Go through these quick tips if your new iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, or iPhone Air doesn’t last long and you find yourself plugging it into a charger more often than normal.
In theory and as confirmed by various user reviews, the latest iPhones have improved battery life compared to previous generations. Even the thin iPhone Air has decent battery life, given the space constraints. But if your new iPhone 17’s battery doesn’t seem to last long, the following pointers will help.
Lower battery backup is expected for the first few days
First off, it’s perfectly natural to have reduced battery backup for the initial 2-3 days of setting up your new iPhone 17 or upgrading to a major version of iOS.
This is because after you set up the new device, your usage shoots up more than average as you’re taking the device for a spin and trying things out.
Secondly, a new device consumes additional battery to finish the setup process in the background, index files for Spotlight Search, download essential assets, update apps in the background, update iCloud Photos, download Apple Intelligence files, and so forth. This same thing also happens on iPad and Mac.
So, wait a couple of days for your new iPhone to finish these housekeeping tasks. I would recommend leaving your iPhone 17 plugged into a charger overnight so it can finish these tasks.
If you continue to get poor battery life even after waiting for a few days, follow the remaining tips below.
Check if Adaptive Power Mode is enabled
If you have used an iPhone in the past, you already know about its Low Power Mode feature, which limits the CPU, turns off the 120Hz ProMotion display, disables some visual effects, and makes multiple other adjustments to help you get more use time out of the remaining battery.
iOS 26 adds a new battery optimization feature called Adaptive Power Mode, which reduces screen brightness by 3%, limits background activity, and makes other performance adjustments to save battery.
Adaptive Power Mode needs to be turned on manually on the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and the iPhone 16 series. But it’s already enabled by default on the new iPhone 17 series and iPhone 17. This software feature, along with battery technology improvements, ensures a great battery life on these new iPhones.
But if you or someone with access to your iPhone 17 has turned off Adaptive Power Mode, go to Settings > Battery > Power Mode and turn it back on. You may now notice a slightly better battery life in the coming days.
Update to the latest version of iOS 26
If your iPhone 17 is still on the initial build of iOS 26, please do yourself a favor and go to Settings > General > Software Update to install the most recent version of iOS 26. Apple has made improvements in newer updates to give you better battery life.
Turn off charge limits
If you have set your iPhone 17’s battery to charge only up to 80 or 90 percent, go to Settings > Battery > Charging and set Charge Limit to 100%.
Take some time to set everything properly
You might have tweaked several settings and optional features on your old iPhone to optimize its battery usage. But on the new iPhone 17, many things might be set to their default configurations, which can unnecessarily drain the battery. Here are a few quick things you can do on your new iPhone 17 to save some battery:
- Turn off Background App Refresh from Settings > General.
- Disable location access for unnecessary (but not all) apps.
- Turn off Always On Display if you don’t find it helpful (it will save a lot of battery). And even if you keep it on, disable the ‘Show Wallpaper’ switch for some battery savings.
- Turn on Dark Mode if that’s what you normally use. Or, set Dark Mode to activate automatically at night. Dark Mode can increase your use time on a single charge by a couple of percentage points.
- Turn off or tweak notifications for gaming, coupons, shopping, and other such apps. Fewer notifications mean your iPhone 17’s display will wake up less and thus consume less battery.
Follow the usual battery-saving tips
Aside from the above quick tips, we have a dedicated post where we walk you through not five or ten, but nearly 50 tips to save iPhone battery. Now, I don’t expect you or anybody to follow all those measures, but still, it’s worth implementing some of those suggestions.
Return your iPhone 17 within 14 days
If it has been over a week and your iPhone 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, or iPhone Air continues to have abysmal battery life, you can return it for a refund.
After that, you can place a new order if you like. Secondly, calculate your finances and see if you can spend more on the iPhone 17 Pro Max instead of the regular 17, 17 Pro, or iPhone Air, as the Pro Max model is the biggest one in the lineup with the best battery life.
Note: Apple doesn’t allow returning a purchased iPhone in all countries.
Get it checked at an Apple Store
In case you don’t want to go through the return process and place a fresh order, or if the return period is over, you should get your iPhone 17 checked at an Apple Store or authorized service center. It could be that you received a faulty unit with a defective battery. Since iPhone 17 is a new device, chances are Apple Store will replace the battery for free or offer a replacement unit.
How has your iPhone 17 battery experience been?