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The Best Ways To Improve Your iPad’s Battery Life

An iPad has many uses in workspaces and classrooms, and it can even work great for gaming and other fun activities. Due to this, you want to keep your iPad’s battery health in perfect condition. If your battery loses capacity, it can’t hold a charge long enough. While it’s possible to replace an iPad battery, it’s expensive, and it’s easier to take care of the battery before it gets to this point.

The iPad offers good battery life, but after many charges it loses capacity. Reducing brightness and turning off background app refresh can help the battery last longer, and low-power mode will help as well. Disabling more automatic background functions, or using airplane mode, are also options.

If your iPad gets discharged quickly, don’t rush to assume it’s broken or needs replacing. Before you wonder if the iPad is broken, try these remedies to get it back up and running smoothly. In addition, we explore information on how long the battery should last under normal conditions, what could cause the battery to drain, and tips on possible solutions.

How Long Do iPad Batteries Usually Last?

Tablet charging on white table

If you check your owner’s manual for the iPad, Apple says the iPad battery should last up to 10 hours under normal conditions. But as you might know, this number is not always accurate, and the battery consumption can vary because of different conditions.

Besides, how you use the iPad counts for how fast the power will drain. On heavy usage through gaming or by running software that requires a lot of energy, you will eat through the battery more quickly.

When you leave your iPad switched on without running any programs, the battery life will shoot up beyond 10 hours. And if you are a power user, you’ll want to consider an external battery like the IDMIX 20000mAh PD30W Power Bank (on Amazon) which can charge any iPad model all the way, quickly, as an alternative to rigorously managing the battery.

However, if you’re always online browsing or playing games while other apps are open in the background, you will notice your iPad’s battery does not last that long. It is drained in about three hours or less, depending on the programs you’re running.

Generally, it’s a source of concern if your iPad battery gets drained quickly if you’re not using functions that draw a lot of power. An example would be browsing on Safari for an hour, but when you get back, your battery is around 50 percent from a full charge.

In a case like this, you should understand there’s an issue causing the battery to drain so quickly. The problems you might be dealing with include a damaged battery, inefficient software in the background, or even running things like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you don’t need them.

But if your battery is not giving you the service you expect, there are several things you can look into to fix it. Read on to learn how you can improve your iPad’s battery life.

What Causes an iPad Battery to Drain Quickly?

Before you can fix the problem, you need to understand what’s causing your iPad’s battery to drain so quickly. These are some of the things that affect battery life on your iPad.

Screen Brightness

Apple says you have two easy ways to save your battery life: use Wi-Fi and adjust your screen brightness.

To adjust brightness, open the Control Center with an upward swipe, then use the slider to reduce screen brightness. Also, you can go to the settings in the Display & Brightness section to adjust brightness.

To ensure you don’t have to worry about brightness, use Auto-Brightness:

  1. In Settings, tap Accessibility, then Display & Text Size.
  1. Scroll down and toggle the Auto-Brightness.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi When Not Needed

Wi-Fi consumes less energy than a cellular connection. However, Wi-Fi still consumes power, even when you’re not using it. So if you’re not going to be online, turn it off. This also applies to Bluetooth, so you should turn it off if you’re not using it.

Airdrop

This is a feature that allows you to shuffle files between iOS devices. This is a super simple solution you can use. Still, like other wireless technologies, it also drains your battery if left running in the background, even when you’re not transferring any files.

So only turn it on when you need to use it, then turn it off immediately after you’re done.

Background App Refresh

Some apps refresh content when you’re not using them to ensure when you return, and you’re served fresh content. This saves you from having to refresh manually, but it also comes at a cost to your battery. It drains the battery silently in the background.

Climate Control

Too much heat will affect your iPad’s battery life. It’s recommended to maintain the device between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, with 62 to 72 the comfort zone. So, while on the beach, don’t leave the iPad exposed on your car seat or dashboard if you parked in the sun.

Location Services

Another feature that consumes power in the background is location services. Some people advise force-quitting out of apps each night before bed, but this is not practical, as you might not have the energy or time to close all iPad apps.

In addition, the location service running in the background can eat into your battery. So besides disabling the location service, it’s also advisable to force-close other GPS apps like Google Maps. 

Handoff Wireless Technology

You don’t need to answer calls on your iPad, and sometimes you might not need it to finish a text or email you started on your Mac or iPhone. Also, because the iPad is necessary for other things than your iPhone and Mac, you don’t need Handoff to share between the different devices.

The Handoff wireless technology consumes a bit of power you could save if it were disabled. To disable Handoff:

  1. Visit the Settings page, the General tab, then Handoff.
  1. Then, toggle the switch to disable the feature. 

Sharing iPad Analytics

When setting up the iPad, you probably agreed to share data analytics. This is normal for a first-time user, but Apple knows better. So whenever you accept to activate iPad analytics, the device shares diagnostic information with Apple.

This information aids in improving the product and other services. Shared iPad analytics remain active in the background, draining your battery over time. To turn this off:

  1. Go to Settings, on the Privacy page, then Analytics.
  1. Find Share iPad Analytics and turn the switch off. 

How to Improve Your iPad’s Battery Life 

After looking at a few of the common reasons your iPad might be discharging too quickly, it’s also a good idea to look at some of the ways you can resolve the problem. Below are some remedies that will help your iPad run longer before the next recharge.

Turn on Reduce Motion Mode

If there’s screen movement on your iPad, you can switch on Reduce Motion. Your iPad uses motion effects to mirror the perception of depth on the Home screen and apps.

One of the reasons your battery could be draining quickly is because the device uses different kinds of animations to give you a fun and sleek user experience. Often, you’ll not notice these subtle animations, which drain the battery.

