People wouldn’t even know that their batteries had depleted if Apple didn’t give them this information–which is something it was forced to do after the ‘Batterygate’ scandal where the company was found to be throttling iPhones whose batteries were degrading. Apple maintained this was to stop iPhones suddenly shutting down.

In more recent times Apple has made changes to iOS to preserve the battery for longer, including Optimized Battery Charging, which prevents an iPhone from remaining plugged in for long periods while fully charged. You have probably noticed if you wake up in the night and look at the iPhone charging beside you that it will have stopped charging at 80% with a view to continuing the charge just before you wake up. This is designed to stop the battery from overheating and reduce the number of times your iPhone receives a full charge.

But why do iPhone batteries lose their ability to charge over time? When should your iPhone 18 Pro Max battery be replaced? You may also want to know how much it costs to replace an iPhone battery and how you can tell if a battery in a used iPhone has been replaced.

We’ll run through everything you need to know about iPhone batteries below.

Why do batteries deplete and degrade over time?

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that over time an iPhone battery will eventually start to lose its ability to hold a decent charge, just like the battery in any phone.

The science of this relates to chemical reactions that happen inside the lithium-Ion battery and degrade it. What it means is that if your iPhone battery isn’t lasting as long as it once did you aren’t alone: all batteries become less efficient over time and sadly the battery for your iPhone is no exception.

In a letter regarding Batterygate in December 2017, Apple explained that the “time and the number of times a battery has been charged are not the only factors in this chemical aging process. Device use also affects the performance of a battery over its lifespan. For example, leaving or charging a battery in a hot environment can cause a battery to age faster.”

As the battery gets older it may start to require charging more frequently, hold charge less well, or even start to shut down your phone unexpectedly. You may have started to notice this change, but if you want to see the evidence it is easy to check your battery health, as we will demonstrate below.

How to check iPhone 18 Pro Max battery health

In early 2018 Apple issued an iOS software update with new features that it said “give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance”. It’s really easy to see this information:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap on Battery.

   

3. Tap Battery Health.
4. Note the percentage beside Maximum Capacity.
5. Also note the message below Peak Performance Capability. It could include details of whether your iPhone has experienced any battery-related issues.

If you are wondering what iPhone capacity is bad that would generally be anything under 80%, but understandably people with iPhones under a year old would be expecting better than 90%.

How do you know when an iPhone battery should be replaced

Batteries of iPhone 15 models and later are designed to retain 80 percent of their original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions.

You can also see details like battery health, cycle count, manufacture date, and first use date.

However, once your Battery Health (which you can discover by following the steps above) falls to 80% it is time to get it replaced. In fact, Apple will display the message: “Your battery’s health is significantly degraded. An Apple Authorized Service Provider can replace the battery to restore full performance and capacity.”

If the battery in your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max–or a used iPhone you are considering buying–has depleted to 80% or lower you should get it replaced.

There are some other indicators that your iPhone might require a new battery: dimmer backlight than normal; lower speaker volume; stuttering screen when scrolling; frame-rate reduction in some game apps; and longer app-launch times.

What could happen if you don’t replace the battery?

If you see a message that your battery health is degraded, you can continue to use your phone, but you may experience reduced charge capacity and some slight stability issues while your battery is on a lower charge.

If your battery isn’t running at good capacity then you may also find that Performance Management is being applied to stop unexpected shutdowns from taking place. You may see a note in the Peak Performance Capability section of Battery Health that states “This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power.” To combat this, performance management is applied.

If you were to play a graphically intensive game, while the battery was below 20 percent, the setting could be triggered, for example. You can turn off this feature.

How much does it cost to replace an iPhone battery?

The cost of replacing an iPhone battery is not prohibitive.

Apple’s warranty doesn’t cover battery replacement if it is due to “normal use” but if you’re covered by AppleCare+ then you can have your battery replaced at no additional cost, assuming it only holds 80% or less of its original charge.

Where to get your iPhone battery replaced

You could choose to have your iPhone battery replaced by a third party, which might save some money, but you should be cautious because if non-Apple parts are used you could end up with problems in the future (in the past third-party parts have stopped working after software updates). However, Apple’s stance on third-party battery replacements has softened over the years and in August 2019 it stopped refusing to fix iPhones that had third-party batteries fitted.

There may be good reason for Apple to dissuade customers from third-party battery replacements though. Those batteries could be hazardous knock-offs, or the customers could be ripped off by third-parties who fit a replacement battery that is in fact a reconditioned older battery. With reports of mobile phones bursting into flames there may really be an issue here that Apple is trying to avoid.

Having your battery seen to by an official service technician is the best way to proceed, which may result in getting a new battery or having your current one fixed if there are any issues.

Can I replace the battery myself?

If you are wondering if you can replace the iPhone 18 Pro Max battery yourself, it is possible although we’d suggest that you don’t try. An iPhone battery should only be repaired by a trained technician to avoid battery damage, which could cause overheating, fire, or injury.

How to tell if an iPhone battery has been replaced

There are a few ways to tell if a used iPhone you are buying has had its battery replaced–and more importantly to check if it’s an Apple part and not a battery that could be hazardous.

To find details of the battery follow these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. General.
3. About.
4. Scroll down and look for a section entitled: “Parts and service history”.

In that section, you may see details of the battery if it has been replaced.

You shouldn’t be concerned if there is a Genuine Apple Part, but the warning: Unknown Part could mean that there is a risk that something could happen to your iPhone.

How to maximise iPhone battery life

If you want to make sure your battery lasts as long as possible until you have a chance to get it replaced, then try the following suggestions:

• Turn off Location Services.
• Disable Background App Refresh.
• Make sure Auto-Brightness is enabled.
• Use Airplane Mode when you don’t need to be connected to the internet.

If you’re really desperate to get some more mileage out of your iPhone, then perhaps consider a battery case. These protect your phone like a regular case, but can also recharge your phone when you need it.

iPhones are remarkable devices, but they lose their lustre once the battery runs dry. That’s why it’s important to look after the cell inside and ensure that you always charge it properly.

In this article, we explain the steps you need to take if you want your iPhone 18 Pro Max to last till the late hours each day and keep doing so for as many years as possible.

How to charge an iPhone with a cable

The fastest way to charge an iPhone is using a cable. You need a USB-C to USB-C cable.

USB-C offers much faster charging than the older USB-A did. Any phone needs to be plugged into a USB C charger to take advantage of the fast charging.

To fast charge iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max up to 50 percent battery in around 15 minutes, use the USB-C cable that came in the box, and one of these adapters:

• Apple 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max
• A comparable third-party 60W-capable (or greater) adapter that uses Adjustable Voltage Supply (AVS) and supports USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) 3.2

How to wirelessly charge an iPhone

You can use Qi chargers or faster MagSafe chargers that magnetically clamp to your iPhone using a ring of hidden magnets for a more efficient fit and therefore faster wireless charging.

To wirelessly charge iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max up to 50 percent in around 30 minutes, use a MagSafe Charger and a 35W or higher adapter. Because of the magnetic fit MagSafe chargers will be faster even if at the same wattage as Qi, so go for a MagSafe charger if you can.

How to charge an iPhone using a power bank

Portable power banks offer the ability to charge an iPhone on the go when you’re not near an outlet or don’t have time to sit for 15 minutes. They range from a few thousand milliamp hours to more than 20,000. Most power banks need a separate charging cable that connects to the iPhone, though some have built-in cables that are stored somewhere inside the device. Some higher-end power banks have magnetic pads for charging wirelessly as well.

Using a power bank is simple. Make sure you charge it before you head out and then when you want to fill up your iPhone, use it as you would use a regular charger—either with a cable or wirelessly. Most power banks have LED lights to let you know how much charge is remaining.

How to use the iPhone’s Charging settings

In Settings, tap Battery, then tap Charging to turn on features to preserve battery wear over time and conserve energy. They are:

• Optimized Battery Charging: Your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max will learn from your daily charging and usage habits so it can limit charging to 80 percent until you need to use it.
• Charge Limit: When Charge Limit is on, iPhone stops charging when it reaches your selected percentage. Your iPhone will occasionally charge to 100%—even with a lower limit set—to keep the battery percentage display accurate.
• Clean Energy Charging: Your iPhone will attempt to charge when lower carbon-emission electricity is available in your area based on your daily usage habits.

You can turn on any of these options in Settings. You can change or remove the limit anytime.

How to choose the best iPhone charging accessories

There are two things to consider when shopping for new iPhone charging gear: the charger and the cable. The iPhone comes with an Apple USB-C cable that supports charging of up to 60 watts, more than enough to fast-charge any iPhone, but only USB 2 speeds (480Mbps) for data transfers. If you’re buying a second or replacement cable for charging, we recommend getting one that supports at least 5Gbps for data transfers.

