How do I preserve the battery seems like it runs down quickly

Hello there, Bparsonsjr.

The following article offers some great recommendations for optimizing battery life:

Apple - Batteries - iPhone

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

Optimize Your Settings

Depending on how they are set, a few features may decrease your iPhone battery life. The tips below apply to an iPhone running iOS 7.0 or later.

• Enable Wi-Fi: Having Wi-Fi enabled helps consume less power when doing activities that access data. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and log in to a Wi-Fi network.
• Adjust brightness: Dim the screen or turn on Auto-Brightness to extend battery life. Turning on Auto-Brightness allows the screen to adjust based on lighting conditions. To enable Auto-Brightness go to Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper and set Auto-Brightness to On. Adjust your brightness when indoors in a non-bright environment. You can do this by going to Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper and dragging the slider to the left to dim. After making this change, turn Auto-Brightness off and then on again to reset to the default behavior.
• Fetch new data less frequently: The more frequently email or other data is fetched, the quicker your battery may drain. To fetch data manually: Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Manually. To increase the fetch interval, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Hourly. Note: This global setting applies to all applications that do not support push services. If you receive a lot of email, you can turn off push email to save your battery. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data. Set Push to Off. Messages sent to your push email accounts will now be received on your phone based on the global Fetch setting rather than as they arrive.
• Turn off push notifications: Apps with Push Notification alert you of new data, which may impact battery life. To disable, go to Settings > Notifications, choose the app you want to disable, and do the following:
  • Change Alert Style to None.
  • Turn Badge App Icon off.
  • Turn Sounds off.
    Note: New data will be received when you open the app.
• Minimize use of location services: Apps that actively use location services, such as Maps, may reduce battery life. You can see which applications have recently used location services by going to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Apps that have recently used your location will have an indicator next to the app’s on/off switch. If you see an app that you do not expect to be using location services, you can disable it by toggling the switch to Off. To disable location services completely, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services.
• Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas: Your iPhone always tries to maintain a connection with the cellular network, which may use more power in low- or no-coverage areas. Turn on Airplane Mode to increase battery life in these situations. Go to Settings and set Airplane Mode to On. Note that you will be unable to make or receive calls with Airplane Mode on.

Viewing Usage Statistics

Knowing and understanding your iPhone usage can help you better manage your battery life. To view your iPhone usage statistics, go to Settings > General > Usage. Under “Time since last full charge”:

• Usage: Amount of time iPhone has been awake and in use since the last full charge. iPhone is awake when you’re on a call, using email, listening to music, browsing the web, or sending and receiving text messages, or during certain background tasks such as auto-checking email.
• Standby: Amount of time iPhone has been powered on since its last full charge, including the time the phone has been asleep.

This additional article offers more information on understanding Usage vs. Standby time:

iOS: About standby and usage time

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1805

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

Cheers,

Pedro.