
Are you accustomed to seeing a battery icon on your iPhone that is black or white?
When something on your iPhone or iPad changes, especially if you haven’t made any adjustments to your settings, it can be cause for concern. This is particularly true when it involves something that is a really important part of the device, such as the battery.
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Why Is My iPhone Battery Yellow?
You are probably used to seeing a green battery icon in your status bar, which indicates that your iPhone’s battery has more than 20% remaining charge. Or, if you often drain your battery completely, you may see a red battery icon when the remaining battery life falls below 20%.
Luckily, in this case, that yellow battery icon isn’t anything to worry about. Your iPhone battery icon is yellow because Low Power Mode is enabled.
Low Power Mode was introduced in iOS 9, offering a way for people to quickly toggle a number of different settings that could help to extend the remaining battery life on the device. It’s remained as part of the iOS operating system ever since, and is a welcome addition for many iPhone users that typically run their battery to or near depletion.
Specifically Low Power Mode will reduce background actions like downloads and updates, as well as other features like mail fetch until you connect your iPhone to a charger.
How Did I Get a Yellow Battery Icon on My iPhone?
Once your Apple iPhone gets to a low enough level of remaining battery charge you will get a pop up asking if you want to enable Low Power Mode. If you do this, the battery icon becomes yellow.
Alternatively you can enable Low Power Mode manually from the Battery menu in your Settings app, or from the Control Center.
The Low Power Mode prompt on your iPhone is something that will trigger automatically when your remaining battery life gets below 20%. Low Power Mode automatically changes some of your device settings to help you get as much life as possible out of that remaining 20%.
You can manually enable Low Power Mode with the following steps:
- Open Settings.
- Select Battery.
- Tap the button to the right of Low Power Mode.

By manually enabling Low Power Mode you can force your iPhone into this battery-saving mode at any time. For example, in the picture above, my phone is at 84% battery life, but Low Power Mode is enabled.
Low Power Mode Doesn’t Fix Underlying Battery Problems
While Low Power Mode can help give your battery a longer life, it doesn’t resolve issues that you may be having that are due to a dying battery.
Luckily new versions of iOS (starting from iOS 11) have a Battery Health option that can tell you how your battery is currently doing. You can find this information by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health.

There you will see a percentage that indicates your battery’s current maximum capacity, as well as how it’s performing relative to what it is capable of.
How to Add Low Power Mode to the Control Center
As we mentioned earlier, you can add an option to your iPhone’s Control Center that lets you enable Low Power Mode very quickly.
You can do this by going to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, then tapping the green + symbol next to Low Power Mode to add it.

Once the option is available, simply open the Control Center and tap the battery icon. This method can be used both to enable Low Power Mode and turn it off.
Other Battery-Saving Techniques You Can Try if You Don’t Want to Use Low Power Mode
If you would prefer not to toggle Low Power Mode on and off, then you might be interested in changing some other settings on your device instead.
One common adjustment involves Background App Refresh. This is a setting on the iPhone where your open apps will check for and download new information as it updates. This helps to keep your apps up to date when you go back to them, but it also uses a lot of battery. You can turn this off by going to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. On that menu you will have the option of turning this feature off completely, or adjusting it for individual apps instead.
Another setting you may want to change is the auto-lock setting. This option tells your iPhone how to long to wait before locking the screen. The longer your screen is on, the more battery it consumes. Therefore, by reducing the amount of time the screen is on when you aren’t using it, you can save some battery charge. You can find this setting by going to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock. You will want to choose one of the shorter duration options from the menu.
Another option you may want to look at concerns automatic downloads. Your iPhone can periodically check for, and automatically download, things like app updates and purchases made from other devices. These downloads are helpful in keeping your apps and files up to date, but they use battery life. You can find and toggle this setting at Settings > iTunes & App Store and turn off the options under Automatic Downloads.
Additional iPhone Battery Notes
- If your iPhone has a notch at the top of the screen, then you can’t view the battery percentage at the top-right of your Home screen. However, you can view the battery percentage in the Control Center, or by swiping right on the Home screen and viewing the battery widget.
- If you have an older iPhone without a notch (such as an iPhone 6) you can enable the Battery Percentage by going to Settings > Battery and tapping the button to the right of Battery Percentage.
- If you use a lot of battery and still struggle to make it through the day without a charge, then a portable battery charger like this one from Amazon can be a useful thing to carry with you.