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When cellular reception is bad, my iPhone uses more than 2x more battery than it would have otherwise.

I've read online that this is because it emits more power to try to communicate with cell towers.

Apart from airplane mode, is there a way I can disable this feature? I would prefer it to just give up if the reception is poor instead of using more power than it would in the best case.

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You get three controls here by design.

  1. Low power mode (which will reduce transmit when signal strength demands your amplifier be on max energy mode).
  2. Airplane mode. You get all the battery life you want and only WiFi and Bluetooth data is possible. You lose cellular data and preserve that energy till you’re closer to a tower and can get your work done efficiently.
  3. Bring a cellular booster with you so your phone talks to the booster and the booster wastes energy talking at high amplification to the distant tower.

My hunch is you dislike #1 and #2 and already tried them. Perhaps #3 is worth investing depending on what carrier you use, how critical it is you remain in contact in an area with poor reception. Also, you didn’t say why you can’t just provide external power to the phone. That requires no management of the cellular radios if you can bring enough battery power to meet your needs.

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  • Perhaps the "also" could be #4?
    – Ray Butterworth
    Commented Jul 24 at 13:04
  • It’s the pragmatic way to get more life but the opposite of the “ask” to reduce consumption @RayButterworth I do appreciate your emphasizing it. Maybe it should be 0 - add battery at the top of the list and then review the options to reduce.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Jul 24 at 13:25

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