You’ll also need a power adapter. If you don’t want to carry around multiple adapters, buy one that has two or more ports and can charge two devices at once (60W or higher will be best).

FAQ

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1. Can I leave my phone charging overnight?

Ever since smartphones arrived, the most common way of recharging them has been to plug them in when you go to bed, then disconnect them in the morning with a full charge to last the day.

This made a lot of sense when batteries took a long time to get up to full charge, as the eight hours in bed gave both the user and device time to recover from the previous day’s exertions.

But now, as the period it takes to charge a battery has dramatically reduced, it’s time to reconsider how you top up the tank.

iPhones use Lithium-ion batteries because, Apple states, they “charge faster, last longer, and have a higher power density for more battery life in a lighter package”. These are all fine features, but one thing that Li-ion is not really keen on is being reduced to 0 percent and then back up to 100 percent each day.

Partial charging throughout the day won’t harm the battery, and using features like Optimized Battery Charging or Charge Limit can help extend its life even further. There is an exception, as it’s considered good form to do a complete 0-100 percent charge about once a month, just to keep the battery in good shape.

For all other instances, though, the best practice is to top your battery up periodically during the day. Hopefully, this should keep the cell healthy for as long as possible. To make this easier to achieve we recommend keeping an extra charger at work or in your car so that you can pop the iPhone on to it when you see the battery beginning to fade.

2. Can I use any charger to charge my iPhone?

You can use third-party power adapters and Qi-certified chargers that are compliant with applicable country regulations and international and regional safety standards.

But there are faster, smaller and cheaper chargers that beat Apple’s own. There are various third-party charger offerings on the Apple store itself.

Charging an iPhone via a cable is the speediest way to get back up to full power but wireless charging is often more convenient. Apple has added a magnetic technology called MagSafe that makes wireless charging more efficient and therefore faster.

Avoid cheap knock-off products, as in some cases these have been known to damage devices.

3. Does fast charging damage an iPhone?

No. The battery and iOS work together to ensure that it won’t overheat or cause any harm.

If you have a thick protective case on your iPhone 18 Pro Max, it might be a good idea to remove it while using a fast-charger, just so the heat dissipates easily and doesn’t trigger the software warnings to slow down the power flow.

4. Is it safe to store a charged iPhone?

Should you find you are traveling without your device or need to leave it unused for multiple weeks or months, you’ll want to ensure that it’s charged to around 50 percent before turning it off.

This will protect the battery cell from dying while left idle. The battery will still lose charge at a slow but steady rate, so after six months it will need charging back up to 50% once more.

Once your iPhone’s battery runs out, it’s not much more than a paperweight. And occasionally it has been remarked that Apple’s devices don’t always last as long between charges as we would like. Well, help is at hand. In this giant tips roundup we gather the best power-saving tips and tricks to keep your battery running all day long. We start with the quick fixes: seven steps for those in battery distress. Below that, you’ll find far more in-depth discussion of the best ways to improve your iPhone’s battery life, from system-wide settings worth tweaking to third-party apps that you should stop – or start – using in order to save power.

The good news is that over the years Apple has done a lot to improve battery life, while eliminating some of the biggest battery drains, to the extent that you may only need to make a few changes to the way you use your iPhone 18 Pro Max to preserve battery life.

How to improve iPhone battery life

1. To save battery life, start by activating Low Power Mode
2. Use auto-brightness, Dark Mode and auto-lock to dim/reduce screen output
3. Identify – and reduce use of – high-drain apps. Go to Settings > Battery
4. Lower audio volume
5. Cull your notifications
6. If you can do without them, disable Hey Siri, Location Services and AirDrop
7. Update to the latest version of iOS

Is your battery faulty?

First things first: let’s check your hardware for faults.

Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and you will see a “measure of battery capacity relative to when it was new”. If all is well you will be told that your battery is “currently supporting normal peak performance”.

Turn on Optimized Battery Charging

Optimized Battery Charging is activated by default. It maximises the lifespan of your battery by minimising the amount of time it is plugged in while fully charged.

Apple explains that Optimized Battery Charging slows the rate of battery ageing by reducing the time that your iPhone spends fully charged.

If you plug in your iPhone before you go to bed at night, it will charge to 80%, and then wait until morning before charging the remainder. It does this by learning your habits, so if it knows you usually get up at 7, it will finish charging just before that. You’ll see a message indicating the time it will finish charging by.

This won’t fix a battery that won’t maintain its charge (and could leave you with an incompletely charged device on the occasions when you wake unusually early), but it should prolong the life of new batteries.

Check Battery Usage

A quick way to check whether there really is a problem with the battery in your iPhone is to head over to Settings > Battery and wait for your Battery Usage report to load up.

The Daily Usage section summarizes your battery usage today compared to previous days.

The App and System Activity section helps you understand what’s using your battery by listing the percentage of battery used by each app and system task.

Chances are that an app or your email settings are responsible for the drain rather than the battery or the iPhone being at fault.

Use Dark Mode

Dark Mode can make your screen more pleasant to view, and less of a strain on the eyes, if you’re looking at it in a darkened room or at night. But another benefit is that less power will be required to light up the display, making it a good option for the battery-poor.

Go to Settings > Display & Brightness and choose Dark. You can also set this mode to come on at night (turn on Automatic, then tap Options).

Turn down brightness

You can turn down the power requirements of the screen.

Lighting the pixels on your device’s Retina display requires a lot of energy. In fact, in testing, excessive screen brightness was the single biggest iPhone battery killer we found.

Luckily you can save some battery life by adjusting the iPhone’s brightness. A quick fix is to turn down brightness using the slider in Control Center, accessed by swiping down from the top-right edge of the display. Drag the brightness slider down as far possible, but with a setting that still leaves your device usable.

Apple suggests that the Auto-brightness feature is designed to conserve battery life, but it will do this in moderation. If you’re willing to go further in pursuit of better battery life, you’ll need to use manual settings, and turn off auto-brightness.

Don’t bother quitting apps

Next up, let’s dispel a battery-saving myth.

iPhone users tend to quit apps we aren’t using as it seems like a logical way to stop them sucking away at the battery. But apparently, this isn’t such a good idea after all.

Apple Store Genius Scotty Loveless explained back in 2014 that when you close an app you take it out of RAM, which means that when you open it again the iPhone has to load it back into memory. “All of that loading and unloading puts more stress on your device than just leaving it alone,” he wrote.

Indeed, Apple itself – in the person of software chief Craig Federighi – confirmed that closing apps doesn’t do anything for battery life.

And when Tim Cook was asked in an email, “Do you quit your multitasking apps frequently and is this necessary for battery life? Just wanting you to put this controversy to rest!”, Federighi stepped in to reply “I know you asked Tim, but I’ll at least offer my input: No and No.”

Loveless adds that, “unless you have enabled Background App Refresh, your apps are not allowed to run in the background unless they are playing music, using location services, recording audio, or the sneakiest of them all: checking for incoming VoIP calls, like Skype. All of these exceptions, besides the latter, will put an icon next to your battery icon to alert you it is running in the background.”

Turn on Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode reduces overall power requirements and makes your battery last longer.

Low Power Mode isn’t a default option that happens automatically in the background. It will be offered automatically when you hit 20% remaining power: you’ll see a warning flash up and the option to turn on Low Power Mode. When the icon is yellow, Low Power Mode is on. Low Power Mode automatically turns off when iPhone charges to 80% or higher.

Over on Birchtree they have run tests and found that “on average, my battery was at 17% at midnight in normal mode, but 49% in Low Power Mode.”

If you want, you can enable Low Power Mode without waiting for your iPhone 18 Pro Max to reach 20%. Go to Settings > Battery > Power Mode, then tap Low Power Mode.

When Low Power Mode is on it will reduce power consumption, stopping Mail fetch, Hey Siri, background app refresh, automatic downloads, and some visual effects. We actually have all those features turned off on our iPhone already, yet Low Power Mode still seems to have an effect.

Update iOS

Updating to the latest version of iOS is generally an all-purpose fix when you’re experiencing minor problems with an iPhone; Apple uses its regular (free) operating system updates to roll out fixes for vulnerabilities, bugs and glitches, and it’s entirely possible that an issue you’re experiencing can be fixed with a simple OS update. This includes battery problems. Go to Settings, tap General, then tap Software Update.

Switch off Facebook

Facebook has been accused of being a battery hog on the iPhone in iOS, and even Facebook itself has admitted that the iOS app uses a lot of resources in the background.

