Tips for preserving your phone battery life 📱🔋
In the era of digitisation, our smartphones have seamlessly integrated into the fabric of our daily lives, serving as indispensable tools for connectivity, information, and entertainment. Despite their myriad benefits, a common challenge faced by many smartphone users is the rapid depletion of battery life. This article aims to provide comprehensive tips on preserving your phone’s battery life, ensuring that it remains a reliable companion in your dynamic lifestyle.
Understanding the Dynamics of Your Phone’s Battery
Before delving into the tips, it’s crucial to grasp the fundamentals of how your phone’s battery operates. The majority of smartphones rely on lithium-ion batteries, known for their high energy density that allows them to store substantial energy in a compact space. However, these batteries come with a limited lifespan and are susceptible to degradation over time.
Several factors, including heat, overcharging, and heavy usage, can accelerate this degradation process. By understanding these factors, you can adopt measures to mitigate their impact and extend the overall lifespan of your battery.
The Impact of Heat on Battery Health
Heat emerges as a formidable adversary to lithium-ion batteries. Elevated temperatures can expedite the degradation of the battery. Instances of your phone getting hot, whether left in a sunlit car or while running resource-intensive applications, can contribute to faster deterioration.
To counter this, it’s imperative to keep your phone cool. Avoid leaving it in hot environments and refrain from prolonged usage of demanding applications. If your phone does become excessively warm, allow it the necessary time to cool down before resuming use.
Overcharging: A Detrimental Factor
Overcharging stands out as another factor that can compromise your battery’s health. This occurs when your phone remains plugged in for extended periods, even after reaching a full 100% charge. Overcharging induces heat, further accelerating degradation.
While modern smartphones often incorporate safeguards against overcharging, it’s advisable to unplug your phone once fully charged, especially if leaving it connected overnight.
Practical Tips for Battery Preservation
Now equipped with insights into the inner workings of your phone’s battery and factors influencing its degradation, let’s explore practical tips for preserving your phone battery life.
Adjust Your Screen Brightness and Timeout
The screen constitutes one of the most power-intensive components of your phone. By tweaking screen brightness and setting a shorter screen timeout, you can significantly reduce power consumption. While auto-brightness adapts to ambient light, manually lowering screen brightness, particularly in dimly lit surroundings, enhances power savings.
Turn Off Unnecessary Features
Features such as GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, Siri, Airdrop, and Location Services, when left active without usage, can swiftly deplete your battery. Consider turning them off when not in use to conserve power. Additionally, features like push email and frequent social media notifications can be power-hungry. Adjust notification settings to check for updates at less frequent intervals.
Utilise Battery-Saving Modes or Low Power Mode
Most smartphones come equipped with battery-saving modes designed to extend battery life. These modes function by restricting your phone’s performance and disabling non-essential features. While effective in conserving power, be mindful that they may render your phone slower and less responsive. Activate these modes selectively, reserving them for times when power conservation is paramount.
Low Power Mode
To turn Low Power Mode on or off, go to Settings > Battery. You can also turn Low Power Mode on and off from Control Centre. Go to Settings > Control Centre > Customise Controls, then select Low Power Mode to add it to Control Centre.
When Low Power Mode is turned on, your iPhone or iPad will last longer before needing to be charged, but some features may take longer to update or complete. Also, some tasks may not work until Low Power Mode has been turned off, or until you charge your iPhone or iPad to 80% or higher.
To turn Low Power Mode on or off, go to Settings > Battery > Toggle on/green Low Power Mode
Low Power Mode reduces or affects these features:
• 5G (except for video streaming) on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models1
• Auto-Lock (defaults to 30 seconds)
• Display brightness
• Display refresh rate (limited up to 60Hz) on iPhone and iPad models with ProMotion display2
• Some visual effects
• iCloud Photos (temporarily paused)
• Automatic downloads
• Email fetch
• Background app refresh
When Low Power Mode is turned on, the battery in the status bar will be yellow. You’ll see a yellow battery icon and the battery percentage. After you’ve charged your iPhone or iPad to 80% or higher, Low Power Mode will automatically turn off.
Close Battery-Draining Apps
You can go to Settings > Battery, which will tell you which apps use the most battery power. Once you have those apps identified, ensure they are completely closed out after each time you use them.
Lower Audio Volume
This one may surprise many, but your audio volume will drain your battery. If you are playing music from your phone, consider switching to headphones or at least turning the volume down.
Only Important Notifications
Push notifications are the silent enemy of the battery, and most of us get more than we need. If you are getting non-essential notifications like push notifications for games, consider heading to the settings and disabling those notifications.
Disable Background App Refresh
Ever since the iOS 7, apps have refreshed their data in the background when allowed, which is a consistent battery drain. If you are rocking enough apps on your phone, their combined refresh rate can drain your juice quickly. To shut this feature down, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and disable it.
Routine Maintenance and Care
Regular maintenance practices contribute significantly to preserving your phone battery life. Ensure your phone’s software remains up to date, as software updates often include enhancements to power management. Keeping your phone clean is equally crucial, as dust and dirt can lead to overheating and battery degradation. Use a soft, dry cloth for regular cleaning, avoiding harsh chemicals or abrasive materials.
Check your Battery Health
For iPhone 6 and later models allows you to check the battery health and recommends if you need to replace the battery. You can find these in Settings > Battery > Battery Health (with iOS 16.1 or later, find these in Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging under Maximum Capacity).
Maximum battery capacity measures the device battery capacity relative to when it was new. A battery will have lower capacity as the battery chemically ages which may result in fewer hours of usage between charges.
A normal battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles when operating under normal conditions. Apple considers any iPhone with a battery capacity of 80% or above to be in optimal condition. In fact, Apple feels so strongly about battery health that its 1-year warranty covers any battery at 80% capacity or more. It’s not unusual to see iPhones that, after one year, still have a battery capacity of 95% or above.
When the capacity of your iPhone battery dips below 80%, you’ll see the following message: “Your battery’s health is significantly degraded. An Apple Authorised Service Provider can replace the battery to restore full performance and capacity…” But don’t worry. This doesn’t mean you have a busted battery – it just means that yours holds less charge than it did when it was new. If you use your phone for email and social media, the battery might be just fine. But if you’re a gamer or power user, you’ll probably want to replace the battery.
iPhone 7 with iOS 13
iPhone 7 with iOS 15
Knowing When to Replace Your Battery
Despite diligent efforts, there comes a point when your phone’s battery requires replacement. This typically manifests when the battery can no longer sustain a charge for a reasonable duration. Opting for a battery replacement can breathe new life into your phone, often at a more cost-effective rate than purchasing a new device. However, it’s essential to entrust the replacement to a professional to avoid potential damage and warranty voidance.
In conclusion, preserving your phone battery life entails a nuanced understanding of its functionality, conscientious adjustments to usage habits, and proactive care. By incorporating these tips into your routine, you can ensure that your phone remains ready to keep pace with your dynamic lifestyle.
It’s crucial to recognize that while these strategies provide valuable guidance, they complement rather than substitute responsible charging habits and proper battery care. Cultivating a mindful approach to smartphone battery management contributes significantly to the longevity and efficiency of your device.
