Each of the many functionalities on your phone uses a battery, but some of them drain it more than you might think. In subtle ways that you hardly realize, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning, location services, background app refresh, and a few more are always running.
Of course, they’re not completely useless. For good reason, they are turned on by default and are quite practical and convenient. However, that doesn’t mean you have to allow them to use up your battery too much.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi scanning
The background checks you aren’t even aware of
Your phone continuously searches the airways in the background for known networks and accessories, even while you’re not using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. That’s how your phone links with your earbuds automatically or miraculously reconnects to your home Wi-Fi. Even while it’s convenient, all that continuous scanning uses energy.
The good news is that you don’t have to constantly flip these toggles on and off as you go about your day because contemporary Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocols use less power than they did in the past. Turning them off, however, can save you 3–4% of your battery life throughout a day if you know you won’t be using them for a long.
Fast Sharing
A helpful trait that is incapable of resting
When you need to send a file wirelessly, Quick Share is like magic. You can email documents, videos, images, and more with just a few taps. However, your phone must continuously search for devices and incoming transfer requests in order to provide that rapid handoff.
Quick Share might gradually drain your battery because it utilizes both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to function. Many people have pointed out Quick Share as an unexpected power drainer if you take the time to look through Samsung support forums.
You can disable Quick Share if you don’t use it frequently. You must set Who can share with you to None in order to accomplish that. You can always turn it back on from the Quick Settings window, and your battery will appreciate it.
App refresh in the background
Small changes that quickly build up
Installing an app automatically permits it to operate in the background. When you’re not using them, this enables them to access the internet, update their content, and sync data. Certain applications, such as email clients, instant chat programs, and cloud storage services, require it. However, background activity is completely useless for the majority of other apps. The battery is only wasted.
These background operations don’t take up much when you have dozens of apps running, but they can mount up. Even when you’re asleep, your phone keeps waking itself up to keep everything in sync.
Restricting background refresh is a simple way to extend the life of your battery. You can select Restricted after tapping Battery on the app’s information screen. After that, select Mobile Data and disable background data usage. You can also activate the sleeping applications option on a Samsung phone, which will cause your phone to automatically put less-used apps to sleep.
vibrations in the system
The haptic behaviors you aren’t aware of
Your phone provides you with slight haptic input whenever you type something, call a number, or navigate between menus. Additionally, that vibration motor consumes electricity each time it rotates. Naturally, a small buzz won’t harm the battery, but hundreds of vibrations over the course of the day will significantly deplete it.
The frequency with which these vibrations occur without your awareness is what makes this drain cunning. Type a long message and every key tap sends a small jolt. Your phone provides feedback when you use the back tap gesture or swipe up to access the home screen.
Power is needed, yet none of this feels dramatic. Disabling system vibration is an easy approach to extend the battery life if you can live without these little pulses.
Location-based services
The largest battery hog lurking in the open
Location services uses the most battery out of all the system toggles on your phone. This is due to the fact that they use GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, adjacent cell towers, and even the sensors on your phone to determine your current location. Applications that continuously use this for navigation, weather updates, post tagging, store location discovery, and even location-based advertising.
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