How To Boost Smartphone Battery Life [in 7 Easy Steps]

Today’s smartphones feature powerful processors, huge screens, and countless other high-end capabilities that eat up loads of energy.

Most of us find that plugging-in once a day isn’t enough. But, if you use it right, any one of the latest smartphones can stay on for 2-3 days without charging.

Here’s how to improve the battery life of your smartphone in 7 easy steps

1: Reduce social media polling

Facebook, Twitter and email apps are preset to high polling frequencies. Turn on Manual Refresh or set a low frequency for a noticeable battery life boost.

2: Turn off all unused hardware radios

GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE hardware always runs in the background. Keep them off until you need them.

3: Keep track of your power usage

iOS 8 and higher allows you to see your daily/weekly/monthly averages. Meanwhile, Android provides more details. Both calculate battery usage for individual apps and even hardware (display, speaker, etc.)

Try replacing apps that significantly drain your battery.

4: Minimize brightness

Everyone knows that screen brightness should always be set to low. Yet, most people don’t realize how low they can really set it.

White pixels need twice as much power as black-ivy . To see real improvement, use dark-colored themes and wallpapers.

5: Take advantage of Power Saver Mode & Airplane Mode

Android users can install one of the ‘Automatic Power Saver’ apps. It’ll turn on power saving mode whenever your lock the screen or go idle.

6: Get Rid of widgets, Live Wallpaper & background apps

Android users can make sure nothing is running in the background by navigating to Settings->Apps->Running. Then, just ‘stop’ or ‘force stop’ the apps you don’t need.

For iPhone owners, a similar menu is located in Settings->General–>Background App Refresh.

7: Keep Location Services turned off for all of your apps

Then manually turn it on for appropriate apps, like maps and local delivery services.

Almost all the major apps regularly use your phone’s Location Services. Whether it’s to tag social media updates, find flights or search for local results – GPS takes a notable toll on your battery.

If all else fails, get an external battery

Most Android devices have a removable battery. You can buy a spare for $15-20 and it’ll probably fit in your wallet.

iPhone users can opt in for Apple’s smart cases or a portable external battery. They’re hefty enough to protect the phone from scratches/bumps; and they increase battery life by up to 50%.