A paper published by Nature Communications in 2014 reported that the lithium batteries used in powering our mobile phones wear down over time. You know what that means?
It means whether you like it or not, you’ll have to change your phone’s battery at some point since you can’t fix batteries the same way you would fix phones easily.
Instead of coughing out the cash for a new battery (which would equally depreciate over time), why don’t you try these 15 tricks and tips to extend your Android phone’s battery life?
1. Turn on battery saver
This is perhaps one of the most obvious solutions, even though a lot of individuals neglect using the battery saver mode until the battery of their phone is almost dead.
For iPhone users, the “Low Power Mode “goes on automatically when the phone hits 20%, although you can always go to the Settings > Battery and turn it on whenever you desire or include it in your Control Center if you want easier access.
A lot of Android phones equally provide a similar feature that can be switched on whenever the user wants. This helps in conserving some power and extending the battery life of your Android phone.
2. Smart charging
Whenever you need to charge your Android device, there are certain precautions you should observe in order to avoid degrading your battery beyond the current state.
First, make sure you only use the fast charging feature when you’re in a hurry. Although this feature actually tops off the battery much quicker, it wears down the battery’s life span faster than normal charging.
Secondly, avoid leaving your phone to charge overnight as this will only cause damage to the battery life of your phone in the long run.
3. Switch off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use
If Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are turned on, but your device isn’t connected to anything, you would be wasting battery as your device tries to detect a new connection. Hence, toggling off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you’re out of the house or not connected to headphones or a wireless speaker is a good way to save extra battery life on your Android phone.
4. Use Wi-Fi when it’s available
Yes, using Wi-Fi when available can actually conserve battery life as well. This is because it utilizes less battery life than the regular cellular connection. Feel free to ask for the internet password when you’re at a cafe or a friend’s.
5. Switch on Airplane Mode
It might be better to consider turning on Airplane Mode if you’re beginning to run low on battery. The essence of Airplane Mode is that it disables a number of features that consume battery power. These include Wi-Fi, cellular data, Bluetooth, etc. However, if you need any of these features, you can always toggle them on manually without exiting the Airplane Mode.
6. Reduce the screen brightness
When it comes to draining Android battery life, the display is a primary culprit. Whenever it’s turned on, you lose valuable power. The best way to get around this is to reduce the brightness of your screen. Doing this can save you a couple of minutes of additional battery life.
7. Uninstall your Facebook app and use your browser instead
We know how this sounds: weird, right? But the truth is that your Facebook application is one of the greatest battery thieves on your device. Not to worry, there’s an easy solution to removing the application without missing out on the latest status updates from your loved ones. Accessing Facebook from your Android phone browser will give you a nearly similar experience while also saving you some useful battery life.
8. Switch off location tracking for unnecessary apps
Certain apps (such as Google Maps) actually need access to your location in order to function. However, some others (such as Facebook) don’t really need it. Apart from the issue of privacy, you can extend your Android phone’s battery life by turning off location services for applications that do not need it. This is because your device would no longer be operating over time to track your location. On an Android phone, just go to Settings > Security & Location > Location.
9. Disable background refresh
The background app refresher on your Android phone is another potential battery hog. While it isn’t a major offender, you might want to disable it to save some battery life. To turn it off, just go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and then turn it off. Depending on your Android model, it may be a bit tricky to pull this off. Regardless, you should still find it by going to Settings > Data Usage and figuring your way around.
10. Disable “OK Google” hot words
It’s amazing to have a phone AI assistant that listens to you at all times. However, what this means for your phone battery is constant battery power wastage.
To disable your Android Google Assistant, go to the Google app and select the menu icon in the top left corner. Then tap Settings > Voice > “OK Google” detection. You would see a toggle indicated as “‘Say OK Google’ any time.” Turn it off, and you’re good to go!
11. Switch off visual effects, live wallpaper, and live widgets
Moving wallpaper and widgets are other features that consume battery power. Try to adopt a simple still background image and delete widgets with automatic updates.
12. Disable automatic app updates
If you really want to extend your Android phone battery life, then you should really consider disabling those frequent default updates. This will help reduce the volume of activity in your phone’s background, thereby reducing power consumed by unimportant actions.
13. View battery usage to know which applications consume the most battery power
Finally, if you’ve done everything to squeeze out extra battery life from your phone and nothing seems to work, then search for the main culprit. All you have to do is check your phone’s battery usage and proceed to delete the worst power-hogging apps. On your Android phone, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage, and you’ll find all the services and apps that are draining your battery.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