The good news is you can switch on Reduce Motion to reduce the animations on-screen. These animations usually are played when you close or open apps on the iPad.

To switch on Reduce Motion, complete these simple steps:

  1. Visit the Settings page and proceed to Accessibility.
  1. Choose Select Motion, then switch on the Reduce Motion feature.

When you switch on Reduce Motion, some screen effects are disabled or changed on the device, including:

  • Screen effects and transitions switch to the dissolve effect instead of slide or zoom effects.
  • Parallax effect where apps, wallpaper, and alerts that shift or move slightly when you tilt the device are disabled.
  • Also, animation and effects in some apps are disabled. This includes weather animations on your weather app.

By disabling these animations and movements, your iPad will not need to use energy on normal usage. However, disabling the feature does not mean you’ll have a terrible user experience. On the contrary, you can still enjoy a smooth browsing experience, the only difference being the extra edge you get when the feature is activated.

Close Out of All of Your Apps

If you always have apps open, the iPad will need more power to keep these apps pending. This is because most apps will run updates in the background, anticipating you would return to continue using the platform. By closing all apps when done using them, you don’t need to worry about your iPad consuming too much power.

One of the reasons your battery capacity will deteriorate is because of too many charge and discharge cycles. When you save on power consumption, you ensure the device does not discharge too fast, so you don’t need to plug it in every day.

Think of this like clearing history, so your device does not need to remember which apps are open. Keeping open apps on queue requires power drawn from your battery.

To close all the apps on the iPad, you can double-click the Home button, which pulls up all open apps. Also, you can complete the apps by swiping up from the bottom if the iPad doesn’t have the Home button.

If you don’t want to close all apps at once, you can swipe from left to right to select the apps you wish to close, then push the identified app until it closes.

Turn off Background App Refresh

Don’t forget about those apps that suck up the battery even when you’re not actively using them. They do this in the background, so you might be using one app, and there are four in the background running tasks.

Background app refresh should be your first suspect if your iPad is constantly drained of the battery. While someone would prefer to delete the apps, if you still need to use them, there’s a way around it. You can disable background refresh and save your battery.

Understanding Background App Refresh

To understand how background refresh, think about how someone sends you a message on social media, and you get a notification that you just received a message.

The app queries the server so many times every minute to catch any new activity you should know about. So, you will receive the notification immediately after receiving the message. While this sounds convenient, it takes a bit of power to perform all those queries.

For some essential apps like the email app, you can benefit from the background refresh function. However, you probably have some apps that perform background refresh and rarely return any helpful feedback. These are some of the apps you should target when disabling background refresh.

If you would like to prevent an app from refreshing in the background,

  1. Visit the Settings page in the General tab and navigate to Background App Refresh.
  1. Then, disable the function on battery-sucking apps you don’t need to use often.

Never Let Your iPad Overheat

Apple designed the iPad to function perfectly in temperatures between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Extreme temperatures will affect your battery life, so ensure you maintain the device within this range. If you use the iPad for work to perform different tasks, it will inevitably get warm.

Typically, you have nothing to worry about when it gets a bit hot, but if you cannot afford to have your iPad overheat and interfere with work, there are several remedies you might want to consider.

There are several reasons the iPad is overheating, including:

  • External conditions are hot: Working outside under direct sunlight can cause the device to overheat. This includes also locking the device in a warm environment like your car dashboard parked under direct sunlight.
  • The iPad is using too much processing power: This is often the case if you’re doing intensive tasks like a significant software update. The situation is amplified if you use apps that require a lot of processing power or when you play graphically-intensive games.

Overheating will not only drain your battery but also slows down apps. To prevent overheating:

  • Get the iPad to a cooler place to cool it down if you’re running intensive tasks.
  • Don’t use the device while charging, as it will already generate heat.
  • If you have apps running in the background, turn them off as they could also overheat the device and drain the battery.

Turn off Location Services

Location services are ideal for some apps, like Google Maps or cab-hailing services. However, you also have apps that use location services but don’t require them for daily operations.

You can turn these off to save on battery. If you want to turn off the apps individually,

  1. Visit the Settings page and go to Privacy, then Location Services.
  1. Here, you’ll see the apps using Location Services.
  1. To switch the service off on all the apps, you can use the master switch at the top.

However, if you still need some apps, it’s recommended that you switch the service off for each app. First, go through the list and decide which apps you want to use, then turn off location services for the rest.

Turn off Unnecessary Notifications

Another area you might want to look at is notification services. These alerts show on the screen whenever an app sends you a message. So, for example, when someone sends you a message, the messages app will alert you.

To send out the notifications, most apps run background refresh, which checks many times a minute for new messages. For some apps, you don’t need to receive notifications, so you can turn this off.

  1. On the Settings page, go to Notifications to see the list of all apps that send notifications.
  1. Click on the apps you want to disable and switch off the Allow Notifications toggle.

Why You Should Be Turning Off Your iPad Once a Week

Tablet and charging cable with adapter on wooden table

This may not sound like a big deal, but when you turn off the iPad at least once every week, you can extend its battery life. There’s likely an underlying software issue if the device has battery problems. When you turn off the iPad, all programs are shut down.

On turning the iPad back on, it gets a fresh start and clears all previous errors. This ensures the device runs efficiently, which is essential to avoid straining the system.

Conclusion 

If your iPad is draining the battery fast, the issue might not be so serious. Instead, it could be from having the background app refresh or overheating. Background services run many requests every minute, and each of these requests requires a bit of energy to be executed.

With these simple guidelines, you can extend your iPad’s battery life and enhance efficiency.