A Guardian report in February 2016 claimed that uninstalling the Facebook app can save you up to 15% of iPhone battery life. (Instead, you can access the Facebook website via the Safari app.)

A quick look in your Battery Usage log (Settings > Battery) will reveal how much battery life Facebook is guzzling. Ours has used 26% of our iPhone’s charge in the last 24 hours.

Facebook was also accused of allowing battery drain to occur even if iPhone owners have background app refresh disabled in Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Facebook admitted the fault and then fixed it, but battery drain issues are still plaguing users.

You could delete the Facebook app and just access Facebook through Safari on your iPhone.

While you’re there, take a look at how much battery life your other apps are draining too.

Use Auto-Lock

While the screen is on, you’re consuming power, so make sure that your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max isn’t awake when you don’t need it to be. If you want to get the maximum battery life, it’s wise to set the Auto-Lock to an ultra-low 30 seconds.

Venture into Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and set your device to sleep after 30 seconds of inactivity.

This will provide a substantial improvement to battery life over time. If you really want to max out your iPhone’s battery life, try to get into the habit of pressing the side button of your iPhone as soon as you’ve finished using it.

Disable Wi-Fi

If you still need a cellular connection but can live without Wi-Fi, you can disable Wi-Fi by swiping down from the top-right edge to reveal Control Center and tapping the Wi-Fi icon to turn it off (if it’s off, the Wi-Fi icon will be black). This will stop your phone from hunting around for Wi-Fi networks it could join.

There are a few situations where avoiding using Wi-Fi might stop battery drain. If the Wi-Fi signal is poor then your iPhone will require more power to transmit and receive data. Similarly, if you are rarely in a place where you could join a Wi-Fi hotspot then there is little point in the iPhone hunting for one.

However, we wouldn’t recommend using 3G/4G if there is a Wi-Fi network available. There is usually no financial cost associated with using a Wi-Fi network, while you may have to keep within a data allowance as part of your network contract.

Another reason is that your iPhone consumes less power accessing data over Wi-Fi than it does when doing the same task over 3G/4G. This is why Apple frequently quotes different battery life for 3G/4G compared to Wi-Fi, with the difference sometimes as much as a few hours.

Tap Settings > Wi-Fi and ensure Ask to Join Networks is set to Ask. This will help you spot open networks to join.

Disable Bluetooth

If you have Bluetooth on, the chances are you don’t need it. Swipe down from the top-right edge to open Control Center and check if Bluetooth is on: if it is you’ll see the icon that looks like a runic B highlighted in white.

Bluetooth is usually left on after an iOS update is installed, so you may not even be aware that it is on. If it is, tap the Bluetooth icon to turn it off. You can also tap Settings > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.

Bluetooth is considered to be a battery drainer. If you’re not using it to connect to a speaker, headphones, or other accessory, or to use the Continuity features in iOS, then switch it off.

Turn off AirDrop

One iPhone service that requires Bluetooth is AirDrop. AirDrop allows you to transfer photos and other files to and from nearby iPhones with the same feature switched on. Unfortunately, it could be a battery killer, because of the way AirDrop seeks out nearby iPhones to hook up with.

Disable 3G, 4G

If you can survive without data but still need to be contactable you could turn off 3G or 4G. Your data connection can be disabled in the Cellular section of Settings. Go to Settings > Cellular (or Mobile Data) and switch Cellular Data (or Mobile Data) to off.

If you aren’t using it then switching off cellular data will increase battery life. This has a benefit over just using Airplane Mode, as you will only disable the cellular data portion of your signal, e.g. EDGE, 3G, 4G, or LTE.

Normally your iPhone receives two signals at once: one for calls and SMS, and one for data. Now it only receives the signal for calls and SMS – which means you are still contactable, you just can’t browse Facebook (unless you can access a Wi-Fi network).

You should also note that, according to Apple Genius Scotty Loveless, the signal strength meter on the iPhone only shows the signal strength for the non-data connection, which means your iPhone could show 2-3 dots but actually have a very poor 3G or LTE connection, thus causing your iPhone to go into heavy search mode.

1. Tap Cellular, then tap Cellular Data Options.
2. Tap Voice & Data, then choose 5G Auto.

In this mode, your iPhone automatically switches to LTE when 5G speeds don’t provide noticeably better performance.

Turn down the volume

It might surprise you but the volume setting affects battery life too, so if you are playing music or other audio from your phone, turn it down using the volume buttons.

Of course you could save battery power by not playing music, or you could switch to headphones, which won’t require as much power as the iPhone’s internal speakers. Note that the music equaliser also takes up a surprising amount of power.

Tap Settings > Apps > Music and make sure EQ is turned to Off.

Stop vibrating

Head to Settings > Sounds & Haptics, tap Haptics and choose Never Play, because your device rattling around like crazy when a slew of messages arrives drains the battery like nobody’s business.

There are dozens of annoying jingles you can choose from to announce to the world that someone has just sent you a message without the accompanying vibration.

Tone down visual effects

Assuming you don’t suffer from some kind of motion sickness or balance disorder, the various 3D effects might excite you.

These pretty Parallax effects that make your icons and notifications appear to float over the wallpaper might look nice, but they constantly use your iPhone’s graphics processor and are therefore a drain on the battery that you could probably manage without if you were trying to get a last half hour of use out of your iPhone on a long journey home.

You can also go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion and switch on Reduce Motion to temporarily turn off all the parallax effects. Note that this will replace many system zoom effects with cross-fades which don’t look as nice, but might just give you those extra few minutes power that you need.

Avoid games and high-impact apps

It sounds obvious to say your iPhone’s battery is drained quicker the more you use your phone, but the speed with which it falls from 100 percent to nothing entirely depends on what apps you use.

Some apps burn through your battery much faster than others. Heavy use of the processor and GPU, for 3D games, or the GPS chip, for maps and location-based apps, uses up more energy than reading content in the Books app, for example.

If you play games with rich, detailed visuals, or 3D racing games like CSR Racing, your iPhone’s battery will be drained quickly. So if you’re away from a charger and waiting for an important call, playing these sort of games is not a good idea if your battery levels are already low.

If you’re on the way home and low on power, reading apps like Kindle or Instapaper won’t drain what’s left of your battery terribly quickly.

However, it probably wouldn’t be a smart move to start playing your favourite TV series, or, worse, the latest 3D gaming blockbuster. In fact, even quite simple games often utilise complex 3D trickery, and so when in the red battery-wise, avoid them entirely.

Minimise camera use

Isn’t it always the case that the battery on your iPhone runs out just as you take the perfect shot on a night out with your friends?

If you’re running low on battery you should keep your Camera app usage to a minimum, and definitely avoid using the flash.

Turn off Hey Siri

Even Siri can be a bit of a drain on battery life, and the Hey Siri feature in particular should be turned off if you want better battery life. Go to Settings > Siri, tap Requests, then tap “Siri” or “Hey Siri” and turn it off.

Not familiar with Hey Siri? If that feature is enabled, it listens out for the phrase “Hey Siri,” and when it hears it, Siri powers on and prepares for incoming commands. That might sound great (and it is!), but constantly listening out for the magic phrase will have an impact on battery life.

For exactly this reason, Hey Siri used to only work if your device was plugged into a charger, but – due in large part to popular demand – Apple relaxed that requirement in an iOS update. Good news, but something to look out for if battery life is a worry.

Notification Center

Similarly, Settings > Notifications might be worth a visit, although there’s sadly no global off switch. If you’re running out of power, editing notification settings for all your apps one by one might actually burn more power than it saves.

Each time a notification is received, the iPhone’s screen lights up and it plays a sound, which uses energy. Every message wakes your device for 5 to 10 seconds, and that can add up, if you get a lot of notifications every day, to a small percentage of your daily battery charge.

We can live without updates about Words With Friends, so it makes sense to turn off notifications for non-critical apps (incidentally, it was the persistent notifications in that app that lead us to delete it in the end).

To stop notifications, go to Settings > Notifications and scroll through the list of apps, looking to see which ones have Notifications turned on.

Tap on each one you’re not interested in, and deselect the Allow Notifications option.

Remove multiple email accounts

Multiple email accounts will consume use of your precious battery life. Try to fold all your different accounts into just the one email service then remove the additionals by tapping Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts and choosing an account and tapping Delete Account.

In the case of Gmail, for example, you could turn Mail off but keep your Gmail Calendar synced.

