Does FaceTime Ruin Your iPhone Battery? (Explained)

FaceTime is Apple’s video phone service, and it can be a great way to chat with friends or family on your iPhone. There is also an audio-only version, and even non-Apple products should be able to use a web-based client service to run FaceTime to other devices that might have it. As you can see, it is a fairly versatile program that allows for live video communications.

While it can be useful, there is some concern that it drains the batteries on phones a bit quickly. We can look into this issue, and we will talk about whether the program could have more far-reaching effects on the battery over the long haul.

Furthermore, we can discuss why the battery might seem to overheat because of the use of FaceTime, and we will take you through a few ways you might save some of your battery’s energy.

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Why Does FaceTime Drain So Much Battery?

FaceTime appears to be one of the most intense applications that an iPhone can run. The combination of audio and video usage over a sustained period seems to be able to drain the battery with relative ease.

Part of this is the nature of programs that need to use your video constantly. It can take a lot more energy for the battery to run them efficiently.

There are other factors to consider, and there may be ways to increase your phone’s battery life even with FaceTime on. However, it is important to remember that some apps just need to use a lot of battery power.

One of the major issues that seems to relate to FaceTime in particular is how it might drain the battery when it is not in active use. To check for this, you can go to your phone’s ‘Battery’ section to check which apps it has been using lately.

You may find that FaceTime shows up in this list and takes quite a high percentage, and this can be true even when you know you haven’t used it in the past few days. In other words, FaceTime by itself can be a hog for power resources, but it also might use some of those resources even if you don’t open the app. This can be one of the main contributors to why it drains so much battery.

Does FaceTime Ruin Your iPhone Battery?

It can be difficult to pin down whether FaceTime itself is responsible for ruining an iPhone battery. We’ve established that it can drain the battery quickly. However, iPhones are also designed to use FaceTime, among many other apps that Apple has developed over the years.

All batteries will lose some of their overall charge ceilings over time. Using a resource-intense app for several hours frequently might have some impact on the battery’s life. There are several variables at play here, and even using one phone for only FaceTime and nothing else may not give us an accurate picture as to how the health of the battery is affected in the long-term.

The most we can say is that you might see charge ceilings decrease quicker than you might if you didn’t use FaceTime on the phone at all, or if you used it in only rare cases for a few minutes at a time. However, this isn’t enough to say that this single app has a deleterious effect in such a way that it would ruin a battery.

Is It Okay to FaceTime While Charging?

This can depend on how you charge the iPhone. For the most part, you should be able to use the iPhone for FaceTime while the device is charging. However, it will charge slower than it usually does, since the app likes to use resources.

Additionally, the phone is running the app, so it may get warm as you are using it. Depending on the battery level your phone is at when you start to charge it, it is possible that it may drain faster than it can charge if you decide to use FaceTime for it at the same time.

If you notice that it cannot hold a charge properly while you are using the app, consider closing it and allowing the phone to charge normally. You may wish to get the battery to over half of its full charge before you try to use FaceTime again. In the meantime, you can switch to a different Apple device that uses the app.

There is also a charging caveat to consider. Wireless charging and using FaceTime at the same time could be problematic for the phone. Part of this may be because of the particular version of the iOS that you are using. However, it is possible that you will get a message that your phone needs to cool down before you can use it.

This can happen sometimes if you are using apps on it while it is charging wirelessly. It is less common if you are charging it via a plug through an outlet. In any case, this is a warning that the inside of the phone is indeed overheating, and you should let it cool down before you try to use it again.

Why Does My Phone Overheat on FaceTime?

We touched on how the phone might overheat while using FaceTime and giving the battery some juice at the same time. But, what if you are just using the app normally and still experiencing a hot phone? While there are a few factors to consider, it might relate back to the system resources that the app needs to use in order to function properly.

FaceTime wants to stream video live in as high a quality as it can. It is also fairly intense with its use of graphics. Additionally, it uses the camera, different communications protocols, audio, and several other things together in order to work seamlessly.

All of these system resources take up energy in the phone, and this energy generates heat. Your phone may get hot while you are on a call, but it could end the call early and tell you that the phone is too hot to use right now.

If you find that this is the case, let the phone cool down a bit before you try a call again. In most cases, there is not an issue with the phone. Your device might work hard and need a break.

How Can I Save Battery on FaceTime? 7 Ways

There are a few ways that you might be able to save some battery power and use FaceTime longer than usual. Some of the tips we give are quite general, and they might allow you to extend the charge on your battery when using other apps, too.

1. Put the brightness level as low as you can for comfortable viewing. The screen itself uses a lot of battery if it is brighter. You may need to turn off some automatic settings before doing this step, otherwise the phone may revert to the original brightness level without you knowing.

2. Certain apps use location services. If you must have these services enabled, consider telling the phone to only turn them on when specific apps need to request them. Doing this will keep them from running in the background and draining the battery.

3. Similarly, some apps like to use Bluetooth. It is a good idea to go to the appropriate setting on your phone to review which ones are requesting Bluetooth access most frequently. You can manually select which ones you want to have access, thus freeing up more background processes that might use the battery.

4. Both Apple’s own apps and third-party programs might refresh in the background regularly to check for updates or download things. You can turn this off to free up more system resources and keep the battery at a better level.

5. It may not help much, but you can go into your ‘Settings’ and then ‘Notifications’ to turn off how many apps notify you of new updates, or to switch how often they might do it. This step can save a bit of battery life in the long run.

6. Making sure everything is current with regard to the OS can be crucial here. Some new updates address battery concerns and other things that might not be stable in the version of the iOS that you are using.

7. Conversely, turning off updates and automatic downloads can also help with this issue. You can check for relevant updates periodically yourself, and it can save you some battery at the same time.

Conclusion

FaceTime is a native app that runs on iOS devices, and it can be a convenient way for a quick live chat with people. Although it can also handle longer video calls, these things might drain the battery more quickly than some users expect. There are a few ways you can optimize battery life for your iPhone overall, however. Additionally, you might want to consider using the audio-only version of FaceTime, or turning down some of the extra features that you don’t absolutely need in order to have a clear video call on the app.