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What's Draining Your Android Battery?

by Suzanne Kantra on March 18, 2024

Updated on 3/18/2024: Added new tips and information about Android 14, and removed outdated tips.

If your Android battery regularly empties before you manage to Uber home in the evening, don't worry – it's possible to extend its life by optimizing your settings. While some battery drain may be due to malware, that is a pretty rare occurrence. Everyday phone activities are often the culprits – apps that run in the background, apps waking the phone screen to show notifications, and the phone screen itself using a lot of power to light up those pretty pixels. Your settings can help manage these resource hogs.

Android phone showing the Battery Saver setting screen

Why batteries drain

Software optimizations in Android 14 have improved battery life by managing background processes more efficiently. The OS cracks down on apps that stay active in the background, draining your battery unnecessarily. Plus, Android 14 is smarter regarding how it caches app data. It learns your usage patterns to store the data your apps will need, making them load faster. This translates into less wasted power and extended battery life.

However, if you have an older phone, it may be underpowered for Android 14. When you upgrade your OS, the new battery-saving advances may not make up for the battery consumed by supporting features the hardware wasn't optimized for.

The vast majority of smartphones still use lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, the same technology that's been around for decades. They offer a balance of power, size, cost, and lifespan, making them the best choice for smartphones. Manufacturers continue to squeeze more life out of Li-ion batteries by refining the technology with new materials and designs. However, their lifespan – measured in charge cycles from full to empty – is limited. After hundreds of charge cycles, the performance will decline. So, adjusting your settings can help deal with this, as well.

How to improve your Android phone battery life

I tested the following settings on my various Android devices running Android 14. However, most will work for any phone running Android 10 or newer. The names of the menu options may vary slightly between Android OS versions and manufacturers. For example, "Battery" settings may be "Power" settings on some phones.

1. Identify and restrain power-hungry apps

Knowing which apps consume the most power allows you to take action. Uninstall those apps you rarely use. Also, employ Android's built-in options to limit background activity and battery usage for the ones you want to keep.

Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage [or Settings > Battery].

2. Consider using the premium version of apps

Free apps are often ad-supported. These ads constantly refresh and communicate with servers, draining your phone's battery. Premium app versions are ad-free and remove this power-hungry element.

3. Don't manually close apps

Android is designed to manage apps efficiently. Manually closing them (instead of just switching away) forces the system to reopen them later, which may consume a little more battery in the long run.

4. Limit home screen widgets

Widgets that frequently update (weather, news, social media) strain the battery due to constant data syncing and screen refreshes. The more widgets, the bigger the drain. In particular, limit your weather widget to only the most essential locations. Each location update requires data, which uses power.

5. Enable Airplane Mode wisely

In low-signal areas, your phone works harder to maintain a cellular connection, draining the battery. Airplane mode temporarily disables all wireless radios. You can turn on WiFi for calls and connectivity as needed and Bluetooth if you want to use accessories like wireless headphones.

6. Turn off app notifications for specific apps

Each notification you receive can wake your screen, trigger vibration, or light up the notification LED, all of which drain power. Disable notifications for apps that aren't essential, or adjust their priority to be less intrusive.

Go to Settings > Apps & Notifications [or Notifications > App Notifications] > Select individual apps.

7. Turn off Lock Screen notifications

If you want to see notifications when you're using your phone, you can prevent them from showing up on your Lock Screen. Disabling this feature when you're not using your phone keeps the screen off until you intentionally wake it.

Go to Settings > Display > Lock Screen [or Settings > Lock Screen > Always On Display].

8. Use GPS only when necessary

GPS is one of your phone's most power-hungry features. Disabling it when not actively navigating extends battery life significantly. Also, consider using "Battery Saving" mode in Location settings (if available for your phone) for less precise but more efficient location tracking.

Go to Settings > Location.

9. Turn off location tracking for non-essential apps

Some apps constantly access your location in the background, draining your battery. Reviewing these permissions lets you restrict apps that don't truly need constant location updates. I recommend "Allow only while using the app" for all apps. If an app needs location information to perform a task, it will request it and let you know what functionality you'll be disabling if you don't let it always access your location. Likewise, you don't need to share your precise location with most apps. Turn off "Use precise location" for each app for battery savings.

Go to Settings > Location.

10. Use Battery Saver mode

Battery Saver Mode [or Power Saver Mode] tweaks settings like screen brightness, background data, and performance to extend your phone's lifespan when the battery is low. Some phones let you set it to automatically turn on when the battery reaches a specific percentage. I recommend 30% or higher to ensure your phone lasts through the day. Some phones also allow you to adjust how Battery Saver works, letting you limit things like processor speed and display brightness.

