19 Simple Phone Hacks That Will Save Your Battery

2. For iPhone users make good use of low power mode

For those with an iPhone, you can help save your battery by making use of the phone's low power mode. You'll find this in your Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode.

3. Turn off any locations services

Not only will this help save your battery but it will also give you some privacy back. For iPhone users go to Settings > Privacy > Location services to disable this feature. Of course, you can blanket disable or turn off per app, which is probably more preferable. You'll want the phone to know where you are on Google Maps for instance.

4. Save your battery by turning down brightness

Another easy hack to save your battery is to turn down the brightness of your screen. 

5. Turn off your Bluetooth

You probably rarely, if ever, use the Bluetooth function on your phone but it's good practice to check if it is indeed active. Disabling it is a very simple hack to save your battery power.

6. Airplane mode to the rescue

If you want the 'nuclear option' to help save your battery you could always plonk your phone into airplane mode. This will extend your battery power but obviously disable a lot of the phone's features.

7. Use Wi-Fi instead of 3G/4G

Using Wi-Fi instead of cellular 3G or 4G signals will help you save your battery power. So when you are out and about at a friends house or cafe why not connect to their Wi-Fi instead of using your 3G/4G connection.

8. Silence apps you don't use a lot

Disabling notifications for applications can also help save your battery. Of course turning off all notifications would save the most battery but you 'll probably want them for things like emails or Facebook.

9. Disable background app refresh

For iPhone users, you can disable a background function that will help save your battery. Normally this feature ticks along in the background keeping your phone's apps up to date. You can disable this to help extend your battery life.

10. Turn your flash off

The flash on your phone is not always desirable when taking a photograph not to mention literally blinding. It also guzzles your phone's battery so why not turn it off? This simple hack will help save your phone's battery.

11. Disable auto-brightness

Further to turning down the phone's brightness to help save your battery life, you should also make sure that any auto-brightness features are also disabled. Afterall it defeats the object of manually reducing the brightness if the phone keeps raising and lowering it without your authorization.

 12. Make good use of grayscale

For iPhone users, you can also set your screen to display in black and white at all times. This is easier on the eyes but also helps save your battery life. You'll find this under 'Color Filters' in your settings. 

13. Turn off all vibration

For most mobile phones there will be a vibration function for notifications or phone calls. Disabling this will help extend and save your battery power, at least a little longer. Plus it can be just a little bit annoying at times.

14. Or just turn off 'Vibrate on Silent' mode

Alternatively, you can just turn off the 'Vibrate on Silent' mode off. This hack will help save your battery and also help improve your productivity. Afterall isn't the whole point of silent mode is to prevent distraction? 

15. Set your screen-lock for 1 minute

Another great way to save your battery charge is to have the phone lock itself when not in use. Having your phone sitting around is just a waste of energy after all. 1 minute is probably a reasonable amount of time but of course, you can set to your own preference.

16. Turn off Siri 

Most of us probably rarely actually use their virtual assistants on their phones so why not disable them? For iPhone users, you can do this by toggling off the options under 'Siri and Search'. 

17. Turn off automatic updates/downloads 

Another great way to save your battery is to turn off any automatic downloads your phone may have. Not only will this consume your phone's memory but it will also unnecessarily soak up some of your phone's battery.

18. Reduce social media polling on Android

If you want to really save the battery on your Android device you can set messaging apps to 'manual' for polling or refreshing.

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This should significantly improve battery life on your phone. You can then experiment by re-enabling it for certain apps to get a nice balance between battery life and your input. 

19. Close unwanted apps

We are all guilty of this at some point but leaving tens of apps simultaneously open will really drain your battery. To help save your battery try to get into the habit of regularly closing apps when you're finished with them.

So there you go 19 hacks that will save your battery. Have we missed any big ones? Then feel free to let us know in the comments below.

All images, unless sourced, are screenshots from the author's phone.