5 ways to help your mobile phone battery last longer

24 Nov 2021

If you ever feel like your mobile phone battery is running out faster than it used to, you’re probably right. Learn how to optimise the power consumption and extend the life of your smartphone.

While the lithium-ion batteries used in most smartphones today provide numerous benefits – for example, their compact size with high energy density allows phones to be lighter and sleeker – these batteries still degrade with ongoing use. 

You’ll never be able to restore your phone’s battery to its former long-lasting glory from the day it came out of the box, but there are definitely things you can do to help optimise everyday power consumption, ensure your phone stays charged when you’re out and about, and ultimately extend the lifespan of your device. Here are five ways to help your mobile phone battery last longer...  

1. KEEP THE BRIGHTNESS DOWN

There’s one very simple way to start conserving battery power on your smartphone – turn down the screen brightness. Obviously you need to see what’s happening on the screen, but do you really need it lit up to the maximum level all the time? Unless you’re genuinely struggling to read messages or view content, try experimenting with a lower brightness setting to discover what works for your eyes. You’ll probably notice a meaningful difference to the battery performance straight away. 

2. AVOID EXTREME CHARGING

A common mistake people make is to fully charge their phone up to 100 percent, then let it drain completely before recharging and so on. Unlike older battery types, newer lithium-ion batteries don’t have memories that need to be ‘calibrated’ in this way; in fact, you’re only stressing the battery further and reducing its lifespan even faster. Partially charging and discharging your phone battery is the best way to achieve longevity. Whenever possible, charge your phone up to around 80 percent capacity (90 percent at most), and start charging it again before it drops below the dreaded red mark at 20 percent. It’s also best to avoid leaving your phone to charge overnight, as this causes the battery to experience high stress and potentially damaging heat. If you do charge your phone while you sleep, keep it in a cool place.  

3. SWITCH OFF WI-FI AND BLUETOOTH 

Fewer charge cycles means less strain on your battery, so you should look for ways to help your battery last longer on a single charge. A good place to start is being aware that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are draining your battery as they scan for devices or networks to connect to in different locations. If you’re planning to spend the whole day on the move without using these built-in services, consider disabling your phone’s Wi-Fi to save battery life. You can always switch it back on at any time. 

4. LIMIT LOCATION SERVICES

To support their services, many of your favourite apps – including food delivery, fitness monitoring or direction finding apps – likely use location-based technology such as GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular networks to track your phone. On the surface there’s nothing wrong with this, but bear in mind the scanning process itself can seriously sap battery life. To negate this problem you can adjust the settings and preferences on your iPhone or Android device to either block apps from using location services in the background, or disable scanning altogether. Specific apps will still be able to access location services when they’re actually in use.

5. MANAGE YOUR APPS MORE EFFECTIVELY

Closing everything that’s running on your device is not the battery-saving solution you may have expected. It’s natural to think your phone could do with a well-earned rest, but in reality the action of force-quitting apps can have a negative impact. You’re better off letting apps run in the background so iOS and Android systems can take advantage of their built-in algorithms that automatically manage the amount of power and memory being used. However, it could be worth checking whether certain apps, particularly social media ones, are constantly refreshing with updates for no valid reason. It’s possible to review and limit how much battery an individual app is using on your phone.