Avoiding a low battery – Top tips

29.10.2019

It’s got to be one of the most important factors when choosing a smartphone – battery life.

We’re so reliant on this piece of technology, but carrying a power bank or charger with you wherever you go isn’t always ideal. So how can you get the most out of your battery and make it last that little bit longer?

We’ve got some tips to help you do just that.

 

Keep it at 50%

We won’t go into great detail. But according to science, 50% is a real sweet spot to hold your battery near, especially between 20-80% due to the charge cycles. Regularly topping up with small charges will help prolong your battery life instead of a full charge or allowing it to drain.

 

Don’t sleep and charge

Against popular belief, this isn’t due to ‘overcharging’ your battery, but it places a strain on the ions within your battery (science stuff). You should also always use an official charger, so the safety features are in place to protect your battery and not supply more current than is needed.

 

Check your settings

What did we do before low power mode? Available on both iPhone and Android, so make sure this is activated! Features that can really drain your battery include Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS – they’re constantly trying to reach a connection, especially when on the move.

Switch airplane mode on (yes, even if you’re not in the air) if you don’t need any connectivity – your device will only use 5% energy consumption compared to its usual 15%.

 

Dim it down

A quick way to reduce battery wastage is to reduce its brightness. It may be set to an adaptive setting (changes dependent on surroundings), turn this off so you have full control. You could also reduce the time your phone has before it goes dark when idle.

 

App analysis

Some apps are known for draining your battery, particularly video streaming apps like Snapchat, Netflix and YouTube. More surprisingly Facebook is also a big culprit – keeping notifications off and restricting battery usage and battery data can help combat this.

You can access battery settings to view and analyse which apps are really draining your battery – turn off ‘background restriction’, ‘battery optimisation’ or uninstall the ones you no longer use.

 

Keep it cool

Did you know high temperatures can contribute to a reduced battery length? Keeping your device between 25-30 degrees Celsius should retain around 80% of its battery capacity after one year.

 

Source: Wired.