every new model of iPhone released since then. While this battery throttling feature has been heavily criticized by users, it’s actually possible to turn it off – but you need to be careful about how you do it.

What is it?

Battery throttling is a feature that Apple introduced with the release of iOS 10.3. It was designed to help prolong the life of older iPhones by reducing the amount of power that they use. However, many users have found that it causes their batteries to drain more quickly than before. If you’re one of those people, here’s how to turn it off.

Go to Settings > Battery.
Tap Low Power Mode at the top of the screen
Toggle this slider from green (On) to white (Off).
Your iPhone will now no longer be subjected to this throttling feature. So if you want to keep using Low Power Mode without fear of ruining your battery, follow these steps! You’ll be glad you did when your phone starts lasting for days again.

Why does it happen?

Your iPhone starts to throttle performance when your battery can no longer provide peak power output. This happens as a preventative measure to avoid unexpected shutdowns. As your battery degrades, you’ll notice that your phone isn’t performing as well as it used to. Luckily, there’s a way to disable this feature and regain some of that lost performance. All you need to do is go into the Settings app > Battery > Battery Health (Beta) menu and toggle the slider for Peak Performance Capability. You might want to keep an eye on how often this kicks in though; if your iPhone is constantly throttled, then it might be time for a new battery!

How do I turn it off?

Here’s how to turn off battery throttling on your iPhone:

Go to Settings > Battery.
Tap the switch next to Low Power Mode to turn it off.
Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh.
Turn Background App Refresh off for all apps or select certain apps that can refresh in the background.
Turn off location services for any app you’re not using if you want to save power.
Switch from Wi-Fi + Cellular connection setting to Wi-Fi Only or Cellular Data.
Disable notifications by going into each individual app settings, like Facebook, Instagram, etc., and turning off notifications under Notifications > Notification Center & Lock Screen settings (iPhone X)

Can I use Low Power Mode instead?

If you have an iPhone 6 or later, you can use Low Power Mode to help extend your battery life. Low Power Mode reduces display brightness, optimizes device performance, and minimizes system animations. You can also choose to have Low Power Mode turn on automatically when your battery reaches 20%. However, if you want to disable battery throttling, you’ll need to go into your Settings app.

Once in Settings, tap Battery. Next, tap the switch next to Low Power Mode. To turn it off completely, toggle Automatic Low Power Mode from On to Off. Then scroll down and toggle the slider for Background App Refresh from On to Off. After making these changes, restart your phone for them to take effect.