Smart ways to extend your smartphone's battery life
What's the story
Smartphone batteries tend to drain more quickly than anticipated, forcing users to look for options to prolong their device's life.
The good thing is, in most cases, smartphones are already equipped with built-in OS features to help you manage and conserve battery.
If you know and use these default settings, you'll be able to boost your phone's battery performance significantly without any third-party apps or add-ons.
Power saving
Enable battery saver mode
Battery saver mode is a feature that comes on most smartphones and automatically modifies settings to save energy.
When enabled, it curtails background activity, dims the screen brightness, and limits some functions (like location) from running.
This is especially helpful when the battery percentage goes below 20%, extending the time you get to use it before the next charge.
Display settings
Adjust screen brightness and timeout
The display is one of the biggest battery hoggers on a smartphone. Lowering screen brightness and having a shorter screen timeout can save a lot of energy.
Most devices come with an auto-brightness feature which adjusts according to ambient light conditions, giving you the best visibility while saving power.
App control
Manage background app activity
Many apps continue to run in the background even when you aren't using them, eating up your precious battery resources.
You can control which apps are given the freedom to run in the background from your phone's settings.
By restricting unnecessary apps from running when not in active use, you can avoid unwanted battery drain.
Connectivity management
Disable unnecessary connectivity features
Features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS are handy but can also drain a smartphone's battery in no time if they are turned on all the time.
Switching off these features when not in use saves some energy.
Furthermore, enabling airplane mode in low reception zones stops constant signal search which also consumes power.
Notification control
Optimize notifications settings
Frequent notifications from different apps can drain your battery faster as the screen lights up frequently and it consumes energy for vibration/sound alerts.
By customizing your notification settings to turn off alerts that are not important or going with silent notifications, you can significantly minimize the impact on your device's battery life.
This way, you can manage power consumption a lot better.