The Dynamic Island Isnt A Must
The iPhone 14 Pro Maxs biggest new feature isnt hardwareits software. The Dynamic Islandwhich is a feature that lives inside the new camera cutoutis easily the most interesting and intriguing feature of the new phone and one that will be a standout on iPhones for years.
Foundry
But its not quite there yet. Most of the time the Dynamic Island is as lifeless as the notch, and even when iOS 16.1 launches with Live Activities, itll take some time before developers properly update their apps to take advantage of it. Itll be a few months before all that happens and by then well all be looking ahead to the iPhone 15 Pluswhich will likely adopt the Dynamic Island too.
Turn Off Location Services
Location services like GPS can wreck havoc on battery life. If youve used Waze or Google Maps you probably know what were talking about. Fortunately, you have a lot of control over the services actively running on your device.
To do this, head into Settings and tap Privacy. At the top youll see Location Services. Tap it. You can shut them off entirely if you toggle it off but we recommend going through your apps to determine what apps should be using your services and when.
If an app you barely use is working in the background youll want to limit its capabilities. To do that, tap on the app in question and select Never.
iPhone 14 Plus Review: If You Just Want A Huge Screen Here’s Your Upgrade
A big iPhone without the big price tag.
Patrick Holland
Senior Editor
Patrick Holland has an eye for photography and a passion for everything mobile. He is a colorful raconteur who will guide you through the ever-changing and fast-paced world of phones. He also is one of the hosts of CNET’s I’m So Obsessed podcast.
The $929 iPhone 14 Plus is either a big iPhone 14 or a scaled-back iPhone 14 Pro Max, depending on your perspective. With the arrival of the iPhone 14 Plus, Apple now has the most straightforward iPhone lineup in years. There are just two iPhone sizes: one with a 6.1-inch screen and the other with a 6.7-inch display. After you pick a size, you just need to decide between getting a regular iPhone or a Pro model.
The iPhone 14 Plus starts at $929 for a model with 128GB of storage, or $899 if you activate with a carrier. That’s $200 less than the iPhone 14 Pro Max and just $100 more than the regular iPhone 14. But that still makes it out of reach for many people. And that’s disappointing, especially when you consider that the Android landscape is littered with large-screen, rectangular slabs that can be bought at nearly any price.
- Needs more iOS features for its larger screen
- Costs less than a 14 Pro Max, but still expensive
- Lacks a high-refresh-rate display
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Keep Your iPhone At A Cool Temperature
When you leave your iPhone out in the sun on a hot summer day, it will almost certainly begin to overheat. When your iPhone is exposed to such hot temperatures, the battery may become permanently damaged.
Here are some tips for keeping your iPhone cool:
Applies To: iPhone 5,iPhone 5S,iPhone 5C,iPhone 6,iPhone 6 Plus,iPhone 6S,iPhone 6S Plus,iPhone SE,iPhone 7,iPhone 7 Plus,iPhone 8,iPhone 8 Plus,iPhone X,iPhone XS,iPhone XS Max,iPhone XR,iPhone 11,iPhone 11 Pro,iPhone 11 Pro Max,iPhone SE 2
Buy A Battery Case Or Battery Bank
If youre willing to spend a little money you might want to pickup a battery case or battery bank for some extra juice.
There are already a ton of iPhone 8 case options out there so take a look at the best iPhone 8 cases and iPhone 8 Plus cases to get started.
If you dont want to cover up the iPhone 8s beautiful design with a bulky case you might want to buy a battery bank.
Battery banks are small and lightweight gadgets that give you multiple charges. For instance, the RAVPower battery pack can give you six full iPhone charges.
You should also take a look at Mophies powerstation mini and the Anker Powercore 20100, both of which are solid and affordable.
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Is Your Battery Draining
It can be difficult to tell whether a battery is draining normally or a particular app is being an energy hog. Heres the definitive way to find out:
Performance Battery Life And Charging
Both watches feature Apples newest S8 chipset and perform similarly. From opening apps and starting workouts to managing notifications and more, both the Series 8 and Ultra have all the power you need.
Theres a big difference in the battery life of the Apple Watch Series 8 and the Apple Watch Ultra. While the former delivers the same 18 hours of battery life as the Series 7, the latter doubles it to 36 hours the best on any Apple smartwatch so far. A new Low Power mode helps the battery last even longer by disabling some features like the always-on display, background heart rate, SpO2 monitoring, etc.
