Boost Your Phone s Battery Life Essential Settings and Charging Tips
How to maximize battery life: Charging habits and other tips
Most of us casual users and enthusiasts alike are forever searching for smartphones with the longest battery life. And while fast charging keeps us topped up every day, the absence of replaceable batteries means eventually, the lithium-ion cells enclosed in our phones are going to age and deteriorate, making it harder to maximize battery life.
If youve held onto a phone for a couple of years, youve probably noticed the battery doesnt seem to last as long as it did when your handset was brand new. Four or five years down the line, many phones struggle to make it through the day on a single charge. Holding onto a phone even longer can even spell trouble for reliability too as you may face sudden shutdowns.
Unfortunately, battery capacity inevitably declines with age. But that doesnt mean you cant do anything to prolong the lifespan of your smartphones battery. If youve ever wondered what the best way to charge your battery is, here are some scientifically proven tips to maximize battery life.
QUICK ANSWER
If you're in a hurry, here's a quick summary of the best battery life-maximizing tips you should keep in mind:
- Avoid full charge cycles (0-100%) and overnight charging. Instead, top up your phone more regularly with partial charges.
- Limiting your smartphone's maximum charge to 80-90% is better for the battery's health than topping up to completely full everytime.
- Use fast charging and wireless charging technologies sparingly and when your device is cool.
- Heat has the potential to accelerate battery health degradation. Don't cover your phone when charging, and keep it out of warmer places.
- Don't play intensive games, stream videos, or run other intensive workloads while charging to avoid heat and stressing the battery.
Keep reading for a more detailed explanation of what factors will prolong your battery life.
Partial charging is a healthy habit
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
One particularly persistent battery myth is that you need to occasionally fully discharge and recharge to erase battery memory. This couldnt be more wrong for lithium-ion batteries. Its a leftover myth from lead-acid cells, and its pretty undesirable to charge your modern smartphone this way.
According to iFixit, you might want to consider recalibrating your phones battery periodically to sync its actual state of charge with what Androids battery reading displays. You can do this by charging your phone to 100%, keeping it there for a few hours, using it until the battery dies, and then fully charging it again. This process is largely unnecessary for modern, new phones. Still, you may consider doing this if youve installed a new battery or own an older phone with questionable battery percentage readings.
When considering daily procedures, partial charging is just fine for lithium-ion batteries and can benefit cell longevity. To understand why its important to appreciate how a battery charges. Li-ion batteries draw constant current and operate at a lower voltage when closer to empty. This voltage gradually increases as the cell charges up, leveling off at around a 70% charge before the current begins to fall until the capacity is full.
Partial charging is just fine for lithium-ion batteries and even has some positive benefits.
Notably, operating at a low voltage is good for a batterys lifespan, increasing the number of available charging cycles before you start to see a significant reduction in capacity. Roughly speaking, every 0.1V decrease in cell voltage doubles the cycle life, according to Battery University. Therefore, charging up your phone in that 30% to 80% range keeps the voltage lower and might slightly prolong the batterys lifespan.
Lower battery voltages help prolong capacity over time. Green: lower voltage charging for first ~65%. Yellow: Start of constant voltage. Red: Long period of high voltage charging for last 15%.
Smaller but regular top-ups are much better for Li-ion batteries than long full charge cycles.
Using up just 20% of your battery between charges isnt practical, but topping up when youve used about half will improve your battery life over the long term, especially if you avoid charging up to full each time, too. The bottom line is that smaller, regular top-ups are better for Li-ion batteries than long full charge cycles.
Remember, to get an accurate idea of your batterys state of charge, you may need to calibrate it periodically.
Additionally, if you plan to hold your phone in long-term storage, its best not to leave it at 100% charge. Instead, Battery University recommends that you store batteries at 40-50% state of charge if youre planning to store them long-term.
Avoid idle charging
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Charging overnight or in a cradle during the day is a very common habit, but its not recommended for several reasons (the old overcharging myth isnt one of them). First, continuous trickle charging of a full battery can cause plating of the metallic lithium, which reduces stability in the long term and can, in rare cases, lead to system-wide malfunctions and reboots. Secondly, as mentioned above, it leaves the battery at a higher stress voltage when at 100%. Third, and most important, it creates excess heat caused by wasted power dissipation.
Some phones disable or slow down charging when nearing full capacity. Use these options.