Go to Settings > Battery.

11. Manage screen brightness

The display is one of the biggest battery hogs. Adaptive brightness helps, but manually dimming the screen makes a big difference, especially indoors.

Go to Settings > Display.

12. Turn on Dark Mode

On OLED screens, dark pixels use significantly less power than brightly lit ones. System-wide dark mode (Android 10 and up) makes a difference in battery life on these devices.

Go to Settings > Display.

13. Avoid animated and light wallpapers

Animations require constant screen updates, which drain power. A dark, static wallpaper (versus a live wallpaper) is much more battery-friendly.

Go to Settings > Wallpaper & style.

14. Reduce time until screen timeout

A shorter screen timeout means your display turns off sooner after inactivity, saving battery over time. Choose a shorter interval to save power.

Settings > Display > Screen Timeout.

15. Disable vibrate on calls

Vibration motors require physical movement, which uses up battery life. If your phone is already ringing, the vibration is often unnecessary.

Settings > Sound.

16. Keep your phone cool

Extreme heat stresses the battery and can shorten its lifespan. Avoid leaving your phone in direct sunlight or hot environments for extended periods.

17. Prevent your phone from fully charging

Keeping your battery between 40% and 80% prolongs its overall health. Frequent full discharges and full charges stress the battery chemistry, leading to a shorter lifespan. Some phones let you set a charging limit, so you never fully charge your battery.

Go to Settings > Battery.

18. Use certified chargers

Cheap chargers can deliver inconsistent power or lack safety features, potentially damaging your battery over time. This is especially crucial with fast-charging technology. Look for USB-IF-certified chargers to ensure they meet industry standards.

19. Restart occasionally

It's a good idea to restart your phone occasionally. Resource-intensive apps can leave background processes running, take up large chunks of memory, and sometimes cause temporary software glitches. Restarting clears all of this, giving your phone a fresh start and potentially improving performance afterward. Also, if apps have recently been updated, a restart may be necessary for those updates to fully integrate, particularly if changes involve how the app interacts with the system.

20. Keep your apps and Android OS updated

App and OS updates often include battery optimizations. So make sure you're running the latest version. I recommend you select "Over WiFi only," which will make updates more likely to occur when you are at work or home and less concerned about battery life.

Go to Settings > Network preferences > Auto-update apps.

21. Try a factory reset

If these tips don’t sort out your battery drain, you can try returning your phone to factory settings. This can help if the issue is that the OS or some downloaded data is corrupted.

Go to Settings > System > Reset options.

[Image credit: Suzanne Kantra/Techlicious]

For the past 20+ years, Techlicious founder Suzanne Kantra has been exploring and writing about the world’s most exciting and important science and technology issues. Prior to Techlicious, Suzanne was the Technology Editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the Senior Technology Editor for Popular Science. Suzanne has been featured on CNN, CBS, and NBC.

Topics

Phones and Mobile, Cell Phones, Mobile Apps, Android Apps, Tips & How-Tos, Tech 101

Discussion

From Leo Delgra on March 19, 2014 :: 9:41 pm

Hi. phone idle is the highest in percentage of battery use, but still drains fast. so what with “phone idle” thats draining battery, when supposedly its idle. Is there more idle than idle.

From Josh Kirschner on March 20, 2014 :: 12:54 am

Even when your phone is “idle”, it is still maintaining a signal with cell towers and syncing data. If you’re in an area with poor coverage, it can make your phone work harder to connect, causing faster battery drain.

A bad or failig battery can also cause the phone to drain faster than it should, even when idle.

From Robert Hendricks on November 02, 2014 :: 11:51 pm

My battery has been running out so quickly that after being charged to 100% it only lasts for am hour max and it loses multiple percents a minute! What can I do to fix this????

From Josh Kirschner on November 03, 2014 :: 2:45 pm

Your battery is definitely failing and you need to get a new one. There are apps that can run down your battery faster, but not anywhere near that fast unless your battery is already in bad shape/.

From felix lalantha fernando on November 01, 2014 :: 11:45 am

my Samsung galaxy grand 2 battery drain fast what is the salutation?

