Due to outdated software, excessive screen brightness, poor reception, or background programs, your phone’s battery is rapidly depleting. Sometimes it’s an indication of a more serious problem, such as spyware or poor charging practices that gradually deteriorate your battery. However, because this is a complicated issue with many causes and effects, our experts have created a tried-and-true guide to help you prolong the life of your phone’s battery and uncover the hidden reasons of energy depletion.

This guide will teach you precisely:

Why does your iPhone and Android battery deplete so quickly?
How to use battery optimization techniques to extend battery life
How Bitdefender Mobile Security assists in identifying hidden problems that accelerate battery depletion

How to assess the life and health of batteries

The iPhone Battery Health screen displays the battery’s maximum capacity and performance.
Reading the diagnostic information that is incorporated into contemporary phones is a good place to start because you cannot control what you cannot measure.

Go to Settings → Battery → Battery Health & Charging on an iPhone running iOS 17 or later. Capacity is shown as a percentage of the original design by Apple. If it is less than 80%, you should be aware that it may be time to make a change.
A native health readout has been added to Pixel devices running Android 14. To see the maximum capacity and projected number of cycles left, navigate to Settings > Battery → Battery Health. Install the free AccuBattery app, which calculates wear by comparing charged milliamp-hours to design capacity, if the menu is absent from other Android devices.

The estimated capacity and remaining cycles are displayed on the Android battery health screen.
Dial ##4636#*#* to access the hidden “Testing” menu and choose Battery information for a more thorough examination. Voltage, temperature, and charge level are among the outcomes. Although Samsung prohibits this code, the Samsung Members app that comes pre-installed provides Seek Assistance ← Interactive tests → Battery for a comparable evaluation.

The top 13 reasons why phone batteries deplete quickly and how to fix them as soon as possible

There are several background processes and bad settings that affect how long your device lasts on battery power, many of which you can control to maximize battery life. Your device’s battery is essentially responding to the way electrons attract lithium ions and move charge within, regardless of whether you’re using an Android phone, an iOS device like an iPad or iPhone, or another kind of mobile phone.

Let’s first examine the main reasons why batteries drain, and then we’ll look at ways to increase your phone’s battery life.

1. The power and duration of your screen are excessive.

Your phone’s backlight uses more energy when the screen brightness is at its highest setting. White and vivid colors use more energy on OLED screens.

Try reducing your screen timeout to 30 seconds and switching to dark mode. You can adjust your timeout by tapping Display Settings. It’s one of the quickest methods for increasing battery life on iPhones and Android smartphones. Additionally, utilize static wallpapers rather than active ones and use Night Light or True Tone settings to darken the screen for use at night.

“Over time, a 5-minute discrepancy in screen timeout can amount to hours of battery drain,” Bitdefender’s X Global [position] states.

2. Your applications are putting in extra effort in the background.

Even when you swipe them closed, apps like TikTok, email, shopping apps, and Maps may continue to function. These background-running apps check notifications, sync data, and update location. Stated differently, they reduce the battery life of your gadget.

Under Settings > Battery, you can see how much battery life your app is using. Turn off background app refresh for apps that don’t require real-time updates while you’re still in your battery settings. You may also disable push notifications if you’re receiving too many of them, particularly if they’re from social media, news, or shopping.

PS: You can utilize the “Put unused apps to sleep” function on Android. The feature is located under App Limits on iOS.

3. You’re depending on poor reception

Your phone uses more power to stay connected when it has poor reception. The battery drain increases if your device is continuously looking for a signal, like in subways, elevators, or rural regions. When you don’t require connectivity, use airplane mode; in areas with poor signal strength, switch to Wi-Fi.

Additionally, poor reception or a weak signal may compel your phone to remain in “search” mode, which uses up your power without you realizing it.

Fix it by turning off cellular data in restricted places, putting on airplane mode if you’re offline anyhow, and using Wi-Fi calling when cellular coverage is weak (where you can). Finally, turn off 5G in low-signal areas if your carrier permits it.

4. You’re utilizing Wi-Fi to access cellular data

Using cellular data rather than Wi-Fi results in increased hardware activation and signal volatility, which shortens the battery life of your device. Use Wi-Fi whenever possible because it’s always more efficient.

Another way to temporarily cut down on background activities like downloads is to navigate to Phone Settings > Battery > Turn On Low Power Mode.