Ideally, a device should stop charging when it reaches 100% battery capacity, only turning the charging circuit back on to top up the battery now and again or, at the very least, reducing the charging current to very small amounts.
While some phones disable charging once full, many pull up to half an amp and sometimes more from the wall outlet. Turning smartphones off doesnt make a difference in many cases, either. While this isnt a massive amount of power, it will stop your phone from cooling down as quickly and will continue to cycle through a small part of the battery, resulting in a mini-cycle.
A final point worth mentioning is parasitic load. This occurs when the battery is being drained significantly at the same time as being charged, such as watching a video or gaming while charging.
Parasitic loads are bad for batteries because they distort the charging cycle and induce mini-cycles where part of the battery continually cycles and deteriorates faster than the rest of the cell. Worse still, parasitic loads occurring when a device is fully charged also induce higher voltage stress and heat on the battery.
Gaming or watching videos while charging is bad because it distorts charging cycles.
The best way to avoid parasitic loads is to turn your device off while charging. But thats not really realistic. Instead, its best to keep the workload light while the device is plugged in, leaving it idle most of the time. Browsing the web is probably fine. Also, remember to unplug it once the battery is topped up enough.
Heat is the enemy of long battery life
Ryan-Thomas Shaw / Android Authority
Along with all of the above, temperature is an equally key contributor to longevity and maximizing battery life. Its arguably the biggest killer of long-term battery health. Like high voltages, high temperatures stress the battery and make it lose capacity far more quickly than when kept at lower temperatures.
A cell kept between 25 40 degrees Celsius (77 86 degrees Fahrenheit) should retain around 85% to 96% of its capacity after the first year with sensible charging cycles. Raising the temperature regularly above 40C (104F) and charging to 100% sees this fall to just 65% capacity after the first year, and a 60C (140F) battery temperature will hit this marker in as little as three months.
The ideal temperature to maximise battery cycle life is below 40C
A battery dwelling in a full state of charge exposed to a high temperature is the worst of all worlds and the number one thing to avoid when charging your phone. So, do not leave your phone under your pillow to charge at night or plug it in on your cars dashboard on a hot day. And if you use it, wireless charging can impact battery health if you dont keep the phone cool.
Fast charging technologies are a contentious issue, as the higher current and voltages lead to a hotter device. With capabilities exceeding 60W and pushing to 100W even in smartphones, device longevity quickly becomes an issue. Fast charging is fine for a small top-up, but numerous standards weve tested regularly exceed 40C when charging for more than a few minutes, as shown in the graph below.
Leaving your phone to fast charge up for 5 to 15 minutes wont lead to major overheating problems, but I certainly dont recommend using them for a full charge. Instead, youd be better off using a temperature-aware fast charging solution or switching to a slower charger, especially if you plan to plug your phone in overnight.
On that note, if youre using a fast charger and your phone is topping up too tardily, you can troubleshoot why your device is charging slowly. This may also be an issue youll want to address.
How to maximize smartphone battery health long-term
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Lithium-ion battery technology is well understood these days, and smartphones are built around our use cases, but bad habits and myths still permeate the public consciousness. While most of these habits wont massively impact your phones battery life in the medium term, the decline in removable phone batteries means we should take extra precautions to maximize battery life and, thus, our smartphones longevity.
Smaller regular charge cycles and keeping your phone cool are the key things to remember. However, I should point out that different phone batteries will always age slightly differently depending on how we treat them.
FAQs
You can do several things to boost your battery life. We recommend dimming your screen, adjusting your timeout feature, limiting your push notifications, and using power-saving modes when you dont need your phone very often.
To maximize battery life, you should charge your phone when it reaches 30% state of charge. This isnt always possible, however.
To maximize battery lifespan, consider charging your smartphone to 80% state of charge, no more.
Were in an age where smartphones last longer than ever. Most flagships offer impressive battery life, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra, ASUS ROG Phone 6D, and Google Pixel 8 Pro stand out.
There is no definite time that a 10,000mAh battery will last. Phones with premium features like 5G and a high refresh rate will burn through that much power quicker than a phone with a dimmer, weaker display. However, a 10,000mAh power bank will probably provide enough charge to keep your phone going for a few days without an outlet.
If you want to check your remaining battery life, its usually displayed in the top corner of your phone. However, if you want to check on the health of your battery, you can usually head to the Settings app to find your usage trends and the overall health of your cell.