From Elda Carpenter on August 06, 2019 :: 12:19 pm

How can I get spam off and get into Facebook

From L Mahadevan on November 25, 2019 :: 7:13 am

Very good suobject.It seems that cell phones are designer for a limited period like use and throw items Old 2GNokia phones never had this problem with batteries Items like camera Wifi programs when introduced batteries capacities are not enhanced cheap tactics by manufacturers very sad indeed

From Lisa on March 25, 2014 :: 11:12 am

I was looking for a way to turn off my internet connection every time I put my screen to sleep, because I keep forgetting to do it manually! Anyway, this article doesn’t address my issue, but it’s a great refresher for settings you forget about once your initial phone/tablet set up is done, as well as an informative resource for some great advice about some very useful apps! Thanks for the well written, intelligent, easy to follow discourse! Lisa Kelleher

From Josh Kirschner on March 25, 2014 :: 5:54 pm

Glad you found it helpful!

From tom waldrip on March 30, 2014 :: 5:55 pm

Use black background on homescreen.

From Sheila on April 04, 2014 :: 5:44 pm

I have a removed apps app showing in my data usage but when i go to kill it under the manage apps, it doesn’t show up. This is killing my battery. Any ideas?

From Josh Kirschner on April 04, 2014 :: 6:17 pm

Hi Sheila,

Can you clarify what you’re seeing? If you removed the apps (uninstalled) they won’t appear in your apps list. Are you saying you uninstalled an app but it’s still showing up in the data usage? What’s the name of the app?

From Joanna on April 26, 2023 :: 11:59 pm

The hacker is using the same email but different profile im blocked they are accessing my apps never gave any body permission to share any data my identy been stolen my information is breached please help

From orlando15@yahoo. com on July 24, 2016 :: 4:10 am

App is During my battery

From Angie Rose on April 08, 2014 :: 2:35 am

I just want to ask if i can leave my android phone with empty batt for a day or two and if not, please tell me why thanks!

From Suzanne Kantra on April 08, 2014 :: 7:56 am

No worries if your phone is uncharged for a few days. In fact, you can leave your phone uncharged and/or off for months and nothing bad will happen to it. If you leave your phone uncharged/off for weeks or months, though, just make sure you check for app updates. Even if you have apps updating automatically, you’ll need to approve the updates manually if the permissions change.

From pellevinken on July 07, 2014 :: 7:39 am

Li-ion batteries should be stored uncharged. They are optimally stored at around 40% charge.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

From pellevinken on July 07, 2014 :: 7:40 am

EDIT: Li-ion batteries should NOT be stored uncharged. They are optimally stored at around 40% charge. (Accidentally left out a “not”)

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

From rndnznzn on April 28, 2014 :: 3:38 am

I have a brand new phone, full HD screen, but still on top of my list with extreme 95% of battery usage sits system android. What on earth can i do? And what is it caused by?

From Josh Kirschner on April 28, 2014 :: 8:25 am

Just to be clear, are you seeing “system android” or “android system”? The latter is a core piece of the operating system, the former should not be there.

How often are you using your phone? If your phone is almost always idle, it wouldn’t surprise me that 95% of the battery usage is by the system apps, as opposed to your display or other applications.

And are you having problems with battery life or just questioning why the system is using a relatively high percentage of your battery? How long is your battery lasting, typically? Also, knowing what model phone you have could be helpful.

From Brian Lawson on July 04, 2024 :: 3:37 am

Jow to get shrlley walling to stop hacking me when i complain nothing happens

From Josh on May 11, 2014 :: 3:04 pm

What does taking the battery out of the phone and waiting 60 seconds and putting it back in do. I for 3 weeks on my internet Id open up a page on Google Chrome, Opera, or Browser and the loading page bar would barely move and just sit there and never open a page up, or the bar would move half ways sometimes and stop. It happened on the browsers, but Facebook, and NWS app as well as CBS SPorts app didnt have any problems working. But seems like ever since did the take the battery out thing my browser and internet is working normally. Just dont understand what and how that fixed that by taking the battery out 60 seconds and it didnt fix it taking it out 15 seconds like I had tried 5 times probably before.

From Kirankumar on May 27, 2014 :: 10:27 am

My Dear friend, just wanted to tell you one thing, just stop this Fucking Tips, can’t you see its there all over, if you just type “battery saving” in google, you will about thousands of posts, with the same tips, (turn of this , turn of that, blah blah) again again and again… and still people are repeating. and You should know every one do this (even kids) these settings as soon as they get a phone. So anything apart from these “Turn off” tips, you can say else, please keep quite.

