Is Your Smartphone Battery Draining Too Fast? How to Make It Last Longer

Are you frustrated by your smartphone’s battery life? Many people struggle with their phone running out of charge before the day ends. While battery technology has improved, smartphones continue to consume power at a high rate due to larger displays, faster processors, and constant connectivity.

To ensure your battery lasts longer, you need to adjust a few settings and adopt smarter usage habits. Below are practical steps to extend your phone’s battery life.

1) Turn Off Always-On Display

Modern smartphones come with an Always-On Display (AOD) feature, which keeps part of the screen active to show time, date, and notifications. Although manufacturers claim it only uses 1-2% of the battery per hour, it can significantly contribute to daily battery drain.

🔹 Why it helps: Disabling Always-On Display prevents unnecessary power usage, ensuring your battery lasts longer.

🔹 How to disable:

• Go to Settings > Lock Screen
• Look for Always-On Display
• Toggle it off

📌 Alternative: If you prefer using it, limit its activation time instead of keeping it on 24/7.

2) Enable Adaptive Battery Mode

Android’s Adaptive Battery feature intelligently learns your app usage patterns and limits power consumption for less frequently used apps. This feature is particularly useful if you have many apps installed but only use a few regularly.

🔹 Why it helps: It prevents background apps from consuming battery unnecessarily.

🔹 How to enable:

• Go to Settings > Battery > Adaptive Battery
• Turn it on

📌 Additional Tip: Regularly check which apps consume the most battery in Settings > Battery Usage and consider uninstalling or restricting them.

3) Activate Battery Saver Mode

Most Android phones come with a Battery Saver Mode that reduces background activity, limits performance, and dims the display to save power. You can activate it manually or set it to turn on automatically when your battery drops below a certain percentage.

🔹 Why it helps: Limits non-essential processes, giving you extra hours of usage.

🔹 How to enable:

• On Google Pixel: Settings > Battery > Battery Saver
• On Samsung Galaxy: Settings > Battery & Device Care > Battery > Power Saving Mode

📌 Alternative: If you need only slight power savings, enable Optimized Battery Mode, which is less restrictive than Battery Saver Mode.

4) Use Dark Mode

If your phone has an OLED or AMOLED display, enabling Dark Mode can significantly save battery life. Unlike LCD screens, OLED panels do not light up black pixels, reducing power consumption.

🔹 Why it helps: Dark backgrounds require less energy than bright ones.

🔹 How to enable:

• Go to Settings > Display
• Enable Dark Mode or Dark Theme
• Schedule it to turn on automatically at night for added comfort

📌 Pro Tip: Using dark-themed wallpapers and apps further reduces battery drain.

5) Reduce Screen Brightness and Sleep Time

The display is one of the most power-hungry components of a smartphone. Keeping brightness high all the time drains the battery quickly. Similarly, if your Screen Timeout is set too long, your phone remains active even when you’re not using it.

🔹 Why it helps: Lower brightness and shorter screen-on time significantly reduce battery drain.

🔹 How to adjust:

• Lower brightness manually in the Quick Settings Panel
• Go to Settings > Display > Screen Timeout
• Set it to 30 seconds or 1 minute

📌 Bonus Tip: Use Adaptive Brightness, which automatically adjusts screen brightness based on lighting conditions.

6) Remove Unused Accounts

Having multiple email, social media, and cloud accounts logged in leads to background syncing, which drains the battery.

🔹 Why it helps: Reduces background syncing and refresh cycles.

🔹 How to remove unused accounts:

• Go to Settings > Accounts or Settings > Passwords & Accounts
• Select accounts that are no longer needed
• Tap Remove Account

📌 Alternative: If you want to keep an account but reduce syncing, go to Settings > Accounts > Auto-sync Data and turn it off.

7) Disable Keyboard Sounds and Haptic Feedback

Many people don’t realize that keyboard vibrations and sounds consume battery. Though small, these effects require power for each keystroke.

🔹 Why it helps: Eliminates unnecessary power consumption from typing.

🔹 How to disable:

• Go to Settings > Language & Input
• Select your keyboard (e.g., Gboard, Samsung Keyboard)
• Find Keypress Sound & Vibration and turn them off

📌 Pro Tip: Reducing other vibration settings (e.g., notifications, calls) can also extend battery life.

8) Turn Off Unnecessary App Notifications

Notifications constantly wake up your screen and run apps in the background, draining battery life.

🔹 Why it helps: Reducing notifications means fewer background processes.

🔹 How to disable:

• Go to Settings > Notifications > App Notifications
• Turn off notifications for apps that are not essential

📌 Alternative: Use Do Not Disturb Mode for further battery savings.

9) Disable "Hey Google"

Your phone listens for the "Hey Google" command 24/7, which consumes battery. If you don’t use voice commands frequently, turning this off can help.

🔹 Why it helps: Stops your microphone from continuously running in the background.

🔹 How to disable:

• Open the Google App
• Tap Profile Icon > Settings > Google Assistant
• Go to Hey Google & Voice Match
• Turn off Hey Google

📌 Alternative: Use the Google Assistant button instead of voice activation.

10) Reduce Screen Refresh Rate

Higher refresh rates (90Hz, 120Hz) make animations smoother but consume more battery. Lowering it to 60Hz can save power while keeping performance balanced.

🔹 Why it helps: Reduces GPU and CPU workload, extending battery life.

🔹 How to adjust:

• Go to Settings > Display
• Look for Motion Smoothness or Refresh Rate
• Set it to 60Hz

📌 Pro Tip: If you need high refresh rates only for gaming, switch settings accordingly.

Bonus Tip: Enable Low-Power Mode

If your battery is running low, quickly enable Low-Power Mode to limit background activity and extend battery life.

🔹 How to enable: Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the Battery Saver Icon in Quick Settings.

By following these tips, you can significantly improve your smartphone’s battery life and reduce the need to charge frequently. Try them out and enjoy longer-lasting power!