Limit background mobile data for non-essential apps if battery usage is high but screen time is low. To find out which apps are consuming the most battery life, press settings and then tap apps under general settings.

5. Your phone is overheating

Phone batteries are completely destroyed by heat. Because lithium-ion cells age more quickly in hot conditions, high temperatures irreversibly harm battery life whether you play video games, use Google Maps while charging, or use your phone outside in the summer. Our recommendation is to keep the temperature below 35°C (95°F).

6. Your phone has spyware or malware on it.

Covert services on compromised phones keep the radio and CPU running, which speeds up device battery drain and causes data usage to exceed typical limits.

The concept is straightforward: You may have hidden malware operating in the background if your device’s battery begins to drain when you’re not using it. Whether it’s obvious or not, phone batteries are dependent on usage.

Thus, take the following action if the battery runs out quickly:

• Examine your battery consumption statistics to see if there are any new items at the top.
• Look for odd increases on data counters. Spyware exfiltrating data is frequently indicated by unexplained outgoing traffic while the screen is off.
• To identify and eliminate hidden miners or spyware before they reduce battery life and leak personal information, run a thorough scan using Bitdefender Mobile Security (try it for iOS or Android).
• Check for overheating without a lot of foreground activity, new administrator apps, or persistent pop-ups.

If you see warning signs, take these mitigating actions.

Use Bitdefender Mobile Security to do a thorough scan. The engine flags malware that misuses wakelocks or high-frequency network calls by combining on-device machine learning with a cloud reputation service.
Any apps that the scanner flags as dangerous or that you are unable to confirm via Google Play or the App Store should be removed.
Restart in Safe Mode once after cleaning to make sure no autostart services are left.

7. You have overly aggressive location settings.

The GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular radios remain operational, the CPU calculates the coordinates, and your battery consumption rapidly increases when an app asks for your position every few seconds.

How to prevent Android location settings from draining the battery:

• To conserve battery life, Android users should limit location access to “Only while using the app.”
• Navigate to Settings → Location → Permissions for the app’s location.
  Select the app that uses the most battery (exercise, ride-hailing, maps).
• Choose Ask each time or Allow just while using.
• If you don’t use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth scanning for interior navigation, go back to Location → Location services → Google Location Accuracy and turn them off.

Turning off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi scanning in Google Location Accuracy will stop background location activity from draining the battery.

How to prevent iOS location settings from draining the battery:

To save battery life, iOS apps can have their location permissions set to “Always” or “While Using the App.”

• Navigate to Location Services under Settings → Privacy & Security.
• While using the app, select the target app and provide access.
• For social apps that don’t require precise coordinates, turn off Precise Location.
• To lessen background polling, scroll down to System Services and turn off Significant Locations. Keep in mind that crucial programs like Maps may be impacted.

In order to minimize background location polling and preserve battery life, the user disables Significant Locations on their iPhone.

PS: Bitdefender Mobile Security highlights abuse, checks apps that ask for “Always” location, and suggests downgrading permissions.

Disclaimer

This article’s content is only meant to be used for broad educational and informational purposes. We make no express or implied guarantees or warranties regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information contained herein, even though every effort has been made to ensure the content’s accuracy, reliability, and completeness at the time of publication.

Device model, operating system version, loaded apps, usage patterns, ambient factors, and manufacturer settings can all have a substantial impact on battery performance, device behavior, and power consumption. As a result, not all devices or users will benefit equally from the findings covered in this article. You are solely responsible for any decisions you take based on the information supplied.

Professional technical, cybersecurity, hardware repair, or medical advice is not offered in this article. Malware, spyware, and security tool references are merely meant to raise awareness; they should not be taken as a diagnostic of any particular device. For advanced diagnostics, battery replacement, or device repairs, users are advised to speak with authorized service facilities, professional technicians, or device makers.

Applications, operating systems, tools, and security software from third parties are mentioned purely for informational purposes and do not imply endorsement, sponsorship, or performance guarantees. All product names, brand names, and trademarks referenced in this article are the property of their respective owners.

Any data loss, device malfunction, decreased performance, battery degradation, or other issues that may arise from implementing the advice, settings, or recommendations covered in this article are not our responsibility. Important data should always be backed up by users before making changes to the system or configuration.

You agree that technology is changing quickly and that material may become out of date over time by reading and using this page. Content may be updated, changed, or removed at any time without prior notice.

Seek help right away from trained experts if you suspect significant hardware failure, battery flaws, or security breaches.