How to check which apps are draining your iPhone battery

Sometimes it's good to know why your phone isn't lasting a full day.

Apple says the battery inside your iPhone is designed to last a full day. While this is mostly true, the way you use your phone can make it drain a lot quicker. Some apps can deplete the battery quickly without you even noticing. The good news is that iOS provides tools that let you check your iPhone's battery usage. Some of the reasons why you're losing battery are out of your control, but knowing which apps are draining it can help your iPhone last until the end of the day. Changing a few settings can help, too.

It all starts in the Settings app on your iPhone. Open it and look for the Battery menu — it's the one with the green icon. It should be easy to find since it's one of the first options in the list, near Wi-Fi and Cellular. Here, you'll find a detailed chart showing exactly how you've been using your iPhone. Tapping View All Battery Usage brings up an even more detailed list of exactly what's draining your battery. Even if you don't have one of the latest handsets, you can still access this information. It's been available since iOS 8.

The list is quite easy to understand. The apps at the top are the ones that drained your iPhone's battery the most. In most cases, these are the apps you use most throughout the day. Spent your afternoon watching TikToks? There's a good chance you'll see that app at the top of the list.

There's another key insight to look at. While On Screen refers to the time you actively used that app, there's also Background time. That's when an app isn't directly on the screen but is still utilizing your phone's resources.

Think of apps like Weather or Google Maps. When you let apps track your activity , they can check your location in the background even when you might not be interacting with them. The same goes for Apple Music or Spotify when they're streaming music with the iPhone screen off.

So how can you make your iPhone battery last longer? Well, it might not be as simple as just stopping using those apps. Of course, cutting back on the time you spend on TikTok or Instagram certainly helps. Games, for example, also tend to drain the battery faster because they require more processing and graphics power. But changing a few settings on your iPhone can also have a big impact on battery life.

For instance, you can disable Background App Refresh within the General section of the Settings app. This feature allows apps to refresh their content even when you're not using them, which helps things load faster but can be a drain on resources. You can either turn it off for specific apps or disable background updates entirely.