A smartphone is a necessity in today’s world.​Doesn’t the battery life of today’s smartphones bother you? I’m sure it does. What could be a possible solution to prevent the loss of battery?

From the times of Nokia’s 2100s when a single charge would last days to contemporary times where an expensive handset won’t stay charged for even one full day, smartphone batteries have in fact seen a downward trend in their graphs of performance. 

We do understand with smartphones, the consumption of power has only increased way too much. A solution like increasing the milliamperes of a battery is a like running away from a feasible solution. Until we find a solution to either replace the milliamperes of a battery, let us cover some ways in which we can help our battery last longer than usual. In this article we elucidate you about ways that are a sure to help you save those milliamperes for the last mile of that game or that important call you wish, you could have done.

What Drains the battery?

To cure a disease, it is important to figure out the pathogens before going for the resolution. Likewise when it comes to smartphones, we need to figure out the the exact cause behind heavy drainage of our battery. Turns out a mobile’s internet connection and your screen are the biggest battery drainer. A lot of activities require the screen to remain active ; things like playing a game or watching a movie. It is something we can’t avoid obviously or what’s the point of making a portable device

When we watch a video or play a graphics intensive game, a lot of things are happening in the background. Like when you fire a video or play a game, every sense organ of that device is in action, the speaker, the screen, the processor and even the internet connection. With time, games are getting even more intense which is further an issue for smartphones.

Another issue can also be the over usage of GPS or navigation. A navigation requires you to turn the location services ON and when that happens few things drain the battery very quickly. First and foremost, your screen will alway be ON. Also when you go by the navigation, the app forces the GPS circuitry to refresh the app more than the normal rate. There is also heavy involvement of wifi or cellular data which is where a fair amount of battery drainage happens. So the next time you are making use of GPS, do make sure that your device is connected to a power source so that there is no sudden drop in the battery of your device.

Easy Solutions

A smartphone is a necessity in today’s world and battery is an integral part of it. However as a user, you can always make sure of a few things which can help your battery last longer. All the suggestions made below require very little technical knowledge.

1. Use the screen less—or at least turn brightness down

If we could draw a graph using the things that consume the maximum battery then your phone’s screen would top the bars. Today there are tons of things that consume battery.

A random video on facebook or normal browsing even for a small time can affect your battery.Apps like snapchat and even games like Pokemon Go drain tons of battery juice due to continuous usage of screen and the heavy reliability on the GPS. 

A good way is to try and limit your usage of screen intensive tasks.

Another recommendation is to reduce down the time that takes your phone to lock off automatically. It might seem unimportant, but in the long run, you will realize the impact it has on your battery. Almost every smartphone has this feature where you can alter the lock time time to a few minutes or even seconds.

In android phones,

• Click on “settings”,
• Head towards “General settings”, click on auto lock which shall show the different timings that you can set.
• Select the least time that you can set.

If you own an iOS device then go to settings and click on display and fix the sleep button. A wise way is to manually click the lock button the moment you’re done with your wok.

There is another tweak that one can do where you can necessarily set the brightness of your phone to auto. There are many who set the brightness of their phone’s screen to a limit that they are most comfortable with. Since you won’t always be under the same lighting conditions the whole day, it is highly recommended that you enable the auto brightness ON. It will set the light automatically and also help you save battery in the long run.

2. Use an ad blocker

When we talk about ads that appear in your browser. They are usually sources that are mediums of earning for people who have it on their sites. The problems arise when you browse such sites ; the ads pushes your browser to use a little too much battery. You might have been bombarded by flashy ads with gifs and videos while browsing the net. It is those ads that drain a lot of your battery juice.

A proper solution to this problem can be to use a browser such that it will block all the ads that pop-up. You can even install an ad blocker.

3. Switch from push to fetch Email if you have many accounts or get lots of Email

Push notification is a popular option in today’s smartphones where the user is notified of any incoming email. The user will be notified as soon as there is a message that hits from the central server. Push notification is a wonderful thing that helps you stay connected but for that it has to be always connected to the central server and so the internet. Net is always required for syncs and message delivery which drains energy.

4. Store music locally

With times, everything is being stored in cloud More and more people usually love to carry things that they can easily sync with their other devices.