Sorry, this was not intentional, got fed up of saying this again and again, so now where I see similar tips, I scold them.

From Suzanne Kantra on May 27, 2014 :: 10:45 am

Perhaps one of the reasons you’re finding so many articles out there on this topic is many people are struggling with the issue of battery life and are not as familiar with these tips to fix them?

I appreciate that you must have a lot of free time on your hands to search Google and then scold sites when you find more than one article in search results, but I think we will keep writing tip articles that we feel would be helpful for our readers.

Best,
Suzanne

From Onesistersoul on June 25, 2017 :: 3:14 pm

THANKS FOR NOT LISTENING TO THE THESE ALREADY KNOW EVERYTHING EXCEPT SCROLL OR EXIT. I NEED ALL THE HELP I CAN GET. AND YES I KNOW WHERE CAP BUTTON IS BUT I AM WAITING TO actually HEAR/HERE THE SCREAMS.ONE LOVE.CAPS POLICE NEED LOVE TOO.

From Kelley on July 30, 2020 :: 8:51 am

VERY well said Suzanne! 👍😃

From Dave on July 04, 2014 :: 5:11 am

Yet you still browse the web reading them !

From Delta on May 16, 2023 :: 3:38 pm

Only a parent should scold a child…

So as an outsider… you should hold yer breath until they stop the tips that upset you soon greatly!

One… two…. three… start!

From Labrat0116 on June 09, 2014 :: 8:27 am

The main battery user on my Android always shows up as Android OS.

My battery drains down (Bigtime! when NOT in use sometimes). I have GPS, Bluetooth Off as well during this downtime.

I use a couple different battery apps, Task Killer and a couple others to view my battery and app usage.

What else is draining the battery in Android OS ?

From Josh Kirschner on June 09, 2014 :: 12:29 pm

Android OS is the description for the main operating system, and it’s not surprising to see it at the top of the list if you’re not using other apps frequently and your display is usually off. However, your battery should not be draining down “bigtime” when not in use unless your battery is old/defective and needs replacing or their is some feature of Android that is running when it should not be.

Since this is a “sometimes” thing, it doesn’t sound like a bad battery. What I would recommend is resetting your phone to factory settings (back up your data first!) and then only loading back in the apps you really want. That may resolve whatever is going whacky.

Also, note that some “battery apps/task killers” can also be battery drainers. I would lean towards avoiding them unless there are specific features you really want.

From Nerd on September 18, 2014 :: 2:46 am

I’ve been experimenting battery consuming apps bundled in every smart phone and those available for download. Surprisingly, some of those bundled with the phone upon purchase are the culprits! Worst, battery apps and antivirus apps drains 50% of your battery juice. Not everybody notice this, but I have proven it in several phones I was able to tinker with. My advise is, uninstall the antivirus and battery monitoring apps including those apps you don’t use and see the difference.

From Nerd on September 18, 2014 :: 2:57 am

Don’t overcharge your battery. Once the fully charged indicator showed up, unplug the charger. Don’t believe in the idea that overnight charging packs more power to the battery. It in fact is reducing life on your battery every time you overcharge it. Don’t expect new batteries to power your phone as you expect it to be. New battery optimizes full power storing capacity after 4-5 full charging at off mode.

From Vikas on July 04, 2014 :: 7:22 am

I think that why Google has provided active touch notification in Moto x. It saves lots of battery and best phone for people like me, who use phone maximum time.

From geeeee on August 23, 2014 :: 12:58 pm

my samsung galaxy grand duo jelly bean 4.2.2 charge fast (15 mins or 30 mins)and drains the battery fast. I have set the brightness to the lowest,turn off vibration, key sound press, low ringing volume to 1, turn off wi-fi, bluetooth, gps. i was thinking to change my battery to much higher capacity one. is it possible to use different battery type but same manufacturer? or will it damage my phone? thank you in advance

From Josh Kirschner on August 25, 2014 :: 11:19 pm

If your battery is charging that quickly, it’s not charging to full capacity. Either your battery is old or defective. You should replace it with a new one from Samsung. The standard 2100mAh battery should give you plenty of power - I would not recommend using a battery not designed for the phone.