To juice up the battery, Apple uses its own proprietary charging tech and misses out on Qi wireless charging support. Thankfully, there is support for fast charging, and filling up the battery from zero to 100% should take about an hour or so.
The Apple Watch Series 8 and the Apple Watch Ultra perform almost equally in this round. But, owing to better battery life, the latter secures a win.
Winner: Apple Watch Ultra
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iPhone X: Battery Life Didn’t Impress
The X lasted an average of 11 hours, 38 minutes on our battery test. That’s not great, and was considerably shorter than the 13 hours-plus average times that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus managed. On the same test, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and OnePlus 5T ran for a little over 17 hours. In everyday use, however , it seemed to fall more between the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which is closer to Apple’s official estimates.
The iPhone X has a few new elements that could be leading to disappointing battery life in some instances. Its OLED display, which is brighter than the LCD screen on all other iPhones, could be a factor OLEDs, despite what you’d think, can drain power when they’re not running darker backgrounds.
Another possible factor: The TrueDepth front camera and its infrared Face ID sensor could cause drain if used repeatedly. Our phone tests are conducted on a bench in our PC lab with the phones pointing laying flat. It’s unlikely that TrueDepth is affecting our test in any way, though, since we’re playing back video and the phone lock screen isn’t being engaged.
In my everyday use over several weeks, I’ve often had to recharge the X by midday to be safe. It’s a step below the Plus phones I’ve used, and even with Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus, I didn’t feel completely battery-satisfied.
iPhone 8 and 8 Plus battery life, on our test, were pretty similar, but 8 Plus edged out.
The iPhone 14 Plus Vs 14 Pro Max
Like the 14 Pro Max, the iPhone 14 Plus has a 6.7-inch display that gives you a larger canvas for watching videos, playing games and taking photos. One way to think of the 14 Plus is that you can fit more onto the screen. For example, when you hold the phone vertically, the screen can show one more message preview than the regular 14. The iPhone 14 Plus also shows a list of message previews on the left side of the screen when using the Mail app in landscape orientation. It’s a nice, simple change to the interface, but it’s not new and was first introduced six years ago with the iPhone 6 Plus.
I wish there were more iOS 16 features that took advantage of the 14 Plus’ giant screen. A side-by-side app view would be incredible on this phone.
Your big, slightly more affordable iPhone has arrived.
Another way to think about the 14 Plus’ screen is that it can show everything the iPhone 14 can, just larger. A magnified view seems like such a mundane feature, yet as my eyes get older, I definitely welcome it. And I know I’m not alone.
The 14 Plus and 14 Pro Max both have 6.7-inch screens but are very different. The 14 Pro Max has the new Dynamic Island cutout for system alerts, an always-on display that keeps essential info lit up when your phone is locked, and it has 39,888 more pixels. The Max’s screen has an adaptive refresh rate that can go as low as 1Hz to save battery life and as high as 120Hz for gameplay and system animations.
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iPhone 7 And iPhone 7 Plus
Average battery life: About 10 to 12 hours for both phones.
2016s iPhone 7 came without a headphone jack, in order to make room for better cameras and a bigger battery, according to The Verge. Indeed, the batteries for both models were impressive: the iPhone 7 had an 1960 mAh battery, while the 7 Plus had a 2900 mAh battery. According to Apple, the greater size was meant to increase the 7s charge time by two hours from the 6s.
In tests, The Verge found the iPhone 7 lasting about 10 hours, and the 7 Plus lasting 12 hours, when in medium usage. Tech Radars testing found the iPhone 7 barely making it through a day, and overall lasting just seven minutes more than the 6s. The sites review of the iPhone 7 Plus was more positive, though, with the phone apparently lasting a full day of heavy usage.
It Could Save Your Life
Apple introduced two new iPhone features this year: Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite. Those two features could very well save your life one dayand theyre available on all iPhone 14 models, Pro or no.
For more help choosing which iPhone to buy read our buying guides:
Which iPhone? iPhone buying guide 2022
Best iPhone 2022
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iPhone 8 Battery Life: The Plus Is This Much Better
While both the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus offer above-average endurance, the Plus lasts over an hour longer on a charge.
The A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone 8 is crazy fast, but how efficient is it? Based on our testing, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus last a little bit longer than their predecessors on a charge, but the Plus offers especially strong endurance.
In fact, the iPhone 8 Plus’ runtime puts it on our list of the longest-lasting phones.
On the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE on 150 nits of screen brightness, the iPhone 8 lasted 9 hours and 54 minutes, and the iPhone 8 Plus hit 11:16.
By comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy S8 lasted 10:39, which is longer than the iPhone 8. But the Galaxy S8+ and the Galaxy Note 8 are in the same range as the iPhone 8 Plus.
There are certainly longer-lasting phones out there. In fact, the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom and its monster 5,000-mAh battery lasted an epic 16 hours and 46 minutes on our battery test. The OnePlus 5 was another marathon runner, turning in a great 13:06.
Overall, though, the iPhone 8 Plus offers very good battery life, which is just one of the reasons we recommend it over the regular iPhone 8. You also get dual cameras and a bigger screen, for just $100 more.
Turn On Reduce Motion To Save Battery On iPhone
Another issue that can be the cause of iOS update battery drain is an increase in animations that come with new software features. If youve been enjoying the interesting effects and reactions in the Messages app, youre using animations that require lots of iPhone battery life. While the flashy features of the Messages app might be fun, theyre sure to cut into the amount of time your iPhone can stay alive. Beyond the Messages app, the iPhone has animations for everything. Simply switching from an app to the Home screen has its own animation. Each animation may not use much battery life, but the little bit each transition uses adds up quickly. To turn on Reduce Motion and stop iPhone battery drain from these small animations:
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iPhone 8 Review: So This Is What Good Battery Life Feels Like
Apple might have phoned in the design again, but an improved power supply, wireless charging and a cracking camera save it. But is it worth £700?
Another year, another iPhone, except this time there are three of them. The iPhone 8 is the first out of the gate, but its overshadowed by the iPhone X looming in the wings, and while there are some new elements a glass back you could be forgiven for feeling a bit of deja vu.
Placing all the recent iPhones side by side, from 2014s iPhone 6, to 2015s iPhone 6S and 2016s iPhone 7 and on to the 8, its clear very little has changed on the outside.
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Ways To Improve iPhone Battery Life
If your iPhone doesn’t hold a charge like it used to, these tips should help you get a boost from your battery.
Rick Broida
Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET’s popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast . He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms .
Ask any iPhone owner for a wish-list of improvements and I guarantee “better battery life” will be at the top.
It just seems like there’s never enough juice. That’s in part because we use our phones all day, and in part because batteries just wear out over time.
That’s one reason I recommend keeping a mobile charger close at hand. But there are other things you can to do squeeze more runtime from your iPhone battery.
How Do I Manage My Push Notifications
Applies To: iPhone 5,iPhone 5S,iPhone 5C,iPhone 6,iPhone 6 Plus,iPhone 6S,iPhone 6S Plus,iPhone SE,iPhone 7,iPhone 7 Plus,iPhone 8,iPhone 8 Plus,iPhone X,iPhone XS,iPhone XS Max,iPhone XR,iPhone 11,iPhone 11 Pro,iPhone 11 Pro Max,iPhone SE 2
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Turn Off Background App Refresh
Leaving Background App Refresh on for many apps can significantly drain your iPhone’s battery life because the apps will use your connection to Wi-Fi or data network to constantly download new data or information.
I recommend going through your apps one-by-one and determining which ones you want to allow to download new content even when you’re not currently using it.
Performance Management Turned Off
If you disable the applied performance management feature, you’ll see this message:
This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. You have manually disabled performance management protections.
If the device experiences another unexpected shutdown, the performance management features will be re-applied. The option to disable will also be available.
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How To Fix Bad iPhone 8 Battery Life
Some iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus users are running into battery life issues. If you start to notice abnormal battery drain on your iPhone 8 try a fix from this guide before taking scheduling an appointment at your local Apple Store.
iPhone 8 users are running into a myriad of problems including weird battery drain where their device is experiencing rapid battery loss in situations where it shouldnt be taking a significant hit.
In some cases this may be related to a bad battery. In most cases though, its an app gone rogue or simply bad habits from the person behind the wheel.
We expect Apple to roll out fairly regular iOS 15 updates, but theres no telling how long youll have to wait for the next upgrade. While you wait, you should try and fix these bad battery life issues yourself.
This guide will take you through some potential fixes and some tips that will help if and when you start noticing weird drain on your iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus.