I’ve covered loads of iPhone tips here on iGeekCentral, but one thing I’ve not really talked about are the common mistakes that I see iPhone owners making all the time. So, in this guide, I’m going to cover the 10 that I see most often, and let you know what I think you should be doing instead, and why. Read to the end of the article, to see if there’s anything that you’re doing, that might be making your iPhone experience worse rather than better.
Habitually force-quitting apps
So, a question. You’ve been using an app on your phone, and you finish whatever you’re doing. Do you tend to be in the habit of fully closing the app, rather than just letting it continue running in the background? If yes, you’re definitely not the only one, a lot of people do this, thinking it’ll free up memory and make their iPhones run faster, but in reality, killing apps in the background might not be doing your iPhone any favours, in fact, it can actually slow it down and even reduce your phone’s battery life.
There are a few reasons for this.
First up, iPhones are designed with a sophisticated memory management system.
When you exit out of an app, it’s frozen in the background, not using up any CPU resources. By swiping it away, otherwise known as force-quitting it, you’re essentially forcing your iPhone to reload the app from scratch the next time you open it, which consumes more power and resources than simply resuming the app from its frozen state. Because of this, continuously killing and restarting apps can use more battery than letting them run in the background. In fact, according to Apple’s own support page, apps that are not active, are in a suspended state and aren’t actively using up battery.
And look, if you don’t believe me, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, once responded to an email from a user asking if swiping away apps improves battery life, simply replying “No.”
There are exceptions to this rule. If an app is misbehaving or freezing, then force quitting that specific app might be necessary. But doing it routinely for all apps? That’s where this becomes a habit that you need to stop. Trust in your iPhone’s design and efficiency, and let it do its thing.
Common battery mistakes
We all want our iPhone batteries to last as long as possible, but there are some common practices and misconceptions that might be doing more harm than good, so let’s take a look at them.
Avoid using non-MFI Certified Charging Cables and power bricks.
We’ve all been there, you lose your iPhone charger, and you find one at a local store, and it’s so much cheaper than the official Apple one. The problem is, using non-MFI (Made for iPhone) certified charging cables and charging bricks can actually damage your iPhone’s battery. These uncertified products may not meet Apple’s standards for performance and safety, so over time, they can degrade your battery’s health, leading to shorter battery life or even potential safety risks.
I’m not saying you should only buy official Apple products here by the way, they are often overpriced simply because they’re Apple branded, but if you’re going to buy third- party, always look for that MFI logo when purchasing.
Always avoid letting your iPhone get too hot. Extreme temperatures, especially heat, can harm the battery’s capacity. If you’ve ever left your iPhone in a car on a scorching day, or next to you at the beach, you might have noticed a temperature warning. That’s your iPhone telling you it’s in trouble. Continual exposure to high temperatures can reduce
your battery’s chemical lifespan, and whilst extreme cold is also not great for iPhone batteries, extreme heat is definitely the number one problem here.
And on a related note, be careful when fast- charging, especially if you also disregard the first point about only using MFI certified chargers and cables.
Fast-charging generates a lot of heat, and a combination of an MFI certified charging brick and cable will allow you to fast-charge, whilst still doing so in a manner that will minimise the strain on your phone’s battery.
Location Services & Privacy
Your iPhone is incredibly smart, but with that intelligence comes the responsibility of ensuring you’re not sharing more with it than you’d like, and that responsibility falls to you by the way. To do this, we focus on Location Services and Privacy.
So location services first. Location services are essentially referring to your phone’s ability to know where you are, and tailor the way that it functions based on that information. It offers up a tonne of useful features that simply couldn’t exist without it, like being able to direct you home, or remind you to do something when you visit a certain place. But, every time an app asks to know your location, it’s not just about convenience. It’s also about privacy and, believe it or not, battery life. Every time an app pings your location, it uses up a bit of your available battery. You want to get into the habit of managing your location services, and to do that, you’d go to Settings, then scroll down and tap on Privacy & Security, and choose **Location Services. Here, you’ll see a list of all apps and their location access.
You can choose which apps can access your location and when. For apps you rarely use or don’t trust, consider setting their access to “Never” or “Ask Next Time.” Remember, you can always change it later if you feel you need to.
