Turn Off These 3 Settings to Double Your Phone's Battery Life
A phone battery that seems to drain too quickly does not always mean the battery is damaged. Background activity, location access, screen behavior, and network connections can all increase power consumption throughout the day. Some phone settings are particularly useful but can consume additional battery when they remain active continuously. Turning off features you do not regularly use can reduce unnecessary activity and help your phone last longer between charges.
Here are three settings worth checking first.
1. Turn Off Always-On Display
Always-On Display keeps limited information visible even when the phone is locked.
Depending on the device, it may show:
- Time
- Date
- Notifications
- Battery information
- Calendar information
- Small widgets
Because the display has to remain partially active, the feature can consume additional power.
This is particularly relevant on phones with OLED or AMOLED displays. While these screens can illuminate individual pixels rather than the entire panel, displaying information continuously still requires some energy.
How to Turn It Off
The exact menu depends on the phone.
On many Android devices, look under:
Settings → Lock Screen or Display → Always-On Display
On an iPhone that supports an Always-On Display, look under:
Settings → Display & Brightness → Always On Display
You can also choose to keep the feature enabled but reduce when it appears if your phone provides scheduling or contextual options.
When Should You Keep It On?
If you regularly check the time or notifications without unlocking your phone, Always-On Display can be convenient.
If maximum battery endurance is more important, turning it off is an easy feature to test.
2. Limit Background App Activity
Apps do not necessarily stop working when you leave them.
Some applications continue performing background tasks such as:
- Checking for new messages
- Updating content
- Synchronizing information
- Refreshing feeds
- Uploading files
- Checking location
- Sending notifications
Individually, these activities may use little power. Across dozens of applications, however, the combined activity can become more noticeable.
On iPhone
iOS provides a setting called Background App Refresh that controls whether apps can refresh content in the background.
You can generally find it under:
Settings → General → Background App Refresh
Rather than disabling it for everything, you can turn it off for apps that do not need to update in the background.
On Android
Android devices provide different controls depending on the manufacturer and software version.
Look under an individual app's battery settings for options related to:
- Background usage
- Battery optimization
- Unrestricted battery usage
- Allow background activity
It is usually better to target apps that consume significant power rather than restricting every application.
Check Which Apps Use the Most Battery
Before changing multiple settings, look at your phone's battery statistics.
On many devices, you can see which apps have used the most battery over a recent period.
If one social media, streaming, navigation, or shopping app is consuming substantially more power than expected, changing that app's background permissions may have a greater effect than turning off unrelated features.
3. Reduce Location Access for Apps
Location services can be useful for navigation, weather, ride-sharing, maps, fitness tracking, and other applications.
But not every app needs continuous access to your location.
An application that repeatedly requests location information may consume additional battery, particularly when combined with other background activity.
Instead of completely disabling location services, review which apps have access.
On iPhone
You can review permissions through:
Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services
Apps may offer choices such as:
- Never
- Ask Next Time Or When I Share
- While Using the App
- Always
For many applications, While Using the App is enough.
On Android
Location permissions are generally available through:
Settings → Location → App location permissions
The exact wording can differ between manufacturers.
You can review which apps have access and restrict applications that do not need location information.
Don't Disable Location for Everything
Navigation and safety-related applications may need location access to function properly.
For example, turning off location access for a mapping application may save some power but also prevent useful features from working correctly.
The goal is to remove unnecessary access rather than disable a feature you actually need.
A Fourth Setting Worth Checking: High Refresh Rate
Although the three settings above are useful starting points, your display's refresh rate can also have a noticeable effect on battery consumption.
Some modern phones can operate at 90Hz, 120Hz, or higher refresh rates.
Higher refresh rates make scrolling and animations appear smoother, but the display may consume more energy.
If your phone provides a choice between a high refresh rate and a standard mode, switching to a lower setting can help extend battery life.
Look under:
Settings → Display → Refresh Rate
The available options depend on the phone.
Some devices also use adaptive refresh rates, automatically lowering the refresh rate when high performance is unnecessary.
Turn Down Screen Brightness
The display is often one of the largest contributors to smartphone battery usage.
