Chapter 2. Charging and Conserving iPad Battery Power
Your iPad should last approximately 10 hours on a single charge. Of course, playing videos will likely drain the battery faster than just reading an ebook, so your actual battery life may differ depending on what you do. There are ways you can minimize power usage, thereby extending the daily life of your battery.
Like all batteries, your iPad’s battery will eventually wear out, but by then you’ll probably have a new iPad model anyway (or you can take your iPad to an Apple store and pay a minimal fee for an entirely new iPad).
In this chapter you’ll learn how to maximize the charge of your battery to allow your iPad to run as long as possible.
Recharging an iPad
There are two ways to recharge your iPad. If you want to use your iPad while it’s recharging, plug its USB cable and adapter into an electric outlet. This is also the fastest way to recharge your iPad.
You can also plug your iPad into a computer’s USB outlet to recharge it. Some computers with high-powered USB outlets will let you use your iPad as it charges. But if you plug the iPad into your computer and try to use it, you may see a “Not Charging” notice near the battery indicator. This indicates that your computer’s USB outlet is not high-powered, and that you cannot use the iPad as it is charging. (If you put your iPad to sleep while it’s plugged in, it will slowly recharge.)
Note
To ensure a full battery, plug your iPad into a wall outlet overnight. That way, the iPad will be fully charged the next morning.
Warning
Hot weather (95°F or 35°C) can irreversibly harm your iPad’s battery, so avoid storing your iPad in direct sunlight. If your iPad feels excessively warm while it’s recharging inside a carrying case, take it out of its case before recharging. Cold weather will only temporarily prevent your iPad’s battery from holding a charge. Once you move your iPad to a warmer area, its battery will hold its charge normally.
Turning Off Wi-Fi and 3G
If you frequently surf the Internet to watch YouTube videos or browse your favorite web pages, you’ll want to leave Wi-Fi turned on all the time. If you turn Wi-Fi off and access the Internet, the iPad uses your cellular telephone network, which requires even more energy and drains your iPad’s battery in the process. If you don’t need to surf the Web or check your email, you can turn off Wi-Fi and 3G to make your iPad’s battery last even longer.
To turn off Wi-Fi and 3G, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Tap Cellular Data. The Cellular Data settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-1. (If you don’t have an iPad that supports 3G, you will not see a Cellular Data option.)
Tap the Cellular Data on/off switch to make it read OFF.
Tap Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Networks settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-2.
Press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
Note
You can also put your iPad into airplane mode (see Chapter 1) to save energy. This turns off both Wi-Fi and 3G.
Turning Off Push Accounts
Another handy feature of the iPad is the push account. If you have a supported email account, your email server can deliver new messages to your iPad automatically so you receive the information almost the instant someone sends it to you.
Since a push account requires that your iPad periodically contact your email account over the Internet, it uses energy. If you don’t need or care to receive email messages as quickly as possible, you can turn off the push account by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars. The Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-3.
Tap Fetch New Data. The Fetch New Data settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-4.
Tap the Push on/off switch to make it read OFF.
Note
If you have multiple email accounts set up, you can tap the Advanced button to define whether each email account fetches data only when you use the Mail app (manually) or at a fixed interval of time defined by the option you choose under the Fetch category.
Tap an option under the Fetch category, such as Every 15 Minutes or Hourly.
Press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
Turning Off Location Services
Location Services is a fancy term that means some iPad apps, such as the Maps app, rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) and triangulation of cellular phone towers to identify the physical location of your iPad. If it knows your physical location in the world, an iPad app can then help you find the nearest restaurant or gas station, for example.
Unfortunately, Location Services burns up battery energy. If you don’t need this type of service, you can turn it off to reduce power consumption by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-5.
Tap Location Services. A Location Services pane appears on the right side of the screen.
Tap the Location Services on/off switch so it reads OFF.
Press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
Monitoring Battery Life
To let you know how much battery life is left, your iPad displays a battery gauge in the upper-right corner of the screen. The more filled this battery gauge appears, the more charge your battery has remaining.
Since this small visual gauge may be hard to read, your iPad can also display the battery charge remaining as a percentage. A fully charged battery appears as 100% charged, while a weaker battery charge will have a lower percentage. When your battery life reaches 20% and 10%, warning messages alert you to recharge your iPad soon.
In case you find this battery percentage indicator annoying, you can turn it off (or on) by following these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Tap Usage. A Usage pane appears on the right side of the screen as shown in Figure 2-6.
Tap the Battery Percentage on/off switch. When set to ON, the battery percentage indicator appears next to the battery gauge. When set to OFF, the percentage indicator does not appear.
Press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
Turning Off Bluetooth
Bluetooth is primarily used to connect an iPad wirelessly to a headset or keyboard. If you don’t use Bluetooth devices such as an external keyboard, turning off Bluetooth can save power and increase your iPad’s battery life. To turn off Bluetooth, follow these steps:
From the Home screen, tap Settings. The Settings screen appears.
Tap General. The General settings screen appears.
Tap Bluetooth. The Bluetooth settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 2-7.
Tap the Bluetooth on/off switch to change it to read OFF.
Press the Home button to return to the Home screen.
Additional Ideas for Conserving Power
The simplest way to conserve battery power is to turn your iPad off every time you know you don’t need it for an extended period of time. Although the iPad’s battery can last approximately 10 hours, you may want to invest in a battery pack. Although these external battery packs may be cumbersome to lug around, you can use them in emergencies when you need to use your iPad but find that its power has drained away.
Rather than rely on a battery pack, you could also buy a solar panel that can recharge your iPad as long as you can place the solar panel in the sun. If you combine conservation techniques with additional power sources, there’s no reason why you should ever run out of power for your iPad.