We understand that over time, you will notice that your phone’s battery isn’t as long lasting as it was when you first got your phone. Batteries just become less effective as they age. However, there are many things that you can to extend your phone battery life.
Below you will find tips and general instructions on the things that you can do to your phone to extend the battery life on both Androids and iPhones. Please note that the instructions vary from phone to phone and the steps to do so may be unique to your specific device. The steps we provide may not be specific to your device but will help give you an idea.
Optimize and Adjust Your Screen’s Display
How to disable auto brightness
One of the things you can do to adjust your screen’s display to save battery life is disable auto brightness.
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap on "Display"
- Choose "Adaptive Brightness"
- Tap on the slider to turn the feature off
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "General"
- Choose "Accessibility"
- Tap "Display Accommodations"
- Tap on the slider to turn auto-brightness off
How to adjust screen timeout, sleep, or auto-lock setting
Another tip is to adjust your screen’s timeout, sleep, or auto-lock setting. Screen timeout, sleep, and auto-lock is a feature that automatically locks or turns the screen off based on a chosen amount of time that elapses. If you are using an Android, the feature may be referred to as screen timeout or sleep. For iPhone users, this feature is called auto-lock.
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Display"
- Tap on "Screen timeout" or "Sleep"
- Choose the amount of time you want your screen to automatically turn off
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Display & Brightness"
- Tap on "Auto-Lock"
- Choose the amount of time you want your screen to automatically turn off
Managing Your Apps
How to see which apps are using up most of your battery life
Understanding which apps are using up most of your phone battery life is important to extending the battery life. See how you can find this information below.
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Battery"
- Choose "Battery Usage"
- Tap on "Battery Use Details" or "Usage Details"
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Battery"
- Scroll down to "Battery Usage by App"
How to turn off your apps from refreshing their content in the background
Some of your apps may be turned on to refresh their content in the background even if the apps are not currently being used. Turning off the apps from refreshing in the background can help preserve phone battery life.
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Apps"
- Select an app from your list
- Choose "Mobile data & Wi-Fi"
- Tap the slider to turn off "background activity" or "background data"
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "General"
- Choose "Background App Refresh"
- Tap the slider to turn off background activity for each app
How to update your apps
An app that is poorly optimized and behind on its updates can be a burden on battery life which would cause it to drain quicker. Therefore, keeping your apps updated is important. Checking for available app updates to install is easy to do.
On Android:
- Open the Google Play Store app
- In the top left corner, tap on the Menu (3 lines icon)
- Tap "My apps & games"
- Apps with an update available are labeled “Update”
- Tap "Update All to update all your apps at one time. For individual apps, find the specific app you want to update and tap "Update"
On iPhone:
- Open the App Store
- If app updates are available, a number will be shown on the top right corner with the person icon. Tap on that number
- Tap "Update All" to update all your apps at one time. For individual apps, find the specific app you want to update and tap "Update"
Turn Off Things You Aren’t Using
The more things you have turned on, the more your phone has to work in order to keep those things on. The more things you have turned on, the more the battery life goes down. So why have things on if you’re not using them? The top two things that people keep turned on is Bluetooth and location tracking.
How to turn off Bluetooth
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Bluetooth"
- Tap on the slider to turn Bluetooth off
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Bluetooth"
- Tap on the slider to turn Bluetooth off
How to turn off location tracking
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Security & location"
- Tap on "Location"
- Turn "Use location" off
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Privacy"
- Tap on "Location Services"
- You can choose to turn Location Services completely off or turn it off for individual apps
- For apps, you can also choose to allow your location to be accessed "Never", "While Using the App", or "Always"
Use Battery Saver or Low Power Mode
How to turn on battery saver or low power mode
When your battery is getting low and you don’t have access to a charger, turn on battery saver or low power mode. Turning this feature on helps conserve battery power by changing certain settings until you can fully charge your phone. Please note that Android refers to this feature as Battery Saver. On iPhone, this feature is referred to as Low Power Mode.
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Battery"
- Tap on "Battery Saver"
- Tap to turn Battery Saver on
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Battery"
- Tap on the slider to turn Low Power Mode on
Stay on Wi-Fi Whenever Possible
How to connect to a wi-fi network
Not only does staying on wi-fi help you save on your Twigby bill because you are not using up cellular data but staying on wi-fi helps extend your phone battery life. This is because data over wi-fi uses less battery power than data over cellular. When on wi-fi, your phone isn’t trying to look for the next cell tower or has to worry about roaming.
On Android:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Wi-Fi" and make sure it is turned on
- Choose a wi-fi network to connect to
On iPhone:
- Go to "Settings"
- Tap "Wi-Fi" and make sure it is turned on
- Choose a wi-fi network to connect to
Keep Your Battery Charged
This one is obvious, but keep your battery charged. Charge your phone each night to ensure that you will always start the day with a full battery. It’s also a good idea to keep a car charger or battery pack handy in case your phone needs to be charged while you’re on the go.
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