Why Is My Battery Draining So Fast? Here’s How To Improve your Mobile Battery Life

Smartphones are not only convenient, but in an emergency, they can be lifesavers too. However, they’re only as useful as their battery life. There are a variety of reasons why your phone’s battery may drain fast. Factors like the age of your phone’s battery or how many apps you have running at one time may play a role in how often your phone needs to be charged.

If you are looking for fixes for your poor battery life, you have come to the right place. In this article, we’ll explore why your phone’s battery keeps dying and what you can do to rectify the situation.

Why Is My Phone Battery Draining So Fast on my iPhone?

Most iPhone battery drainage issues are software-related. Some of the functions on your phone use more energy than you may be aware of. Let’s look at the features draining your battery life and how you can address them without giving up much in terms of functionality.

Push Email Notifications

When your iPhone is set to notify you each time you receive an email, it takes a toll on your battery life. Push email notifications work by ensuring your phone constantly communicates with the email server. The flow of data required to maintain this continuous connection demands a lot of your device’s power.

You can change your phone settings so that you only receive emails when you open the app. Here’s how you can do that:

1. On your iPhone, go to “Settings,” “Mail,” then “Account.”
   
2. Click on “Fetch New Data.”
   
3. In the new screen that opens, toggle “Push” to turn off push notifications.
   

Location Services

Location Services are another great feature of smartphones. They enable you to get localized information (such as directions) from an app wherever you are in the world. However, Location Services can put a strain on your battery life. You don’t have to turn off the feature completely to save power. Limiting apps that access your location could help conserve some energy. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Open “Settings,” “Privacy,” then “Location Services.”
   
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “System Services.”
   
3. Toggle everything off except “Emergency Services” and “Find My Phone.”
   
4. Go back to “Location Services” and select an app from the list displayed.
   
5. Tap “Never” or “While Using App.” to limit access to Location Services
   

Analytics

Your iPhone sends information to Apple, enabling the company to improve its products and services. Preventing this data from being sent could prolong your battery life. Change your analytics settings using the method shown:

1. Head to “Settings” then “Privacy.”
   
2. Press “Analytics & Improvement,” located towards the bottom of the page.
   
3. On the new screen, toggle off “Share iPhone & Watch Analytics.”
   

Background Apps

Your iPhone has a feature that allows your apps to keep refreshing even when not in use. The constant refreshing enables apps to load faster when you open them. But as convenient as this may be, your battery life suffers due to continuous updates. Here’s how to turn off the background refresh feature.

1. Open “Settings” and go to “General.”
   
2. Find “Background App Refresh” and toggle it to the OFF position.
   

Screen Settings

A bright screen can consume a lot of power. Manually lowering the brightness of your display can increase the length of time before you need to charge your phone again. Here’s how to disable the auto-brightness feature on your iPhone.

1. Navigate to “Settings” and head to “Display & Brightness.”
   
2. Scroll to “Auto-Brightness” and toggle it off.
3. Slide the button to the left to set a lower brightness level for your screen.
   

Vibration Settings

If you’ve set your phone to vibrate when you get a notification, that feature could be consuming a lot of your battery life. Turning off vibration alerts could help rectify the problem. Follow the steps outlined here to do that.

1. Find “Settings” and click on “Sounds.”
   
2. Scroll to “Vibrate.”
   
3. Toggle off “Vibrate On Rings” and “Vibrate On Silent.”
   

Why Is My Phone Battery Draining So Fast on my Android device?

If you are reaching for your phone charger several times a day, some of your phone’s features may be eating up battery capacity. Here are some of the culprits and common fixes to address the problem.

Phone Screen

Big screens are great when using your phone, but they take a toll on your battery life. Screens tend to consume more power than any other phone feature. Here are some things you can do to reduce the power usage of your display.

1. Manually reduce the brightness of your screen by going to “Settings,” “Display,” then “Brightness Level.” Adjust the light level by moving the slider to what you are comfortable with.
   
2. Adjust screen timeout settings. This setting controls the length of time before your screen goes to sleep. Your phone uses energy to start the screen up again, so shorter intervals mean less battery life. To adjust, go to “Settings” then “Display” and look for “Screen Timeout.” Pick a time interval from the list that appears.
   
3. Remove live wallpapers.

Push Notifications

Notifications let you know about every message or alert sent to your phone. They may be exciting to receive, but they are not great for your battery. Turning them off using the steps shown below may improve the longevity of your phone charge.

1. On your Android device, go to “Settings” then “Apps & Notifications.”
   
2. From the list of apps that appear, select the ones for which you’d like to restrict notifications.
   
3. Toggle the switch located next to the app.
   

Location Services

It’s great to know where you are going, but your battery takes quite a hit from Location Services like maps and guides. If you aren’t looking for directions, you can turn the feature off to conserve some power. Here’s what to do:

1. Navigate the “Settings” then “Location.”
   
2. Toggle the switch at the top of the screen to disable Location Services.
   
3. Click on “App Permissions” to see the apps using Location Services.
4. Turn off the feature for each app individually.
   

Network Service

Spotty cell service is annoying, but you might not be aware that it also drains your battery. Your device may put in extra work to try and reconnect to the grid. This process of connecting and disconnecting will take a toll on your power. If you are visiting an area with poor service, a spotty signal may not be something you need to worry about since you may not be in the area long. However, if you live in a place with bad reception, you can try the following hacks to sort out the problem.

1. Switch carriers. Ask around and find a carrier who offers better cell service.
   
2. Get a network extender. Carriers have devices that use the internet to provide your phone with a signal.
   
3. Buy a booster. These products have an antenna that picks up cellular signals better than your phone and amplifies them.
   

Longer Battery Life

If your phone is relatively new, you shouldn’t have to charge it every few hours. But over time your phone battery’s ability to hold a charge lessens. Fortunately, most of the reasons your battery is draining so fast are software-related. With a few adjustments, you should be able to increase the longevity of your phone’s battery.

Is your phone’s battery draining fast? How did you fix the problem? Let us know in the comments below.