Best iPhone Settings to improve iOS User Experience [2025]

Anyone with an Apple iPhone will surely agree with me that iOS and its attributes are strictly very user-centric. Over the years, and specifically in recent times, iOS has seen an addition of phenomenal features that enhance the user experience to a great level.

While Apple may not have been very creative hardware-wise, they have improved iOS by leaps and bounds under the hood. No! I am not talking about Apple Intelligence, for it is a recent development.

Also, iOS has broadened the scope of options that offer privacy against location tracking, user data control,  device security, accessibility features, and much more.

The iOS has so many features baked into it that are extremely useful. At the same time, it is also possible to miss out on those features if one is new to iOS or is a very old person with less technical prowess.

The Problem with Apple iOS Features

In some cases, Apple offers several features on iOS that may not be used daily by an average iPhone user. Having such features enabled on the device will consume battery faster and may slow down the iPhone’s performance in the long run.

On the contrary, people who are new to the ever-changing landscape of iOS may not enable and use important features that can be useful most of the time when they are using the iPhone.

This guide explains the iPhone settings you need to change to make the user experience more favorable while maintaining the efficiency of your iPhone. The change in this context refers to enabling specific important features and turning off features that are not necessary on an iPhone.

iPhone Settings You Need to Change Right Now

I have rounded up a few settings and features of iOS you need to turn on or off for better usability of your iPhone.

1. Install the Latest iOS Update

Start with the most important setting that you need to manage. Install the latest version of iOS available for your iPhone. The latest iOS update brings bug fixes, new features, and optimizes iPhone performance.

1. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.
2. Press Update Now to download and install the update.
   

Prevent Tracking by Apps

No one wants to get their activities on iPhone tracked by apps. This tracking allows the apps to understand the user behavior and show personalized advertisements. If you hate tracking by third-party as much as I do, change the settings below.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Privacy and Security.
3. Tap on Tracking.
4. Press the toggle to disable “Allow Apps to Request to Track.”
   

2. Manage Location Sharing with Apps

There is no need to share your location data with all the apps installed on your iPhone at all times.

Only for the necessary apps that are real-time location dependent, such as food delivery, cabs, or goods delivery apps, allow location permission to be used while using the concerned app.

Here is how you should manage the location access for iOS apps.

1. Go to the Settings app.
2. Access Privacy and Security > Location Services.
   
3. Tap on the app name.
4. Choose from the options Never, Ask Next Time, or When I Share and While Using the App.
5. Additionally, you may turn on/off the Precise Location for an app depending on your use.
   

Any app apart from the cab service, food/grocery delivery apps(usually set to access while using) should not have any access to your location data.

3. Turn off these System Services

There are specific system services that you should disable on your iPhone. Keeping them enabled for nothing will drain the battery.

1. Open the iPhone Settings.
2. Go to Privacy and Security.
3. Tap on Location Services.
   
4. Scroll to System Services and tap on it.

Now, you can turn off the toggle for system services that you use rarely. For example, turn off Compass Calibration, HomeKit, Suggestions and Search, or System Customization.

4. Manage Background Refresh for Apps

Background refresh helps update the app data in the background when it is not in use.

It is a useful feature, but you should turn it off for specific apps that don’t need a constant background refresh. Mostly, it could be those apps you use rarely in a week.

Doing this will help preserve the battery of the iPhone and also reduce processing load.

1. Launch iPhone Settings.
2. Go to General > Background App Refresh.
3. Press the toggle next to the apps to turn off background app refresh.
   

5. Enable Find My Device

It is one of the most important settings you must enable on your iPhone. In case your iPhone is lost or worse, gets stolen, having this feature enabled can help you track and find it.

New iPhone users are often not aware of this feature. So, I have added it to this article.

1. Open the iPhone Settings app.
2. Tap the Apple ID name at the top.
3. Scroll to Find My and tap on it.
   
4. Tap on Find My iPhone.
5. Enable the toggle beside Find My iPhone.
6. Also, turn on Find My Network to allow tracing your iPhone even when it is offline after it gets stolen.
   

6. Turn off Personalized Ads

We all know how personalized advertising works. Once you allow it, Apple will constantly monitor your device usage and show you targeted ads on the web.

If you have a privacy concern, I suggest turning off the Apple personalized ads on your iPhone.

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security.
2. Tap on Apple Advertising.
3. Press the toggle next to Personalized Ads to turn off the feature.
   

7. Disable Sharing iPhone and iCloud Analytics

You may not know, but Apple can collect your daily iPhone usage and diagnostic data to improve its products and services. Similarly, it can also collect data on how you are using iCloud.

Apple will have access to how you are using your apps, how much time you spend on the device, etc. That’s such a marauding breach of privacy.

Thankfully, Apple lets the user decide whether they want to share their usage data with them or not.

1. Go to Settings > Privacy and Security.
2. Tap on Analytics and Improvements.
3. Turn off the toggle for Share iPhone Analytics.
4. Disable the feature Share iPhone Analytics.
5. Also, turn off Improve Siri and Dictation.
   

