Permanent iPhone “Low Power Mode” experiment… My Results

Can I conserve the precious battery of my iPhone by leaving it in Low Power Mode?

Will I miss any valuable notifications at all?

These were the 2 questions I wanted answers to. As a very loyal  Apple user, I have constantly struggled with battery life. I get it! I use my phone more than the battery seems to keep up. I invested in the large case they sell with a built-in battery from Apple which is functionally fantastic but aesthetically terible. I love the small form factor of my iPhone and I hate to add the bulk to it. This phone is literally art and I hate to cram it in an ugly frame.

So I ran an experiment… for 2 weeks, I left that clunky case on the shelf and figured out a way to keep my iPhone permanently in the Yellow Battery symbol “Low Power Mode” (instructions on how you can too below 👇)

Yellow Battery Icon for  means you’re in Low Power Mode

Here are my findings…

Can I conserve the precious battery of my iPhone by leaving it in Low Power Mode?

YES! And by A LOT! No Exaggeration… I gain almost an entire day of life. I found myself actually challenging this by going to bed without plugging into a charger. I would head to sleep with sometimes 40% of my battery remaining. The next day I would wake up to a 3% drop in battery overnight. That 40%ish percent of the battery would hold solid through a typical day until evening sunset before dying completely.

Why does this make such a drastic difference? What’s going on or actually, not going on when you’re in Low Power Mode?

These are the areas that are affected when Low Power Mode is enabled…

Email fetch (MUCH Less-often)
“Hey Siri” (it’s no longer listening for that command 24/7)
Background app refresh (I noticed this. See Below)
Automatic downloads (I didn’t notice a difference)
Some visual effects (I didn’t notice a difference)
Auto-Lock (defaults to 30 seconds)
iCloud Photos (I didn’t notice a difference)

Will I miss any valuable notifications at all?

NO! But, let me preface this with an Asterix*. I already had most of these app notifications turned off, to begin with, so I was basically pre-warmed up for this adjustment. Things that I did notice is that I never missed a WhatsApp Notification, but I did notice a lag in IG DM’s. It seems that the background app refresh affects IG. My Slack App message notifications were unharmed. I received those all the same, which is what I use for work were not affected at all. This was a relief!

I didn’t see a single thing that harmed my ability to work remotely effectively. I perform much of my day's work from my iPhone and my ability to produce and communicate was never diminished. This felt great and was my largest worry going into this experiment.