Method 5: Adjust display settings
Some devices come with stay awake feature. Also known as ‘Always ON Display’, it keeps your smartphone screen awake even if you lock your phone. It displays time, date and other notifications as per your priority. You can turn OFF this feature by navigating to Settings >> Display and then selecting always ON option. You can also shorten the sleep time of your screen. It determines how long your display will stay awake after the last time you have engaged with it. A long sleep time causes large battery consumption. This could be imagined by summing the time your smartphone is awake the whole day, even if you are not using it.
Method 6: Turn Off Unimportant Notifications
Every notification you get wakes up your screen if your phone is locked. Also, there are numerous applications that send useless notifications, an example is shopping applications. You can always turn off notifications for these applications. Navigate to Settings>>Apps and then uncheck ‘Show Notifications’ in these apps.
Method 7: Toggle connectivity options
Some applications also use your location often which requires GPS. This too spends a lot of battery. You can turn OFF Location access in application permissions. You can manually turn ON the GPS as and when you required instead of running it continuously in the background. You can also toggle other connectivity options such as Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, hotspot to increase battery life.
Method 8: Toggle Power Saving mode
Every smartphone comes with a battery/power saving mode. It reduces background animations, turns synchronization OFF, adjusts battery settings and turns OFF location services in order to increase battery life.
Method 9: Update apps and firmware
Some faulty apps can have a dire result on the phone’s performance. Some faulty application may be causing issues to battery health. Check if all such applications are updated. Developers often send app updates in order to fix bugs that may be related to the battery. For this, update the apps by navigating to Google Play Store >> My apps and games >> Update all. You can also update a particular application by searching for it on the Google Play Store and tap Update. You also need to update the firmware of your device as it helps in fixing battery draining issues. Check for any software update available for your smartphone. Some devices also give an option called ‘Ultra power saving mode’. This only allows you to place and receive calls and read messages. This comes handy if you are running very low on battery but cannot charge up your device due to some circumstances.
Method 10: Clear cache files
Accumulated or unemptied cache files hamper the system’s performance. Although these help in faster app retrieval, these files can be a cause for battery draining problems. Navigate to Settings >> Apps >> Downloaded. Tap on each app that you have downloaded and press ‘Clear Cache’. You also need to clear the storage cache which is a different section placed in the Settings >> Storage >> Cache Memory.
The last and final software fix that you can try is a hard reset. Get a backup of all the data. Once you proceed with the factory reset option, all your data is lost permanently. Follow the steps to perform a hard reset:
1) Turn off the phone.
2) Press and hold the Volume Up key and Power key simultaneously
3) Release the keys when the Android system recovery screen appears.
4) Use volume keys as navigator to highlight the “wipe data/factory reset” option and then use the Power button to make the selection.
Step 12: Invest in a new battery for your smartphone
If you cannot fix battery draining problems in your smartphones by the above steps, approach the service center of your smartphone and ask for a battery investment. If your phone is in warranty, you’ll get a free battery replacement in case of a faulty battery. Avoid going for third party battery replacements as it may void your warranty.
Tips to get your battery working more efficiently
- There are several reasons that your Android device’s battery might not be up to mark. You can always try these tips to get the most juice out of your smartphone battery:
Control screen brightness as per your surroundings, i.e. lower at night, moderate when indoors and high if outdoors in sunlight.
- Keep a screen timeout of 1-2 minutes.
- Turn OFF connectivity tools such as Bluetooth, NFC, and even Wi-Fi when not in use
- Always kill away apps that you don’t use frequently. Multitasking can be a bane if too many apps run for a long time. It would hamper system performance and cause extensive battery drainage.
- Keep vibrations OFF if you don’t really need them. They help in increasing battery life.
- Try to keep your smartphone battery over 40 percent. If less, enable the power saving mode.
- Try disabling things like sensors or features that you never use.
- Use applications such as Greenify, Gsam battery monitor to improve battery efficiency and to get an in-depth battery analysis and monitoring of your device.
- Reboot your smartphone from time to time.
- A cheap charger can probably damage your handset. Prefer using a charger that came with your phone instead of cheap third-party chargers.