How to improve your phones battery life
Phones have improved in all sorts of ways over the past decade. The best smartphones now offer cameras that can easily beat classic compacts, games with graphics that wouldnt look out of place on a PS4, and the same amount of storage as you get in a high-end laptop.
But battery life? That is still an issue. Most phones only last a day of decent use off a charge, and you cant rely on some if you have an early start, a late finish, and will do plenty on your phone during the day. There are ways to improve the situation, though.
Here are some tips for iPhone and Android owners to make your battery last longer. A few are basics that you may already know about, others are more advanced and may come with trade-offs.
Reduce your screen refresh rate (Android)
An awful lot of Android phones have high refresh rate screens these days. This means the screen image is refreshed either 90 or 120 times a second rather than the usual 60 times.
It makes scrolling appear ultra-smooth but also impacts battery life to a significant degree. This is reportedly why Apple chose to stick with 60Hz for the iPhone 12 family.
Own a high refresh rate phone? It's well worth dropping back down to 60Hz if youre getting fed up with battery drain. Where these controls are will vary slightly between models, but you should find them in Settings > Display > Advanced > Refresh rate, or similar.
Switch off 5G (Android and iPhone)
Benchmark testing shows that 5G tends to use more battery than 4G, in both Androids and iPhones. This may vary between the various phones chipsets, but switching to 4G mobile internet is worth trying out for busy days.
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In an Android phone you can turn off 5G in Settings > Network > [Select SIM] > Preferred Network Type. As always, the naming of these sections in settings varies between phones.
In an iPhone youll find this option in Settings > Mobile > Mobile Data Options > Voice & Data.
This tip relates to use throughout your day. At times it may actually be better to use 5G, as its faster data rate means the phone spends less time actually downloading large files.
Social media services like Facebook and Instagram trade on attention, and are big fans of flagging stuff up on your phone that will draw that attention out. One way to put a stop to this, and its associated battery drain, on Android is to restrict what these apps are allowed to do when not actually on-screen, being actively used.
In Settings > Battery > Battery Optimization/App Battery Management (or similar) youll find a list of all your apps and how the phone approaches them. In each apps entry you should see a few options for each, although what they are actually called will vary between phones.
The most restrictive will all but stop the app dead when not in use, affecting things like when notifications will come through. However, as were talking about social media apps, thats probably a net benefit for your mental health.
Turn off Background App Refresh for non-essential apps (iPhone)
The iOS feature Background App Refresh determines which apps can update their content in the background. The idea is apps quietly keep themselves tidy, so that when you actually head into them proper, they are ready to go.
This is switched on for all apps as standard, but taking a more curated approach is not a bad idea for battery life. You can see the full list in Settings > Background App Refresh, and toggle apps separately.
Use dark mode or a dark background (Android and iPhone - OLED only)
This tip should have at least a slight effect on OLED phones battery life. It wont make a difference for LCD phones, though. Try using a dark or black background instead of a bright one. Alternatively, use dark mode, which makes much of the interface black/dark grey instead of white. iPhones have this in the Display & Brightness menu. And so do many Androids.
Why does this make a difference? OLED screens have per-pixel lighting. That means if parts of the screen is black, those pixels are effectively inactive.
This doesnt work with LCD phones because those screens have a backlight to light up the screen, which consumes power regardless.
Reduce screen timeout (Android and iPhone)
One of the most common reasons weve found for a phone lasting a shorter time than it usually does is because weve left the screen time-out on a very extended setting. This controls how long the display will stay on when the phone is not used.
On an iPhone, this control sits in Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock. It will be called something like Auto Screen Off in Android, and lives in the Display part of Settings.
A 30-second time out is the standard, but the shorter a setting you choose, the less battery the screen will end up using.
Use the battery monitor to hunt down battery hogs (Android and iPhone)
Androids and iPhones have a useful feature that tells you which apps are using the most battery. In Android this is found in Settings > Battery > Phone battery usage (or similar).
In an iPhone, go to Settings > Battery. Youll see a percentage breakdown of battery use per app since your last charge.
If an app seems to be using battery not consistent with your use, it may be bugging out in one way or another. Go to the App Store or Google Play and see if theres an update for it. And if there isnt, consider deleting and reinstalling it, as this can sometimes fix problems. Dont use it anymore? Why not delete it altogether?
Avoid motion effects in the wallpaper (iPhone)
iOS offers both still home screen/lock screen wallpapers and animated live ones. These feature moving blobs that make your iPhones backgrounds seem a bit more alive.
