Over time, the battery on your phone tends to lose its power and not last as long. In this post, we go through some of the most effective ways to boost your phone battery and make it last longer.
1. Decrease the brightness of the screen
One problem with mobile phones becoming thinner and thinner but at the same time getting bigger and better screens is that the size of the batteries do not tend to be relative to the screens’ energy consumption. If you want the battery to last longer, it is good to lower the brightness of the screen. Many mobiles also have settings for automatic brightness where it adjusts itself depending on how light / dark it is.
On-screen brightness controls can be found in the lower “settings menu” on the iPhone (if you swipe from the bottom of the screen up). On Android, it is generally available in the Notifications Center.
2. Turn off bluetooth and WIFI
The Bluetooth function on your phone constantly scans the surroundings for signals, which consumes a lot of unnecessary battery. So it is a good habit to always turn off Bluetooth when you are not using it. The same goes for wifi. When you are at home, of course, you want to use the wifi function. But when you are out and about, it can be smart to turn off wifi when you are not actively connected to any network to save battery.
3. Close apps you do not use
Having apps running in the background on your phone that you are not actively using drains battery power. Get in the habit of turning these off. Some apps consume more power than others – the Facebook app is e.g. such a battery thief that some choose to uninstall the app for that reason alone.
On iPhone, double-click the home button to enter this mode. On Android, there is often a “application selector” button (can be a square) where you can then close some or all active apps.
By going in and checking which apps consume a lot of battery, you can also learn which ones to avoid as the battery panic approaches. Sometimes a new update of an app can cause it to suddenly shine away in energy consumption – then it may sometimes be necessary to uninstall and reinstall the app or uninstall it until a new update is available.
To see which apps consume the most battery on iPhone:
Go to Settings> Battery and check the list (select either last 24 hours or last 7 days)
4. Turn off the GPS function when not in use
Mobiles today use GPS, or location services as it is also called, for much more than just navigation in Google Maps and the like. Many social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram want e.g. use it to “geo-tag” your posts (ie show where in the world you were when you published). Weather apps use it to view the weather based on where you are and travel apps use it to search for your nearest station.
This consumes a lot of battery so it is good to make sure to shut down apps that use location services when you are not actively using them and limit when and how apps may use location services.
Here’s how to change the settings for how apps can use location services on iPhone:
Go to Settings> Privacy protection> Location services and then make settings for the different apps.
battery apps location services GPS
5. Restrict background updates
Apps can have your permission to update and retrieve data in the background even when you are not using the app. It is very flexible, of course, but it consumes battery power, so it can be good to make sure to limit the phone’s ability to do this.
To set which apps can use background updates on iPhone (or turn it off completely):
Go to Settings> General> Background update> Turn on and off for individual apps or turn it off completely.
battery apps background update
6. Activate power save mode
Many smartphones today have settings to save power. Then they turn off certain programs and features automatically so you do not have to worry about yourself. Then you can save battery for the most important thing until you have the opportunity to recharge the battery.
On iPhone (with iOS 8), it itself suggests that you turn on power save mode when your battery level is below 20%. To turn it on earlier, follow these steps:
Go to Settings> Battery> Turn on “Power Save Mode”.
7. Have a battery cover or extra battery with you
This tip can be good if you use your mobile very much during the day and often have the battery die during the day. Namely, there are simple, small battery packs today that you can easily connect to your USB charger. Carrying such a small battery in your bag can be an easy way to avoid the worst battery panic.
This is a great tip also when you go on a festival, camping trip, long night out, or any other type of situation where you want to avoid the battery running out completely but will have limited charging options.
There are also cases for the phone that have built-in extra batteries – not the nicest perhaps but can be a good backup solution when you really want the phone to live a little longer.
8. Have extra chargers in the car and at work
Quite obvious perhaps but buying an extra charger for work/car / school bag can be an easy way to avoid a discharged battery. Having a charger where you often need one or have the opportunity to charge makes it easier and you do not have to remember to take the charger with you in the morning (and also do not risk forgetting it somewhere).
Bonus tip: put your phone in airplane mode for faster charging
If you need to charge as much as possible in a fairly short time, you can put your phone in airplane mode while charging. Then it consumes very little energy, which makes charging a little faster!