Battery Draining Quickly: Improve Battery Life (iPhone, Android, Laptop) (On a mobile device)

When you don't use your mobile device to browse the net, turn off the Wi-Fi feature, because it drains your battery even if your phone is in standby mode.

To turn the Wi-Fi off:

• Android:

Swipe down from the top of the screen (to access the Quick Menu) -> Tap on the Wi-Fi icon, or you can disable it in Settings (Wi-Fi -> move the small slider to "OFF" position).

• iOS:

Settings -> Wi-Fi -> Move the slider to OFF position.

Every mobile device has an integrated GPS, which is very useful. It helps us find unknown locations, restaurants and etc. However, it consumes a lot of energy and the battery will be drained in no time. 

Unfortunately, many people forget to turn it off after they are done using it, and it works in the background.

To learn how to turn the GPS feature off, check out these solutions.

When you don't need to browse the net, and the mobile/cellular data is active, deactivate it, because it consumes energy even if your device is in standby mode.

To deactivate the mobile/cellular data feature:

• Android:

Swipe down from the top of the screen -> tap on the Mobile Data icon (or Settings -> Data usage -> move the Mobile Data traffic slider to OFF position)

• iOS:

Settings -> Cellular -> Move the Cellular data slider to OFF position.

The higher the brightness level is, the faster the battery drains. This means that if you dim the display you will prolong the battery's duration, and minimize the effects of the "battery draining quickly" issue. Every OS (operating system) offers manual adjustment of brightness level and it can be done in a pretty easy way.

To learn how to dim the display, check out the don't know how to dim the display solutions.

Note: You may also enable an option to show battery percentage, to keep a close eye on the battery, following the steps below:

Android (taken on a Samsung Galaxy device - steps might vary from one device manufacturer to another):

iOS:

Most of the recent Android smartphones, like the Galaxy S6, Nexus 6 and HTC One M9 and others, have battery saving modes that can extend the life of your device, even if you’re already under 20%. Battery saver performs various operations with one goal, to save energy. It does that by limiting vibrations, location services and background data. 

To enable it go to Settings -> Battery saver (Power management) -> Find power saving mode (tap on the toggle).

---

iOS also offers a setting called Low Power Mode which is an easy way to extend the battery life of your mobile device when it starts to get low.

To enable it, go to Settings -> Battery -> Tap on the toggle next to Low Power Mode

Visual effects which show window contents while dragging, and slide-out menus use more of your CPU (and your battery).

If you don't need them you can disable them easily.

To disable these effects:

• Android: 

Settings -> Developer options -> Window/Transition animation scale -> Animation is off

• iOS:

Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> switch on Reduce Motion to temporarily turn off all the parallax effects

If you want to maximise the usefulness of your battery, don't let it drop below 20%. Charge it to at least 80% rather than doing lots of little charges.

There's no need to charge it right the way to 100%. Do not let it run down completely too often as this puts extra stress on the battery and it might become unstable.

Every application installed in your mobile device runs in the background and drains your battery faster, no matter if you use it or not.

The best way to prevent applications from draining your battery is to delete them permanently.

To learn how to remove applications, check out the don't know how to uninstall a program solutions.

Even though they're "sitting" in the home screen, seemingly inactive, they're consuming power. This refers to widgets that show status updates in the background, as well as the ones that just "sit" there but look pretty and animated (animated live wallpaper).

Remove all the widgets from the home screen that you don't (want to) use and avoid setting a live wallpaper.

To remove a widget from the home screen:

Press and hold the widget you want to remove -> drag it to the small thrash can or the "X" sign (on the top or on the bottom).

To change the live wallpaper:

• Android:

Press and hold anywhere on the home screen until it gets smaller (or go to Settings -> Display - Wallpaper) -> tap on Wallpaper -> select one of the default wallpapers or add one by yourself.

• iOS:

Settings -> Wallpaper -> Choose a new wallpaper

Applications often get updated to use less battery power, so you should make sure your apps are up to date. Even if you configured the phone to download updates automatically, some applications might still require your manual intervention to install updates.

Check out the don't know how to update programs/applications guide which will help you if you are not fully sure how to check for and update apps in your mobile device.

Try not to use vibrations as much as you can because it also drains the battery. 

To turn off vibrations:

• Android: 

Press the volume button to turn down the ringer, and you will see a menu pop up at the top of your screen. Here, you can either turn off all notifications for a custom period of time, or only receive priority notifications (based on your personal preferences). Either one will end up having a positive effect on battery.

• iOS:

Settings -> Sounds -> Switch off Vibrate on ring



Disable the feature Vibrate on touch (Android: Settings -> Sound -> Other sounds) as well, because it is completely unnecessary and it only drains your battery.

Most of the applications you install, notify you about everything, which is annoying. The only relevant notifications are the system notifications, which notify you about important system updates, and social-network notifications (Facebook, Twittter and etc).

Luckily, there is a way to disable these annoying notifications:

• Android:

Go to Settings -> Sound & notification (or just Notifications) -> App notifications (varies from one device manufacturer to another) -> move the toggle (if any). The video tutorial below was taken on a Samsung Galaxy device, running on Android OS 8.