Turn off iCloud

Similarly, if you want to make that last bit of juice last longer, turn off anything you don’t need to be synced via iCloud.

iCloud uses a fair bit of data and power, so you can save battery life by turning off unused features. Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud and turn off everything you don’t really use: for example, you may not need your Safari bookmarks to be available on the iPhone.

iCloud backup only works when the phone is plugged in so you can leave that on.

Turn off auto time zone

The iPhone can automatically update its time depending on where you are in the world. Because the iPhone determines the correct time via Location Services, this uses a small amount of power.

Tap Settings > General > Date & Time and turn off Set Time Automatically.

Turn off Location Services

Most of the time it’s not iOS itself that’s causing the iPhone’s battery to drain quickly, but all the apps that are running on it.

There are a number of apps that utilise location services on your iPhone and they can play their part in draining your battery too. It’s even more frustrating when it’s not obvious why some of them need to know where you are in the first place.

To stop apps from using Location Services, tap Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and either turn off Location Services altogether (by tapping the slider beside it), or deselect any apps that you don’t need to access your GPS.

Disable background app refresh

Background apps have been allowed to periodically refresh their data. This means when you open the app again, you’ll see the latest updates immediately.

This can be useful in certain circumstances, but most of the time is just wasting processing power and battery juice updating apps that you don’t really care about.

If you want to get the most out of your battery, turning off Background App Refresh will help. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Here you can turn off Background App Refresh altogether, or prune the list down on an app-by-app basis.

Disable app updating

Apple gave us the ability to have apps update without manually telling them to.

This is a useful feature that means apps will always be up to date, but it can be a drain on your battery. Also, some people prefer to update on a case-by-case basis, since occasionally a developer will update an app in a way that reduces user satisfaction.

Luckily, you can stop apps from auto-updating. Switch off automatic updates in Settings > Apps > App Store and turn off App Updates.

If you decide to leave any of these Automatic Downloads settings on, ensure that the switch for ‘Cellular Data’ isn’t turned on if you have limited data allowance.

Show the battery percentage

If you want to keep an eye on your battery level, you may find it easier to see a percentage representation, rather than a bar icon. If you want to see how much charge you have left as a percentage, go to Settings > Battery and activate Battery Percentage. Now you will have a more precise read-out of what life your device has left.

All devices will warn when your battery life hits 20 percent and then 10 percent; also, be mindful that even if your battery has a few percent left in it, your device might automatically shut down anyway, so don’t be doing anything too important when your iPhone is gasping for breath.

Apple Genius Loveless does warn that some people become so concerned about their battery percentage that they keep turning on their iPhone to check it, and every time they wake up their phone a little bit of power dies.

Calibrate

If despite trying all these tips to get more battery life out of your iPhone, you are still finding yourself running out of juice earlier than you think you should – perhaps your iPhone battery is going from 17 percent to 2 percent in a matter of minutes – your iPhone might need a battery calibration.

Periodically drain your iPhone’s battery totally and then charge it up until it’s completely full. That’s down to 0, and up to 100 percent. You should do this at least once a month.

This process, called calibration, helps your device estimate its battery life more accurately. Calibrating your battery will ensure that you know when you need to charge the battery, but the procedure itself doesn’t actually make the battery itself last longer.

Another reason why your phone might exhibit this kind of behaviour is if the battery needs servicing or replacing. You can find out if that’s the case by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health.

How much battery life have you got left?

Frustratingly, there is no easy answer to this question.

This is probably because the amount of battery life remaining is entirely dependent on what you are planning to do with your iPhone. If Apple told you to expect two hours and then you ran a movie on full blast you would probably run out of battery before the movie ended. However, there are third-party apps that can give you some guidance about how much battery life is remaining.

If you search the App Store for Battery Saver or Battery Doctor you will see a number of tools that offer system tweaks, with a particular focus on saving battery life. Expect to see an estimate for how much battery life is left, based on what’s running in the background, and your current system settings. If you perform some of the tweaks suggested by the app, you’ll see this number creep up.

For example, when testing one such app we switched on Airplane Mode we gained about an hour of battery life – the battery life remaining changed from 8hrs, 17mins to 9hrs, 21mins. Tap on Optimize to see a breakdown of how much longer your iPhone could last if you shut down certain services, such as disabling Wi-Fi or GPS, or reducing brightness.

Tap on Remaining for details of how much time you have remaining to do certain tasks, web browsing on Wi-Fi, or web browsing on 3G, talk time, video playback, photo taking, and more.

Should you leave your iPhone 18 Pro Max plugged in?

When you get to work do you plug in your iPhone, so that it’s nicely charged up by the time it’s home time?

In principle this should mean your iPhone always has enough power to get you through the commute home. But could this practice of leaving your iPhone plugged in all the time cause damage to the life of the battery?

There is some debate about this. The iPhone is designed to stop charging its battery once the battery is fully charged, so this should mean that the battery can’t be ‘overcharged’ as such. Apple’s optimized battery charging seeks to minimise the amount of time the battery spends fully charged.

However, we know from our experience with laptops that have been left plugged in at all times that the ability of the battery to sustain a charge seems to deplete over time.

The best advice is to make sure that you drain your battery down to zero at least once a month if you want to ensure that you get a good life span out of your battery.

Turn your device off

This one’s a last resort, but if you need an iPhone 18 Pro Max to survive a weekend or a power outage, and its reason for being powered up is essential communications only, turn the device off when you’re not using it.

First, that’ll stop you being tempted in just having another quick go on Candy Crush; secondly, it’ll also ensure even background tasks aren’t slowly supping power. Simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, then drag the Power Off slider.

Note, however, that if you only have a few percent of battery left then your iPhone might not power on again if you turn it off. So switch to Airplane Mode in those circumstances.

Get a battery pack

If you still need more battery life after all these tips, you should consider an external battery pack, or a case with one built in. There are many on the market that are worth considering.

iPhones use ambient light sensors to constantly monitor the brightness of their surroundings so they can adjust the output of the display. This ensures you don’t have cornea-stripping illumination in dark rooms or a screen you can’t read in strong sunshine.

For the most part this is a very useful capability, but if you prefer to set the level yourself then you’ll want to disable the feature. In this article we show where to find the controls that allow you to turn an iPhone‘s auto-brightness off (or on again).

Disabling auto-brightness

One thing to bear in mind before starting: the brightness of the display has a very real effect on how long your iPhone’s battery lasts. Should you wish to have your iPhone 18 Pro Max running at maximum brightness all the time, expect to be recharging once or twice during the day, especially if your app use is heavy.

On the other hand, if you’re happy to have brightness set quite low, you should be able to eke out more life from a single charge, which can be useful if you’re out and about when the dreaded low-power warning appears.

To disable auto-brightness open the Settings app on your iPhone 18 Pro Max and navigate to Accessibility > Display & Text Size.

In here you’ll see the settings for Auto-Brightness with a switch to the right. Toggle the switch so that it no longer shows green and the feature will be disabled.

Manually setting the brightness

With auto-brightness no longer in action, you’ll want to set the levels manually. There are two ways to do this.

The first is to open the Control Center (swipe down from the top right), then slide your finger up or down the brightness bar (the one with a sun icon at the bottom).

The other route is to go to Settings > Display & Brightness, then slide the control from left to right, with right being brighter.

That’s it. Now your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max will always have the display at the manually stipulated brightness setting, no matter what your surroundings might be.

If you want to save your eyes in the evening, and maybe sleep a bit better, then we also recommend employing the Night Shift feature.

A broken volume button is often unexpected and can be annoying to deal with. After all, we don’t realize how much we use it until it no longer works. Not being able to turn your volume down when an annoying video plays or your song is too loud can also be embarrassing.

If your iPhone 18 Pro Max buttons aren’t working properly, you should fix them as soon as possible. Luckily, there are plenty of solutions, and you can do many of them yourself.

1. Make Sure Your iPhone’s Volume Buttons Are Enabled

You can prevent the volume buttons from changing the volume of alerts and notifications. When the Change with Buttons setting is off, the volume buttons only control media playback.

To check this, head to Settings > Sounds & Haptics and toggle on Change with Buttons. If it’s already enabled, proceed to the next fix.

2. Remove Your iPhone 18 Pro Max From Its Case

iPhones are expensive, so it’s likely that most of you use a case to protect them. In some instances, your case can interfere with your volume buttons. This is especially true with cases that have layers or have built-in screen protectors.

Simply remove your iPhone case and give your volume buttons another try. If they work now, you’ll need to get a new case. After all, you probably want to keep your iPhone protected.

It’s also possible that prolonged use of a case can cause your volume buttons to get dirty. If that’s the case, proceed to the next step.

