Every year, without fail, the iPhone gets thinner and thinner. And every year, without fail, iPhone owners routinely exclaim that they’d rather have better battery life than an even thinner form factor.
Well, today Apple introduced a new iOS 9 feature that may cure some of your iPhone related battery woes. Dubbed ‘Low Power’ mode, the new iOS 9 feature was quickly glossed over during today’s jam-packed WWDC keynote but is worth highlighting.
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Impressively, when an iPhone is in “Low Power” mode, battery life can improve by as much as three hours. Even without the mode enabled, iOS 9 will still improve battery life by about an hour.
According to Apple’s Craig Federighi, this is accomplished via iOS 9 “pulling levers you didn’t even know existed” behind the scenes. With battery life often being the most commonly levied complaint heard from iPhone users, it’s nice to see Apple finally address this via software. Of course, the underlying and unanswered question is to what extent will a device in “Low Power” mode impede functionality.
All Apple has on its website at the moment reads as follows:
Across the entire operating system, apps and key technologies have been made more efficient to trim battery usage wherever possible — so you get more battery life for the things you do every day. Thanks to ambient light and proximity sensors, your iPhone knows if it’s facedown on the table and prevents the screen from turning on, even when you receive a notification. And the new Low Power mode lets you extend your battery life even further.
Once we get our hands on Apple’s iOS 9 beta, we should have more detailed information about what will hopefully be a long welcome iOS feature.
