Save battery: Why does the capacity of your battery continue to decrease?
Li-ion batteries are subject to constant wear and tear, and not just when they are being charged quickly. That's why you should take care of the battery. The reasons for this lie inside the battery, where complex chemical processes take place. However, you can extend the battery life with certain means. The decisive factor is how often you charge the battery. But also the ambient temperature of the smartphone or how you charge it: If you want to extend the battery life, for example, you should avoid using an adapter to charge the battery quickly.
When does the battery become a warranty case?
The guarantee is also voluntary for the battery. The battery is normally considered a wearing part. In this case, saving the battery is of little help: if a company gives you a two-year guarantee on your smartphone, this often does not apply to the battery. In addition, there are hardly any clear rules as to when a battery is considered defective. Apple is exemplary when it comes to batteries: after 500 complete charging cycles, the battery performance of the iPhone should still be 80%.
This is a warranty case for the battery: The malfunction occurs during the warranty period. You may not actively contribute to it, for example by using third-party adapters for fast charging. Also differentiate according to the battery design: Regardless of the adapter, Samsung gives a six-month warranty on a replaceable battery. For a permanently installed battery, it is twelve months.
Extend battery life: How do you recognize the loss of capacity of your battery?
If your battery is losing capacity, you should save it. Here's how to tell when it's time: First of all, you'll have to charge your smartphone more often or use an adapter to quickly charge it. Using energy-intensive services like streaming is hardly possible with the smartphone alone. Many people then use the smartphone with an adapter. You won't get very far on one charge: for example, if you only charge it once a day after buying it, the phone will only last half a day with the same level of use later on.
If you are clear about this, you can also extend the battery life of your smartphone. Then it is time for a battery check: Special tools for the battery compare the actual state with the desired state. How much capacity should the battery have when new and how much does it still have? The difference between these two results in the loss of capacity. Android offers you various apps for this display, such as AccuBattery. Apple has integrated the battery status into the battery settings.
Tips for extending the battery life of smartphones
1. Save battery, check energy saving mode on your smartphone
Using less energy means charging the battery less often. This way you can extend the battery life and at the same time conserve the battery. So check which functions on your smartphone extend the battery life. For example, energy saving mode, also called "sleep" or "standby": If this function is preset, the mode activates itself as soon as the battery falls below a certain percentage. In addition, connections such as Bluetooth are switched off. Individual settings are also possible if you want to conserve the battery and extend the battery life.
2. Adjust the screen brightness on your smartphone
This is another way to save battery power and extend the battery life of your smartphone: If you want to achieve 100 percent all the time, you will use a lot of energy just by using the screen.This is how you will extend the battery life: Test out which lighting is permanently acceptable for your smartphone. If you want to save battery power, you can either set the brightness manually. To do this, look for "Display and brightness" in the settings. Alternatively, you can have it preset, for example with the night mode: If you save power in this way, the battery life of OLED screens will be noticeably extended.
3. Extend battery life: Is Wi-Fi necessary on your smartphone?
WiFi constantly scans the surrounding area for networks and uses power in the process. You can save battery life if you turn it off when not in use. This also extends the battery life! Again, there are two ways to extend the battery life: Turn it off manually, but this takes time. You probably forget it a lot. An app can help here, for example "WiFi Automatic" for Android. The app doesn't just turn it off so that you can extend your battery life. It also allows personal settings for reactivation: when restarting, when waking from sleep mode or at a certain time.
4. Extend battery life: do not use as a Wi-Fi hotspot
Using it as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot requires a lot of energy. Here's how you can extend the battery life: Only activate the function if there is no other option. The smartphone does more than just send data back and forth. The more phones are connected, the more energy the function needs to save battery power. This puts a lot of strain on the smartphone's battery, which is why it can be empty after a short time. In your home, you should therefore use your router if you want to extend the battery life. If you still need to use the hotspot function, don't forget to deactivate it afterwards.
5. Extend battery life: check apps and delete unnecessary ones
Have you ever checked all the apps on your smartphone? Which ones do you really need? If you delete an app directly in the respective store, you can extend the battery life and avoid data garbage on your smartphone. When saving battery, also differentiate between deleting and deactivating: In the latter case, you still have the application on your smartphone, even if it is inactive. Don't worry that you will destroy your smartphone with this measure to extend battery life: System apps cannot be deleted at all!
6. Turn on flight mode to extend battery life
Using airplane mode can extend your battery life. It interrupts all wireless connections that you would otherwise have to turn off and on again manually. However, you can still use a quick-charge adapter. This is a very powerful function for extending battery life: many connections are deactivated in one go. This is quick, will protect the battery and save power. Affected are: Wi-Fi, NFC, mobile network and Bluetooth. Charging or quick-charge is still possible. At the same time, you prevent a lot of what is otherwise running in the background, for example annoying advertising in games. If you want to extend the battery life, try charging your battery in this mode. Not only will quick charging via an adapter be much faster!
