Whether you’re awaiting the arrival of a shiny technological baby in the form of an iPhone 5C or 5S, the new iOS 7 is here already and iPhone 4 or later users as well as iPad owners may be updating their phones with it. But what if you don’t want your constant companion to lose its battery life due to the upgrade? First of all, stop playing with your phone so dang much, if that’s possible.

There are a number of other preventative measures you can take to keep your iPhone humming along. The most obvious one being — don’t expect to play Candy Crush with the brightness level ratcheted up to blinding and have your battery not take a hit.

Turn off background refresh: Some apps running on iOS 7 will automatically refresh even if you’re not using them, which is nice because you won’t have to do so manually, but will drain your battery if all of them set on that. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh to change settings.

AirDrop is a battery sucker: The new AirDrop feature allows users to transfer files easily, but you should turn it off when you don’t need it, in the new Control Center area. Swipe up on the home screen to get there and then tap to enable or disable it.

Not using mobile data or Wi-Fi? Off with you: If you’re not using the Internet, you can save battery by turning off whichever mode you’d be using to access it. Wi-Fi and mobile network use can both be enabled/disabled in the Control Center.

Dynamic wallpaper and 3D awesomeness are battery life enemies: Any kind of animation or moving screen wallpaper is going to stick a straw in your battery and suck it as hard as it can. Toggle the “Reduce Motion” option in the Accessibility menu and console yourself about not having your screen act like an iMax adventure.

How to stop iOS 7 from destroying your iPhone’s battery life [TUAW.com]

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