Tip of the Week: 7 Ways You Can Extend Your Device’s Battery Life

Nothing is more frustrating than when you are in the middle of a conversation or a task only to have your device’s battery run out of juice and shut your device off. This is exacerbated if the task you were using it for was time-sensitive or work related. Today, we thought we would give you a few tips on how to extend the life of your phone’s battery, so that you can get more done in the moments you need to.

#1 - Your Battery Degrades

The modern smartphone battery is the best version of a long line of degrading batteries. It has been developed to have many more charges in it than batteries in devices only a few years old. Since the battery is the quickest-failing component on your mobile device or laptop, you need to understand the basic timeline that each battery has. Manufacturers openly admit that around a year, most phones will see some substantial degradation of their battery. In fact, manufacturers state that after 400 charges, you can expect your battery to degrade by 20 percent. By understanding this fact, users can alter their charging practices and significantly extend the battery life of their device.

#2 - Avoid Hot and Cold Extremes

Massive fluctuations in device temperature can sap your battery’s lifespan significantly. One thing that we see as a major culprit is when people leave their devices in their car. It’s no secret that depending on the time of year, the inside of your car gets scorching hot or freezing cold. By keeping your phone in a neutral environment, you stand a chance to keep your batteries from degrading quickly. 

#3 - Avoid Draining Your Battery

It wasn’t long ago when the best practice was the opposite, taking your phone all the way to zero, so you can charge it. Today’s batteries don’t work that way. It actually stresses the battery to drain it completely. In fact, most smartphone batteries today are their best when the battery is above 20 percent and below 90 percent. This means short charging is the way to go to keep a nice balance. 

#4 - Turn Down the Screen Brightness

It’s no secret that using your phone or device with the screen brightness turned all the way up drains your battery faster. What you may not know is that it actually has consequences for your battery’s long term effectiveness. There are automated tools to help you control your device’s screen brightness built into iOS and Android, but if you really want to get more from your battery, manually setting your screen brightness to the lowest visible level can work to expand your battery’s--and therefore your device’s--longevity. 

#5 - Reduce Your Screen Timeout

Most devices have a feature that shuts off your screen automatically if it is not being used for a defined period of time. Most times it is like two or five minutes. You can reduce this further with an outside app, Tasker. This app can let you configure your screen timeout by the app you are using, making it a pretty useful tool to avoid chewing up valuable battery real estate. 

#6 - Buy your Apps

This one may surprise you, but when you download an app, almost everyone has an option to pay for an ad-free version of the app. By purchasing the app, you avoid the constant advertising that uses slightly more energy and slightly more data. Over time this can make a difference, especially if you are constantly downloading apps to try. Also, removing apps you don’t use, and being careful about which apps you download will help prolong your phone’s battery too.

#7 - Liberally Use Your Battery-Saver

Every OS comes with some type of battery saving option that limits certain power-hungry processes running in the background. You may not get the performance you expect from your $1000+ device, but you will ensure that that investment won’t need to be made again soon.

Learning how to manage your device’s battery can keep it running effectively for years to come. For more information about batteries and how to get the most out of your technology, call the IT professionals at SCW today at (509) 534-1530.