How to Save Phone Battery: Everyday Habits That Make a Big Difference
Key Takeaways
- Your screen is usually the biggest battery drain. Use auto-brightness settings to avoid unnecessary battery drain.
- Background app refresh, location tracking, and notifications all contribute to extended battery usage over time.
- Heat is the real threat to battery health. Avoid exposing your phone to heat for extended periods and use trusted chargers.
You can blame the battery all you want, but most of the damage comes from habits most of us never really sit down and question. Figuring out how to make a phone battery last longer can be as simple as fixing subtle habits like leaving a charger plugged in overnight or keeping your brightness cranked up to the max from day 1.
Since these problems are hardly ever noticed, they slowly wear down your battery strength day in and day out, making frequent phone upgrades an inevitable reality. Find out how to extend your phone’s battery life like a pro with ZAGG.
The Screen is The Culprit
People love to jump to device age when the conversation is about how to save phone batteries, but the real culprit is usually the screen. Screens, especially the bright, high-refresh displays (especially the latest ProMotion models from Apple), burn through more power than practically anything else on your phone right now.
The Fix
The auto-brightness setting helps but isn’t flawless, so nudging the manual slider down a notch can save a lot more than expected without wrecking the readability on your phone. If your phone has an OLED screen (that’s most Samsung Galaxy models), using dark mode can give you a huge boost to save phone batteries since black pixels barely draw any power at all.
If you’re worried about making your phone battery last longer, you may also want to consider cutting the screen timeout setting from thirty seconds to fifteen. This might not register in the moment, but multiplied across the fifty-odd times a day you unlock your phone, it can make a real difference.
Background Apps are Dangerous
This one sneaks up on people, and it’s easy to see why. Closing an app doesn’t necessarily mean you’re stopping it from running. Background app refresh lets things like news and social apps pull fresh content every few minutes, whether you asked for it or not. If you’re trying to save a phone battery, that can create a real problem.
The Fix
This fix is as easy as the last one, and could potentially have a massive impact on your battery life:
- Open your Settings app
- Check the ‘Battery’ tab for the apps using the most battery
- If any of those apps seem unnecessary, go to their individual settings page and turn off location permissions and refresh. Turning off notifications may also help a little.
Charging Habits
Heat is the real enemy of battery health, and if you’re trying to save phone battery, it should be a real point of focus for you. Charging under a pillow, leaving your phone in direct sun, or keeping it in a phone case that traps heat while it’s plugged in can all be major stressors for your battery and work against your plan to extend your phone’s battery life.
Cheap cables and uncertified chargers won’t help either, since they offer inconsistent power delivery, which eventually hits your battery life.
The Fix
If you want to make your phone battery last longer, the first order of business should be to zero in on a decent wireless charger. These can be a huge help if you’re learning how to save phone battery since they’re designed with heat and power delivery in mind and come certified by trusted regulatory bodies, assuming you’re buying from a trusted brand like ZAGG.
Some phones just don’t make it through a full day no matter what gets changed in the settings, and at that point, a battery case solves things at the source. You’re getting extra capacity built right into what you’re already carrying, rather than having to chase tiny percentage gains through toggles.
Don’t Ignore The Tiny Toggles
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hunting for a signal that isn’t there will naturally burn power for nothing. If you’re trying to save phone battery, switch them off on a flight or anywhere you know there’s no connection. This is a small habit that will pay off more than it has any right to over the long term.
Low power mode is also worth paying attention to. People treat it as a last resort and only really use it when at 20% battery. Turning it on earlier in the day can give you a huge boost. You probably won’t notice the difference while gaining hours of additional screen time to make your phone battery last longer.
Maximize Your Battery Life with ZAGG
Even with every habit dialed in, it’s only natural for some days to run long, whether that’s an endless commute or an extended trip for a festival. If you’re trying to save phone battery and have tried everything else, you need a power bank in your arsenal to ensure you never really run out.
Whether you’re extending your phone’s battery life or shielding it from cracks with a screen protector, ZAGG has your back with elevated designs, a wide variety of accessories, and industry-leading durability. Upgrade your phone with ZAGG today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my phone battery drain faster right after an update?
Updates can often rebuild background processes the moment they finish installing, which will temporarily eat more power. If you’re trying to save phone battery, you may want to turn those processes back off after an update.
Does force-closing apps actually help my battery?
Not always, and it can even backfire if you’re trying to make your phone battery last longer. Relaunching an app from scratch often takes more energy than resuming it. You’re better off tweaking the background refresh settings rather than manually swiping apps closed.
Is charging my phone overnight bad for the battery?
It depends. Modern phones stop pulling power at 100%, but leaving your phone charging on the wrong surface or while it’s exposed to heat will lead to accelerated buildup and impact its battery health. If you’re trying to save phone battery, avoid leaving it plugged in if you can.