5 tips to extend the lifespan of your Android phone battery

Mobile phones are integral in every aspect of our digital lives. But, unfortunately, while fast charging tops us up when we need it, battery capacity just cannot seem to keep up. On top of this, the absence of replaceable batteries means the lithium-ion battery cells in our phones will deteriorate more and more with age.

However, there are things you can do to extend the life of your Android handset. Find five top tips below.

Find out what is draining your battery

Head to Settings > Battery to reveal a breakdown of all the apps or processes that are sucking the most power from your phone. Your applications and features will be displayed in descending order based on energy consumption.

If you come across an app or feature you hardly ever use, make sure to uninstall it or turn it off. Similarly, if you see something unusual – that your smartphone camera has been running for four hours in the background, for example – make sure to shut it down.

It is also a sensible idea to trim all your apps that are running in the background. To do this, head to Settings > Apps, then swipe to the left and you will see a list of apps currently running. You can then stop any apps that you do not need running 24/7 which will help preserve your handset’s battery life.

Charge with small but regular top-ups

The battery used in Android phones is usually a 4.2V Lithium-Ion Battery (when fully charged), which settles to a nominal voltage of 3.7 volts when in use. To give this some context, larger machines like medical devices typically use a 24V Lithium-Ion Battery.

For your 4.2V phone battery, small but regular top-ups are much better for lithium-ion batteries than longer, full charge cycles. While only having a small percentage of power at any given time is not practical for most people, topping up when you have used about 50% will certainly prolong the life of your battery over time.

Avoid having your device in idle charging mode

Do you put your phone on charge overnight? You may want to stop that. Keeping your phone plugged in on charge when it is at its maximum battery capacity can actually cause excess heat damage and stress voltage.

In addition to this, a continuous dribble of charge on a fully charged phone can lead to plating of the metallic lithium, which can reduce its stability as well as cause system-wide malfunctions and reboots. Ideally, you should stop charging your handset when it reaches 100 percent battery capacity, only turning the charging circuit back on to top up the battery every now and again.

Stop gaming, streaming or watching video while charging

Another good point to make is one concerning your phone’s “parasitic load”. This refers to the power consumed even when the phone is switched off or on standby mode. A parasitic load can also occur when the battery is being significantly drained while being charged – usually, because the user is gaming, streaming a video or downloading a large application.

The presence of a parasitic load is really bad for your battery because it causes the battery to deteriorate at a faster rate and can also induce higher voltage stress and heat on the battery.

To avoid this, turn your device off while charging or try not to do anything strenuous while it is on charge. In other words, you would be much better off switching to a streaming device than trying to watch Netflix on your phone.

Invest in a bigger battery or a battery case

A quick and easy solution to extend the life of your phone’s time with juice is to carry around a portable charger or invest in a battery case.

You will even find some options on the market today that comes with a huge 20,100mAh battery inside, meaning you will be able to charge up your phone multiple times before the portable charger needs a recharge.

Though this was interesting? Find out more about battery design and the different types of voltages and uses, Wi-Fi charging as the solution to aging battery life, or click here to get tips on how to preserve your battery if you’re an iPhone user. If you have any additional tips you’d like to add, let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Diogo Costa

24 y/o, born and living in Portugal. Majored in Biology, but tech and computers were always a passion. Wrote for sites like Windows.Appstorm and MakeTechEasier.