Tips for Maximizing Your Smartphone’s Battery Life

Using a smartphone all day requires lots of power. Luckily, there are lots of things you can do to help maximize your battery life.

Don’t use your phone while it’s charging. This creates what’s known as “parasitic load,” which puts stress on the battery, causing it to function improperly and reducing its lifespan.

1. Turn Off Background App Refresh

Keeping your smartphone’s battery charged throughout the day is crucial, especially if you use it often. Some people may think that turning off their screen’s brightness or lowering data usage will save their phone’s battery, but the truth is there are many more settings and actions you can take to improve your device’s efficiency.

One example is enabling your iPhone’s Low Power Mode. This feature is designed to preserve your battery’s life when the charge drops below 20% by disabling certain battery-draining features. While it will impact real-time updates and location-based services, it’s a great way to extend your phone’s battery life. To do so, go to Settings and select Battery > Low Power Mode. Toggle the setting on.

2. Turn Down Your Screen’s Brightness

The brighter your screen, the more power it consumes. Even if your device is displaying black, it still draws some energy to illuminate the LCD backlight.

Many devices have adaptive brightness features that automatically adjust to suit your environment. If you want to maximize your battery life, disable these settings or manually control the brightness of your display.

Smartphones, tablets and laptops all use rechargeable batteries that eventually lose their ability to hold a charge. The tips listed above can extend the lifespan of your battery and delay the time when it needs to be replaced. They’ll also help you save money and avoid the inconvenience of running out of power in a critical situation.

3. Turn Off Location Services

Having your GPS constantly searching for signals can drain your battery quickly. To improve your battery life, turn off location services or at least limit them to specific apps you use. You can also disable Wi-Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning to minimize battery usage as well.

Another way to save battery life is to mute push notifications for apps you don’t need. This will reduce the amount of communications your phone makes and can significantly prolong its battery lifespan. In extreme situations, you can also try activating your phone’s Power Saving mode. This feature closes apps, limits CPU performance and turns down screen brightness among other features to help your phone last longer. However, it’s important to note that this mode will limit your phone functionality, so we recommend using it sparingly.

4. Turn Off Wi-Fi

It may seem counterintuitive, but turning off Wi-Fi can help you save battery life on your smartphone. When Wi-Fi is enabled, your phone constantly scans for networks and consumes significant amounts of power in the process. With it off, your phone can rely on cellular data and other wireless technologies that typically use less power.

Also, avoid heavy usage while your phone is charging. This can cause parasitic load, a type of battery stress that increases voltage and heat on the cells, thereby shortening their lifespan.

You can also set your screen to automatically lock after a short amount of time to conserve battery power and prevent accidental wake-ups of the display. Both Android and iOS provide this option in the Settings menu. You can also tweak the auto-lock time to better suit your needs.

5. Turn Off Bluetooth

Modern phones with high-resolution, high-refresh-rate displays can put a lot of strain on the battery. To make the most out of your smartphone battery, it’s best to disable power-hungry features like Bluetooth and location services.

Also avoid heavy usage while charging, as this causes what’s known as “parasitic load.” This places a higher voltage stress on the battery, and it can cause parts of the battery to function in a dysfunctional way, shortening its lifespan.

Finally, be sure to keep the operating system of your phone up-to-date. This will allow the operating system to apply performance enhancements that can help extend your battery life. It will also ensure that any security patches are applied immediately. The fewer charge cycles that a lithium-ion battery goes through, the longer it will last.