Next, let’s look at App Tracking Transparency: Beyond just location, some apps want to track your activity across other apps and websites. It’s a big privacy concern, and thankfully, Apple give you the means of controlling this.
Go to Settings, tap on Privacy & Security, then select Tracking. Here, you’ll see a list of apps that have requested to track your activity. You can toggle off tracking for any apps you’re uncomfortable with. For a blanket approach, you can turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track,” which will prevent any app from even asking in the first place.
There aren’t many parts of the iPhone experience where I’d recommend switching something off entirely, but this might well be one of them, I can’t see many times where I’d want to allow apps to track me across other apps, so definitely consider disabling this.
Never closing your Safari Tabs
Every open tab in Safari uses up a bit of your iPhone’s RAM. While modern iPhones are incredibly powerful, there’s still a limit. If you’ve got dozens (or, dare I say, hundreds?) of tabs open, it can bog down your device’s performance. Not to mention, it’s gonna be a challenge to find that one specific tab you’re actually looking for, because let’s be honest, how many can you actually use at any one time?
You can swipe to close down Safari tabs one at a time if you wish, but there’s a great shortcut to close all Safari tabs in one go:
Head to Safari, and hold down the tabs icon at the bottom right. In the menu that appears, choose ‘Close Tabs’ (however many tabs you currently have open), confirm it on the next message, and all of them are gone in one go.
Camera mistakes
The camera on your iPhone is extremely powerful, but there are a number of mistakes related to the camera that I see people make all the time.
One mistake is either not using, or conversely over-using certain formats. If you head to Settings, then Camera, and then Formats, you can see whether your iPhone model can support either Pro RAW photo capture, and ProRes video capture. Both of these are essentially professional formats, and as such, they take up a tonne of space on your device. For example, i took a photo on my iPhone 15 Pro, one in HEIC format, the other in RAW format. The HEIC format is 1.4MB in size, while the RAW photo is almost 65MB. The RAW photo might not look like it, but it has a tonne more data in there, designed to be edited using professional photo editing software. So the mistake here, is if you want to take better photos, and you’re familiar with shooting with RAW, start making use of it. But if you’re not, don’t use it, and save yourself storage space instead, because you probably won’t notice the difference.
It’s the same story with ProRes. My iPhone literally tells me that a single minute of recorded footage in 4K HDR, captured in ProRes, is going to take up 6GB of space on my iPhone.
Also, there are two insanely useful Camera settings which you should absolutely be making use of, and I often see people not using. The first is the Grid, for composition. Open Settings, then Camera, and ensure that Grid is enabled under Composition. With this on, you will take better photos, just by having the ability to see how you’re composing your photos more accurately.
The other setting is just above the Composition section, it’s Preserve Settings. Tap into that, and toggle on as many settings as you like. With these toggled on, your phone will remember your camera settings each time you open it. So for example, if you disable Live Photos in your camera app, your phone will remember that you disabled it, each time you open the camera app, rather than switching it back on each time.
NOT updating software
A common mistake that I see people making with their iPhones is not updating them to the latest software version. While Apple release a major software update each year, they also release more regular updates which aren’t quite as shiny and exciting, but do contain important bug fixes, performance enhancements, and sometimes entirely new features, so they are worth it, to keep your phone up to date. Head to Settings, then General, then Software Update, and ensure that Automatic Updates are enabled. At the very least, ensure that Security Responses and System Files is enabled, as Apple is now packaging security updates separately, and even if you have a reason for not using the latest operating system, you should be using the most secure version that’s available to you.
One caveat, regarding particularly old iPhones. While the latest iOS versions are optimised for newer devices, older models might struggle a bit. The hardware in these devices might not be equipped to handle the demands of the latest software. This can lead to slower performance, app incompatibilities, and even quicker battery drain, so whilst I’m not outright recommending that you don’t update if you’re using an older model, I would recommend that you do some research first, perhaps checking some user forums to see what other people’s experience has been like.
