Turn iPhone 5G On/Off: Optimize Battery or Speed

5G cellular service will expand significantly across all carriers in 2022 and works with iPhone 12, 13, 14 and SE 3. Apple defaults to the “5G Auto” setting, which aims to give users a balance between network speed and battery life. But you can also manually manage settings to optimize for what you need at any given moment.Learn how to turn 5G on or off on your iPhone.

If you want to know what kind of 5G performance you can get with your iPhone, it depends on where you live and your carrier. In the US, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all have 5G available nationwide, with speeds sometimes exceeding 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps), but that’s not the norm in most cases.

That said, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are pretty fast at cellular speeds.

There are several types of 5G. mmWave offers the fastest speeds but has a much more limited range and Sub-6Ghz 5G offers greater range but speeds closer to 4G LTE. Also, only the iPhone 12, 13, and 14 support both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G.

If you’re looking to switch carriers for better 5G coverage, we have a complete guide.

However, one drawback of 5G is that it uses more battery than LTE. Some tests show that iPhones last 1-2.5 hours longer when using 4G LTE compared to 5G.

iPhone default 5G settings

5G is on by default on compatible iPhones, but won’t be used permanently (even if available). It automatically tries to strike the best balance between 5G/LTE and battery life using what Apple calls “Smart Data Mode.” Apple also says it takes data plans into consideration.

Your iPhone’s 5G default settings are optimized for battery life and data usage based on your data plan. You can customize these options for when to use 5G and how much data some apps use.

However, within the cellular settings you can choose to manually turn on/off 5G on your iPhone to optimize speed or battery life.

How to turn on/off 5G on iPhone

go to Settings app iPhone (5G available on iPhone 12, 13, and SE 3)
Tap cellular
Choose Cellular data options
Tap voice and data
5G Auto can be selected as default 5G on Can be used whenever a faster speed is available
Or if you want to turn off 5G completely, LTE for better battery life

You can also tap and select data mode in your phone’s settings Allow more data with 5G For high quality video for streaming, FaceTime, etc. and, on the contrary, low data mode when you want to save

Here’s what this looks like:

5G on/off: what is this icon?

For different types of 5G services (sub-6Ghz, mmWave, etc.), Apple will display four different icons in the iPhone’s status bar to indicate which one is in use (either manually turn on 5G or regardless of using 5G Auto/Smart). data mode).

Verizon uses 5G UW to indicate mmWave and other high-frequency 5G connections, AT&T uses 5G+ and T-Mobile labels it 5G UC (Ultra Capacity). A simple “5G” in the status bar indicates low bandwidth (high range and coverage, relatively low speed).

Note: iPhone SE 3 is not compatible with mmWave 5G service, sub 6GHz only. iPhone 12, 13, and 14 support both mmWave and sub-6GHz.