From Nerd on September 18, 2014 :: 3:06 am

Lastly, root your device to have full control of it. You cannot uninstall bloatwares in your phone if its not rooted. Follow my advise, as well as those with regard to brightness, wifi, data, gps, synching, 3G signal, bluetooth, vibra, touch sound and network mode. My point is, use them only when you need them. Then you can be assured of an average 2-day battery life under normal use

From Akritri Soni on October 16, 2014 :: 6:26 am

Whenever I’m using my phone over data pack then it consumes more battery, not even last for 5 hours but over Wi-Fi it can make up to a day easily.. Why is it so? This is top most battery drainer for me :(

From Jmk on April 14, 2020 :: 11:09 am

I came here for the same reason.My data drains my battery really fast while when i use wifi with airplane mode on it drops really slowly

From Adam Smith on December 13, 2014 :: 5:01 pm

When both my personal and business phone went from about a 98% charge to 15% charge in 5 hours, to put my phones in Airplane mode when I’m in a place that doesn’t get cell signal for an extended time. I get no cell signal at all in my new office as it’s lead-lined, with lead core doors, so, of course, I have no signal. On the plus side, I’m probably in one of the safest parts of the building if a big tornado hits.

From jass on January 24, 2015 :: 9:52 am

My phone after being charged at night I disconnect it from the charger n just leave it there when I wake up the next day it’s at 90% I don’t know why…..any ideas? And also is clean master good for your phone…. I have the note 3 by the way….

From VICENTE CARDONE on May 18, 2016 :: 2:58 pm

This situation is easy to solve. Put your phone in air plane mode and charge it until 100% (actually it is not 100%), then turn it off and let it connected for some 30 minutes more….the battery will charge a bit more and finnally will stop and show true 100%. Then, disconnect the charger. In the morning you will see between 99 and 100% charge. About Clean Master take a lot of memory and battery…try CCleaner…is more simple in all sense. Good luck.

From Adrian on October 09, 2017 :: 9:25 am

Because the battery charges at 100% then the charger is electronically disconnected and the phone start to discharge the battery not recharging it untill you insert again the charger…

From amy on March 29, 2015 :: 5:10 pm

When i look at the battery section of the settings app, and add up all the various amounts of battery my programs are using it doesnt amount to the amount of battery ive lost.
What i mean is- there is about 26% battery loss that is completely unaccounted for (or more depending how low the battery is)
Where is this battery going, is it a fault with the phone?

From Julie on September 29, 2017 :: 2:08 am

“Battery usage missing” from Amy on March 29, 2015.
I want to know why you didn’t respond to her question. It’s over 2*1/2 years later, but I came looking for the answer to that very question today, and techlicious came up. So, you are still here, are you still selectively answering inquiries?

From Josh Kirschner on September 29, 2017 :: 10:13 am

The issue with overall battery status not adding up to individual app battery usage is very common. Unfortunately, we’ve never found a clear answer on why this happens. And it doesn’t help that there are various versions of Android you might be using and some manufacturers have their own battery management software installed.

My somewhat-educated guess on this topic based on what I’ve read is that the battery usage statistics for individual apps simply aren’t very accurate. They’re estimates based on some algorithm, and that algorithm may be way off base. Again, this may vary by manufacturer (my Samsung Galaxy S8 seems to be have pretty close correlation between apps and overall battery usage).

The second reason may be that there are certain system functions which aren’t being reported in the individual app usage. If you don’t use your phone frequently, these functions will represent a proportionally larger portion of the usage, causing larger discrepancies between total battery usage and app reported battery usage.

From Blanco Naranja on June 18, 2015 :: 1:27 pm

I have an extreme battery drain, to the point that many times it goes from random percentages (40-50-60) to shutdown, in 30 seconds once I turn on mobile data. The odd thing is, that when I turn the phone back on, battery level is a little less that before I enabled the data. It’s an old phone though, but I guess it’s a combination of both the age and a probable bug? Whatcha guys think?

From Josh Kirschner on June 18, 2015 :: 1:46 pm

As batteries get older, they lose their ability to hold a charge, so the percentage numbers can be pretty misleading. Though if it turns back on and stays on for a while without mobile data, sounds more like a system bug. You can try doing a factory reset on your phone and see if that fixes things (make sure your data is backed up first). Else, pony up for a new battery.

May just need to bite the bullet and get a new phone, though

From Blanco Naranja on June 20, 2015 :: 12:45 am

Yes, I think Ima roll back to the ROM it originally came with. If that fails, I have an excellent excuse to buy a new one haha. Thanx for the response =)

From Hank Manz on July 10, 2015 :: 7:45 am

As has been pointed out, there are many articles about the subject of battery drain, but this one was easy to follow and had some good tips. I went from battery life of around 12 hours to more than a day. Usage didn’t change. Settings did. Thanks.