You do not necessarily need to keep brightness extremely low, but reducing it when possible can help.
You can also enable automatic brightness if it works well for your usage.
A practical approach is to avoid unnecessarily high brightness indoors and let the phone increase brightness when you're outside.
Use Battery Saver When You Need Extra Time
Both Android and iPhone provide battery-saving features.
On Android, this may be called Battery Saver or Power Saving Mode, depending on the manufacturer.
On iPhone, Low Power Mode reduces or changes certain background activities to extend battery life.
These modes can be particularly useful when your battery is already low and you need the phone to last until you can charge it.
Check Battery Health
Settings alone cannot compensate for a heavily degraded battery.
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries naturally lose capacity as they age.
If your phone is several years old and battery life has deteriorated significantly, check its battery-health information if your device provides it.
For iPhones, battery information is available under:
Settings → Battery → Battery Health & Charging
Android devices use different menus depending on the manufacturer and model.
A degraded battery may simply have less usable capacity than it had when the phone was new.
What About Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 5G?
You may have heard that turning off every wireless connection will dramatically extend battery life.
That is not always the case.
Modern smartphones are designed to manage wireless connections efficiently.
Still, certain situations can increase power consumption.
For example, weak cellular coverage can cause a phone to work harder to maintain a connection. Similarly, actively using navigation, mobile data, Bluetooth accessories, or a hotspot can increase battery usage.
Rather than turning everything off permanently, disable connections when you genuinely do not need them.
Don't Force-Close Every App
Another common battery-saving habit is repeatedly closing every application.
On modern smartphones, this is generally unnecessary.
The operating system manages memory and background activity automatically. Constantly reopening apps can sometimes require more work than leaving them in the system's managed state.
Instead, investigate individual apps that are actually consuming excessive battery.
How to Find Your Biggest Battery Drains
Before changing settings, check your battery usage report.
Look for applications or activities that consistently appear near the top.
You may discover that the main problem isn't an obscure setting at all.
Common high-consumption activities include:
- Video streaming
- Gaming
- Navigation
- Video calls
- Camera use
- Mobile hotspot
- High screen brightness
- Poor cellular reception
- Background synchronization
If a particular application is responsible for a large share of battery consumption, addressing that specific activity may produce better results than making broad changes to your phone.
Simple Battery-Saving Checklist
If you want to improve battery life without making your phone difficult to use, start with these steps:
- Turn off Always-On Display if you don't need it.
- Restrict background activity for unnecessary apps.
- Change location permissions for apps that don't need continuous access.
- Reduce screen brightness when practical.
- Consider a lower or adaptive refresh rate.
- Use Battery Saver or Low Power Mode when necessary.
- Check battery usage regularly.
- Remove or restrict apps that consistently consume excessive power.
- Keep your phone's operating system and apps updated.
- Consider battery replacement if the battery has significantly degraded.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can turning off three settings really double battery life?
Not reliably. Battery savings depend on the phone and how you use it. Disabling certain features can extend battery life, but a claim that three settings will double battery life on every phone is unrealistic.
Which setting usually has the biggest impact?
It varies. Screen brightness and display behavior can have a significant effect, while background activity and location access can matter more on phones with many active apps.
Should I turn off location services completely?
Usually, no. Review individual app permissions instead. Many apps only need location while you are actively using them.
Does Always-On Display drain a lot of battery?
It uses additional power, although the amount varies considerably by phone and implementation. If battery life is a priority, turning it off is a simple change to test.
Does closing apps save battery?
Not necessarily. Modern iOS and Android systems manage background applications automatically. Focus instead on apps that show unusually high battery consumption.
Does 5G use more battery than 4G?
It can, depending on the phone, network conditions, and how 5G is being used. In areas with weak 5G coverage, the difference may be more noticeable.
Final Thoughts
There is no universal setting that can guarantee dramatically longer battery life, but a few changes can eliminate unnecessary power consumption.
Start by checking Always-On Display, background app activity, and location permissions. Then look at your phone's battery-usage screen to identify what is actually consuming power.
You do not need to disable every convenient feature. The better strategy is to keep the functions you use and reduce activity that happens in the background without providing much value.
