Can you go a whole day using only your iPhone? That’s the challenge I set myself for today. That is, no TV for streaming, no laptop for working, no tablet for browsing, no smart speakers for music; just the iPhone.
I’ll investigate how easy this is to achieve and how it impacts my battery through the day. It’s going to be tricky, and the charger’s going to be essential.
What Will the Day Look Like?
For the sake of this article, I’m going to clarify what I mean by “one day.” Everyone’s day is different after all.
I’ll be spending the day writing and working on posts for MUO. It’s likely that the day will be spent tracking activity, playing music, answering emails, watching Netflix, and of course, writing articles.
Also, for further clarification, this not a brand new iPhone fresh out of the box. It’s my daily device that I’ve had for a little while now, so the battery is not at 100 percent capacity anymore.
The day will go from when the alarm sounds at 8am until whatever time the iPhone gets put down for the night. Let’s dive in.
The Morning
My iPhone is on a wireless charging pad on the bedside table, and the alarm sounds at 8am. I know it’s not good to charge your phone overnight, but it’s convenient so I’ll ignore that advice.
It turns out you should double-check your volume level before you go to bed because if your ringer is left on loud, you’re in trouble. I check my notifications and respond to a few messages on social media as well as mark a bunch of emails as read. Nothing too heavy.
Battery Level: 100%
First of all, Strava gets booted up to track the morning run, quickly followed by Spotify to play the music. I’ve got two apps running, so this is going to use up some battery. Thankfully, since I can use wired headphones, there’s no Bluetooth connection to further take a drain.
When I get back after half an hour or so, I close the apps and put the headphones away. The iPhone gets a little rest while I jump in the shower.
Battery Level: 94%
It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to make a morning brew and get my breakfast served up. My iPhone is by my side for this duration, but I’m not really using it. Only responding to any notifications that come in. The iPhone gets a bit more time to rest.
Normally, a quick 20-minute sitcom episode will go on the TV over breakfast. Without a TV, I’m left to open the Netflix app and use that. It’s not the easiest task to hold an iPhone while you eat, so I end up using the salt and pepper grinders as a stand to rest the iPhone on.
Battery Level: 89%
That’s the morning over and done with, and we’ve already lost 11 percent of the battery. So far, it’s been manageable to only use the iPhone and get by without any other tech. However, I’ve not really been up to much, so it’s probably going to get a whole lot harder.
During the Day
I’ll usually start the day glossing over a couple of news websites and answering emails. So that’s exactly what I do. I can’t ask the smart speaker to read the news today, but normally my Nest Home can update me on the news.
It’s not as user-friendly to read long articles on a screen so much smaller than a MacBook, but it’s do-able. It’s also a bit painful to have to type out a few lengthy emails and Slack messages, but once again it’s possible.
Battery Level: 86%
It’s time to fire up the tools needed for the day. Rather than websites, I use the relevant app for each site. The WordPress app, a couple of productivity apps, and Slack stay open in the background of my iPhone, so I can easily use the swipe shortcut to swipe between apps.
Without having started writing anything yet, it’s already incredibly frustrating trying to use these apps instead of a laptop.
Battery Level: 85%
The first half of the day I spend writing the first draft for a couple of articles. Typing thousands of words on an iPhone screen is no easy task at all.
While the iPhone does have a selection and editing tools, it’s really frustrating to be wiggling the blue cursor around and having it end up in the wrong place. iPadOS has a much better multitasking and text editing feature set than iOS. Text editing is possible, but it probably takes about twice as long.
Battery Level: 42%
I take a bit of time out to make some lunch. While in the kitchen my iPhone’s just resting on the side but plugged in, although I did get a couple of notifications. Rather than watching something on the TV, I decide not to faff around with the iPhone for the sake of 5 to 10 minutes.
So I eat lunch in peace, which was kind of refreshing. A package turned up at the door at this point as well, so my iPhone had a fair little break and some time on the charger.
Battery Level: 78%
In the second part of the day, I normally edit articles to refine them and sort out all of the images for each post. After replying to some messages, I open up WordPress again to start this process.
This section will never be able to express just quite how frustrated I got. Trying to edit images, reformat them, change the sizes, and upload them to WordPress is an impossible task on an iPhone.
I gave up on this and decided I’d do that the next day. At this point, I don’t care if this is cheating, the iPhone almost didn’t survive this experience.
Battery Level: 34%
At the end of the working day, around 6pm, it’s become clear that you definitely can’t do everything you would normally do on an iPhone alone. Some tasks are just frustrating, but others are genuinely not possible.
Evening
For the evening, I’m staying in and cooking: there’s nothing open and nowhere to go presently. Since I’ll be in the kitchen for a while, I normally play music.
Without the option to cast to the speaker today, I’m left with the iPhone battling against the noise of the extractor fan. It’s quite hard to hear the voices of Bublé, Sinatra, and some Italian classics, but it’s better than no background music at all.
Battery Level: 31%
At this point in the evening, I’d usually settle down to watch a film and maybe treat myself to a glass of wine… or two. Not wanting to discredit the viewing experience of any film, I decided against this and was just going to stream some shows.
But watching anything on an iPhone for a prolonged time is a nightmare. There’s no right way to hold the phone or to sit in a comfortable way for all this time. I do not recommend the experience.
Final Battery Level: 4%
The battery warnings have come and gone, and I take a bit of time to check over my socials before the end of the evening. Admittedly, I may usually spend a bit longer on Instagram, but not wanting the battery to die, I close everything up, set the alarm, and go to bed.
What I Learned
Here are a few things that I learned from the experience:
Always Keep a Fast Charger Nearby
Running apps constantly on your iPhone really drains the battery, as you might expect. And the powerful charger that used to come with the iPhone really helps to get some extra battery in a short amount of time.
Appreciate a Bigger Screen
A bigger screen for reading, looking at images, and other activities is much better. You don’t have to squint or zoom in on the display on your laptop screen after all. Watching shows or videos is also a much better experience on a large screen, but this isn’t new information.
Appreciate a Keyboard and Trackpad
You don’t understand how much more pleasant it is to type lengthy amounts of text on an actual keyboard rather than a tiny iPhone keyboard. Having a trackpad or mouse to select things is also incredible, but I’d settle for the tab and arrow keys rather than just the iPhone cursor.
Don’t Attempt to Heavily Edit Images and Upload Them
Maybe it was down to me, or maybe I wasn’t using the right tools, but editing images, changing the size, and uploading them just wasn’t happening. Save yourself a headache and don’t try. Just take my word for it.
Get an iPhone Stand
Having an iPhone stand or a case that folds into a stand for the device would have been a lifesaver. It’s worth having one of these just in case you need to do some heavy tasks on your phone, and you can also use it to take photos.
Can You Use Only Your iPhone All Day?
It’s not as easy as you’d think to spend the day using only your iPhone, and I doubt I’ll be doing it again. While I managed to complete most of my daily activities, they were all hindered in one way or another. There were some tasks that I just couldn’t do at all.
While phones are very powerful devices, they can’t replace larger devices just yet.