Save your battery with iOS 9’s Low Power Mode

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Keep your iPhone humming for up to three hours until your next charge.
Keep your iPhone humming for up to three hours until your next charge.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

iOS 9 brings a bunch of battery-boosting features, most of which work right out of the box. But there’s one battery-saving feature you’ll have to enable yourself.

Called Low Power Mode, this new feature should prove super-useful when you need to eke out just a bit more time with your device — provided you’re not doing anything intense.

While Low Power Mode will reportedly get you from one to three hours of extra iPhone time, it will also cut your iPhone’s performance by about 40 percent.

Here’s how to enable Low Power Mode in iOS 9, which is currently in public beta but should be ready for prime time next month.

How to enable iOS 9 Low Power Mode

Head into your Settings app with a tap, then swipe down to Battery in the third section down. Tap Battery and you’ll get a host of power-related items, like the ability to toggle whether your iPhone shows the percentage left in the icon at the top of your screen, as well as a list of the most battery-hogging apps on your phone.

At the top you’ll find a toggle for Low Power Mode. Toggle that to ON, and you’ll notice your battery icon will now be yellow instead of the standard green. Your iPhone screen will go dark faster, and mail fetching, background app refreshes, automatic downloads and some visual animations will be reduced or turned off. Low Power Mode also forces you to see the battery percentage at the top of the screen, so there’s that.

This is a great way to keep your iPhone working and useful for those moments you don’t have an outlet or battery charger to top off your tank. Just be aware that your device will be slowed down to help you conserve juice.

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