How to stop battery drain in Android phones

Here is how to stop battery drain in Android phones easily.

Battery drain is a common problem that is noticed by Android phone users. Even though the latest versions of Android are very efficient, due to some settings and unwanted apps, there could be serious battery drain in Android phones. Some of these issues go unnoticed, causing the phone battery to degrade faster due to charging the phone multiple times a day. Here we are going to check on some of the causes of battery drain in Android and how can it be fixed.

How to stop battery drain in Android phones

Latest phones use lithium-ion batteries, which have good life and go through multiple charging cycles. The main reason could some time be due to poor integration of hardware and software or unwanted apps installed in the phone which drain the battery without your knowledge.

Also Read: How to stop 5G battery drain in iPhone and Android

Major causes of battery drain in Android Phones

Some of the major reasons for Android phone die fast due to battery drain are the following.

  • Lot of unwanted apps installed and keep them running in the background.
  • Leaving the location access ON for all apps even if they do not need it
  • Slow launchers used in Android
  • Old operating system used
  • Continuous push notifications from apps which turns on the screen each time they arrive.
  • Installing resource hungry applications and games.
  • Using beta apps

To solve these issue, you must analyze the apps and settings in your Android phone and change it so that the battery drain does not happen when phone is left idle.

Also Read: Steps to disable Google Assistant on Android

How to stop battery drain in Android phones

First, we can look into some of the main culprits that have been causing battery drain in Android phones for a long time.

Location services

Apps that are installed in an Android phone ask for permission to access location. Some of them do not need it, but still it is prompt. While installing the app, we do not notice it and give permission for the access.

Location settings in Android

Location services are called each time an app is accessed or when it runs in the background. It helps the app to provide your data or service based on the location that you are in. To get your present location, they use GPS in your phone, which needs battery to work. If this is not noticed, it will keep draining your battery.

First thing to do here is to find the app which is draining the most battery without you even using it. Android provide this detail in the battery settings. Once you have tracked the app, check if it really needs location access. If no, then disable the location service for the app.

To disable location service for an app, follow these steps.

Settings > Location > App Permission > Select a specific app. > Allow or deny the service.

Update Android to the latest version

There are people who do not care about Android updates and keep using their phone with some version of Android with which it came. This is a serious problem and could cause a lot of issues. Apps that you install in your Android phone keep updating using Google Play Store, and they sometimes become incompatible with the version of Android.

This causes the apps to keep reloading in the background as the services may fail. Each time an app reloads, it consumes a chunk of battery. Overtime, this could cause your battery life to reduce, needing you to charge the phone multiple times a day.

Also Read: Android 14 Beta 1 will focus on privacy, Security, performance and customization

If there is any bug related to battery drain in older version of Android OS that you are using now, the company might have pushed a fix with the latest update. Once you update to the latest version, the battery drain issue will be fixed in that case. I personally suggest keeping the Android version up to date in your phone.

To update Android version, follow the steps

Go to Settings > About Phone > Software update > Check if you have a newer version to download. If yes, proceed with the download and install it.

Reducing animations in phone interface

This is an easy fix as it comes as a built-in setting in any Android OS version. Animations looks cool in a phone screen, but they tax the GPU of the phone, which consumes battery. GPU is a hardware that deals with all the gaming and smooth animations and transitions in your phone.

If you reduce the animations and transitions, the usage of GPU will reduce while you normally use a phone, reducing the battery consumption.

Reduce animations in Android

To reduce or disable animations, follow the steps below. I will not suggest disabling animations as it will spoil the experience of using any phone. It’s better to reduce the animation scale.

Also Read: How to make 4G and 5G faster on Android and iPhone

Animation scale can be reduced in developer options in any Android phone.

Following are the steps to enable developer options.

Go to Settings > About Phone > Find the build number > Tap it for 10 times > Now you will see a message showing “Developer options are enabled”.

Once done, go to developer options. Find the Windows Animation scale, Transition animation scale and Animator duration scale options.

Switch the value to “.5x” for all these settings. Once done, go back and check the change in animations speed in your phone.

Continuous push notifications from apps

Getting notified quickly is good, but if those notifications keep appearing from apps that you do not need is a bit irritating. Some apps that you install in Android phones promote ads by push notifications. For this, they ask permission to access notifications while installation.

Stop push notifications for apps

If you have given the permission, they keep sending notifications to your phone. This is irritating, and also it will cause battery drain. Each time you receive a notification, it turns ON the display of your phone. Display is one of the highest battery using hardware in your phone.

Also Read: How to speed up Android phones

When ever the display turns on, it stays ON for some time-consuming the battery. Think if this happens multiple time, there is no other reason for battery drain to happen.

To avoid this, you can disable push notification in specific apps that are not needed to send notifications. The process to do this is easy, follow the steps below.

Go to Settings > Apps > Click on a specific app > Find notification setting for that app > A switch saying “Show Notifications” will be available > Turn that off.

Installing beta apps

Many app developers provide options for the users to download beta version of their apps so that they can verify if the new changes added work properly. Beta version of apps could have a lot of bugs which could create problems in your phone.

It could also cause battery drain as the services will not be properly managed. Until you are sure about the developer and get any feedback from other people who have used the beta version of the app, avoid installing them.

Reboot your Android phone once in a while

This is my personal suggestion and it really works. Once in a week or so, do not forget to restart the phone, which will close all the unwanted services in the background and also clear the RAM. This will not only improve the battery life of the phone, but also make the phone more responsive.

Kiran Sankar
Kiran Sankar

I am a software engineer crazy about technology and gadget. I like knowing about the latest technologies and the way they work. I created this website to share my knowledge on latest tech and products so that it would help you guys find out what is the best for you and decide for your purchase. We have included products from Amazon and Flipkart in here for you to select.