There are many music streaming services such as Pandora, Apple music, Google play music and Spotify. Whenever you use a service that requires you to be always connected with the internet then it is sure to eat away your battery. 

Any service where wifi or cellular data is mandatory will require you to be connected to the internet always.

But there are ways in which you can tweak them. You can opt for offline downloading so that whenever you wish to enjoy music, you can simply tap once and play your songs after having saved them over WiFi or by using your internet pack for a short time. It will free the phone from needing to always be connected to the internet. Also storage has become extremely accessible these days so you can easily download a and carry all your music with you. It will not require any internet and more importantly no more battery drains.

5. Avoid extreme temperatures

A smartphone battery is like an engine that produces heat with continuous usage but if the outside temperature is not suitable then it can have some impact on the overall quality of your battery. Even Apple once stated that the device battery shall last longer if the temperature outside lies in between 62 degrees to 72 degrees. Even when the conditions outside are very cold, battery life is shortened. The exact same happens when the phone gets heated up because of outside condition. These two conditions are sure to shorten your battery life so it is always recommended to keep your phone in optimum conditions.

6. Use airplane mode or low-power mode (if you must)

In both the platforms whether it is iOS or an android phone, there is an option called airplane mode. It was made so that when you travel on board a plane, your mobile network should not interfere with the communications happening inside the airplane. There are many good things that happen as part of initializing airplane mode.

One you end up saving a good amount of your battery life.  In fact, you should enable the airplane mode at any place where you will be having poor range since there is no point in letting the phone use all of its power in finding range for a network. Your phone works even harder when it knows it isn’t getting the required range to gather any network for basic communications. When you use a phone in airplane mode, the battery drainage is very less.

There is also a feature that we have recently started to see in the latest android version Android oreo in which you can enable your phone to low power mode where in the phone automatically shuts down the tasks that are always sucking the battery out of your phone.

It is also often called as battery saver mode. In both the phones, you get the option where the phone automatically enters airplane mode once it knows that the battery has drained below a certain level. In such a case, the phone shuts applications and services which run in the background that are generally running when your phone has a healthy battery.

The next step

Until now, the steps that we have discussed were the ones that will yield good results if you don’t use your phone regularly. If you are someone who deals with your phone regularly for tasks such as checking mails, playing games and watching lots of movies then you should read the guide below.

1. Disable cellular or Wifi when the signal is bad

Whenever there is a limitation of oxygen, our body tends to work hard on ways to get some. Similarly when you take your phone to an area where there is limitation of range or there is a very poor network of wifi, your phone tends to drain battery pretty fast. Smartphones of today are called smart because they are optimized to work efficiently, they always try to use the least amount of power to gather the maximum range so it can be reflected.

2. Consult your phone’s battery-usage screen to find the biggest offenders

We all use apps that consume more power than the others. One can know which app is taking more power and try to resolve the issue by either using it less or simply uninstalling it from the phone.

If you are an iOS user

• You can simply head to the settings section.
• Click on battery, you will find a battery usage menu that shall reveal all the apps that are using the maximum amount of battery.

The moment you open the app, you will see the list sorted in a gap of 24 hours. There is a way in which you can filter the time to last 7 days. Filtering it for 7 days will help you analyze which are those exact apps that consume power constantly.

Similarly, if you own an android device

• you need to go to your settings,
• click on battery and you will get to see a list of all the apps that consume your battery juice. You will see many apps stated down below.

Apart from things like screen that suck maximum amount of power, google play service is a hidden culprit that constantly sucks the juice from your phone. For users who wish to know the exact apps that may be behind your battery issue then click on two timers known as CPU Total and CPU foreground.

These two parameters will help you know the exact time for which the app was active in the background. You simply have to deduce the foreground time from the total time.Whatever time you see will be the time that an app spends in the background.

You will find that the apps that are your biggest culprits. They will be the ones which usually consume the maximum share of your on-screen time. If the app is having an alarming time of being active on the screen then you can either lessen down spending time on it or else you can simply uninstall them.

There can be cases where you can’t get of rid of certain apps. You might be able to simply disable them.