Giving your phone to a child WITHOUT using Guided Access
If you’ve ever handed your iPhone to a child, whether it’s to keep them entertained or let them chat with a family member, you know there’s a bit of anxiety that comes with it. Kids are curious, and a single tap can lead to deleted apps, accidental calls, altered settings or worse. This is where Guided Access comes in. It’s a feature designed to keep your iPhone locked into a single app, the person you hand your phone to literally can’t close or change the app you hand them, preventing any accidental mishaps.
So, why should you use it? With Guided Access, you can let a child play a game or watch a video without worrying about them venturing into other parts of your phone. It’s peace of mind in a digital format.
To enable it, open Settings, then scroll down and tap on Accessibility. Under the “General” section, you’ll find Guided Access. Tap on it. Toggle on the Guided Access switch. Now, when you want to use it, open the app you want to lock into, quickly triple- click the side or home button (depending on your iPhone model), and tap Start.
Your iPhone is now in Guided Access mode, ensuring a worry-free experience when handing it to a child. And when you want to exit, just triple-click the button again and enter your passcode. It’s that simple!
Not making use of Dictation
A mistake I see people making all the time is not making effective use of dictation on their iPhones. You might be in a situation where typing out a lengthy message or note feels tedious, or perhaps you’re on the move and need to send a quick text without fumbling with the keyboard, there are loads of situations where you might not want to send a voice note, but it’s infinitely quicker and easier to have dictation write your message or note for you. You can use dictation literally everywhere on your iPhone where you can use your keyboard, you just tap the little microphone icon in the lower right of the screen.
Plus, with Apple’s continuous improvements in voice recognition, the accuracy of dictation is impressive, understanding nuances, accents, and even multiple languages, and dictation has gotten noticeably better in iOS 18.
If you don’t believe me, make an effort to give it a go each time you need to type something for the next few days, and see how you get on with it. You might be surprised at just how useful it is.
Disabling Find My iPhone
Find My iPhone is a built-in feature on Apple devices designed to help users locate and secure their iPhone if it’s ever lost or stolen. Integrated into the Apple ecosystem, it uses the device’s built-in GPS to pinpoint its exact location on a map, allowing users to track it in real-time.
Once the feature is enabled in the device’s settings, you can access the location of your device through the “Find My” app on another Apple device or by logging into iCloud.com on any browser. If your iPhone goes missing, you can activate “Lost Mode,” which locks the device and displays a custom message, helping anyone who finds it get in touch with you. Additionally, for added security, you can remotely erase all data on the device to protect personal information. The feature also includes the ability to play a sound on the device, making it easier to locate if it’s nearby, like lost in a sofa cushion or left in another room.
To enable it, head to Settings, then tap on Apple Account, and choose Find My. Tap into Find my iPhone, and ensure that Find my iPhone is toggled on. I would also recommend enabling the other features on this page, as they come in handy if the phone is for example stolen, and immediately powered off.
While ‘Find My iPhone’ does utilise location data, Apple emphasises a commitment to user privacy, ensuring that your location data is used solely for the purpose of this feature and is not sold or shared. And while enabling ‘Find My iPhone’ might have a minor impact on battery life due to its location tracking, the security benefits outweigh this concern in my opinion, especially in the event of a lost or stolen device.
Not knowing how to cancel app subscriptions
We’ve all been there. You sign up for an app trial, thinking you’ll remember to cancel it before getting charged, but then life happens, and before you know it, you’re billed for a subscription you no longer want. The truth is, many iPhone owners aren’t entirely sure where to go to manage and cancel these subscriptions, so let me show you.
When you subscribe to an app on your iPhone, it’s linked to your Apple ID, not just the app itself. This means you won’t typically cancel the subscription within the app but rather through the Settings of your iPhone. Apple actually bring all of the subscription management together to try and make it less complicated, but because a lot of people don’t know where to find them, it can have the opposite effect, so here’s what to do.
Open Settings, and tap on Apple Account at the top of the screen. Tap on Subscriptions. Here, you’ll see a list of all your active and expired subscriptions. Find the subscription you want to cancel and tap on it. Hit Cancel Subscription or Cancel Trial at the bottom.
And that’s it! No more unwanted charges. It’s a simple process, but one that’s often overlooked or misunderstood. And remember, most subscriptions auto-renew by default. So, even if you’re just trying out a service, it’s a good habit to check on its renewal status to avoid unexpected charges.