There are reasons why your phone’s battery won’t maintain a charge for as long as it used to — and that means there are also a few solutions that you can turn to in an effort to prolong the life of your battery. If you’ve owned your phone for a long time or you’ve noticed more alarming signs that your battery is conking out — such as a phone that shuts down without warning or one that only works when your device is plugged in — it may be time to bite the bullet and replace your phone’s battery. But if you’re stuck in a lesser hell where it takes a long time to charge your phone or the battery dwindles so fast that you have to always be within reach of an outlet, these four tips that experts swear by can help.
Optimize settings
The first thing you can do ASAP for a better, faster phone is to optimize your device’s settings for better battery performance, says Tech Expert Patrick Johnson at Laptop Judge. “Adjust your screen brightness settings lower, turn off notifications for unnecessary apps, and enable Low Power Mode when possible to help conserve energy,” Johnson said. You may find that you don’t even notice a difference when you make these changes in terms of your user experience, but they can add a major boost to your battery power.
Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when not in use
How often have you found yourself somewhere outside of your home, turned on Bluetooth, and then promptly forgot about it after making good use of it? “Turning off your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when not in use can help you save a lot of battery power,” Johnson said. “These services are constantly searching for signals, which consumes a lot of energy, so turn them off whenever they aren’t needed.”
Keep your phone out of extreme temperatures
Extreme temperatures are great for brewing your coffee or tea, less great when it comes to your iPhone. In other words: keep your device far away from extreme heat or extreme cold if your goal is to own a device with a battery that can stand the test of time. “Extreme temperatures will affect your battery life, especially if it gets too hot or cold,” Johnson said. “Try to keep your iPhone out of direct sunlight and away from any heat sources as much as possible.” That means that even if you’re popping out to the store on a winter or summer day, take your phone with you — it doesn’t take much time trapped in a hot or cold environment for your phone to become affected by the temps.
Turn off background app refresh
Lastly, it’s a really smart idea to turn off background app refresh when you don’t need it, as it consumes a lot of battery power, Johnson warns. “This setting allows apps to update in the background and can be found in the settings menu,” he said. “You have the option only to allow background app refresh when you’re on Wi-Fi or turn the feature off entirely. However, most users will find it more convenient to leave both Wi-Fi and Cellular on while customizing which apps are allowed for background app refresh.”
When you turn off Background App Refresh, apps that aren’t in use won’t update until you open them again, Johnson added — which means your phone won’t have to work as hard searching for constant updates for an app you aren’t even using.
If your phone’s speed has you all kinds of frustrated, try these tips for getting your device to work more efficiently — and faster.