For an iPhone,

• head to the settings
• open the general settings and see for the option of background app refresh.

For android users,

• Go to settings.
• Click on data usage, select an app from the ones that you see and hit the option to restrict the background data.

Location tracking can also be an issue. You can restrict this option too on both iPhone and android platform.

On iphone,

• Go to settings,
• Then privacy and look for “location services”, you will see a list of apps that can track your location in the background.

If you are an android user then

• Go to settings, followed by apps to choose, then you shall get to see the permissions that the app is allowed to have, simply disable the option of location permission.

3. Disable unnecessary push notifications

A smartphone is called so because of the features it has. There are many applications that make use of things like GPS and other features of the app. There is a feature called as push technology. It automatically tells you about any new mail that you have received. It is a great way to be updated as it saves time and you don’t have to manually check each app.

But this technology can use a lot of memory and battery, so you need to be updated about the apps that keep sending you push notifications , maybe even get rid of them. 

You can disable notifications battery consumption. 

If you own an iPhone then

• Head over to settings, then notifications
• Click on that app name an then disable the option of “allow notification”.

If you are an android user.

• Head to settings followed by apps, 
• Click on the app and choose notification. You can click on any of the options that suits you. It is a healthy practice for your phone if you keep only a few notifications. It will help your phone save battery and you will get less disturbed.

In many phones, the push notification settings come with the option of phone vibration. You won’t always like to be reminded of a notification. The alternative option is to disable vibration in the settings

For iphone users.

• Go to settings and then general settings, you will see an option of accessibility, 
• Fix the vibration settings. 
• There is another way in which you can simply go to the settings and look for the sound option. Here you can tap on each item and set the vibration settings manually.

For android users, there are many ways to turn the vibration setting for a variety of tasks such as vibrate on touch and vibrate on notification or a message.

• Go to settings,
• See for “sound and notification” settings
• Click on “other sounds”, you can then disable the “vibrate on touch”. These steps are going to save a lot of your battery.

4. For iPhone: Use Bluetooth instead of AirPlay to listen wirelessly

We all love firing up our bluetooth speakers. Bluetooth is a feature that doesn’t consume much of your phone’s battery but in apple devices, you have the facility to use Airplay which plays top notch audio format. You can really feel the crystal clear music. The only problem is that when you use airplay, battery usage increases. On a side by side comparison, airplay consumes slightly more power as compared to when you play songs via bluetooth. So if you have less battery in your phone, it is always recommended that you play your songs using bluetooth and not airplay. 

How to properly charge the phone’s battery?

The lithium ion battery is very volatile. If you know when to exactly charge your battery you can extend the battery life by months. Companies that manufacture smartphones suggest that a standard battery shall last for 300-500 cycles. Once the battery has reached this point , the life of your battery shortens. Always keep your phone’s battery in a healthy state above 50% always. Charge it when it reaches below 50%.

• Recalibrate the battery by recharging the battery from 0-100% once a month.
• Remove the case if you have a habit of keeping your phone charging for overnight. This prevents overheating.
• Never leave your phone in extreme temperatures or at temperatures very cold.
• It is recommended that you use the charger that came with your phone though most modern phones are compatible with the usual charges that you get in the market.
• Never let your phone stay at 0% for too long. It may hamper the battery in the long run.

Read the detailed article here: How to properly charge a phone battery

Battery-Saving Myths

Now that you know all the things are recommended to you if are to extend your battery life, let‘s have a look at all the different myths that some might believe to cause your phone to lose battery. Turns out, there is a lot of false information out there.

​   Myth: Turn off Bluetooth

The sole reason why bluetooth was invented is to save battery so if you ever heard that leaving the bluetooth open will cause your device to loose battery then you should not worry about it. With time, every new version of bluetooth which has come is taking even less battery to work. The amount of battery it takes is almost negligible. Pro Tip: If you are running low on battery then it is recommended that you do not use any bluetooth device and instead use a wired headphone.

   Myth: Turn off Wifi

The equation is pretty simple here as well. If you are in an area that has weak signals then it is recommended that you don’t use WIFI as it as weaker the signal strength, more is the battery consumed to operate. If you are in a healthy range of the wifi signal then the phone will consume less battery. Pro Tip: If the wifi signal is very weak, don’t use the net. Instead get closer to the base station and you will be fine.

