How to Turn On Low Power Mode on iPhone

Your battery is at 20 percent and the charger is hours away. Low Power Mode cuts background activity so the remaining charge lasts longer. There are three ways to turn it on, and the fastest one takes a single swipe.

Open Battery settings

Open Settings and tap Battery.

Turn on Low Power Mode

Tap the Low Power Mode toggle at the top of the screen so it turns green. The battery icon in the status bar turns yellow to confirm it is active. Tap the toggle again to turn it off.

Use Control Center instead

Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen (or up from the bottom edge on an iPhone with a Home button) to open Control Center, then tap the Low Power Mode button with the battery icon. It turns yellow when on. If the button is not there, on iOS 18 and later touch and hold an empty area of Control Center, tap Add a Control, search for Low Power Mode, and tap it to place it. On iOS 17 and earlier, open Settings, Control Center and tap the green plus next to Low Power Mode.

Ask Siri

Say "Siri, turn on Low Power Mode," or hold the Side button and say it. Siri switches it on without opening any screen and confirms with the yellow battery icon.

Turn it on automatically at a set level

Open Shortcuts, tap Automation, tap the plus button, and choose Battery Level. Set it to run when the battery falls below a level you pick, then add Set Low Power Mode as the action. From then on the phone switches it on by itself whenever the battery drops that low.

What Low Power Mode changes. It pauses Background App Refresh and automatic downloads, fetches new mail less often, reduces some visual effects, lowers the display refresh rate on ProMotion models, and sets Auto-Lock to 30 seconds. Calls, texts, and anything you are actively using still work normally, though some apps may feel slightly slower.

It turns itself off at 80 percent. Once the battery charges back to 80 percent, iOS disables Low Power Mode on its own. If you want it on all the time, turn it back on after each charge or use the Shortcuts automation above with a high threshold.