5 ways to improve battery life on new iPads

27 Jul 2012 - Dave

I thought my new iPad was broken. I thought the battery was defective. Over the last week power was draining fast enough to see the percent numbers changing. I was planning the trip to the Apple store or maybe Springboard Media.

Some research revealed tips to deal with power problems. Some Google-Fu and Apple’s Discussion forums had the answers.

1. Lower the brightness – the new Retina display uses lots of power.

   • Open the Settings app and tap “Brightness & Wallpaper.
   • Adjust the Brightness slider to about 50% – 60%.

2. Disable WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G/4G when not needed – these radios use a lot of power also.

   • Open the Settings app. WiFi is on the left.
   • Bluetooth and 3G/4G is under General.

3. Close background Apps

   • Bring up the multitask manager with a double-tap on the home button.
   • Click and hold an unused App until it starts shaking.
   • Then tap the X to close. Repeat if necessary.

4. Completely discharge battery once a month

   • Use the iPad until it shuts down on its own.
   • Ignore the low power warnings.
   • Keep using the tablet until it powers down on its own.
   • Then plug it in and allow the iPad to completely charge to 100% before using.

5. Reset the iPad by holding the power button until the iPad restarts

   • Hold the button for 5 to 15 seconds.
   • Ignore the red swipe to power down.
   • The iPad will restart.
   • This resets some settings that get stuck.

Bonus tip: the iPad charges faster when powered down.

• Hold the power button until the red swipe appears.
• Swipe to power down.
• Now the iPad will charge faster.

I’m happy to say the iPad’s battery life is back to normal. Not so happy that a trip to the Apple Store wasn’t necessary though.