8. Enable Stolen Device Protection

If you think Find My device is not enough to protect your iPhone, you can step up the security one step by turning on the Stolen Device Protection.

Enabling this feature will make it more difficult for thieves to change the iPhone settings. Making any change to any element of the iPhone would require Face ID/Touch ID authentication.

Also, this feature will introduce a time delay to prevent any changes carried out by thieves. If they try to change any password, it will take an hour before iOS again asks them to authenticate via Touch ID or Face ID.

To enable this feature,

1. Open the iOS Settings app.
2. Go to Touch ID and Passcode/Face ID and Passcode.
3. Scroll to Stolen Device Protection and enable the toggle.
   

9. Turn on Sensitive Content Warning

If you allow your kids to use your iPhone or connect your Apple ID to children’s devices, then it is better to turn on Communication Safety on it.

This will prevent obscene photos and videos before they find their way to your kid when they are using your iPhone.

To enable this feature,

1. Open Settings > Screen Time.
2. Go to Communication Safety, enable the toggle beside it.
   

10. Use Optimized Battery Charging

This is not a new feature on iOS, for it has been a part of the iPhone operating system for years now. Turning this feature on helps reduce battery wear and tear over time.

It will limit the battery charge to 75 or 80 percent to preserve battery health. This feature allows iOS to observe your device use and set a cap accordingly to stop the iPhone from overcharging.

To enable the feature,

1. Open Settings > Battery > Battery Health and Charging.
2. Enable Optimized Battery Charging.
   

11. Enable Subtitles and Captioning

For a better understanding of the audio spoken in a video, turn on captioning. Also, enable subtitles to get a translation of the language spoken in a video into your native language or a common language like English.

Subtitles and captions can be enabled in the iOS accessibility settings.

1. Open the iPhone Settings.
2. Go to Accessibility.
3. Tap on Subtitles and Captioning.
4. Press the toggle next to Closed Captions SDH.
   

NOTE: You can also enable Live Captions within accessibility settings. Go to Accessibility > Live Captions.

12. Enable Screen Distance

Turning on this feature alerts you to hold your iPhone/iPad at a safer distance from your eyes.

This will ensure your eyesight doesn’t get affected due to looking at the screen for prolonged use.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Go to Screen Time.
3. Scroll to Screen Distance and turn on the toggle.
   

13. Share Screen Time Settings Across Multiple Devices

If your kids’ Apple devices are connected to your iCloud account, you can set the Screen Time settings on your device. iOS allows you to share the same settings across multiple devices connected to your iPhone.

This way, you don’t have to worry about manually setting up screen time regulations on your kid’s devices.

1. Open the iPhone Settings.
2. Go to Screen Time.
3. Make changes to the Screen Time settings as required.
4. Under Screen Time, go to Share Across Devices and turn it on.
   

14. Disable Push in the Mail App

Push is a feature in the Mail app that constantly seeks and updates the Mail app for the latest emails. This does consume a significant level of battery if you keep it enabled at all times to fetch emails from the mail server and push them to you.

Simply, turn off the Push feature in the Mail app. You can manually check your email app or get notifications when a new email arrives.

To turn off Push in the Mail app,

1. Go to Settings.
2. Access Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts.
   
3. Tap on Fetch New Data.
4. Toggle off the feature Push.
   

You can also change the same for Outlook, Gmail, Calendar Holidays, and iCloud. Instead of Push, set it to manual or Fetch.

15. Turn off Preload Top Hit in Safari

Safari has a feature that can observe your browsing history and show specific websites in the search results that it thinks you are most likely to visit.

The feature aims to speed up the browsing experience, but it collects and monitors your browsing habits, which you should not allow unless you are a developer that is working with Apple to improve Safari.

To disable the Preload Top Hit in Safari,

1. Open the iOS Settings.
2. Go to Apps and access Safari.
3. Press the toggle next to Preload Top Hit to disable the feature.
   

16. Block Pop-ups and Close Unused Tabs in Safari

Often, users have several unused tabs open in Safari. They consume data, battery, and memory of the iPhone. So, instead of wasting device resources, it is better to close unused tabs in Safari.

Oh, don’t worry! There is no need to manually close the unused tabs. You can set a time limit after which the unused and open tabs will be closed automatically.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Apps > Safari.
   
3. Tap on Close Tabs.
4. Select your preferred time after which the tabs will be closed by iOS.
   

In the Safari settings, enable the feature that blocks pop-ups. It is very useful to steer clear of harmful pop-ups that may redirect you to untrusted sites.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Apps > Safari.
3. Press the toggle next to Block Pop-ups.
   

Bottom Line

If you are a seasoned iPhone user, I’m sure you are familiar with these settings that I have suggested to tweak. However, if you are a newbie to the world of iOS, making the necessary changes to the mentioned settings will make your iOS experience smoother and secure.

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