Battery Saving Tips for Android Phones – All You Need To Know

Android and good battery are two things that you never see together. To some extent, I agree with that as well. Android has always been very resource-intensive by default and there are hardly any Android phones that give you a full day without having to charge the phone.
Ice Cream Sandwich, the last Android release did address to this issue and have ironed out most of the leaks that were causing all the battery drain, but there are still some tips that you may need to take care of in order to get the maximum battery life from your Android phone.

Battery Saving Tips for Android Phones

We have used almost all the major Android phones released up to date. Battery has been an issue in all of them, but to be very honest, Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.0.4 is one of the best Android phones when it comes to good battery time. I can almost pull out a 24-hour time with its standard battery and that too, with my extensive heavy usage of emails, social networks and browsing. How? Continue reading below for all the battery-saving tips I have come across so far and even use most of them – when needed.
Let’s get on with the list:

1. Turn off Wi-Fi

It’s better to turn off your wi-fi when not in use or you are nowhere near a wi-fi hotspot. It gets you a considerable amount of battery time if you turn the wi-fi radio off. How?
Go to Settings > Wi-Fi > OFF.

2. Turn off Bluetooth

Same goes with bluetooth. No need to keep it turned on when not in use. The bluetooth radio sucks up your battery life even when you think nothing really is happening over bluetooth. How?
Go to Settings > Bluetooth > OFF.

3. Turn off Background Data for Apps

Many apps go online to fetch or send data/information when not in use. This is why Google brought up the option of data usage in Android 4.0 which shows you which apps and how much data has been used over mobile network and Wi-Fi. It also gives you a quick summary of which apps use how much data when in the foreground and when in the background over which network. If you think apps are using a lot of background data, restrict them from using any. How?

• Go to Settings > Data usage.
• Tap the app that is using most background data
• Scroll to the bottom, and check “Restrict background data” box.

That specific app will now not use your mobile data when in the background. Want to know how to restric background data for ALL the apps? See: How to Restrict Background Data for Apps.

4. Set Display Brightness to Automatic or Minimum

Display is the part which uses most of your battery, in almost every device. And with Android phones getting bigger and bigger display screens almost every other month, this surely is a problem with heavy users. We recommend to keep your display brightness level to the minimum or set it to automatic. Automatic should adjust the brightness level according the room lighting you are in. ‘Automatic’ is what we use. How to do?

• Go to Settings > Display > Brightness.
• Check “Automatic brightness” and tap OK.

You should notice a considerable amount of reduced battery usage under Settings > Battery for ‘Screen’ now.

5. Turn off Pulse Notification Light

The LED pulse notification is useful for many (atleast for us), but if you don’t use you can turn it off which would infact help you save a bit of battery. How?

• Go to Settings > Display.
• Unheck “Pulse notification light”.

Note: This option may not be found on many Android phones. we have it on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

6. Turn off Haptic Feedback

How many of you like haptic feedback? Haptic feedback is the vibration you feel when you touch/press the standard menu buttons or type on the keyboard in your Android phone. I turn it off as soon as I buy a new phone, regardless of the battery saving it does. I don’t like it. You can turn it off to save some battery as vibration sensor uses battery as well. How to turn off?

• Go to Settings > Sound.
• Scroll to the bottom.
• Uncheck “Vibrate on touch” option.

Note: Some Android phones may call it “Haptic Feedback” in Settings > Sound.

7. Use Only 2G Network

Most of you use 3G networks for data-insentive apps and games or when you need to download large files. That uses a LOT of battery. However, you can simply ask your phone to not switch to 3G and just use the 2G network. This will save you a lot of battery. How?

• Go to Settings.
• Tap More…
• Then Mobile networks.
• And uncheck “Use only 2G networks”.

8. Shorter Screen Timeout

What if you leave your phone without putting it to sleep every time you use it? Your phone screen is on and it uses battery – even if your brightness level is set to minimum. Your screen timeout should be less. The default in most Android phones is 1 minute. We recommend to set it to 30 seconds. How?

• Go to Settings > Display > Sleep.
• Select 30 seconds.

9. Turn off GPS.

GPS and location services are used by various apps i.e Google Maps, Facebook, Foursquare etc. but just to let you know, GPS uses a lot of battery in your phone. You should keep it off when not in use. GPS accuracy is provided only when you turn it on along with the wi-fi radio, but it is better to turn them off when not in use. How?

• Go to Settings > Location services > uncheck everything.

10. Remove Unnecessary Widgets

You should not keep unnecessary widgets on your homescreen. Why? because most of them use data and if they are not developed well, they even keep your screen on (even though you have put the phone to sleep). This drains your battery even when the phone is not in use.

Widgets that come with apps like Facebook fetches latest status updates or a Twitter widget will get the latest tweets after every few minutes or so which will result in more background data and will use more battery even when you are not really using the phone.

This doesn’t mean you remove all the widgets from your homescreen. After all, Android is the only OS that brings you all these amazing options and features to customize your phone with!

11. Disable Live Wallpaper

Android introduced live wallpapers for your mobile phones, but they never really warned how resource-intensive live wallpapers are. Apart from using your processing power, it is heavy on the battery as well. And the same goes with live wallpapers also like the bad coded widgets. They keep your screen on all the time even when the phone is put to sleep which uses way more battery than it sounds.

12. Use Dark Wallpapers on AMOLED Displays

Since we are talking about wallpapers, another point just came to my mind. AMOLED and Super AMOLED displays have brilliant colours and most of us love using bright and colourful wallpapers – but here is the ugly truth. They go very harsh on your battery. These displays come with a blessing as well.

Black objects are equal to screen off. They don’t use much battery. It is always recommended to use darker wallpapers or just use a plain black background if you are not fond of wallpapers. Just a small tip to save battery life.

13. Sign-out from Google Talk

When you turn on a new phone and sign-in with your Google account, Android automatically signs-in your Google Talk as well. Many people who do not use Google Talk have no idea of Google Talk running in the background all the time. You can sign-out of the service to save you battery life and background data. How?

• Open Google Talk
• Tap your Google account.
• Tap the 3 dots icon at the top-right of the screen.
• Select Sign out.

14. Disable Accounts Sync

This is the most important battery power saving tip I have across to date on Android. When running out of battery or if you are not one of those busy people who want to know about their every email when it arrives, you can safely disable accounts sync which I’m sure is why Android is so heavy on the battery.

Disabling syncing on your Android phone can almost double up your entire phone’s battery life. You can thank me by Like on on Facebook!