However, they will have a minor effect on battery life, as rendering them comes with slightly greater overheads than a static image.
You can change your wallpaper style in Settings > Wallpaper > Choose a New Wallpaper.
Theres also a motion effect for still wallpapers called Perspective Zoom. This moves across the image a little as you tilt your iPhone. We dont think changing these elements will dramatically alter your iPhones battery life, but switching to a non-animated static wallpaper is an idea if you barely appreciate the motion effects anyway.
Use Auto brightness (Android and iPhone)
Almost every current phone has an ambient light sensor, used to see how bright the environment is. The screen then alters its power level to suit.
To use this, you need to switch on Auto Brightness. It is probably switched on already, but if you want to check its found in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size in an iPhone, or Settings > Display (or similar) in Android.
This does not mean you should never touch the brightness slider again, though. The controller now becomes a relative control, altering the brightness curve Auto Brightness will use as the light conditions change.
Turn off background processes (Android)
Android offers more specific controls over what apps can do in the background if you enable developer mode. This unlocks a new area in the settings menu packed with features you probably shouldnt touch.
But a couple of them will have an impact on battery life. You can limit total background processes down to four, three, two or one, or shut them off completely. And Dont Keep Activities closes down apps fully once they are left.
These sound pretty drastic, and we dont recommend using such developer controls to most people. But after testing it, these measures are less dramatic than they at first sound. Yes, games will close fully as soon as you leave them, but message notifications from WhatsApp and so on still come through. This is because they are considered foreground activities.
Check your phones battery health (iPhone)
iOS has a neat Battery Health section found in Settings > Battery. This looks at your batterys current capacity relative to when it was new.
It cant make your battery last longer, but it will let you know if any shortfall is down to the ageing of your phones battery.
To keep your battery healthy for longer Apple recommends keeping your iPhone at a mid-level charge whenever possible. This probably won't be viable for most, as if you're anything like us you need a 100% charge to make it through the day. But it may be worth considering if you have a second occasional-use phone for work.
iPhones, and some Androids, actually do some of this automatically, by not recharging the last 20% or so of the battery until just before you wake up.
Turn off location data (Android and iPhone)
Your phone checks your location all the time. It uses Wi-Fi, phone mast signals, Bluetooth, and GPS to find out where you are, and this can be a significant battery drain.
We use this location feature too often to consider turning it off permanently or regularly. But you might want to shut it down on days when you need your battery to last until night time, and youre not sure if it will.
On an iPhone, location controls are found in Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Here you will find a list of all apps that can use your location, letting you alter their level of access. Down at the bottom of each of these app pages is a switch for Precise Location, which will use power-sapping GPS to determine exactly where you are. You want this for mapping and fitness tracking apps, or for geo-tagging in the camera, but it is not necessary for all.
On an Android it is pretty quick and easy to toggle location data. There is usually a control for it in the drop-down home screen page, making it much easier to switch location tracking on and off as you need it.
However, theres also a location area in the settings menu that will show you the apps using your positioning info, and whether they use a small or significant amount of battery to do so.
Turn off Siri if you dont use it (iPhone)
Love using Siri? Forget this tip. But if you never use your iPhones digital assistant you can save some battery by turning it off.
Toggles for the main Siri interactions are found in Settings > Siri & Search. These include the feature that makes Siri listen out for voice commands all the time, which naturally uses some battery, and Siri Suggestions. Turn them all off if you dont use them to save power.
Check for software updates (Android and iPhone)
Your phones battery life will often change slightly with new software updates. Sometimes it will get worse, sometimes it will improve.
Its a good idea to check for available updates if your phone doesnt seem to last as long as you remember. You do this in Settings > General > Software Update on an iPhone. Or Settings > Software Update on Android (search for Update in the Settings search bar if you cant find it).
Try out low power mode (Android and iPhone)
All iPhones and Android handsets will have some form of low power mode. These typically combine some of the techniques we have already mentioned, and package them up into a setting you can switch on and off with the flick of a switch.
Maximum brightness is likely to be reduced, high refresh phones will lower their refresh rates, and background activities will be restricted. This means notifications might take longer to appear, one of the more off-putting parts of using a low power mode. However, switching it on if the battery level looks low and youre hours away from a charger is a good idea.
Youll find low power mode in Settings > Battery on an iPhone. Androids often have power saving shortcuts in their home screen drop-down menus, or youll find them in Settings > Battery.
