How to turn off 5G on your iPhone 14

While 5G is nice to have when you can take advantage of its peak speeds, it’s often a battery drain — and even when it isn’t, it can potentially blow through a data cap if you have one. Here’s how to switch off 5G on your iPhone 14 when 4G is more than enough.

How to turn off 5G on your iPhone 14

The first thing to know is that by default, 5G iPhones (i.e. from the 12 onwards) use a setting called 5G Auto. This means that when a 5G network’s speeds aren’t meaningfully faster than 4G/LTE, your iPhone will step down. So you may not need to turn 5G off — your iPhone is probably already doing it periodically, simply going back to 5G whenever there’s a speed advantage.

If you want to maximize battery life and/or conserve data, here’s how to force 5G off:

• Open the Settings app.
• Go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options, or in some countries, Settings > Mobile Data > Mobile Data Options. If you’re using a dual-SIM setup, you’ll have to choose the phone number you want to configure.
• Tap Voice and Data.
• Select LTE.

In some cases you may see 3G as an option, but steer clear. That technology isn’t fast enough for many modern smartphone apps, and carriers are beginning to shut down 3G networks outright.