3. Clean Your iPhone’s Volume Buttons Using Alcohol

We use our phones so much that dirt and grime can sometimes get under the buttons, especially when not using a case. So, press down on your buttons a few times to check if your buttons are stuck. You might need to clean them if they’re stuck or don’t seem to click down.

Using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe, 75 percent ethyl alcohol wipe, or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the exterior surfaces of your iPhone. Avoid getting moisture in any openings, and don’t submerge your iPhone in any cleaning agents.

Use the wipe to clean around your volume button the best you can. If you can push down on the buttons, doing so might help you clean it better. There’s no need to overdo it with the alcohol, as it doesn’t take much to work.

After cleaning, wait a few minutes for the alcohol to dry. If your volume buttons are working now, great! If they are only working a bit better, that’s a sign that they are still dirty, and you should keep cleaning them. It’s worth cleaning your entire iPhone if it’s dirty.

4. Reset or Restore Your iPhone

Sometimes, firmware updates can change how the buttons on our phones work. This is especially true for older iPhone models. If you recently updated your iPhone and the volume buttons stopped working, try restarting your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max by turning it off and on again. Go to Settings > General > Shut Down, then drag the slider. Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.

If that doesn’t help, you might need to reset your device. This means backing up your iPhone and erasing all the content settings. A full reset might also work if your volume button stops working after an app download or a jailbreak attempt.

To do this, first, you’ll need to back up your iPhone. Then, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings.

This will wipe your phone clean and essentially make it like new. Before restoring a backup, go into the device and test the volume buttons. If they work, restore your backup.

In some cases, restoring your backup might make them not work again. If that’s the case, it might have been an app you tried to download, or your backup could be corrupted. Sadly, this means starting from scratch unless you have an older backup you can try restoring.

5. Update Your iPhone

Not updating your iPhone can also cause issues with your iPhone’s volume buttons. Outdated iPhones might not work with the latest apps, and the volume controls might not work correctly as a result.

There’s also a possibility that a previous Apple update you installed is buggy, and updating again could fix the problem. To be safe, try updating your iPhone 18 Pro Max to see if it resolves the issue.

You can update it by heading to Settings > General > Software Update. Here, you can see if a new iOS version is available. If you’re using a beta version of iOS, it might be time to switch back to the stable public build and report this issue to Apple.

6. Control Your iPhone’s Volume Without Using Volume Buttons

If you use apps like Spotify, you can control the volume within the app without a physical button. If all else fails, there are still ways to control your volume without using the buttons. The easiest way is to use the Control Center.

You can open the Control Center and adjust your volume by swiping down from the top-right corner of your iPhone.

If you have AirPods, you can say, “Hey Siri, turn up the volume.” Other Bluetooth headphones typically have built-in volume controls, which you can use as well. This means that you won’t have to keep going to your phone when you want to change the volume.

Control the Volume With AssistiveTouch

If you’re looking for another way to control the volume, consider using AssistiveTouch. You can set the AssistiveTouch button to open a menu to control your volume on the screen or have it either turn up or down when tapped.

To use it, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch. Here, you can set your device to turn the volume down with one tap and turn it up with two taps.

7. Get Your Volume Buttons Repaired

If cleaning your buttons and resetting your iPhone 18 Pro Max doesn’t fix the volume buttons, you most likely need to get the buttons repaired. This is especially true if you recently damaged your iPhone or exposed it to water.

If your iPhone is under warranty, make an Apple Store appointment at a Genius Bar, and your repair will most likely be free. Otherwise, you will need to pay for a repair out of pocket.

So, next time you upgrade your iPhone, consider learning more about the AppleCare+ extended warranty and see if it’s worth it so you won’t get caught with a costly repair again.

While repairing your iPhone’s volume buttons out of pocket can be expensive, it’s cheaper than buying a new phone. But if you don’t want to pay this price, maybe it’s time to upgrade your iPhone.

Will Apple Discontinue the Volume Button?

Considering Apple has discontinued the Home button and headphone jack, it’s logical to assume that one day the volume buttons might disappear too. For now, the volume buttons remain—even the iPhone 18 Pro Max has volume buttons.

While they don’t break often, it’s bothersome if they do. Luckily, the solutions mentioned above will fix your iPhone volume buttons in most cases, and you’ll be able to change your volume again in no time.

AirDrop is a quick and easy way to send photos and video, and copy files, PDF, or other file types from your iPhone 18 Pro Max to your Mac, your Mac to your iPhone, from your iPhone to a friend’s iPhone, or any scenario including an iPhone, iPad and a Mac. It’s faster and neater than sending files via email. Cellular data charges may apply when you use AirDrop.

You can even use AirDrop to send a link to a webpage to a colleague, share a location on a map, share a contact, and much more.

AirDrop also allows you to share Wallet passes and apps with AirDrop (just press and hold the app icon on the Home screen until you see an option to Share).

You can even share Notes or Pages documents via AirDrop (but remember that you can also add other people to collaborate from the apps themselves).

Make sure that both the sender and recipient have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on and that you’re both using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. If you are sharing to or from a Mac you will need Wi-Fi enabled on the Mac (AirDrop won’t work if you are using the Wi-Fi to share your wired connection to other devices) and Bluetooth turned on.

How to AirDrop from iPhone 18 Pro Max to iPhone/iPad

To send an item to someone with AirDrop, both you and your recipient must have AirDrop turned on.

On the sending iPhone or iPad…

1. Check that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are on: open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right edge and make sure the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons are blue.

   

2. On the device you are sending from, locate the thing you want to share with your friend. e.g. To share a photo you’d open the Photos app and find that image, if it’s a contact you are sharing, open the Contacts file and find the relevant entry.
3. Once you have selected the photo or file, tap on the Share icon (it’s a square with an arrow pointing upwards, you’ll see it in most apps although sometimes you will just see the word ‘share’).

   

4. A page will open with various sharing options (Message, Mail, etc). Above that row you’ll initially see the AirDrop icon, but after a few seconds (sometimes minutes) this should be replaced by icons representing people and devices you can share with (it will indicate if it’s an iPhone, iPad or Mac, for example).

   

5. Tap on the icon for the person you want to share with and your photo or file will be shared with them – as long as they accept the transfer.
6. You can send as many files or photos as you like and send them to multiple contacts at the same time.
7. After sending the photo or file you will see the word ‘Sent’ under the person’s device in your AirDrop row.

On the receiving iPhone or iPad…

1. As above, check that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are on: open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right edge and make sure the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons are blue.
2. When your friend attempts to share the content with you an alert will appear on your device asking if you wish to Accept or Decline.
3. Choose Accept and the content will start to download.
4. If you are AirDropping between your own devices you won’t see an option to accept or decline, as long as both devices are signed into the same Apple Account.

Where are AirDrop files saved in iPhone

Wondering where the files have gone now that they have been transferred to the other iPhone?

The content should appear in the relevant app – photos in the Photos app, location information in Maps, etc.

What if your iPhone/iPad can’t see/be seen for AirDrop?

If iPad or iPhone you are sharing to isn’t showing up in the list of potential AirDrop destinations there are a couple of possibilities. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi may be off. AirDrop itself may be turned off. Or your ‘friend’ may have it set to only receive from a Contact (and inexplicably don’t have your details).

1. To establish if one of the above is the case, start by swiping down from the top-right edge on the iPhone or iPad that won’t receive to confirm that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are on. (Double check the same on the sending device).
2. Now check that AirDrop isn’t turned off: Open Control Center, touch and hold the top-left group of controls.
3. This will take you to a second screen where you gain AirDrop and Personal Hotspot options. AirDrop should be on by default but if it isn’t, tap that icon (you should now find that you have fixed the problem).
4. However, it’s possible that AirDrop is on but that the device is set to only receive from Contacts. In which case, tap the AirDrop icon and switch from Contacts Only to Everyone for 10 Minutes (your friend may want to switch back to Contacts Only later on if they want to avoid being AirDropped by people they don’t know.)
5. If the iPhone or iPad still isn’t showing up, and you’ve checked all the usual suspects: turned it off and on again, checked the software is up to date, there may be another issue at fault such as your Wi-Fi connection.

Once you are done transferring files, you may want to turn off AirDrop on your iPhone or iPad.

How to AirDrop from iPhone to Mac

Setting up your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max for AirDropping files to a Mac is a similar process to that described above.

