In a world where we feel at a loss without our phone, preserving the battery life of our mobile phone is of utmost importance. We’ve all faced the panic of seeing the dreaded ‘1%’ at the top of our screen, left in complete ambiguity as to how long the final percent might last – though, this 1% percent always seems to last longer than the previous 5 combined. Whether you’re relying on Google Maps to help you navigate your way home, waiting on a call from someone special, or desperately praying that your phone survives so that you can scan your digital train ticket, a poorly timed phone death can be pretty frustrating.
So, can we prolong the life of our mobiles and avoid this poorly timed sense of dread?
Well – yes and no.
Of course, there are certainly battery preserving methods which might make your phone last a few extra hours, but we cannot completely avoid the inevitable. So, while we’ll outline a few useful tips and tricks for you to use, you can never be too safe by equipping yourself with a secondary phone in case of emergencies, as suggested in ExpressVPN’s guide to a perfect tech survival kit. Before you get to that point though, here are a few key tricks to make your battery last as long as possible.
Battery Saving Mode
While the feature name may vary across different makes (Apple’s version is called low power mode) this mobile feature is perfect for those looking to prolong the death of their battery a little while longer. Enabled with a simple click, BSM will automatically initiate background processes to reduce battery usage.
Closing Your Applications
Having dozens of apps all operating simultaneously in the background will kill your battery – despite not engaging with them directly, the apps are feeding off your battery in order to continue running, handle incoming data, and prepare for when you return to the app. Using your application manager to close background apps will help preserve your phone’s battery life.
Dark Mode
Enabling dark mode as well as reducing the brightness of your screen can boost battery life; despite forcing you to squint a little in order to see into the dark abyss that is now your phone, the reduced light emission saves power.
Disabling Connections
Disabling any connection that you are not immediately using is an efficient power-saving method; that is, turning off your WiFi and Bluetooth means the power used to continuously search for a connection can be reallocated to preserve battery power.
Avoid Extreme Temperatures
If you’ve ever been minding your own business, catching some Vitamin D and suddenly been scolded by the fireball that is now your phone after 10 minutes in the heat, you’ll know that exposure to high temperatures is really not good for your phone – the battery in particular. Most phones will show a warning message and you will often be locked out of using your phone until its internal temperature stabilises.
