Is your iPhone battery low in the morning despite you giving it a good charge the night before? Having your battery drain overnight is not just inconvenient, you also end up using more electricity and it can wear out your phone battery sooner.
When your iPhone battery drains overnight, you of course want to stop that from happening. In this article, we explore the reasons your battery can drain overnight and explain how to solve the problem.
So read on to find out how to stop your iPhone battery from draining overnight. ‘
Table of Contents
Why iPhone Battery Might Lose Power Overnight?
There are various reasons why your phone might lose power during the night. Below, you will find seven reasons and ways to fix them.
Reason One: Mobile Data
One of the reasons that cause iPhone batteries to drain overnight is the mobile data. Newer iPhones, such as the iPhone 13, are all powered by the 5G network which uses more battery than 2G or 3G networks.
You can check if continuous use of mobile data is the reason your battery drains overnight, by turning the data off before you go to bed. Turning off mobile data means the battery is not having to sustain the 5G network during the night. Instead, you can use a secure Wi-Fi network.
To turn off your mobile data, you need to go to Settings to switch off your cellular data. Check your battery in the morning. If the problem persists, then your battery is draining because of one of the other reasons listed below.
Reason Two: Bluetooth And/Or AirDrop
When you have Bluetooth and Airdrop switched on, they constantly look to connect with other devices. Even during the night when there is no need to connect. Because they are active overnight, this can drain your battery.
To check if this is the issue with your iPhone, turn off the services. You can do it in the Control Center or through Settings. When you want to use Bluetooth or AirDrop, simply turn them back on again.
Reason Three: Screen Brightness
The brightness level of your iPhone screen can also affect the speed at your battery drains. The brighter the screen, the more power it uses. Turning the brightness level down will conserve the battery. It is also better for your eyes.
You can adjust the brightness of your screen in Settings and then choose Display and Brightness. You can also access the brightness slider to change the brightness through the Control Center. Just press the brightness icon and move the slider until you have your desired brightness level.
Reason Four: Location Service
Many apps you have installed on your phone use your location for various useful reasons. However, having your location services switched on all the time will use battery power as the apps track your location.
Location tracking is not necessary overnight so you can turn it off from Settings, Privacy, and Location Services. When you turn it off, your phone will not feed data about your location to the apps that need to know your location.
However, turning the location service off means some apps and services will not work fully. For example, you won’t be able to search for services in your current location. To solve this issue, customize the use of location data. Changing it to While Using the App, location services will not constantly run in the background and drain your battery.
Reason Five: App Refresh
If you have the Background App Refresh enabled this can drain your battery overnight. When you close an iOS app, after a while it enters a suspended state. When App Refresh is enabled, the apps can still check for new content and updates when suspended and that uses more battery.
You can turn the Refresh service off for certain apps only or you can turn it off completely. Or you can have it on only when connected to a Wi-FI network. To change the status of the App Refresh, go to Settings and General. Turning it off for apps that refresh often such as social media or email, should not affect how well the apps work.
Reason Six: Old Version of iOS App
If your phone battery drains overnight, it could be because you have an old version of the iOS app. This older version will use more battery. Why? Because when you update the app, the new iOS update will have enhancements to improve its efficiency. An update may also remove features that use more power than necessary.
Therefore, you might find that a frequent app update will help your battery to retain more power overnight.
Reason Seven: Old or Unnecessary Apps
The more apps you have downloaded to your phone, the more they affect your battery usage. Most of us have downloaded apps that we have since forgotten about and therefore never use.
Browse through your apps and remove any that you no longer use. It will improve your iPhone’s battery life and performance because the system will run smoother. Deleting unused apps will also free space for other data such as pictures or videos.
Ways to Save Battery Power
So far we have explored potential reasons for your iPhone battery losing power overnight. Below, you will find additional ways to conserve battery power.
Method One: Low Power Mode
One of the best ways to prevent overnight battery drain on your iPhone is to enable Low Power Mode. When you turn it on, it disables all background activities such as downloads or fetching your emails. However, your phone will still perform essential tasks.
You might have noticed that when your battery has less than 20% power left, the Low Power Mode kicks in automatically. You can turn it on manually as long as your battery has less than 80% charge left to save battery power, for example, overnight.
To activate the mode, go to Settings, then choose Battery and from there you can toggle the Low Power Mode on and off. You will know it’s active because the battery icon turns a different color.
Method Two: Night Shift Mode
Many people may not even be aware that your iPhone has a Night Shift Mode. Turning this mode will save your battery overnight. When you have it switched on, your phone will automatically change the colors of your screen to warmer tones once the sun has set.
Using warmer tones and a dimmer screen will save your eyes as well as your battery. To turn on the Night Mode, go to Settings first, and then Display and Brightness where you can toggle the mode on.
Method Three: Keep Your Phone Face Down
If you sleep with the phone facing up, your phone’s screen will light up every time you get a notification. These notifications can be a part of why your phone battery keeps draining overnight.
You can turn the notifications for apps such as mail or Instagram off completely. But since you might like to receive them during the day and turning the notifications on and off is a hassle, the easier solution is simply to place your phone face down when you go to sleep.
Method Four: Disable iCloud
When you have iCloud enabled, your phone will send all your photos to iCloud. While this is a great way to keep your photos safe, you don’t necessarily need every photo saved there, especially as the saving process needs battery power.
You can turn this off by going to Settings, Photos, and then tapping on iCloud Photos. This may help your phone to keep the battery charged overnight and you can then choose which photos you want to be saved.
Method Five: Use Airplane Mode
Another way to reduce the amount of power your battery uses during the night is to switch to Airplane Mode. This will turn off the wireless features on your phone. The downside is that you will not receive calls and texts the normal way.
However, if you connect to Wi-Fi you can still receive messages and calls on WhatsApp or in iMessage. You can see when the mode is active from the icon on the top-right corner of your screen.
What if Nothing Works?
If you find that your phone battery still drains after trying all these fixes, you may need to get your battery replaced. However, you can check the battery’s health on your phone first. Tap battery health on your iPhone to check how your battery is doing. You can also use a free battery health app as shown in this video.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why your iPhone battery drains overnight. We recommend you work through the reasons and solutions listed in this article to figure out if there is a specific cause for the battery issues. However, if none of them works, it is best to take your iPhone to an Apple store where a technician can check your phone.
We hope this article has helped you to solve your iPhone battery problem. If there is anything you would like to ask about the topic, you can write your questions in the comments section.