iPhone charging tips from Apple and elsewhere

Having been briefly the proud possessor of a totally non-functional iPhone, I think I can say with some authority how important it is to keep your iPhone charged. Without juice to power it, your iPhone is about as useful a wireless device as a ham sandwich—and much less tasty. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways for you to eke the most battery life out of it.

Apple offers some tips on battery charging on its own website, including gems such as this:

Lock Your iPhone
It may seem obvious, but you should lock your iPhone when you aren’t using it. You will still be able to receive calls and text messages while it is locked, but nothing happens if you touch the screen. To lock iPhone, press the Sleep/Wake button.

But alongside those are some less commonsensical suggestions. For example:

Let It Breathe
Charging your iPhone while in certain carrying cases may generate excess heat, which can affect battery capacity. If you notice that your iPhone gets hot when you charge it, take it out of its case first.

Iiiinteresting. And if that’s not enough battery tipology for you, MacsOnly! has some more insights:

Our advice, then, is to definitely turn Wi-Fi off unless using it. When you are in an area with no cell phone service, turn on Airplane Mode. These two devices constantly looking for a signal in places where there are none apparently burn up a lot of battery life doing so.

Very true; I spent the first week with my iPhone in a remote area with little or no reception, and Airplane Mode meant that I saved a ton of battery power. I also find turning Wi-Fi off to be handy when, say, driving in a car, since otherwise the iPhone will just keep popping up a list of Wi-Fi networks that I can’t access before they’re out of range. You can always flip it back on when you’re stationary again.