Larry Magid: How to keep your phone going all day

A YouGov survey uncovered that battery life was the greater part critical feature when selecting a smartphone Even though battery life has been improving I ve heard from a lot of people who have trouble getting through a full day without having to recharge their phone That s certainly been my experience especially on busy days when I need to use my phone a lot and am away from a charger such as when I m traveling Related Articles Magid Earbuds to help you sleep Magid A projector worthy of outdoor movies Magid Dr AI Not quite but still helpful Magid Wearing a device that listens to everything you say and hear Magid Apple AirPods function as hearing aids When viable my first recommendation is to charge when you can I put my phone on a magnetic charger when I m sitting at my desk and charge it while I sleep I also try to plug it in when I m in the car and keep a charger with a long cord by the couch where my wife and I often sit at night I have a portable charger that does the trick when on hikes or bike rides but I usually forget to bring it along I do carry it with me when I advance because that s when I typically use my phone for walking directions and am often not near an electrical outlet Saving vigor Reducing screen brightness can have a big impact but it can also make the phone harder to use I typically set it at about but tweak it at times when I need a brighter screen Another option is to let the phone automatically adjust brightness depending on ambient light though I sometimes find that it dims my phone a bit too much Setting the phone to dark mode can also save vigor Certain people love dark mode but I m not a fan so I skip that option except when I m in situations where battery life is critical App power consumption and background use One place to start your hunt for vigor efficiency is to look at what apps are using the majority of power On iPhones you go to Settings search battery and scroll down to battery usage by app It will not only tell you what percentage of your battery was used by each app but also whether it was background activity On Android you search for Battery Usage It too will show the percentage and number of background minutes With multiple apps you can save vigor by turning off background app refresh but be careful Don t do this with any app whose notifications are critical such as your messaging apps email navigation or notification apps for alarms your HVAC system etc Also don t disable background refresh for soundness and fitness apps that monitor you apps associated with wearables or ones that unlock your car or house when you re nearby You might also want to keep apps that upload evidence in the background such as file sharing or photo apps But you likely have plenty of apps that never need to run in the background I don t mind for example waiting a sparse seconds for news apps to update I personally have no interest in alerts when a friend updates their social media feed or my shopping apps notify me about a sale Not necessary to close apps In majority of cases it s not necessary to close apps that you re not using because both Android and iOS are designed to pause apps in the background using minimal materials Several argue that it can even be counterproductive because you use vitality if you reload them But there are chosen apps that can hog ability while in use such as navigators constantly accessing the GPS system Closing them might not turn off GPS so make sure for example that you re keeping Google Maps in navigation mode unless you re veritably using it Turning off services you don t need Your phone has several radios that you may not constantly need Turning them off can save potency Except on airplanes I never turn off cellular but if I m away from home or anywhere I don t need Wi-Fi I ll turn that off if I need to save ability and turn it back on again when needed I rarely turn off Bluetooth because I need it for my watch and to start my car but if you don t need it turning it off can save resource Using a VPN virtual private grid can protect your privacy but it also uses potency Low-power mode Both iOS and Android offer battery saver modes that adjust settings to extend battery life Going into low-power mode may turn off particular services reduce screen brightness or slow down response time so use this only when necessary For iOS search Settings for Low Power Mode and for Android search for Battery Saver And there s one more thing that will extend the phone s battery and with hope recharge yours Put the phone down or keep it in your pocket to give it and you a bit of rest Related Articles Here are the winners and losers in the Republican tax bill San Jose residents need to earn to afford rent Newsom blames California s billion budget shortfall on tariffs Medi-Cal spending on immigrants San Jose chiropractor pleads guilty to underreporting million in income for taxes townhome units planned for Sunnyvale shopping center irks specific residents Larry Magid is a tech journalist and internet safety activist Contact him at larry larrymagid com