Maximize Your Phone’s Battery: Simple Tricks for Longer Battery Life

In today’s fast-paced digital world, smartphones have become essential for staying connected, productive, and entertained. However, one challenge almost every smartphone user faces is battery life.

Whether you use your phone for work, social media, gaming, or browsing, battery drain can disrupt your day.

10 Tricks to Keep Your Phone Battery Healthy

Here are practical tips to extend your phone’s battery life, with an unexpected but valuable addition: use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to protect your device without draining its battery. We will also discuss in detail the reasons why you should use a VPN.

1. Adjust Screen Brightness and Timeout Settings:

Our phone screen is one of the biggest power consumers on a smartphone. Its high brightness levels and prolonged screen-on times can drain your battery rapidly. To counter this:

• Low Brightness: Most modern smartphones have an auto-brightness feature that adjusts the screen’s brightness based on ambient light conditions. Enabling this feature can save power by preventing unnecessary brightness.If you prefer manual control, keep the brightness at 50% or lower to save battery life.
• Use Dark Mode: Dark mode can be a real game changer for phones with OLED or AMOLED screens. These screens only illuminate colored pixels, meaning darker pixels use less energy. Dark mode helps extend battery life, especially during long-time screen usage.
• Shorten Screen Timeout: The longer your screen stays on without use, the more battery it uses. Setting the screen timeout to a shorter duration, like 30 seconds, ensures the display turns off quickly when not in use.

2. Disable Unnecessary Notifications:

Constant notifications can not only be distracting but also drain your battery. It consumes power whenever your phone vibrates, lights up, or makes a sound. To limit battery drain:

• Turn Off Push Notifications: Some apps constantly send notifications that you may not need. In your phone’s settings, disable notifications for non-essential apps. This not only preserves battery life but also helps you stay focused.
• Use Do Not Disturb: When you’re in meetings or simply want a break, using Do Not Disturb mode can mute notifications and prevent unnecessary device wakeups, thus saving energy. You can check all the important notifications in your own time without getting distracted or losing battery.

3. Manage Background Apps:

Many apps run in the background even when you’re not actively using them. These apps can consume battery by updating, using location services, or sending notifications. To manage this:

• Close Unused Apps: Regularly check your open apps and close the ones you aren’t using. While modern smartphones manage background apps well and notify the users about the battery consumption, manually closing them when not in use ensures less battery consumption.
• Restrict Background Activity: Some apps refresh data even when they’re not active. Consider restricting background activity in your phone’s settings for apps like social media, email, or news. This reduces the constant data activities that drain your battery.

4. Limit Location Services and GPS:

Location services are essential for navigation, but they can hog your battery when left on continuously. GPS requires a lot of battery power to track your location, even when you’re not using apps that need it. To extend your battery life:

• Turn Off Location Services: Disable GPS when you don’t need it. Many apps request location access unnecessarily, so go through your settings and ensure only apps like maps have location permissions.
• Use Battery-Saving Mode for GPS: When using navigation apps, switch to battery-saving mode. This mode relies more on Wi-Fi and mobile networks for location tracking than GPS, which consumes more power.

5. Use Airplane Mode during Low-Signal:

When you’re in an area with poor cellular reception, your phone uses extra power to search for a signal. This constant searching can drain your battery quickly. To prevent this:

• Use Airplane Mode: If you know you’ll be in a low-signal area for an extended period, switch your phone to airplane mode. This stops your device from searching for a signal and saves battery life. You can still enable Wi-Fi or Bluetooth if needed.

6. Optimize Battery Settings:

Most modern smartphones come with built-in battery optimization tools. These tools can help extend your battery life by managing apps and system performance more efficiently. To maximize battery life:

• Use Power-Saving Modes: When your battery is running low, activate your phone’s power-saving or low-power mode. These modes reduce background activity, limit performance, and restrict visual effects to save energy.As you can see in the image above, I have also kept my phone on Do Not Disturb to save power.
• Check Battery Usage: Regularly check your phone’s battery usage in the settings menu. This feature shows you which apps are consuming the most power. If you notice a particular app draining more battery than expected, consider limiting its use or uninstalling it.

7. Use a VPN for Security and Battery Efficiency:

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) can actually help improve your phone’s battery life when used correctly. Here’s how:

• Protection Without Battery Drain: One common misconception is that VPNs significantly drain battery life. A reliable, energy-efficient VPN service can secure your phone’s internet connection without excessive power.
• VPNs encrypt your data, preventing your device from constantly sending and receiving insecure information over the internet. By reducing unnecessary background data exchanges, your phone may use less battery.
• Reduce Background Data Usage: Some VPNs allow you to optimize settings to prevent apps from consuming data in the background. This is particularly useful for data-heavy apps that may run in the background and deplete both your data plan and battery.
• Secure Public Wi-Fi: When using public Wi-Fi, your phone constantly exchanges to maintain the connection. With a VPN, your connection is streamlined and more secure, reducing the need for these exchanges. As a result, you can enjoy a safer browsing experience with potential battery-saving benefits.

When choosing a VPN for your phone, opt for one that’s optimized for mobile use and offers settings to minimize battery impact. Some of the best mobile VPNs have modes specifically designed to reduce background data usage and energy consumption.

8. Limit Background Syncing:

Many apps, like email clients, social media platforms, and cloud services, continuously sync data in the background, which can drain your battery. To prevent this:

• Turn Off Auto-Sync: Unless you need real-time updates from certain apps, turn off auto-sync for non-essential apps. For instance, if you can manually refresh your email, disable auto-sync for your email client.
• Schedule Syncs: Some phones allow you to schedule syncing during specific times, ensuring background processes only occur when you want them to.

9. Keep Your Phone Cool:

Overheating is one of the main culprits behind rapid battery drain. If your phone is exposed to high temperatures for extended periods, the battery can degrade faster. To prevent overheating:

• Avoid Sunlight: Keep your phone out of direct sunlight, especially when using power-intensive apps like navigation or gaming.
• Remove Your Case: If your phone is heating up, consider removing its case to allow heat to dissipate more effectively.

10. Regularly Update Software:

Keeping your phone’s software up to date ensures optimal battery performance. Manufacturers release updates that can improve energy efficiency, fix bugs, and enhance system performance. Constantly update your operating system and apps to take advantage of these improvements.

By following these tips, you can significantly extend your phone’s battery life, ensuring it lasts through the day without needing a charge. Additionally, integrating a mobile-optimized VPN into your routine keeps your online activity secure and can help you save energy by reducing background data usage.

Embracing a VPN as part of your battery-saving strategy offers the dual benefit of increased privacy and potentially better battery performance, proving that security doesn’t have to come at the cost of your phone’s longevity.