On the sending iPhone or iPad…

1. Check that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are on: open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right edge and make sure the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth icons are blue.
2. On the device you are sending from, locate the thing you want to share to the Mac. e.g. To share a photo you’d open the Photos app and find that image, if it’s a contact you are sharing, open the Contacts file and find the relevant entry.
3. Once you have selected the photo or file, tap on the Share icon (it’s a square with an arrow pointing upwards, you’ll see it in most apps although sometimes you will just see the word ‘share’).
4. A page will open with various sharing options (Message, Mail, etc). Above that row you’ll initially see the AirDrop icon, but after a few seconds (sometimes minutes) this should be replaced by icons representing people and devices you can share with (it will indicate if it’s an iPhone, iPad or Mac, for example).
5. Tap on the icon that represents the Mac you want to share with and your photo or file will be shared with that device – as long as the transfer is accepted. (If you are sending files from your own iPhone to your own Mac this way you won’t have to accept the transfer, it will happen automatically.)
6. The transferred file will download into the Downloads folder (which you can find in the Dock).
7. After sending the photo or file you will see the word Sent under the person’s device in your AirDrop row.

On the receiving Mac…

1. Ensure that Wi-Fi is turned on on your Mac. This should be apparent if the curved Wi-Fi icon in the menu at the top right of the screen is black. If it isn’t, click on this icon and choose Turn Wi-Fi On.
2. When the file is ready to be sent you should receive an alert on the Mac asking you to approve that a file is being shared. (If you are sharing a file to your Mac from your iPhone then you won’t see the alert, the transfer will happen automatically).
3. Approve the transfer and the file should appear in your Downloads folder (which you can find in the Dock).
4. If it’s your Mac, using the same Apple Account as the iPhone, you won’t see an alert but the file will automatically transfer to your Downloads folder.

Where do AirDrop files go on Mac?

On a Mac, some items are automatically saved in the Downloads folder, but you may also have the option to choose where to save items—for example, whether to save a photo in the Downloads folder or open it in Photos. For this reason, you may still want to move photos sent this way to Photos and so on.

What if the Mac can’t see/be seen for AirDrop?

There are a few possibilities if the Mac you are attempting to send to isn’t showing up for AirDrop.

1. Check that Internet Sharing isn’t turned on.
2. Make sure both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
3. Turn on Bluetooth.
4. Sometimes just opening a Finder window and choosing AirDrop tab is enough to ‘wake up’ AirDrop.
5. Open a Finder window and click on the AirDrop tab under Favourites. You will see the option ‘Allow me to be discovered by’ and the choice of Everyone, Contacts Only, or No One. Choose Contacts Only or Everyone. (Everyone is probably best if you want to make sure your Mac is seen in this instance).

How to turn off Internet sharing

The Mac could be sharing its internet connection via Wi-Fi, in which case you would see an Arrow pointing upwards where you would normally see the Wi-Fi symbol.

If you are sharing your connection from the Mac to your iPhone or iPad you will have to stop doing this and log both devices onto the same Wi-Fi network.

How to AirDrop from Mac to iPhone/iPad

AirDropping from a Mac used to only be possible via the Finder, but it is now possible to select AirDrop as a Share option. We’ll show you how.

On the sending Mac…

Here’s how to AirDrop via the Finder.

1. Make sure your Mac has Wi-Fi on. (If you are sharing your internet connection from the Mac to an iPhone or iPad you will have to stop doing this and log both devices onto the same Wi-Fi network.)
2. Open a Finder window and select AirDrop from the options on the left.
3. Check that either ‘Everyone’ or ‘Contacts Only’ appears beside ‘Allow me to be discovered by’. If the option ‘No one’ appears here click on it and choose an option that will make your Mac visible. (To increase the chances of your Mac seeing your devices and vice versa we suggest making sure you can be seen by Everyone.)
4. As long as the iPhone or iPad has AirDrop turned on, and isn’t asleep, you should see it appear in the AirDrop window in the Finder on the Mac.
5. Drag and drop the image or file onto the icon representing the iPhone.
6. A blue ring will appear and circle the iPhone icon as the file is transferred.
7. After sending the photo or file you will see the word Sent appear under the device icon.

Alternatively, you might like to share the file or photo from within an app, by right/control-clicking on it, or by using Quick Look to preview a file and then clicking the Share icon (to Quick Look, click on a file and press the Space Bar). To share from your Mac, follow these instructions:

1. Look for the Share icon (a square with an arrow pointing out). You’ll see this in the top right of a Quick Look preview, a Safari page, and the Photos app, while in Preview you’ll see it on the left. Click this icon and then from the list that appears choose AirDrop.
2. If you don’t see the Share icon, it’s likely that there will be an option to ‘Share’ or ‘Collaborate’. Click on this and you should also see AirDrop as an option.
3. A screen will open that will list the available devices. Just click on the one you wish to share with and wait for the file to transfer.

On the receiving iPhone/iPad…

1. As above, you’ll need to ensure that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are turned on.
2. When the Mac user shares the file or photo you should see an alert asking for your approval of the transfer before it copies over (unless you are sharing to your iPhone from your Mac and they are both logged in using the same Apple Account).

   

3. Accept the alert and the file will transfer.
4. You will see an alert that a file is incoming.
5. If you were sent an image you will find it in your Photos app on the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Other file types should end up in the relevant app, unless it’s not obvious what app they should go to. For example, we sent a PDF to our iPhone and were given the option of opening it in nine different apps.

If you have any problems with the iPhone or iPad not receiving the file take a look at our advice above.

Long gone are the days when you need to search for a flashlight in some forgotten drawer or storage box, worry whether you still have the correct batteries to turn it on, or groan in frustration when it’s not bright enough anyway. Nowadays, you can just turn to the multi-functional iPhone 18 Pro Max you have in your hand. That is, provided your iPhone’s flashlight is working.

It’s a massive hindrance when your iPhone’s flashlight stops working and you see a grayed-out flashlight icon. So, let’s look at the various solutions you can try to get your iPhone torch working again.

1. Turn Off Low Power Mode

Low Power Mode disables some features on your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max to conserve battery power. When it’s activated, the color of your battery level appears yellow instead of green.

The Low Power Mode prompt automatically comes up when your battery percentage falls below 20 percent. If you want to save battery life, you may also choose to keep your iPhone in Low Power Mode all the time.

But your iPhone’s flashlight is often one of those features that get disabled by this mode. To turn off Low Power Mode, go to the Settings app, select Battery, tap Power Mode, and tap to toggle off Low Power Mode.

2. Charge Your iPhone

Even after you turn off Low Power Mode, you may find that your iPhone’s flashlight still doesn’t work. This may be simply because your device doesn’t have enough battery power left to support the feature at that moment. Therefore, you should plug your iPhone into a power source and start charging it.

The flashlight feature should start working again once your iPhone has sufficient power.

3. Check Your iPhone Isn’t Too Hot

When your iPhone 18 Pro Max gets too hot, the flashlight may stop working. It’s not advisable to continue using an overheating iPhone. If your device exceeds a particular temperature limit, it will eventually shut down until it cools off. You’ll also see a warning appear on your screen if the temperature gets too high.

To allow your device’s temperature to drop naturally, place your iPhone in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Do not attempt to put your device into the fridge, though, as this will cause damage to it. Just find somewhere that’s naturally cool and shady. Once your device cools down, your iPhone’s flashlight should start working again.

4. Remove the Flashlight From the Control Center

If your iPhone’s torch still isn’t working, another potential fix is to remove the flashlight option from the Control Center and then add it back again. Here’s how:

1. Open Control Center, then tap the Add button at the top left of Control Center to begin editing the controls.

   

2. Tap the Remove button at the upper left of the Flashlight control (or Torch, in some regions).

   

3. To add the flashlight back, tap Add a Control at the bottom of the screen to open the controls gallery.

   

4. Tap the Flashlight control (or Torch) to add it to Control Center.

5. Close Your iPhone’s Camera App

Your iPhone’s camera’s flash function uses the same light as the flashlight. If you have the Camera app opened, it’s normal to see the Control Center’s flashlight icon grayed out. This is because you can’t use both features at the same time.

To solve this, just exit the Camera app and access your Control Center again. You should see that the flashlight button can once more be selected as usual.

6. Turn On Your Flashlight Using the Camera Flash

If you can’t turn on your iPhone’s flashlight from the Control Center, a workaround is to turn it on in the Camera app by activating the flash function. Here’s how:

1. In the Camera app, go to Video mode.

   

2. Swipe up from the bottom menu (on the word, Video) to bring up more options.
3. Tap the Flash icon. Select On.

7. Toggle the Flash in Your iPhone’s Camera App

To get rid of glitches that stop your iPhone’s flashlight from working, you can also try turning your camera flash on and off. The steps are the same as the workaround to turn on your iPhone’s camera flash, as discussed in the previous solution. But instead of leaving the Flash set to On, toggle between On and Off a few times.

8. Ask Siri to Turn On Your iPhone’s Flashlight

If your camera flash doesn’t seem to be working either, there’s another way to enable your iPhone’s flashlight: Siri. Unless your device is absolutely low on battery, Siri can help you turn on your iPhone’s flashlight even if the icon is grayed out.

First, set up Siri on your iPhone. Next, long-press the Side button on your iPhone or say, “Hey Siri.” When the Siri icon pops up on your iPhone screen, say, “Turn on the flashlight.” Your flashlight should turn on instantly, and Siri will also say that it’s on now.

9. Update Your iPhone’s iOS

iOS updates usually come with fixes for performance bugs and various glitches. So, perhaps all you need to do to fix your iPhone’s flashlight is to update your iPhone 18 Pro Max to the latest version of iOS.

Go to Settings > General > Software Update to see if an update is available for your iPhone. Make sure your iPhone is charging or has more than 50% battery before you proceed with the update process.

10. Restart Your iPhone 18 Pro Max

If the above methods don’t solve the problem and your iPhone’s flashlight still isn’t working, the next step you should try is restarting your iPhone.

You can go to Settings > General > Shut Down, then drag the slider. Then, hold the Side button to restart your iPhone once it powers off.

11. Restore Your iPhone to a Previous Backup

Besides updating and restarting your iPhone, you can also try restoring your iPhone to a previous backup from when the flashlight was still working as usual. However, when you use this method, keep in mind that you will also lose any new data that was added to your device since you made that backup. If you already set up your device, you need to erase all of its content before you can use these steps to restore from your backup. Tap Set Up Manually, tap Restore from iCloud Backup, then follow the onscreen instructions.

12. Reset All Settings on Your iPhone

If all else fails, the last solution you can attempt is to reset your iPhone’s settings by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone. Tap Reset and choose Reset All Settings from the pop-up menu. You won’t lose any data from your iPhone; all this does is revert your iPhone’s settings to factory default values.

Take note that the reset process can take a long time, especially if you have a lot of data on your iPhone. So, if you’re stuck in the dark and urgently need a flashlight, don’t rely on resetting your iPhone right there and then!

Make sure you don’t accidentally choose Erase All Content and Settings. Doing that would delete all the data on your device.

Effective Solutions When Your iPhone’s Flashlight Is Not Working

If you’ve been stuck wondering why the flashlight won’t work on your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max, we hope this list of fixes has helped you resolve the problem effectively.

However, if the issue persists, it’s best for you to contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider. A technician will then examine your device and determine the potential hardware repairs that are needed.

When new, your iPhone works perfectly without any problems, and the chances of facing issues are lower. However, as time goes by, issues may start to surface, and that’s okay. One of the common issues that can affect your iPhone 18 Pro Max camera is blurry images. With this, images shot from your iPhone won’t be clear and crisp.

If you’re facing this issue, various factors could be causing your iPhone’s camera to be blurry. But before rushing to a nearby repair shop, here are different solutions to help you fix your blurry iPhone camera.

1. Remove the Protective Film From Your Camera Lens

You might have installed a protective film on the camera glass to prevent your iPhone camera lens from being damaged if you accidentally drop your device. Such a move is done in good faith to extend your iPhone’s lifespan.

However, a protective film might obstruct the light entering your lens if not installed correctly, leading your iPhone 18 Pro Max to shoot blurry images. This might also be the case if the protective film is scratched. Thankfully, fixing this is easy.

Remove the protective film, and your problem will be fixed. If the front-facing camera is affected, ensure that your screen protector (if you have one installed) is not obstructing the lens.

2. Clean Your Camera Lens

Cameras are allergic to dust, fingerprints, smudges, and other debris. If there are smudges, dust, or any debris on your iPhone’s camera lenses, images won’t be clear because of the obstruction. You can fix this by cleaning your camera lenses. Apple recommends you use a dry microfiber cloth to clean your camera lens.

However, even so, there are cases where this might not work. For example, if there’s debris inside the lens, you have no option but to take your device to an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. You should also do the same if you notice damage to your camera’s protector glass (the glass covering the camera lens).

3. Keep Your Hands Steady While Shooting

Shooting clear images also requires you to be steady. Even if everything else works fine, but your hands are shaky while shooting, your photos will look blurry because of the motion. And camera lenses are specifically sensitive to movement. Keep your hands steady while pressing the Shutter button for the best results.

You can achieve this by not holding your breath while shooting and ensuring that you press the capture button at the end of exhaling. Using volume buttons instead of the Shutter button to capture can also improve stability.

If you struggle with this, you can place your iPhone on a surface, or if you’re ready to spend a few bucks, you can invest in a tripod stand for your iPhone.

4. Disable the AE/AF Lock

Auto-exposure (AE) and Auto-focus (AF) features on your iPhone camera are important for setting fixed focus and exposure values. AE/AF ensures that your device always retains the exposure and focus on the subject. Even if you change the distance between you and the subject by either walking towards or away from it, your device will not refocus.

This is perfect as long as you remain in the same position. But if the distance between your device and the subject changes, the AE/AF lock will cause your images to look blurry. If the feature is enabled, you’ll see a yellow box with AE/AF Lock in your camera’s view.

You can turn it off by tapping anywhere in the camera preview. This will ensure that your iPhone automatically refocuses when you or the subject moves.

5. Reduce Zoom Levels

Another reason that could lead to blurry photos on iPhone 18 Pro Max is if you’ve zoomed in.

But the more you zoom in, the more your images lose details. Images will lose their sharpness and become blurry at maximum zoom levels. If you’ve zoomed in, reduce the zoom until you can capture the image without quality degradation.

We recommend using optical zoom instead of digital zoom to get the best results. You can see this by tapping the number at the bottom of your image preview with the Camera app open. You can pinch out with two fingers to slightly increase the level to a point where the image still looks detailed. However, just remember that while digital zoom gives you a better range, the quality won’t be nearly as good.

6. Remove Accessories From Your iPhone

If you have magnetic or metallic accessories on your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max, they might interfere with your camera’s ability to focus. Common culprits include phone cases and camera accessories like a magnetic lens mount or a lens converter.

These accessories commonly cause motion blur in low-light situations, according to Apple. So, remove the accessories and try taking a photo, then see if the issue has been fixed. If this fixes your blurry iPhone camera, remove the accessory whenever you want to shoot.

7. Restart Your iPhone

As a last resort, you should restart your iPhone. iOS, despite its refinement, is never perfect; you’ll occasionally encounter glitches and bugs. So, if none of the solutions above have fixed your problem, try restarting your device. Simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, then drag the Power Off slider. Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.

You might not be a believer in this catch-all solution, but it’s been proven that restarting fixes most smartphone problems. Go ahead and do it, then open your iPhone’s Camera app again and check if your problem is fixed.

Take Clear Pictures on Your iPhone

Taking clear images on your iPhone 18 Pro Max requires the software and hardware to be in great condition or set up correctly. If your iPhone’s camera has been taking blurry pictures, try all the solutions above.

If all else fails and you’re confident you haven’t damaged your iPhone’s camera, you should contact Apple support. An expert should be able to provide a concrete answer for your troubles. They might even recommend a camera repair or replacement if it’s a factory defect.

Frequently missing important texts, emails, or other updates is annoying and could cause major issues if you miss critical communication. Sometimes, you might not even get notifications when your iPhone 18 Pro Max is right in your hands.

To help you with this, we’ve listed some potential solutions to get notifications on your iPhone back to normal.

1. Unmute Your iPhone

The first step is to check whether you have accidentally muted your iPhone. When Silent mode is turned on, you won’t hear incoming notification alerts, and as a result, you may think that you’re not receiving notifications as they arrive.

Press and hold the Action button to turn Silent mode on. Press and hold the Action button again to turn Silent mode off.

If you expected vibration alerts on Silent mode but did not receive them for incoming notifications, you’ll need to review the relevant settings. In those cases, incorrect settings are the main reason why your iPhone isn’t vibrating on Silent Mode.

2. Restart Your iPhone

Sometimes, your iPhone acts up for no apparent reason. Most of the time, a simple reboot can eliminate these glitches that cause temporary malfunctions.

When you don’t see notifications, try turning off your iPhone and turning it back on before moving on to more advanced troubleshooting steps. Simultaneously press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, then drag the Power Off slider. Press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.

3. Check Your Internet Connection

When notifications don’t appear on your iPhone 18 Pro Max, particularly for internet-dependent apps, you should check that your network connection is active and stable. Try visiting a few websites in your browser to make sure the pages load.

If your browser or other apps can’t access the internet, chances are that your notification issue is network-related.

