Can an app actually extend the battery life of your iPhone? A new app called Carat aims to do just that – and while I’d ordinarily be skeptical of such claims, Carat seems to put its money where its mouth is in a very interesting way.
Now, the app doesn’t actually reduce the amount of power your iPhone uses by itself – but it does tell you how your apps and settings are affecting your battery life, and makes practical suggestions for how you can squeeze a few extra minutes (or hours) of use before you have to find a charger.
TechCrunch explains how the app’s recommendations are determined:
Carat’s recommendations break down into killing off bugs and hogs. These usually aren’t “bad” apps. Energy bugs are apps that are sapping a lot more power from you than everyone else because they’re probably malfunctioning, so Carat tells you to restart or re-download them. For example, a notes app that uses little power for 95% of users, but it’s accidentally activating your GPS over and over.
Hogs are apps that just naturally use a ton of power or needlessly run in the background, like streaming music apps. Carat reminds you to shut them down, which is especially useful when you get that 20% battery remaining notification half-way through the day and you’d do anything to still be able to get calls and texts.
I’ve been using Carat since I first heard about the app this morning, and while a single day doesn’t make a good sample, it does seem as though my iPhone is lasting longer than normal. And fortunately, because the app is free, there was absolutely no risk in giving it a proper try!
If you’re skeptical like I was, I encourage you to download Carat and give it a try – you might just be glad that you did (free, App Store link).