iPhones ultimately charge faster when set to low power mode, which is automatically deactivated immediately after your device reaches 80%.
The last thing you want to experience as an iPhone user is to run out of charge when you have something important to do with your smartphone.
When it comes to charging our devices, iPhones aren’t the fastest charging smartphone, but certain customization features can help you boost the rate your iOS device charges.
iPhones, either new or old versions, come with pretty decent battery life and capacity for size. Low Power Mode helps increase the battery life of your iPhone by limiting several background activities.
Once you’re about to go out of charge as an iPhone user and have limited time to charge, it’s only regular that you make the most of the time you’ve got left to ensure you don’t go around walking with a dead phone.
When we turn the Low Power Mode on our iPhone device, we often ponder if this feature also helps our phone charge faster. If this sounds like what you’ve been doing, keep reading, as this article will uncover all you need to know about Low Power Mode on iPhones and How it affects your phone when charging.
What Does Low Power Mode on iPhone Mean?
Before we answer the question of if Low Power Mode helps the iPhone to charge faster, let’s spend time explaining the concept of Low Power Mode and what it truly entails.
Low Power Mode (LPM) is an intelligent phone feature in both Google and Apple devices, but for the scope of this writing, we’ll be focusing on Low Power on iPhone devices only.
Low Power Mode is an iPhone feature that helps elongate and optimize battery performance by reducing background functionality on our device.
Every iPhone has pre-installed system applications and externally downloaded ones running in the background, even when your phone is locked or you are fast asleep; This helps to reduce our battery performance even without us knowing.
So the next time you wake up to find your fully charged (100%) iPhone device at 97%, you first check out for background apps before concluding that someone used your phone or your battery is faulty.
Once you activate the Low Power Mode feature on your iOS device, the mode reduces specific default configurations like display brightness, system animations, and other iPhone features like iCloud sync, automatic downloads, background app refresh, and AirDrop.
The Low Power Mode feature doesn’t affect things like making and receiving phone calls, accessing the web, and sending text messages and emails.
Among the numerous built-in features on iPhone devices, Low Power Mode is one of the most exceptional features. Nothing can be more fulfilling than having a feature that helps you maintain your battery life.
The issue of whether or not Low Power Mode increases battery charge is subject to debate because while some end-users believe LPM increases charging speed, others do not.
To proffer a compromise on this subject matter, we’ll consider an experiment on an iPhone device. The investigation featured when Low Power Mode was on and when it wasn’t. But before then, let’s check how to turn on Low Power Mode on the iPhone.
How to Turn on Low Power Mode Feature on iPhone
iPhone devices, by default, pop up a Low Battery notification once the phone reaches 20%. So the best way to optimize our remaining battery life is to turn on the Low Power Mode.
Once your phone reaches this battery level, the low power option pops up, and you can activate this by just tapping the low power option. When this mode is activated, your remaining battery percentage turns yellow.
But if you wish to turn on the Low Power Mode before your phone reaches 20%, here’s how to enable it manually.
1. Open the Settings icon on your device
2. Scroll down and select Battery
3. Tap the slider next to Low Power Mode to activate it.
Does an iPhone Device Charge Faster in Low Power Mode?
While many people still find it hard to believe, it isn’t new that the iPhone charges faster on Low Power Mode.
As outlined earlier, Low Power Mode is a feature designed to restrict and limit background operations on your device, and this helps prevent your battery from draining very fast.
Although the difference between charging an iPhone when Low Power Mode is activated isn’t much compared to charging the iPhone without the Low Power feature, it still doesn’t change the fact that Low Power Mode helps iPhone devices to charge faster.
Since Low Power Mode limits the background operations of your device, the charging speed will undoubtedly increase as the device has few functions to execute.
You should know that the iPhone device is structured to exit the low power mode once it reaches 80% battery life; hence once your phone charges to 80%, all background apps resume fully, reducing the charging speed.
Once the Low power mode is activated, it means less workload on the device, frees up more energy and helps the widget focus more on charging.
So, iPhone devices generally charge faster when low power mode is activated, although its significance varies.
A recent test done using iPhone 6S further bolsters the claim that iPhone charges faster on Low Power Mode, and the result is as follows.
During the test, the iPhone 6S charged from 17% to complete charge (100%) in 170 minutes without the low power feature. But with the low power mode activated, the iPhone 6S charged from the same 17% to full charge (100%) in 160 minutes.
Another test carried out using the same device produced the following result:
The phone charged from 0% to 73% in 60 minutes and 95% after 120 minutes in Low Power Mode. With the LPM deactivated, the device increased from 0% to 66% in 60 minutes and 93% after 120 minutes.
During both tests, the iPhone was left untouched except in intervals of ten minutes to monitor the charge. When it reached 80%, the iPhone automatically flipped on general mode and exited the low power mode but was turned back on, so it didn’t affect the test.
Hence, the iPhone charges faster with the low power mode enabled, which restricts background operations and lets the phone charge only.
Alternative Ways to Improve your iPhone Charging Speed
Aside from activating the low power mode on your iPhone device, they’re other ways to help hasten the charging speed of your iPhone in the least possible time. We shall consider a few of these methods below.
1. Switch Off your iPhone before charging
One cost-free and most effective way to increase your charging speed on your iPhone device is by switching off the iPhone before you start charging. This method is similar to Airplane Mode.
If you’re a new iPhone user and you don’t know how to turn off your device, here’s a guide to help you
IiPhone8 and Older Versions:
a) Press down the Lock button until a slide pops up with the power off icon
b) Slide the icon to the right, and your iPhone will turn off after some seconds.
For iPhone X and New iPhone Versions:
Unlike other iPhones with a centre home button, newer iPhones don’t have a home button. Hence to switch off your iPhone device:
a) Press down the Lock and Volume Up buttons, and you’ll spot a slide with the power off icon
b) Next, slide the icon to the right, and your phone will successfully go off after a few seconds.
2. Activate Airplane Mode on Your device
Activating Airplane Mode is another feature that helps your phone charge faster. Once the Airplane Mode feature is activated, all operations on the device stop; hence the device can focus on just charging and nothing else.
To switch your device to airplane mode, follow the steps listed below:
a) Click the Settings app on your iPhone device, and a submenu will pop up
b) Locate the Airplane Mode icon and slide it right for activation.
3) Leave iPhone While Charging
Leaving your iPhone to charge without obstructing the charging process, either by pressing while it is charging or seeing a movie during charging hours,s would help quicken the charging speed of your device.
Doing things like playing games and chatting on social media while charging reduces the charging speed of your device.
4. Connect Your iPhone to a Wall Charger
Most people often make the mistake of connecting their iPhone to a USB instead of a wall charger when charging.
Recent research has shown that connecting your phone to a wall charger instead of a USB port helps boost your charging speed as wall chargers dissipate a higher electrical voltage, unlike the USB port.
Conclusion
The charging rate/speed of iPhone devices differs when the Low Power Mode is activated and when it isn’t, and we’ve been able to successfully explain how this feature helps increase the charging speed of your iPhone device.
iPhones ultimately charge faster when set to low power mode, which is automatically deactivated immediately after your device reaches 80%.