Battery anxiety is real. Sure, there are phones with silicon-carbon batteries that last for hours and hours, but even the longest-lasting phone will eventually run low. That can be a headache, especially if you’re nowhere near a charger. This is when the low power or battery saver mode can be handy, helping you squeeze a little more life out of your phone.
On most Android and iOS phones, you can set the battery saver mode to turn on automatically when the battery dips below a certain percentage. That’s how it’s meant to be used, but what about pre-empting these emergency moments by enabling the mode even when your phone has plenty of charge left? After all, phones with severely degraded batteries might not last all day, which is why low power modes become the new default for many. While this doesn’t hurt your phone or its battery, leaving battery saver mode on all day definitely comes with compromises — some of which might not be worth it.
I put two iPhones to the test to see just how detrimental low power mode can be when enabled all day. I did the same on a OnePlus and Samsung device to see if Android handles things any differently. Overall, I found more cons than pros. Let’s go through them.
Your phone feels very sluggish
One of the ways the battery-saver mode works is by limiting a phone’s performance. Most modern smartphones ship with high-refresh-rate screens, but low power mode instantly caps the refresh rate to 60Hz or lower. I noticed that the iPhone’s Low Power Mode dials its refresh rate down to what feels like 30Hz. Scrolling feels choppy, animations look unpleasant, and 3D gaming is not very enjoyable.
Fortunately, your iPhone’s processing power isn’t affected too much. Apps launch just as quickly, and tasks like photo editing or video exports don’t take much longer than usual. System-wide animations suffer a lot, though, to the point that the phone feels like it’s struggling to keep up. You do get used to the significantly lower refresh rate after a while, but it’s a terrible way to experience iOS.
Android’s battery saver mode, in comparison, feels much smoother. The exact behavior varies between Android phones, of course, since manufacturers have different notions about how aggressive a battery saver mode should be. That said, both my OnePlus 15 and Samsung Galaxy S25 feel a touch more responsive compared to both of the iPhones I tested. Your phone may also disable haptics, which normally add an extra layer of tactile feedback to everyday interactions like typing, receiving notifications, or interacting with certain user interface elements.
You might miss notifications
Apart from lowering your screen’s refresh rate, Low Power Mode on iPhone extends battery life by restricting potentially battery-draining background activities for apps. While this doesn’t stop all notifications, it can delay updates from certain apps. Email notifications seem to be particularly affected on the iPhone when using the built-in Mail app. Disabling background app refresh also means that apps might not be able to upload or download files in the background.
Services like Google Drive and Google Photos, for example, work best when they can access the internet in the background. Apple also says that Low Power Mode pauses iCloud Photos. If you keep the mode enabled, you could end up with photos and videos that haven’t been backed up to the cloud, which can be detrimental if you ever lose or damage your iPhone. Background app refresh also loads new content in the apps you use. Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok might take a little longer to show content when you open them, giving you the impression of reduced performance and launch times.
Once again, Android handles things differently. OnePlus’ OxygenOS is already known for aggressive background app management, and leaving battery saver mode enabled made me miss many notifications throughout the day — including those from instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, which many people consider essential for everyday communication.
It restricts certain features on your phone
Constantly relying on the low power mode also reduces some of your phone’s capabilities. For starters, both iOS and Android reduce the display’s maximum brightness when you enable battery saver. It isn’t too obvious indoors, but it makes a noticeable difference when you’re out in the sun. It also reduces the screen timeout, typically down to 30 seconds. If you read a lot on your phone, tapping the screen so frequently can get annoying.
The always-on display is a nifty feature that lets you glance at the time and any pending notifications without touching your phone. Since it’s known to drain phone batteries, the iPhone and most Android phones turn it off in battery saver mode. So if you’ve been wondering why the always-on display doesn’t work on your device even though you’ve enabled it, the low power mode might be the culprit.
You might also notice your phone’s connectivity being affected. Low Power Mode on iPhones disables 5G for the most part, only enabling it when you’re downloading a large file or streaming videos. Since background activity is restricted, apps that rely on location services will also struggle to work properly, affecting the accuracy of features like live location sharing.
Battery life gains might not be as significant as you’d expect
The whole point of using the low power mode is to stretch your phone’s battery life as much as possible. Ideally, it would add at least a few hours of use before you need to reach for a charger, but in practice, this might not be the case.
I hypothesize that battery saver mode works best when your phone is idle, but has less benefit if you’re actively using it. Since your phone’s screen is still on and you’re still using your usual apps, you’re effectively relying on whatever power savings that a lower refresh rate and other minor restrictions can offer.
YouTuber PhoneBuff ran a battery drain test on two iPhones, one with Low Power Mode enabled and the other with it disabled, and found a negligible difference in battery life. That said, PhoneBuff used two iPhone 12 models with 60Hz displays, limiting the potential savings from reduced refresh rate. That said, I didn’t notice substantial battery life gains when I turned on Low Power Mode on my iPhone 18 Pro either, even with the drop in the ProMotion display’s refresh rate. If anything, I used roughly the same amount of charge, just with a noticeably worse experience due to the choppy animations.
Battery-saver modes can still come in handy
I found that running battery saver mode all day didn’t offer enough battery life improvements to justify the drawbacks, but that doesn’t mean the feature is useless. The mode is most effective when you’re trying to eke out as much life as possible from the remaining 10 to 20% of charge, and works best when your phone is idle and can benefit from reduced background activity.
Limiting 5G usage, as Low Power Mode does on iPhones, can boost your phone’s battery life, sure, but you don’t have to endure the other downsides that come with the feature. On iPhones, navigate to Settings > Cellular Service > Mobile Data Options > Voice & Data and set it to “5G Auto” or “4G” and disable the “5G Standalone” toggle if you don’t need 5G speeds every time you’re off Wi-Fi. Most Android phones also let you change your preferred network type in the OS’ Settings app.
Likewise, there are several other ways to boost your phone’s battery without enabling low power mode all the time. Start by disabling the always-on display, switching to dark mode, and manually reviewing background data permissions for apps you don’t need running in the background. That should help a lot.
