Why smartphone battery drains so fast?
These days smartphones are our new best friends! Our lives revolve around them and we can’t stop using them. While smartphones come equipped with a plethora of new features (both hardware and software), they do have some issues, battery drain being one of them.
Even though battery sizes and charging capabilities have improved, at some point or the other, we face the situation when our smartphone start losing its charge way too quick. So, why is our smartphone battery draining so fast? Here are some of the reasons why this happens, for which there are solutions as to how you can fix them. Therefore, read on to learn more:
Before we proceed, here’s how to check your battery usage:
How to check battery usage on Android
- Head to the Settings menu
- Click on the Battery option
- Tap on the three-dotted menu and then on Battery Usage
- Click on the three-dotted menu that pops up again and the Show Full Device Usage option
How to check battery usage on iOS
- Go to Settings
- Select Battery
- Scroll down to see the battery usage, for both screen off and screen on
Why is your smartphone battery draining so fast?
There are a couple of reasons as to why a smartphone battery starts to drain out so fast:
1. Display of the smartphone
This is considered as one of the primary reasons for battery drainage. As display panels continue to get better, the amount of battery the display eats also increases. While more bright and vibrant display helps in improving the viewing experience, it takes a toll on the battery and thus, results in faster battery draining.
How to fix it?
For this, you can try a couple of workarounds and see how greatly your battery life is affected:
- Try using the smartphone on low brightness
- There’s an Adaptive Brightness feature that increases or decreases the brightness of the display in accordance with the surrounding. Try enabling that
- If your smartphone supports higher refresh rates (90Hz or 120Hz), try setting it to a lower one, such as 60Hz
- Set a lower auto-lock time so that the display doesn’t have to remain active for long
- Avoid using live wallpapers. If your display is an AMOLED one, go for a plain black wallpaper so that it won’t activate the pixels
2. Apps (especially in the background)
While apps are crucial in a smartphone, they are equally crucial in deteriorating a smartphone’s battery life. Among millions of apps available, there are certain apps that consume a lot of battery to work such as video streaming apps or high graphics games. Additionally, too many running in the background also kill your smartphone’s battery way too quickly.
How to fix it?
- Try keeping an eye on your app usage and try reducing unnecessary usage of the apps you have
- Try keeping only useful apps on your smartphone and avoid downloading the unnecessary ones
- You can stop apps working in the background by heading to Settings>Apps & notifications > Select the app > Advanced > Battery > Background restriction > Restrict
- You can also opt to close the apps. This can be done by going to Settings > Apps & notifications > Select the app > Force stop
- Camera app is another one that eats up a lot of battery. Hence, try clicking less photos and videos
3. Fluctuating network
If you are wondering how this could be a reason, you should know that a smartphone is always in a lookout to connect to nearby towers so that you don’t face network issues. The hunt increases when there is poor connectivity, which is why the battery is impacted.
How to fix it?
- Switch to aeroplane mode when you don’t need to use your mobile data or phone much. This will force your smartphone’s antenna to take rest
- If your network is getting really problematic, you can try switching to a different one
- Try investing in network extenders or signal boosters so that you get better networks and your battery isn’t affected
4. GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
Connectivity options such as GPS, Bluetooth, and even Wi-Fi also affects your battery and their excessive usage leads to faster battery drainage. You can turn these options off when they are not needed.
5. Others
Other hacks you can try include keeping your smartphone is normal room temperature as opposed to a colder place as cold can impact your battery. Additionally, update your smartphone regularly so that the performance (even the battery performance) improves.
We hope the reasons for faster battery drainage and steps to fix them help you keep your smartphone’s battery health good
