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Is your smartphone always running out of juice? Here is what you can do to preserve it!

I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly finding myself lamenting over the short lifespan of my smartphone battery. Being (almost unhealthily) dependent on my iPhone, I know the pain of perpetually stressing about keeping it alive when I’m out and about all too well.

For some people, like me, keeping your phone up and running for the whole day when you have it open 24/7 is a lost cause. However, there are a number of things I keep in mind that do help me to preserve my battery life.

Here are five of them:

1. Quit your apps

No, I don’t mean just pushing the menu button and closing out of it. For those of you who don’t know, even when you’ve closed out of your apps, they’re still running in the background! This drains a good deal of your battery life, and I’ve personally noticed a huge difference in my battery once I started quitting any apps that I haven’t used in a while.

Here’s how you do it on iPhone:

  1. Have your phone unlocked and open.
  2. Double-push your menu button. You’ll see a screen displaying each of the apps that you currently have running in the background. You can go through each of them by swiping to the right (almost like flipping through the pages of a book!).
  3. To quit an app, swipe right until it appears at the centre of the screen (its name will appear at the top).
  4. Swipe upwards. This will drag the app up until it disappears past the top of your screen.
  5. Voilà! You’ve quit out of the app.

On Android, the process is much the same, except you swipe right instead of up to quit an app. However, accessing the screen that allows you to swipe-and-quit your apps varies depending on your device. For example, on the HTC One, you tap the home button twice; on the Samsung Galaxy S4, you press and hold the button; and on the Nexus 5, there’s an on-screen button that you can tap to get there.

2. Lower the brightness

The brighter your screen display, the more battery is drained. Adjust your brightness settings to the lowest possible brightness display for maximum efficiency – if this is too dark for you, choose a setting comfortable for you.

3. The 40%-80% rule

Some people think that keeping their phones charged at 100% for a long time will mean that their battery will last longer once unplugged. This is false! It’s actually bad for your phone, because you’re putting your battery under stress by not allowing it to discharge. The rule of thumb is instead to charge your phone to around 80%, and then take it off the charger. It’s also bad for your phone if you let it drain to 0% (or close to 0%) before charging it. Instead, set a floor of 40% – when it falls below this threshold, plug it in!

4. Avoid exposing your phone to direct sunlight

Letting your phone have a sunbathe is bad for its battery! The heat from the sun causes the battery to overheat, which depletes its life. Furthermore, for those of you with an auto-brightness setting on, the brightness from the sun will amp up the brightness setting on your phone display. As we know, this drains battery life!

5. Get a new battery!

If all else fails, and you’ve noticed that your battery life has worsened noticeably since you first purchased your phone, this means it’s time to change your battery. Batteries will depreciate over time, so if it’s gotten to the point where you can’t even go a few hours without charging, you need your battery replaced!

Do you have any other tips to add to the list? Please share in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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  • My battery usually lasts me 2 or 3 days. Im happy with that.

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  • Games is a huge one for battery as well. Great tips thanks

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  • I always forget the double click and close apps
    also a low battery option on iPhone

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  • I am guilty of leaving my phone on charge all night… maybe need to think of a better way to still have it almost fully charged when I wake up…

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  • These are sensible tips. I have one dodgy charger that keeps losing contact with the phone so charging takes longer. Must get rid of it.

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  • A few of these are common sense but still informative all the same. Thanks.

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  • I’m forever closing all the things I have open to help save my battery. I charge mine every few days, so I don’t have much of a problem.

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  • Whoa, thanks for tip number one – I must have had every single app I’ve ever downloaded opened on my phone. I literally closed about 40 apps. Thanks!!


    • I used to be the same! Before I knew about this, I must’ve had every single app on my phone constantly running in the background! My battery lasts SO much longer now that I regularly quit all of those apps.

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  • Great tips ! I already quit my apps and never go below 40 %. I find as well that the phone charges quicker at the one then other the point.

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  • Thankds for all those tips – always thought you had to recharge to 100 -won’t do that in future.

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  • Awesome tips. Thank you

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  • I have just discovered that my phone battery recharges to full capacity quicker via one powerpoint quicker than another one. Time to get the ??? powerpoint checked as I suspect it is the reason my phone takes so long to re-charge. I got a new battery for my phone. However it was bought on-line by a good friend of mine and I don’t know where from. I do know her got 2 chaeaper than you can buy one in a major retailer.

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  • Thanks for all the tips. I already close all the apps. I didn’t know about the 40% rule. I will apply it for sure from now on!!
    Does having the Wi-fi on all the time influence the battery life too? I generally turn it off, but I’m not sure it’s really necessary.


    • Hi there! Wi-Fi does sip at a tiny amount of your battery, but it’s certainly not necessary to keep switching your Wi-Fi on and off to save battery life. The amount that it drains is minuscule, and it would only make a difference if, say, you had it switched off for an entire day.

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  • Some really good tips! Thank you!

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  • Great tips. The 40/80 rule is an interesting one.

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  • I didn’t realise the 40/80 rule, that’s a good one and may be what helps my phone stay charged for longer as I do both things they say not to do!

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  • This reminded me I need to quit apps properl on my tablet, too.

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  • I don’t even own a mobile phone and found these tips interesting, and useful when I finally do get a phone.

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  • Great tips, my battery is constantly low.

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  • Thanks for these, I knew a couple but not most, I am guilty of always having a flat battery :( My phone has a low battery mode as well that I use constantly

    Reply

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