   Myth: Closed unused apps

When you use a computer, closing unused apps may be beneficial. It is because when you open multiple apps in your computer, the app which are open in the background keep using the RAM and so the battery. It is always recommended in that case to stop those apps. But with a phone, the scenario is totally different. Modern phones flush all their power to the app which is working in the foreground. Even though you may have many apps open in the background but they just have a small piece of your RAM and even that is temporary. The moment your phone needs that space for some important task then it is automatically allocated. At times, getting rid of those unused apps can cause some lag because when you get rid of an app in the background, you are getting rid of the all code and everything that was done in the beginning. When you open it once again, it is like the first boot.

   Myth: Use battery saving App

This is one of the biggest myths amongst all the android users. We have seen how getting rid of the apps in background manually can be a very stupid idea. There are many apps on google play store which claim to save battery by manually killing background apps, nothing else. These apps usually get rid of the background processes that are so your experience gets better with time but initiating an app again and again ruins the whole thing. As a consequence in the long run, apps will consume more battery compared to what they would do earlier. Pro Tip: Get rid of apps which claim to improve your phone’s battery

   Myth: Disable Location service completely

Location services is a feature that has been invented to make your experience even more personalized and unique just to you. There are very less apps that make high use of your location. As an example, a simple navigation which turn the location service ON doesn’t consume much battery as much as the active screen does. It is not necessary that you completely disable the location services feature as it will hamper the bespoke experience that your phone gives. Instead just check if there is any app which is consuming too much battery. 

   Myth: Always choose wifi over cellular

Most smartphone companies suggest using wifi over cellular claiming the latter consumes less battery. Based on certain parameters it may be totally false. For example you are in a region where the wifi signals are very poor , you will see the battery loss happening very fast. In such a case, one should rather use cellular instead of wifi. Pro Tip:

Before using wifi over cellular, always check out the signal strength on your device. If you are far away from the wifi base station then it is recommended that you use cellular. 

Battery Packs 

There has been a rising trend in the usage of power banks in the last few years. If you are someone who has a very high usage of smartphone then it is a smart decision to get yourself a power bank. Power banks are measured in terms of milliamperes. Smartphones today have a battery which is in the range of 3000-4000 mAh. They usually last for 12-15 hours with regular usage but if the standard battery is not sufficient for you then you can use a battery pack which are usually in the range of 10000 mAh and 20000 mAh.

Conclusion

• Treat your phone’s battery like your own health.
• Keep it in the best condition possible.
• Feed it regularly.
• Never let it starve for a longer period of time. It will pay you back once you have treated it nicely in the beginning.
• A phone’s battery is among the most sought after features when buying a smartphone.
• Always have an eye on the type of charger that comes with your phone. You may want to opt for the latest quick charge supported phones.
• There are a number of tweaks that we have talked about in the article that will help you unleash the true potential of your phone’s battery.
• Doing a few tweaks will extend your battery which is valuable in emergencies. Go Ahead and make the most out of your phone!!!

Footnotes

• Having all those apps that you rarely use can lead to slowing down of your phone over time. Always make sure that you only keep those apps that you usually use. Read the brief.
• One of the best ways to understand what apps are consuming the maximum battery is by knowing which app has the maximum on screen time and also the apps that run a lot in the background of our smartphone. Always make sure you don’t keep the screen awake for a lot of time as it is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to consuming battery. Read the brief
• Users need to be a little cautious with the temperature of the phone. The recommended temperature of the phone is always to be kept between 10 degrees- 30 degree celsius. Make sure your phone is not kept under the direct contact of sunlight or even in way too cold area. Either of them could cause the battery life to shorten.Read the brief
• In a low range area, your phone has to work extra hard to get signal. It takes away a lot of battery. You may want to force your mobile in airplane mode and if the network is very less then you can even switch off your phone.Read the brief
• With apps getting more and more fast, many of them are opting for the push technology but the push based system can drain your battery very fast. Make sure to always enable this wonderful tech only on the apps that you feel are important so that you save a lot of your battery.Read the brief