Tips on How to Save Smartphone Battery Life

There is no feeling more dreadful than realizing that your smartphone’s battery life has gone down the drain.  It usually comes as a surprise. One day your battery works fine, the next it is dead less than half-way through the day.  If you’re a heavy phone user and charge your phone several times a day, you may not notice. But if you’re used to going a full day without charging your phone, a dwindling smartphone battery life will definitely catch your attention.  The bad news is that your phone’s battery life will deteriorate over time no matter what you do. The good news is that there are ways to delay battery degradation. In this article, we go over some tips to help you maintain your smartphone’s battery life for as long as possible.

Avoid Extreme Temperatures

There is something alarming about a boiling smartphone.  Every time your phone is hot to the touch, your first instinct is probably to make it cooler.  You should follow your instinct if this is ever the case. Extreme temperatures can be very harmful to phone batteries and may place unnecessary stress on them, thus reducing their lifespan.  In fact, not only heat; you should never leave your phone in below-freezing temperatures either.

Don’t Let Your Phone Die or Fully Charge

According to Medium, fully draining or charging your smartphone will weaken its battery life.  This may sound counter-intuitive and may even run opposite to advise on other websites.  The difference is that newer phone batteries work differently than older ones, so fully draining or charging your battery over-works the battery and weakens it.  For healthier battery life, try to keep your battery at or above 40%. You also should never leave your phone plugged in once it’s fully charged.  In fact, it may even be better to unplug your phone once it hits 80%.  But wouldn’t that mean I will have to charge my phone more often? You probably want to ask.  In fact, charging your phone more than once a day is not harmful, so do not hesitate to reach for that charger twice or even three times a day!

Economize Your Phone Usage

Everytime we use our phones, we are draining their batteries.  Some functions take up more battery life than others–watching a video vs. making a phone call, for example.  But we can’t just stop using apps simply to save our phones’ battery life. Instead, we can make some changes to the way we use our phones to elongate their battery life.  For example, dimming your phone’s brightness uses up less battery than a fully bright screen. Additionally, leaving your phone on airplane mode instead of “Do Not Disturb” when busy is almost the same as turning the phone off.  Other tips include regularly updating your apps, disabling location services, and using still wallpaper. When you do those things, your battery dies less, meaning you have to charge your phone less often, which keeps it healthy for longer.

Fast Charging vs Smartphone Battery Life

It may run counter to what you want to believe, but fast charging can be damaging to your phone’s battery life.  Fast charging uses a lot of electricity to power your phone in a very short time. This causes your phone’s heat level to rise substantially, which, if you remember from earlier, is NOT GOOD.  Heat is one of the main causes of battery life degradation, so by subjecting your phone to very hot temperatures, you’re shortening your battery’s life. Of course, there is no harm in fast charging your phone in extreme circumstances, but it is best to avoid it entirely.  The video below has more on fast charging and its effect on your smartphone’s battery life.

Remember, You Can Only Prolong Your Smartphone’s Battery Life for So Long

Even if you do your best and use your phone minimally, your battery life will worsen over time.  It’s just the reality of owning a smartphone that needs to be charged at least once a day. With every charge your phone undergoes, expect your battery life to get just a little bit worse.  While you can’t stop your phone’s battery from aging and should not ignore when it is time to replace your phone battery, you can definitely make it last longer with the tips above.