The 23 Best Ways to Optimize and Improve Android Battery life

To conserve your Android device’s battery for a whole day is sometimes a war that is difficult to win. But here are several tips to help you optimize and improve the battery life of your Android smartphone! In this article, I’m going to share with you the best ways to improve Android battery life.

We love to listen to songs, watch videos, text with friends, and do much more with a full battery. But your battery can run out quickly when you use your phone constantly throughout the day.  The worst feeling is seeing that Android battery recycle icon in the status bar, showing you’re on power saving mode, but it’s only two o’clock in the afternoon!

Keeping our phone alive is only possible when we take care of some important basic tasks, like switching off your phone when not in use, dimming the brightness, switching off the vibrations, and other battery wasters. So, without wasting a single second more of your batteries, let’s start with tips to boost or improve the battery life of your smartphone!

1. Properly Charge & Discharge

Old nickel battery technology needed to be discharged down to 20% or lower and then fully charged in order to avoid a “charge memory” problem that could lead to reduced battery life, even on a fully charged battery.

New lithium ion batteries don’t have this flaw. Further, it is bad for a lithium battery to fully discharge it.  It is best to plug modern phones into a charger at around 40% and fully charge from there.

2. Suitable Temperature

The best suitable temperature for battery charging is 0-45C. Too high or too low of a temperature will harm your phone’s battery. Also try to protect your mobile from direct sunlight because the rays of light will heat the phone quickly, even on a cool day.

Extreme heat or cold can reduce your battery’s life over time. If your phone gets hot when in use, find ways to cool it down with a fan or make sure it isn’t sitting in a hot location like on a pillow or bed. Just like with a laptop, overheating a mobile device can hurt your battery.

3. Breathe Freely

Playing off the temperature tip above, you might try taking your phone’s cover off while charging. Even while in use, some cases are better than others at releasing the heat that you phone gives off during charging and regular use. When your device gets too hot, it can harm several components, but it will certainly reduce the long-term life of your battery.

4. Disable Wifi

Wifi is very convenient and free, but it requires much more power than 4G/5G networks do. If possible, disable Wifi and enable only when you need it  also saves lots of battery power. 

Another way that WiFi can drain your battery is by searching constantly for new networks as you move about during the day. If you travel on errands or for work, your phone is constantly working in the background to find WiFi networks in the area.

Battery Drains
Photo: intelfreepress

5. Mobile Data

5G networks consume much more power than 4G networks. If possible, disable 5G and enable it only when you need it. 4G networks are sufficient for most activities like texting, browsing social media, or surfing the net. Every image file consumes a small amount of battery power to display, so choose your website browser settings to minimize images as well.

6. Disable Auto Sync

For background data, Auto Sync is used for Google real time synchronization, such as Gmail, Google contacts, social network updates, and so forth. If you don’t need these functions, then try to avoid Auto Sync.

7. Disable Bluetooth

If you aren’t actively using a Bluetooth device, then switch off Bluetooth.

8. Short Screen Timeout

Reducing screen timeout also helps to save battery power. If possible, make it 1 min or shorter.

9. Adjust Brightness

Screen brightness consume LOTS of energy, but if you lower the brightness of the screen to minimal levels, than you can save lots battery power.

10. Disable Apps in Background

Apps running in the background also consume lots of power, so make sure that nothing is running in the background unless absolutely necessary. Plus, it’s always a good idea to check what’s running in the background every couple of weeks in case of malware sneaking in.

backup battery

11. Disable Auto System Update

Most Android apps provide your mobile device with an “Auto Update” which can consume a lot of your battery to download and install. Disable the auto update option, or if possible, choose a setting where apps are updated only while the device is plugged in.

12. Close Mobile Vibration

Everyone knows vibration in mobiles consumes lots of power, so try to use this feature of your Android device when you are only in noisy places or at a meeting – otherwise try to ignore this feature.

13. Use Power Control Widget

Using a Power Control Widget is also a good way to save the battery of your Android device. If this is already on your home screen, then it’s ok. Otherwise look for some version of this in your settings or as an app within your device.  

14. Remove Unnecessary Home Screen Widget

 Try to remove any unnecessary Home Screen widgets. Not all of them will consume much power, but if they are constantly updating, it could reduce your hours of life on each charge.

15. Disable GPS

GPS drains a battery faster than almost any other app. That’s because it is constantly updating your location. Disable it when you don’t need it for travel and this one sole act might prolong your battery life through the entire day.

extended battery life

16. Use Facebook and Twitter Sparingly

If possible, try to avoid Facebook and Twitter use on your Android device. It also helps to save your battery power.

17. Enable Airplane Mode

If you aren’t actively using your device or expecting texts, you could put your mobile device on Airplane mode. This little tip can save lots of power on your device. The downside is that no one can get in touch with you until you take your phone off Airplane mode.

18. Use Power Saving Apps

There are lots of Power Saving Apps available in the Google Play store and the Apple app store, which helps you to lower battery consumption and squeeze more power out of your mobile device battery. You can find decent ones that are a free download.

19. Use Ad-Free Apps and Games

When you play free games or use free apps, your mobile phone needs to download each new advertising change and this may cause battery levels to drop. Use premium apps and games to avoid this.

20. Wallpaper and Themes

Try to avoid live wallpapers and dark themes on your device as it also consumes lots of power with no profit to you.

21. Manage Notifications & Subscriptions

When you install an app, it usually has some sort of push notifications that it want to send you. Every one of those notifications will use a small increment of battery power, especially if they trigger a beep or vibration. You might need to go into the app notifications and permissions to change this. In some cases, you might have a subscription through a website and need to find the online menu option “website account – manage notification subscriptions”.

22. Quick Action Buttons

Many phones allow you to associate actions with your volume and power buttons in some combination. For example, you hit the power plus volume button to take a screen shot. Some of these actions can get triggered even when your phone is asleep in your pocket. Although not as embarrassing as a butt dial phone call your boss’s phone number, it does waste battery power to take actions that you didn’t intend to take. Just think about what actions you really need to associate with buttons and avoid going crazy with this option.

23. Root your Android Device

You can also root your Android device to improve battery life. This also has drawbacks, however, so if you want to know more about how to effectively do this, you can read more about it in this article: What is Rooting and Unrooting in an Android Mobile?

I hope these tips help you improve your mobile experience throughout the day.  Sure, some of these suggestions end up shutting down some of your favorite smartphone features. Those tips might not be the best way for you, so just pick and choose the best from these 21 methods, and you’ll squeeze more life out of each charging cycle!

If you have other tips, share with your fellow readers in the comments!

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Andrew Cohen
I'm a gamer, but I'll admit that my skills in writing and researching are way better than my gaming skills. It's great to be able to share with you my passion for gaming!