iPad battery life FAQ: Do you have any tips on how to improve my iPad battery life?
Yes, it turns out you can do a number of things to improve your iPad battery life. Here's a quick list of the best "iPad battery life" tips I know.
1) iPad battery life tip - Drain the battery monthly
I learned this first battery life tip by digging through the Apple website. They specifically mention that you can improve your battery life by draining your iPad battery completely every month. Here's their quote:
For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery (like the iPad battery), it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).
Since the iPad, iPhone, and iPod all use the lithium-based batteries, this same battery life tip is true for all of these Apple devices.
2) Improve iPad battery life by controlling settings
Beyond draining your iPad battery every month, the next thing you can do is to optimize the way you use your iPad. Here's a collection of tips on how to improve iPad battery life, both from my own experience and from the Apple website.
Note: With each of these tips I keep wanting to write, "You have to decide whether you really want this feature", because iPad battery life optimization is a trade-off between features and battery life, so rather than keep repeating that, I'm just writing it once here.
Beware of apps and videos: Depending on what they're doing and how they're written, third-party apps may eat your iPad battery life. Watching videos can also be very demanding.
Minimize the use of iPad location services: Services such as Maps, Twitter, Facebook, etc., all draw from your iPad battery life. You can disable the iPad location services by going to Settings, General, and then Location Services.
Turn off Wi-Fi when not using it: If you're not near a Wi-Fi network you can use and you have Wi-Fi enabled, you're definitely wasting iPad battery life. Go to Settings, then Wi-Fi to adjust this setting.
Turn off Bluetooth: Just like the Wi-Fi suggestion, if you're not using Bluetooth, turn it off. (Go to Settings, General, Bluetooth.)
Use Airplane Mode: Really want to save your iPad battery life? If you're in a remote area (like some places here in Alaska) and you're not getting much reception anyway, put your phone in Airplane Mode. That can really save your iPad battery life. Go to Settings, then set Airplane Mode to On.
Turn off push notifications: Apps that use the Apple Push Notification service can have a bad impact on your iPad battery life.
Turn off push mail: If you have a push mail account like Yahoo Mail (or other mail services) you can turn that off, and choose to check your mail manually. Go to Settings, then "Mail, Contacts, Calendars", then "Fetch New Data", and set "Push" to Off.
Turn down the iPad brightness: Adjust your iPad brightness as desired to again improve iPad battery life. Go to Settings, then Brightness to adjust the iPad brightness. You can also set the brightness control to an automatic brightness setting if you prefer.
Fetch data less often: Also related to email, if you have a push mail account like Yahoo Mail (or other mail services) you may be able to configure it to fetch data less often. Go to Settings, then "Mail, Contacts, Calendars", then "Fetch New Data", and change the setting as desired there (such as changing it to hourly).
Note that it may also help to update to the latest version of the iPad operating system (iOS). I don't know the details of what Apple does from release to release, but in theory they're making iOS more efficient with each release, and I know from my own use that my iPhone used to get very warm during long phone calls, and it now seems much cooler during those same long calls (and I'm assuming 'warmer' goes hand in hand with 'consuming more energy').
3) More iPad battery life information
Before I go, here are a few other useful links related to how to improve iPad battery life:
I hope these tips on how to improve iPad battery life have been helpful. If you have any related tips you'd like to share, please use the Comments form below.
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