Picture this: It’s the end of a long day. You stayed late at work finishing that important project and are looking forward to a nice dinner at home. Suddenly, your tire goes flat and you have to pull over. No big deal, you’ll just call someone to help you out. But your phone is dead!
If you have a smartphone, you know your battery life goes fast. Checking email, responding to text messages, and playing mobile games runs down that precious time before you can get back to a charger. And while it’s impossible to make your battery last forever, what you CAN do is make smart choices to conserve your power, and know the signs of battery misuse or damage. Check out these lifesaving phone battery tips:
- Eliminate Push Mail
A feature present on iPhones and other smart devices, “push” mail allows you to get messages immediately as your phone maintains a constant connection to your email server. This is great for keeping up with your messages, but draining for your battery life.
For ultimate battery saving, set your email to only update manually. But if you are worried this means you’ll miss out on important correspondence, a compromise would be to set it to “fetch” from the server every 15 minutes.
- Turn Brightness Down
Do you truly NEED your phone’s screen to serve as a secondary flashlight? Probably not. A quick and easy fix for battery problems is to simply turn your phone’s brightness, especially if you’re somewhere that is well-lit.
The extra bonus of this tip is that your eyes will thank you! Not only will your phone last longer, but you will feel less strain after a long day of scrolling.
- Shut Down Apps
Multi-tasking was redefined with the smart phone. It can be easy to open a new application and forget about another one you left running. Remember to close unnecessary applications once you’re done with them, and your phone will not only run faster but also have a stronger battery life.
- Cut Down on GPS
If you need directions on Mapquest or want to add a location to your Instagram picture, you need to use your phone’s GPS capabilities. The problem is if you leave this setting running, it’s going to suck battery power fast as those satellites keep sending and receiving signals. If you’re going to be in one location for a while, it’s best to shut GPS off.
- Pay Attention to Your Phone’s Temperature
If you’re in an air conditioned room and your phone feels “hot to the touch”, chances are there is something wrong with your phone’s battery. Generating an amount of heat is normal as the phone chargers, but they are designed in a way which it shouldn’t be noticeable unless something is wrong.
- Notice Changes in the Physical Battery
If you can take the battery out of the phone, it can be easy to notice discoloration or a physical deformity on the body. But if you can’t take it out, you might still be able to notice a problem if the back appears to be bulging.This might mean the battery needs to be replaced.
- Take Advantage of Lower Power Modes
Apple introduced “Lower Power Mode” with IOS 9. The name may vary (for example the Samsung Galaxy refers to it as “Ultra-Power Saving Mode”), but the concept is the same. Entering these modes means the phone will shut down battery-sucking features and leave only the most necessary processes. If you don’t already, check if your phone has one you can use.
- Leave Bluetooth Off
Unless you’re playing wireless music in your car or connecting with a friend’s device, it’s unlikely you have a reason to leave bluetooth on. Shutting it off is another easy way to ensure your battery life isn’t being eaten up by an unused application. iPhones now include “bluetooth low energy”, but this still uses unnecessary power to casually leave on.
- Switch to Silent
Vibration notifications are great to subtly receive notice of a new message in public. But every time your phone vibrates, your device spins in order to make the effect. This is draining over long periods of time. If you can’t leave a ringtone on and need to conserve battery, it’s best to switch to silent.
- Tone down background animations
As phones have grown more advanced, background options have gotten “fancier”, often moving, zooming, or feature animation. While these may be nice to look at, checking your settings for what you can disable will cut down on the power this uses. It also helps to choose lock screens with this in mind as well.
Until the day when smartphone batteries last as long as the old fashioned Nokias, you’ll need to be a smart consumer to make the most of phone. Cut down on the fancy and unnecessary processes and pay attention to signals your phone is giving you. You’ll be glad you did when your car breaks down and your phone comes to the rescue.
