How To Maximize the iPhone Battery – The Geek Girl Report

There's a lot to love about Apple's iPhone, but one thing I'm not too wild about is the notoriously short battery life. I'm on my phone constantly during the day checking E-mail, texting people, streaming music and, yes, playing the occasional Angry Birds. it's gotten to the point where I have to re-charge my phone almost every night. However, there are a few things you can do to extend your iPhone's battery life and save yourself frequent trips to the charger.

1.) First and foremost, never leave your iPhone out in the sun or in a hot car. Nothing saps your battery life faster than heat.

2.) Reducing the screen's brightness can also reduce the strain on your battery. Unless you plan on using your iPhone as a flashlight, you should keep your phone between 30-50% brightness. Turning on Auto-Brightness, which automatically adjusts your screen's brightness depending on where you are, can also increase your battery life.

3.) Speaking of  "where you are," the Location Services on your iPhone will really eat away at your battery life, especially if its for apps that really have nothing to do with your current location. (I mean, is is really necessary for Epicurious or Evernote to know your exact location at all times?) You can either go into the Location Services menu, which you can find in the Settings app, and turning off Location Services for specific apps, of you can just turn them off altogether.

4.) Another thing you can easily turn off that drains your battery in a hurry are "Push Notifications." You don't really need your phone to keep reminding you of frivolous things like, say, when the Mighty Eagle power-up is available Angry Birds, do you? You can turn off notification by going to the Notification Center in the Settings app.

5.) Finally, just take good care of the battery. iPhones run on lithium-ion batteries, so there's a few things to keep in mind concerning the battery itself:

• It's OK to charge your phone often, but try not to overcharge it. When it's done charging, don't leave it on the charger for a long period of time. (This is precisely the reason my first cell phone died.)
• About once a month, you should run a "charge cycle" on your battery. This means charging your phone to 100%, then letting it run all the way down to 0. Doing so will keep your battery running at peak performance.