5 Ways To Increase Phone Battery Life

As new phones coming out are getting better and better, phone batteries tend to last much longer. A lot of times though out of the blue, a phones battery life can suddenly plummet and there is no sign to why.

Please check our previous battery tips:

• How to Make Your Smartphone Battery Live Longer
• 15 Battery Saving Tips While On Vacation
• Smartphone Battery FAQ: Why Does My Phone Battery Die?
• How to Extend Your Android Battery Life

Following these simple tips should help maximize your battery life to get the most out of your phone.

1. Turn off location

When location is always turned on, your phone will constantly be sending GPS signals to see where you are. This is most useful for getting directions or using a run tracker, but definitely not necessary to always have on. This can cause a huge battery drain on some phones. If you don't want it off, there is usually a battery saving mode or the ability to turn it off for only certain apps. 

2. Turn off sync

Using sync can be useful, but usually is unnecessary for a lot of apps. When sync is on, every set amount of minutes, your phone will synchronize any apps that have sync enabled even if they're running in the background. This isn't a huge battery drainer, but will save some juice when it's turned off. It may be useful for some apps like e-mail and weather, but when social media apps have sync on, they tend to use a lot of battery.

It also depends on what type of phone you have, and what battery that phone has to power from, some will undoubtedly have more battery life than others.

3. Use Wi-Fi over cellular data

Most people wouldn't think this, but Wi-Fi uses much less battery to stay connected to than using your cellular data such as LTE or 3G. When you're connected to mobile data, your phone is constantly refreshing its signal and disconnecting and reconnecting to multiple cellular bands. When possible, it's best to turn off your mobile data and turn on Wi-Fi. 

4. Don't use auto brightness

When you use auto brightness, every few seconds that your screen is on, the light sensor polls to see what level brightness is best. The constant polling actually uses up some battery and there is a very easy work around. Most phones are not hard to reach the brightness settings, and having it at one constant brightness is better. The lower the brightness, the longer the battery life.

5. Turn off haptic feedback

Haptic feedback is the setting that makes it where every screen touch has a short vibration pulse. The more vibration there is, the more battery it uses. Turning off haptic feedback may feel strange at first, but it's easy to get used to and typically still stays on for typing. 

Following these five steps should produce a significant increase in battery life for all those that are struggling with day to day battery drain. There are no apps to install, no confusing directions, just settings that are built into the phone that you can make full use of.

Give your charger a break, and see how long you can go without having to plug your phone back in!

Craig is a keen tech writer who enjoys reviewing phones and apps. He can be found on Twitter most days if you have any questions.

Image credit smartphotostock.com