7. Extend battery life: Do not charge the battery overnight
You can also extend the battery life by changing your charging habits. This includes quick charging with an adapter as well as charging overnight.Each of these causes your smartphone battery to age faster! It charges up to 100%, but then uses some power again. It recharges this to reach 100% battery again. This goes on all night. If you want to extend the battery life, don't just avoid fast charging with the adapter. Always charge your smartphone in a controlled manner: ideally before going to bed. Plan enough time for this, then unplug the adapter and smartphone from the power supply. Switch to flight mode if you need the alarm function on your smartphone.
8. Avoid fast charging with adapter on your smartphone
Fast charging or "Quick Charge" significantly reduces the charging time of your smartphone. If you want to charge your battery quickly, you need an adapter in addition to the normal USB cable. How much charging time you save with the adapter depends on its quality. An adapter is often included with a smartphone. Because these are not always the best adapters for fast charging, there are third-party adapter providers.
If you want to use it, make sure you get a quality adapter. Cheap electronics in the adapter can cause fires! When fast charging, the charging current increases, which leads to higher temperatures in the battery. This is why the battery ages more quickly when fast charging. Regardless of the adapter, it is best to avoid fast charging altogether. This also extends the battery life!
9. Extend battery life: Influence of cold and heat
In addition to fast charging or a suitable adapter, the right operating temperature also influences the lifespan. This is because the battery fluid is inside the battery, which becomes thicker the colder the environment. This also slows down the chemical processes inside. This in turn increases the resistance in the battery. Manufacturers help you to save battery life by allowing the battery to switch off automatically under certain conditions. If it doesn't do this, your battery will need more and more power until it is completely discharged. By protecting the smartphone from icy temperatures, you will therefore extend the battery life. The best operating temperature for the battery is just above freezing. It ends at 35 °C: If you want to save your battery, don't just avoid fast charging. Also protect it from extreme heat!
10. Protect the battery, charge it carefully
Do you always charge your battery at the last minute? That will hardly extend your battery life. In fact, it will over-stress it, just like fast charging. The same applies if you always charge the battery to 100%. A high cell voltage means that the battery life will be shortened. Modern chargers prevent the worst from happening to smartphones, i.e. overcharging and complete discharging. However, you should still keep one thing in mind when charging: it works best with 20% to 80% capacity. So if your battery shows 20%, you can already charge it. Then only go up to 80% before unplugging the smartphone. If you keep this in mind, the battery life will be extended.
11. Synchronizing data: Is it necessary?
Synchronization can be very helpful, but it is not always necessary. Above all, it is a power guzzler. The apps in question often go online every minute, which is not helpful for extending battery life.So think about what you actually need: Do you really need to read every new email immediately? Should Google synchronize everything on your smartphone or are certain functions sufficient? There are several methods for switching it off, depending on how you want to extend the battery life: Smartphones use the least amount of power when you deactivate the function completely. Partial switching off is also possible, of course.
12. Limit background activities to extend battery life
Apps are constantly active in the background. You won't notice most things, such as updates or determining your location. The battery constantly loses power, which is not helpful when it comes to extending battery life. Therefore, you should prevent certain activities if you want to extend battery life. But be careful, the app on your smartphone may no longer work properly afterwards! You can find this function in the respective app under "Battery usage".
13. Avoiding streaming can save battery life
Streaming with your smartphone always means high power consumption! It is therefore better to save music or videos and start from the saved location. If you really want to stream new music videos, loading them once is enough. You can then enjoy your music offline. This is much more energy efficient than streaming a video every time. When you are at home, limit unnecessary streaming: for example, if you only listen to music in the background, such as when cleaning up, you only need the music, not the video. Small tricks like these can also extend the battery life of your smartphone!
14. Save battery: Keep the time until sleep mode on your smartphone as low as possible
In sleep mode, the screen dims to save it and the battery. If you want to extend the battery life, adjust the time to what is best for you. You can find the relevant setting under "Brightness" in the smartphone screen settings. The more you want to save battery, the shorter you should keep the time until the screen dims. On the other hand, if the settings are too short, it can also be annoying. In addition, this function to save battery is deactivated in certain apps, for example if you want to watch videos on YouTube.
15. Extend battery life: Turn off vibration / push notifications
There is hardly anything better than the vibration on your smartphone in a noisy environment. However, if you want to save battery life, you should switch the function off: To generate the vibration, your smartphone needs a lot of power, including from the battery. A compromise is to limit use, for example at conferences. Where it is less disruptive, normal ringtones are an energy-saving alternative. Also ask yourself whether push notifications on your smartphone are important to you. If you suppress such notifications on Facebook, for example, your smartphone's battery life will be extended.