• iOS:

Go to Settings -> Notifications -> Tap on an app and on the toggle next to Allow Notifications. Turn off notifications for all but your most important apps.

From there you can block notifications for individual applications entirely, or set priority filters for receiving fewer notifications, which results in more battery life and fewer disturbances. 

Please note that the system notifications should not be disabled, because they are important for the proper work of your mobile device.

Your phone’s biggest battery drainer is the display. You want your display off whenever you’re not looking at the screen, which is a good thing. However, the problem is that you often leave your device's display on, even when you’re done using it.

The best solution is a low screen timeout. Set your device to turn off its display after just one minute of inactivity and you can save almost a whole hour of wasted screen time per day.

On Android:

Settings -> Display ->Sleep -> pick one of the offered options

On iOS:

Settings -> General -> auto-lock

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology that allows your mobile device to connect with other devices. The Bluetooth feature enables you to send and receive files, connect your devices to your car's sound system, use a bluetooth speaker or headphone and etc. Also, the bluetooh feature is one of the "battery drainers".

Turn the bluetooth off when you don't use it, in order to save energy. To learn how to turn off the Bluetooth, check out the don't know how to enable/disable Bluetooth solutions.

We tend to quit the applications we aren’t using as it seems as a logical way to stop them draining the battery. However, this isn't such a good idea after all.

When you close an application, you remove it from the RAM memory. This means that when you open it again, the mobile device has to load it back into memory. All of that loading and unloading drains your battery.

Applications don't drain the battery when you don't use them. They are not allowed to run in the background unless they are playing music, using location services, recording audio, or checking for incoming VOIP calls (like Skype). All of these exceptions, but the latter (Skype), will put an icon next to your battery icon to alert you that it is running in the background.

If your battery drains quickly and nothing else worked, you can activate the good old Airplane mode when you don't need your mobile device. It will disable all the major functions of the smartphone (e.g. the calls), but you will extend the battery's life until you plug it in to a charger.

See the don't know how to enable/disable the airplane mode guide, if you are not sure how to activate this mode.

If you use programs that require more effort of your CPU, your CPU will use more power and your battery will drain faster. Run only the applications you need the most so that the CPU doesn't use too much power, and select programs which don't demand too much of the CPU. The less your mobile device has to process, the more power it will save.

Every operating system offers a utility which allows you to check what is draining your battery.

To check what is draining your battery:

• Android: Settings -> Power management -> Battery usage (or Settings -> Battery) -> Scroll down to see the list of applications
  
  
• iOS: Settings -> General -> Usage -> Battery usage -> Scroll down to see the list of all applications

Auto-sync feature allows you to synchronize your mobile device with your online accounts (Viber, Skype, Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail and etc.) so that you can easily check for new emails and update your contacts list. Your device checks for new email and contact-list updates even if it is in standby mode, thus draining your battery.

The best solution is to turn this feature off.

• Android:

Settings -> Accounts -> Tap on the three vertically-aligned dots and uncheck Auto-sync data

• iOS you can disable the Auto-sync feature only in iTunes:

iTunes -> Preferences -> Devices -> Tick Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically

To turn the iCloud feature off (iOS devices only) go to Settings > iCloud -> tap to turn off iCloud features.

It might surprise you but the volume setting affects battery life too, so if you are playing music or other audio from your mobile device, turn down the volume using the volume buttons.

You could save battery power by not playing music, or you could switch to headphones, which won't require as much power as the internal speakers.

Your mobile device can automatically update its time depending on where you are in the world. A small amount of battery power is used because the mobile device determines the correct time via Location Services . 

To turn off the automatic time zone feature:

• Android:

Settings -> Date and time -> Turn off Automatic time zone

• iOS:

Settings -> General -> Date & Time -> move the slider next to Set Automatically to OFF.

If your battery drains quickly all the time, it might need calibration. This process, called calibration, helps your device estimate its battery life more accurately. It is recommended that you periodically drain your battery totally and then charge it up until it’s completely full (From 0% -100%). You should do this at least once per month. 

Please note that calibrating your battery will ensure that you know when you need to charge the battery, but the procedure itself doesn’t actually prolong the durability of the battery.

Avoid placing your laptop or mobile device near a radiator or on the dashboard of your car (mobile devices), or near other electronics that are radiating heat.

If a battery gets too hot all the time, it can degrade faster and extreme temperatures can even cause the electrolytes in the battery to ignite and start a fire (though this is an extremely rare situation).

Note (laptop users): You can reduce the temperature of your laptop by placing it on a cooling pad.

Avoid exposing your device to extremely low temperatures because they increase the internal resistance of a lithium-ion battery (used by every mobile device and laptop), by slowing down the electrochemical reactions, causing it to work less efficiently. As such, batteries that are especially cold are likely to see a decrease in performance, i.e they drain quickly.

Luckily, cold conditions have no real long-term effects on a battery, so it should return to normal state once it gets warm.

If your battery drains faster and you don't have access to power outlets, you can turn it off if you don't intend to use it. You will save battery and your device will have enough power when you need it the most.

Note: You may also enable an option to show battery percentage, to keep a close eye on the battery, following the steps below:

Android (taken on a Samsung Galaxy device - steps may vary from one device to another):

iOS: