The battery is one of the most important parts of a smartphone or tablet. A properly utilized battery will potentially allow you to go days without charging your device.
The following tips will help you get the most out of the battery on your mobile device.
Before you start: Monitor battery usage
To find out what’s using the most power on your iPhone or Android device, go to Settings > Battery. Here, you’ll find a breakdown of which apps or processes are using your battery the most.
1. Decrease screen brightness
One of the most power-hungry components in your smartphone or tablet is its screen. The thousands of pixels that make up your display require electricity to work, and if your screen is set at a high brightness level, it will require that much more power. Turn down the brightness level of your screen to make your battery last longer.
Some devices have a setting called “adaptive brightness” which changes screen brightness based on the light in your surroundings. This can be good if you want your display to automatically tone down in low-light situations, but if you want to force your device to operate at a lower brightness level, you may want to turn this off.
2. Uninstall background apps
Many apps refresh or reload content in the background throughout the day. While this might be convenient, it also uses power. If you notice certain apps running in the background that are unnecessary, it’s probably a good idea to uninstall them.
Not only will getting rid of unnecessary background apps give you better battery life, it might even speed up your phone by freeing up memory and processing power.
3. Reduce frequency of email synchronization
Email apps check for new mail in the background throughout the day. In doing so, they can sometimes drain your battery. Go into the settings for your email to reduce the frequency of this behavior. You can also turn it off completely if you’d rather manually check for new messages.
4. Disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Location/GPS
If you really want to conserve your battery, disable Wi-Fi when you’re not using it. Smartphones constantly scan for Wi-Fi signals, which consumes power. The same goes for Bluetooth and Location/GPS—if you’re not using them, turn them off.
Enabling Airplane Mode can also greatly improve your battery life if you find yourself in an area where you don’t have (or don’t want to have) a cellular connection. Airplane Mode also disables the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios on your device.
5. Use power-saving mode
Some devices have special modes designed to disable or reduce power consumption. In many cases, they will automatically do some of the things we’ve already mentioned. If you’re in a pinch and need to extend your battery life for the rest of the day, it might be worth trying out.
-Jesse
