Low Power Mode on iOS 9

"Low Power Mode" is a new feature that was introduced to iPhones in iOS 9. Enabling this mode reduces power consumption by reducing or disabling functions such as email fetching, background app refreshing, visual effects, and others. By default, Low Power Mode is turned off, and when your battery reaches 20%, you are given the option to enable Low Power Mode (and are offered the option again at 10% if you did not previously enable it). Upon charging your iPhone to 80%, Low Power Mode is automatically switched off. An official Apple Support description of Low Power Mode is available here.

Since I prefer to minimize the amount of time that my iPhone is tethered to a charging cable, I want to go as long as possible between charges. Therefore, I decided to see what would happen if I kept my phone in Low Power Mode all the time. You can do this by going to Settings > Battery and manually toggling Low Power Mode to the ON position immediately after charging your iPhone (in fact, you can enable it "Whac-A-Mole" style right after Low Power Mode is automatically switched off when your battery is charged to 80%).

Besides, after having used Low Power Mode repeatedly over the last year when presented the option, I could not perceive any degradation in performance so I saw little to no downside to running this experiment.

My methods are admittedly not very scientifically rigorous, but I compared my charging records from Battery Doctor in the month of January (when I was using Low Power Mode only when the battery drained to 20% or lower) with the month of February (when I was using Low Power Mode all the time). I believe that I practiced similar phone usage patterns and charging habits over these 2 months. Results are as follows...

• January: 10 charges over 30 days, average span = 3.0 days
• February: 7 charges over 23 days, average span = 3.3 days

In summary, although the difference is not large, my findings appear to confirm my perception that in some cases, I may have been able to squeak out an extra day without having to charge my phone which is really what matters most to me. Furthermore, since I cannot perceive any difference in performance between Low Power Mode and "regular" mode, I will probably continue to use my iPhone in Low Power Mode all the time.

Apparently I'm not the only one who has experimented with Low Power Mode 24/7. Here's another guy who shared his findings in a nicely written blog (much better than mine, especially if you'd like to see more granular data points on this topic): What If You Used iOS 9’s Low Power Mode all the Time? In any case, I hope this helps at least 1 more person squeak at least 1 more day between charge cycles. What do you think about Low Power Mode?