How to Save Battery Power on an Android

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: March 4, 2021 Approved

The Android operating system offers many exciting features, including WiFi, GPS, and countless apps. Unfortunately, many of the features can take a toll on your device's battery power and cause it to drain quickly. Fortunately, there are a few simple tricks you can try to extend the life of your device's battery.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Making Simple Changes

1
Turn on the power saving mode. For most devices, all you have to do is swipe downward from the top of the screen to bring up a menu. Scroll to the side until you find the power saving option, and select it.
- The power saving mode may slow your phone down a little.
- If you're getting an instant notifications from social media applications, they will stop until you open the application.
2
Turn off WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS if you are not using them. All of these use battery power, even when you are not using them. For example, the wireless networking transmitter will continue to search for a wireless connection on a regular basis as long as it is turned on. This uses battery power, even if you are not browsing the internet.
- To turn these features off, simply swipe downward from the top of your screen. Scroll sideways along the menu, and deselect the items.
Closing the app by pressing the back or home buttons is not enough; the app may continue to run in the background and drain battery power. You should access your device's recent and background apps and shut them down manually. This will usually ensure they are not running in the background and using battery power.
Simply press the power button and the display will darken. This will reduce battery power. To leave standby mode, simply press the power button again; you may have to unlock your phone once it "wakes up."
Press the volume buttons up and down until you leave the vibrate mode. It might be a good idea to turn off vibrations for text messages too. You will need to go to your Settings, and then to "Sound & Display." If you can't find the settings for messages there, go to "Applications," and then "Messages."

Advertisement

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Making Advanced Changes

1
Reduce the brightness of your display. Go to your Settings, and select "Sound & Display." Tap on "Brightness," and move the slider to the side to reduce the brightness.
- If you are using the power saving mode, your screen's brightness may already be reduced.
- Reducing the brightness will make the screen harder to see, especially outdoors.
- If you are using the internet, the setting for the internet might have a shortcut to adjust the brightness.
2
Set your screen timeout to the shortest length possible. This setting tells the device to turn off the screen after the selected period of inactivity. The shorter the period, the less power your display will use. The setting options vary from phone to phone.
- You can find this option under your Settings. Go to "Sound & Display," and select "Screen Timeout."
AMOLED screens can reduce power usage sevenfold by displaying black instead of white or any other color. When searching on your phone you can also use Black Google Mobile at bGoog.com to get standard Google results (including images) all in black ^{[1]
X
Research source}.
4
Tell your device to only use 2G networks. If you do not need access to high speed data, or there is no 3G or 4G network where you live, you can tell your device to only use 2G mobile networks. You will still have access to EDGE network data and WiFi if needed.
- To switch to 2G, go to your device's Settings, and select "Wireless Controls." Scroll down to "Mobile Networks," and tap on "Use only 2G Networks."
Advertisement

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Disabling Animations

Animations look nice as you navigate your phone, but they can slow down performance and drain battery power.^{[2]
X
Research source} Disabling them does require turning on Developer Mode, however, so it's not for the faint-hearted.
This will open a screen showing more information about your Android device, as well as a list of items, including "Build Number."
This will enable the Android Developer Options.
Hit the back button of your device to go back to the main Settings menu. Scroll down and tap “Developer Options.” It should be above the “About Device” section.
Scroll down until you see “Window Animation Scale,” “Transition Animation Scale,” and “Animation Duration Scale.” Turn each one of these off.
This will save and apply the new settings on your device. This may stretch your battery life a little bit, and your phone may run faster as well.

Advertisement

Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Question

Does Airplane Mode extend the battery life?

Community Answer

It does! Turning off the connection to incoming and outgoing calls, texts and data allows the system to conserve battery power.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 14 Helpful 58
Question

What is standby mode on my phone?

Community Answer

When you press the power button once, your phone will enter standby mode. This will darken the screen and pause or stop some processes. This means the phone isn't active, which can reduce battery usage.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 8 Helpful 21
Question

Is it normal for my mobile with a 4000 mAh battery, to be giving me just 6 hours of life?

Community Answer

That's a good amount of time, I have a 2300 mAh battery and it lasts around 3-5 hours depending on usage.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 9 Helpful 23

See more answers

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Tips

When traveling, take your charger as well as a USB cable with you. Most airports offer free charging devices or power outlets, but some may only offer a USB port to charge your phone.

Thanks
Helpful 12 Not Helpful 2
Put your device in "Airplane Mode" while on an in a movie theater or an airline flight—or turn it off.

Thanks
Helpful 12 Not Helpful 3
You can see how much of your device's memory you are using by selection Settings -> Applications -> Running Services. You can use this to manually stop certain apps.

Thanks
Helpful 6 Not Helpful 2

Show More Tips

Warnings

If you have Android 4.0 or higher, installing task managing apps from the Play store will DRAIN more battery than they will save. Stay away from these and instead simply use the built in task manager. Android 6 does not have a task manager because its memory managing algorithms are much better than previous versions of Android.

Thanks
Helpful 15 Not Helpful 8
All Android devices are set up a little differently. The sections within your device's Settings might have slightly different names.

Thanks
Helpful 8 Not Helpful 6