20 Tips to Increase Android Battery Life

Android and other smart phones get a general comment that smart phones drain the battery life. But the life of the device also depends on how we use them. If we use it with care, it lasts longer than any other thing. Here we give some tips which help android users to increase their battery-life. The tip which you follow depends on your use of the phone and it varies with person to person. So, follow the tip that chooses you best. Before beginning, you need to look in to the settings to see what is using your battery the most.  To see that go to Settings->About phone->Battery use

Battery Settings

#1. Reduce your Screen Brightness

Display uses about 5-80% of battery usually. Reducing the brightness helps to increase the battery life a lot. To do so goto Settings->Display->Brightness

#2. Disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC

Even though Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth are designed for low-power consumption, they drain the battery. Most of the 2012 android devices have a unique feature known as NFC (Near Field Communion). This feature enables a sensor field around the handset and is used for sharing. This also drains the battery unnecessarily. So it’s better to turn off the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFCs when it’s not in use.

#3. Use Wi-Fi Sleep Policy

While the Wi-Fi is not in use and you will turn it ON within minutes, use the Wi-Fi Sleep Policy. This feature shuts down the Wi-Fi temporarily on the handset. To do so, goto Settings->Wireless & networks->Wi-Fi settings->Advanced->Wi-Fi sleep policy

Wi Fi Sleep Policy

#4. Always be updated

You may be wondering how updating helps to increase the battery life. But it’s true. The updates are designed for low power consumption; hence it prolongs the battery life. Likewise, the latest android version, the better. For example, Ice-cream Sandwich consumes less power compared to Honeycomb and similarly Jellybean consumes less power compared to Ice-cream Sandwich.

#5. Avoid Live Wallpaper

The live wallpaper drains the battery to a considerable rate. So it’s better to use static wallpapers rather than the live wallpaper.Also use images which contain black color because the LED screens use less power to display black than displaying white. Doing this helps to increase the battery life up to 10%.

#6. Disable background Data traffic

This feature in android disables all the apps that use the internet to update automatically in a certain time interval. Disabling this feature saves more data traffic. Some of the apps which use the background data traffic are GMail, Whatsapp, Facebook, Viber, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Play, etc. These apps checks for the updates and for incoming messages all time. So it’s better to disable the background data traffic. To do so, go to Settings->Accounts & sync-> Background data traffic

Note: There is no option to disable this feature in some handsets. 

#7. Disable Auto-Sync

This option comes under the background data traffic. This feature checks for the mail all the time. Which means you will be able to get the mail in your handset as soon as the mail arrives. But this service uses a considerable amount of battery. To do so, deselect the text box in Settings->Accounts & sync->Activate auto-sync.

#8. Use Bluetooth Discoverable Timeout

You need to make the device to be discoverable while pairing a new device through Bluetooth. Even though Bluetooth drains the battery, making it discoverable drains more. But the device has to made discoverable, so there is a new feature called Discoverable timeout. This feature disables the discovery of Bluetooth device in a certain time limit.

Bluetooth Timeout

#9. Prefer Wi-Fi rather than GPRS

It may be weird that the GPRS consumes more power when compared to Wi-Fi. For example, Wi-Fi consumes 5% charge; the GPRS connection consumes 15% charge. This may not be seen while viewing websites but in case of watching a video in YouTube or making a call in a VoIP service, it drains the battery at a rapid rate. So it’s better to use Wi-Fi to watch videos or making calls.

#10. Upload only in Wi-Fi

Some cloud services like Dropbox, Box.net, SkyDrive, etc. has a feature called Auto-Upload which uploads the photos takes from the camera automatically to the cloud. This feature may not be needed to many users, but in case if it is needed then prefers Wi-Fi and not GPRS. This should be changed in the settings of the app.

#11. Turn OFF push notifications

Social apps often display push notifications alerting you the updates within the apps. For example, Facebook displays “Has added a photo of you”. By shutting these off, you can save battery life on your handset. It should be disabled in the settings of every individual app.

#12. Disable Auto-update in Google Play

The Google Play service checks for the update of each app and updates itself. This consumes more data traffic and hence the battery. So it’s necessary to disable the auto update of apps and to do it manually. If you prefer to be up-to-date always then use the “Update over W-Fi only” feature.

Disable Auto Update

#13. Do not use more widgets

The more the widgets, more the RAM, more the battery will be drained.

#14. Disable Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash enables to watch videos in websites but it drains the battery a lot. The main reason why adobe discontinued its service from android 4.1 is this battery problem.

#15. Disable unwanted network services

Some phones might be activated 3G services but the person will be using only 2G services. Even though it’s a 2G service, the phone uses the 3G network. There will be wastage of battery. So it’s better to disable it in the network settings.

#16. Prefer a good network

All might know that the phone uses more energy in calls when there is a weak signal. When a good network is available, the phone uses considerable aunt of energy. So it’s better to use a service which gives good network in your area.

#17. Never use Task managers

Task managers may be speeding up the smartphone but they may be consuming more of your battery. So it’s better to uninstall those task managers.

#18. Turn OFF vibrations

The smartphones makes use of some energy to make a vibration, but when “Vibration on Key press” is enabled, while typing a word the phone produces more number of vibrations. It consumes more battery. So it’s better to disable this feature in the keyboard settings.

#19.  Prevent the Handset from getting heated

It’s a weird fact that the battery drains when it is heated. So keep the android phone in a cool place.

#20. Do not try to overcharge

Normally the smartphone charges up in 1-2 hours. But if you charge it throughout the day, it lowers the life-time of the battery. Check the condition of the battery often to have a good battery life.