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Dead by lunch? Your iPhone knows which app did it

How to see which apps drain your battery on iPhone

Open Settings > Battery and scroll down to the list of apps. It's sorted by how much battery each one used, and tapping an app shows how much of that was on screen and how much in the background. If the top app mostly runs in the background, turn it off in Settings > General > Background App Refresh.

How to do it

  1. Open Settings and tap Battery.

  2. Scroll down past the chart to the list of apps. It's sorted by how much battery each app used.

  3. Look at more than one day (Last 10 Days, or the earlier days in the chart) to see if the same app keeps coming top.

  4. Tap the app, or Show Activity, to see how much was on screen and how much was in the background.

  5. If most of it was in the background, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and turn that app off.

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My phone started dying by mid-afternoon after a week of nothing different. The battery list had a coupon app I'd opened twice sitting at the top, almost all of it background activity. Background App Refresh off for that one app, and the phone made it to bedtime again.

The percentages are shares of what was used, not of a full battery. An app at 40% used 40% of whatever went that day.

Check it again a day after the change. If a different app jumps to the top, it's usually a messaging or maps app you actually use, and that's fine.

Other ways to do it

  • Low Power Mode Built in

    Pick it if you need the phone to last until you get home, right now, and don't care which app is to blame.

    Stick with this tip if it keeps happening every day and you want to stop the cause.

  • Location Services per app Built in

    Pick it if the top app is a map, weather or shopping app set to Always. Switching it to While Using the App is often the whole fix.

    Stick with this tip if you don't know which app it is yet.

Questions people ask

The list is empty. Why?

The phone needs a few hours of use after a restart or a full charge before it has anything to show. Check again later in the day.

What does Background Activity mean?

The app was working while you weren't looking at it: refreshing a feed, syncing, or using your location. That's the part you can usually switch off without losing anything.

Should I turn off Background App Refresh for everything?

No. Leave it on for messaging and anything you want up to date when you open it. Turn it off for the one or two apps at the top of the battery list.

The top app is one I really use. Now what?

Then the drain is probably just screen time. Check Location Services for that app and set it to While Using the App instead of Always.

Is it my battery that's worn out instead?

Look at Settings > Battery > Battery Health. If Maximum Capacity is under about 80%, the battery itself is part of the problem.

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