Troubleshoot Cellular Data Issues on Your iPhone

For cellular connections, turn off cellular data and turn it back on. Alternatively, enable Airplane Mode and disable it after a few seconds. You’ll find both of these options in the Control Center on your device.

Doing either of these should help restore your iPhone’s cellular connection from a temporary issue.

Make sure you still have an active data plan and haven’t run out of data. Reach out to your cellular carrier for further support with this.

Troubleshoot Wi-Fi Connectivity Issues on Your iPhone

When trying to fix an issue on a Wi-Fi connection, rebooting your router helps most of the time.

Disabling Your VPN Could Help

Since VPNs change both your cellular and Wi-Fi connections, they can interfere with notification delivery. For example, if you’re using a free VPN for your iPhone, try disabling it, then check if that fixes the notification issue.

You can disable a VPN connection from the provider’s app or go to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > VPN to disconnect it.

4. Disable Focus Mode

Focus modes, such as Do Not Disturb, Sleep, and Personal, helps to silence calls, notifications, and other alerts while enabled. When notifications don’t show up on your iPhone, it’s possible that you (or someone else—your kids, maybe) enabled a Focus mode by accident.

To confirm, open your iPhone’s Control Center by sliding down from the top-right corner.

Let’s use Do Not Disturb as our example: note the color of the crescent moon icon. If it’s violet (bluish-purple), that means Do Not Disturb is enabled; tap the icon to disable Do Not Disturb. That will change the crescent moon’s color to white.

5. Disable Driving Focus

Driving Focus mutes notifications when your iPhone is connected to your car’s Bluetooth or when your iPhone detects that you’re in a moving vehicle. This Focus mode does what the name says—prevent a driver from getting distracted by notifications—but sometimes does so erroneously.

For example, if you’re a passenger in a taxi or a train, the feature assumes you’re the driver and silences all calls and notifications on your iPhone. To disable the feature, go to Settings > Focus > Driving. Then, tap the option under the Turn On Automatically section. Set the feature to be activated Manually.

If you want notifications while using Apple CarPlay, you should also toggle off the Activate With CarPlay option. Leaving this enabled will activate Driving Focus when you connect your iPhone to a CarPlay-compatible vehicle.

6. Check and Modify Your Notification Settings

If your iPhone 18 Pro Max doesn’t display notifications for a particular app, check that the app’s notification settings and preferences are correctly configured.

Change App Notifications From the Settings Menu

Launch the Settings app and select Notifications. Next, choose the affected app and make sure Allow Notifications is toggled on.

In addition, make sure Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Banners are enabled per your preferences. You should also enable Sounds and Badges for the app if you want those to fire for new notifications.

Review Your Scheduled Notification Summary

Scheduled Summary is a notification feature that aims to help you focus better. For example, you can schedule to receive all your social media notifications at one go when you don’t want to get periodically distracted by story replies, likes, and comments.

When an app is part of your Scheduled Summary, you won’t receive notifications from it at other times of the day. Therefore, it might feel as if your notifications aren’t showing up accurately on your iPhone.

Go to Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Summary to review the settings. Toggle off any apps you no longer want to be included in your summary.

Check In-App Notification Settings

Some apps, particularly social media platforms and instant messengers like WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, and similar, have dedicated notification settings. These act independently of the notification configuration in your iPhone’s Settings menu that we looked at above.

So, if an app doesn’t show notifications despite having notifications enabled on your iPhone, check its in-app notification settings for any irregularities. For instance, WhatsApp allows you to mute individual conversations permanently. If you forgot to unmute them, you’ll still get new messages without issues but won’t get notified at the time of receipt.

7. Update Your iPhone

There’s a chance that a software bug has messed up your iPhone’s notifications. When you have system issues like this, it’s always smart to download and install the latest software update for your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max.

Go to Settings > General > Software Update to see if there’s an update available. And if there is, tap Update Now and walk through the process to update your device.

8. Update Your Apps

Sometimes, the problem is not with your iPhone but the apps themselves. If you’re not receiving notifications for only a particular app, it may be a bug that can be fixed with an update.

Go to the App Store, type the app name in the Search tab, and hit Search. If there’s an update available, you’ll see an Update button next to the app’s name.

Even if there’s no update available yet, you can try checking out the app’s social media pages or website. Some app developers actively keep users up-to-date on the issues they’ve identified and are working on, so you’ll just need to wait for the next update. If not, you can also contact them on the relevant channels to inform them about the issue.

9. Reset iPhone Settings

Still not receiving notifications on your iPhone 18 Pro Max after all the above fixes? At this point, you should try resetting your device’s settings. Doing this will restore your iPhone’s notification preferences to factory defaults, hopefully fixing whatever is affecting notification delivery.

Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings. Select Reset All Settings on the prompt.

Remember that resetting your iPhone’s settings puts all options back to the default. This means you’ll have to connect to Wi-Fi networks again, re-configure Bluetooth devices, adjust your privacy settings, and more. However, your data isn’t affected by this.

Get Timely Notifications on Your iPhone

Chances are that at least one of the fixes mentioned above will resolve your iPhone’s notification issues. It’s more than likely an accidental setting blocking the notifications than a full-blown problem.

If you still don’t get notifications after executing these fixes, you might have to factory reset your iPhone. And if that doesn’t work either, it’s time to contact Apple for tech support.

You rebooted your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max, turned off Airplane Mode, and restarted your router, yet you still have spotty Wi-Fi. Should you bring your iPhone in for repairs? Not yet.

Consider going through a few more troubleshooting tips. Here are some quick, simple fixes for iPhones that keep connecting and disconnecting from Wi-Fi networks.

1. Forget the Malfunctioning Network

Before doing anything complex, try removing the malfunctioning network from your iPhone 18 Pro Max. Otherwise, it’ll keep joining the Wi-Fi connection. This fix will likely work if you recently changed your Wi-Fi password, your internet has been spotty, or you set up a new router.

So, follow the simple instructions below:

1. Launch Settings and go to Wi-Fi.
2. Find the malfunctioning network, then tap the (i) button on the right side of its name. It will open the Information page.

   

3. Hit Forget This Network, then confirm the action by tapping Forget in the dialogue box.
4. Go back to the Wi-Fi menu and rejoin the network manually. Double-check your password—someone might have changed it without you knowing.

2. Check Your iPhone’s VPN Settings

There are several free VPNs for iPhones. They’ll help you bypass geo-restrictions, access confidential information, or use insecure networks safely.

Just don’t leave them running. VPN apps occasionally cause internet connectivity problems, especially when switching between networks. Disable them if you’re using your home Wi-Fi.

You can turn off your VPN within the respective apps. But if your VPN merges with your iPhone’s built-in VPN client, follow these steps in the Settings app:

1. Go to Settings > General.
2. Scroll down to VPN & Device Management—you’ll find it near the bottom of the page.
3. Tap VPN and remove any active VPN configurations.

3. Turn Off the Connectivity Assist Feature

When Connectivity Assist is on, iPhone uses cellular data along with Wi-Fi to keep your internet connection reliable when Wi-Fi is weak, busy, or not connected to the internet. Let’s say a page has been loading for over 30 seconds. Instead of stubbornly running the same network, your iPhone automatically uses your cellular data.

Although helpful, this feature is expensive.

We suggest turning off Connectivity Assist by default. Just use your data as needed. Otherwise, you’ll drain your cellular data plan if you’re often stuck with weak Wi-Fi.

1. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi.
2. Turn off Connectivity Assist.

4. Reset Your Network Settings

Reset your iPhone’s network settings if it disconnects from Wi-Fi even after following the troubleshooting steps above. Doing this can fix several hidden network issues. Just note that your device loses all saved network passwords, Wi-Fi names, and Bluetooth pairings.

1. Open Settings > General.
2. Scroll down and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone, which you’ll find at the bottom of the page.
3. Now, tap Reset > Reset Network Settings, then enter your passcode for confirmation.

5. Update Your iOS

If your iPhone 18 Pro Max still disconnects from Wi-Fi after resetting the network settings, check your iOS version. Update to the latest iOS firmware available. Apple might have fixed the glitch that’s making your device intermittently drop Wi-Fi connections. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.
2. Check if an update is available.

Keep Your iPhone Connected to Wi-Fi

Try all the above tips if your iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection. You should regain internet access shortly. Connectivity problems often stem from minor bugs—they rarely indicate serious hardware or software issues, so don’t panic.

But if none of your devices can connect to Wi-Fi, check the internet connection. Your router or ISP might be to blame. Follow standard troubleshooting steps, like switching to a wired connection, checking your network card, and restarting your router.