Smartphone usage has skyrocketed in recent years, and that can be attributed to the significant strides made in mobile technology. However, for as advanced as cellphones have become, no one can avoid that low battery warning after a long day on the road or at work. Of course, this can be frustrating, especially if you still need to order an Uber or make an important phone call. For heavy smartphone users, this is especially annoying, which is why we are providing users with a few methods to help reclaim their battery life. This isn’t just about charging habits, but about understanding what drains power and capitalizing on this information.
The Silent Killers: Identifying Battery-Hungry Apps
A very common battery drainer is apps that aggressively run in the background, using up all the device’s precious resources, including battery power. Remember, not all apps are equal, and identifying those that negatively impact your device is vital. For one, social media and messaging apps (as much as it hurts to admit) are silent killers, actively doing background refreshes and location tagging. This background activity is where the battery draining happens, and simply putting it in a deep sleep can help significantly with saving power.
iGaming and mobile gaming apps are another culprit. These require continuous, low-latency connections and use intensive processors to simply run the game. Limiting background data and notifications can help a lot here. Alternatively, with iGaming apps, opting for a mobile website instead can save a player an immense amount of battery life, as it is not as demanding on the device. Many of the poker sites also offer streamlined mobile web versions, which use fewer resources than standalone apps and can run smoothly without putting the same strain on the device. Mapping and navigation services also drain battery, and reducing cellular data usage or downloading the map for offline use can solve this issue.
System-Level Adjustments: The Quick Wins
Beyond app-specific settings, there are some ways to reduce battery drainage in the device’s main settings menu. First, screen brightness and refresh rates are some of the biggest contributors to the overall power consumption of a phone. Although using a phone’s full 120Hz refresh rate can be tempting, opt for 60Hz instead if not gaming or watching a movie. Turning on auto-brightness can also help, which is when a phone’s screen adjusts automatically according to the external lighting conditions.
This saves battery, and so does Dark Mode. On any OLED or AMOLED screen, black pixels are actually just “off”, meaning they do not draw any battery power. As such, when using Dark Mode system-wide on a device, it actually ends up saving a significant amount of battery life as opposed to standard backgrounds. Lastly, turning off a device’s Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or mobile data when not in use can also save power.
Managing Background Activity & Notifications
Have you ever wondered what happens when you aren’t using an app? Well, there is much background activity still going on, such as certain apps waking to fetch new data or installing large updates. These are known as background refreshes, and manually reviewing the list of apps with this permission (usually email, calendar, etc) can help with granting it only to essential apps.
Although push notifications can be useful, turning them off can save you a surprising amount of battery power. Each notification (when your screen is off) wakes up the device, and in turn, wakes the CPU, so disabling these for non-essential apps can prove beneficial. Lastly, for as fun as having live wallpapers, Always-On-Displays, and widgets can be, these require continuous CPU cycles, which eat at your battery aggressively.
Beyond the Basics: Advanced Optimization & Health
Outside of basic settings, saving battery life daily means setting up consistent device maintenance and charging habits. Each smartphone has some variant of a battery health menu, and regularly scanning a device’s battery can help find any issues. Perhaps it isn’t an app or setting draining power, but rather the battery itself is faulty; that is why these features exist. Similarly, keeping a device’s battery life between 20% and 80% at all times is actually quite healthy for a smartphone and extends the battery life. Draining a battery completely before charging is just a myth.
A long-term battery killer lies in not controlling the temperature around the device. For example, charging the phone while it’s lying in direct sunlight or while a heavy gaming session is happening can destroy the battery’s overall health, not just drain it. Fast-charging will often heat up a phone significantly, so placing it on a cool surface and removing the cover can help significantly with this. Lastly, OS updates can be annoying, but they usually contain power-efficiency improvements that help boost the device’s battery. Installing them regularly can prolong a phone’s battery and reduce drain in the long run.
Conclusion
Overall, it requires a careful balance of screen, background apps, and smart charging management to make a device’s battery last longer daily. Implementing these hacks can be annoying at first, but they come in handy when needing to make an urgent phone call or send off an important email after a long day.
