10 iPhone Settings You Should Know to Protect Data and Save Battery

Do you notice that your iPhone battery drains fast? Smartphones handle a lot behind the scenes. A 2023 University of Bath study found that 43% of users don’t fully understand app tracking, and a Statista survey showed 74% rely on location services, which can quietly drain battery life when left on.

iPhones are powerful, but some default settings don’t work in your favor. They eat up battery, collect data, or leave you open to unnecessary tracking. With a few setting tweaks, you can improve both privacy and performance.

Ways to Keep Your Data Safe and Improve iPhone Privacy

Many people assume that once a phone is set up, it’s good to go. But a lot of features running in the background collect personal data or share it with third parties. These privacy-related settings are turned on by default and rarely explained.

If you've never touched your privacy settings, now’s the time. As a user, you should know where your information goes and stop apps from quietly tracking you or draining your battery.

Here’s a practical list of iPhone settings to turn off if you care about digital privacy and want your phone to last longer between charges.

1. Change Location Services for Specific Apps

Location tracking is one of the biggest ways apps collect data about your behavior. Apps often ask for location access because it helps them offer better features or track usage—but not all of them actually need it.

Leaving location services on for every app shortens battery life and stores your movement history. You might be giving up more than you think, especially with shopping or social apps.

How to do it:

• Go to Settings
• Tap Privacy & Security
• Tap Location Services
• Choose apps and select While Using the App or Never

Weather or maps apps may need it, but others usually don’t.

2. Turn Off Significant Locations

Most users don’t know this setting exists, but your iPhone keeps track of places you visit the most and saves them as “Significant Locations.” That means your home, workplace, or favorite restaurant could all be stored on your device without you realizing it.

While Apple claims this improves apps like Maps or Photos, the trade-off is detailed movement tracking. If you don’t want your phone to log where you go, this is one setting to shut down.

Steps:

• Go to Settings
• Tap Privacy & Security > Location Services
• Scroll to System Services
• Tap Significant Locations and turn it off

3. Disable Background App Refresh

Some apps never stop working—even when you're not using them. They quietly update content, check for alerts, and consume mobile data in the background. That’s fine for important apps, but for most, it's just wasted power.

Disabling background refresh keeps your battery from draining faster than it should. It also limits how much data apps pull behind your back.

To stop this:

• Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh
• Choose Off or Wi-Fi only

You can still manually refresh apps as needed.

4. Turn Off Personalized Ads

Apple uses your activity to show ads it thinks you’ll like. That includes things like what you read, download, or search for. While these ads might seem more relevant, it also means your behavior is being watched and categorized.

Here’s how to turn it off:

• Go to Settings
• Tap Privacy & Security
• Select Apple Advertising
• Toggle off Personalized Ads

This won’t stop ads altogether but helps prevent your habits from being used to decide what you see.

5. Stop iPhone Analytics Sharing

Analytics reports are meant to help Apple improve its products. But sending usage data and crash reports—even anonymously—still involves sharing what you do on your phone.

Steps:

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements
• Turn off Share iPhone Analytics and all other toggles

6. Disable Visual Effects You Don't Need

Fancy transitions and animations may look nice but use extra processing power. If your phone feels sluggish or battery drains quickly, reducing motion can help.

To reduce them:

• Go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion
• Turn on Reduce Motion

7. Check for Power-Hungry Apps

Some apps use more battery than others. If your phone dies too quickly, the battery settings can show you which ones are the problem.

To check usage:

• Go to Settings > Battery
• Scroll through the list and look for apps using a high percentage

Extra iPhone Privacy Settings to Boost Privacy and Control

Many apps request access to data like your contacts, messages, and photos even when it’s not needed. A 2023 Mozilla report found several popular apps collect information not tied to their core features. When data is collected unnecessarily, it increases your risk of spam, ad targeting, or identity fraud. Keeping tighter control over permissions limits these risks.

Some iPhone features are designed to give you insight into app behavior, but they don’t alert you automatically. If you want to know how often apps are tapping into your sensors or files, you have to enable reporting features manually.

Once you start tracking this behavior, you’ll notice how often apps request data they don’t need.

7 . Review App Privacy Reports

Your iPhone tracks how apps use your data and sensors. This report shows if apps are asking for location, camera, or contacts more than they should.

To use it:

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report
• Turn it on
• Come back in a few days to review activity

8. Limit Access to Contacts and Photos

Some apps ask for access they don’t need, like your full photo library or contacts.

This data can be used for marketing or stored indefinitely, so don’t give it away freely.

Steps:

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Contacts or Photos
• Switch to None or Selected Photos

9. Control How Often Apps Ask to Track

When apps ask to track you across other apps, it’s usually for ad targeting. These pop-ups can be annoying and are designed to make you say yes.

Turning off the ability for apps to ask for permission removes the pressure and blocks tracking from the start.

Steps:

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking
• Toggle off Allow Apps to Request to Track

10. Manage Push Notifications

Notifications may seem harmless, but every alert lights up your screen and wakes your phone. Over time, they drain your battery and distract your attention.

Cutting down on unnecessary alerts helps improve focus and preserve battery life.

To adjust them:

• Go to Settings > Notifications
• Turn off Allow Notifications for apps you don’t need updates from

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to adjust every setting; some you may find useful or necessary, depending upon how you use your phone. Just start with the ones that matter the most (or least) and adjust your settings accordingly.

These updates may seem small, but they help extend battery life, protect your data, and reduce unnecessary interruptions.

Small changes, better phone habits—you’re in charge.