Whether you have an iPhone, Android or a Blackberry, you want to be confident you will be able to use your phone all day long. You may have noticed your phone dying on you when you are out and about. In fact, if your smartphone is over a year old, then there is a good likelihood its battery capacity has decreased between 15 and 22 percent. You need to be smart about how you use your phone, so here are some handy tips for getting the most out of your battery.
1. Turn Off Push Notifications
Do you receive a “ping” every time an app wants to tell you something? Every time your phone pings, it uses a little bit of data each time, draining the battery. You should limit your push notifications to only the essentials, such as texts and emails. You can change which notifications you receive in Settings.
2. Dim the Screen
There is no need to dim your smartphone screen all the way, but even dimming it by a quarter will save you quite a bit of battery life. It may be noticeable at first. However, over time, you will adjust to having a dimmer screen on a regular basis.
3. Lock It
Whenever you are not using your smartphone, you should lock it. If you put it in your pocket without shutting it down first, then your leg may press on app icons and force your phone to use more data than it needs. The benefit of this is that you can still receive texts and other notifications from the lock screen.
4. Actually Close Apps
You may not actively use an app, but it could be draining power in the background. When you know you will not use an app for a while, you should shut it down entirely. Closing apps only takes a couple seconds, and you will drastically conserve your battery.
5. Disable GPS Features
Some apps are reliant on the phone’s GPS to work correctly. This may be helpful, but it also eats up a lot of battery life. You should consider shutting GPS functionality on certain apps that do not really need it. You can always turn GPS back on for a given app when it becomes necessary.
6. Maintain Room Temperature
You may have noticed your phone runs out of juice sooner when you are in an excessively hot or cold environment. Your phone cannot work optimally when it has to exert extra power to remain cool. Therefore, you should avoid keeping your phone in an area that is prone to excessive temperatures. For example, you should not leave it inside your car on a hot summer day when you need to leave temporarily.
Try out a few of these tips to see what works for you. As time goes on, you are bound to become amazed at how much longer your phone’s battery lasts. While all of your friends are constantly trying to find a charger, you can rest easy knowing your phone is usable when you need it.
