How to optimise the battery life on a Galaxy smartphone

Galaxy phones are designed to offer high performance and excellent battery life. However, battery life depends on how the battery is used and different devices have different battery life. To find out how to optimise the battery on your phone try following some of our tips.

How to optimise the battery life on a Galaxy smartphone

General tips:

  • When charging your phone for the first time, wait for the battery to be fully charged.
  • Aim to keep your smartphone between 20-80% charged (you don't need to wait for the battery to run out of charge completely before charging your phone).
  • Install the latest software version and keep apps updated. These updates may contain important battery-related improvements and can fix known malfunctions.

Please note: The steps and images shown in this FAQ may vary between devices. If the steps do not match your device try and follow the closest match on your device.

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The easiest way to save power is to turn on Power saving from the swipe down menu. 

You can also check the battery consumption data directly from the Galaxy device menu:

1 Go to Settings.
2 Tap on Battery and device care or Device care depending on your device.
3 Tap Battery.

Long screen time-out settings or high display brightness can substantially reduce the battery. To save battery, consider lowering your brightness setting, deactivating auto-brightness, reducing the sleep timeout setting and adjusting your screen resolution and wallpaper.

  • Use display standby: Put the display on standby every time you don’t need it by pressing the Power button.
The Power button is located on the right site in most Galaxy smartphones
  • Reduce "Screen timeout" delay:  You can decide how long the screen remains active after the last touch. The screen timeout is set to 30 seconds by default. You can choose between several settings in a range from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Go to Settings > Display > Screen timeout.
Screenshot of the Screen timeout menu on a Galaxy smartphone
  • Change the Always On Display settings: Go to Settings > Lock screen > Always On Display > tap the switch to on.
  • Reduce screen brightness: Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the quick panel, then use the slider to adjust the brightness. Alternatively, go to Settings > Display.
Display menu on a Galaxy smartphone
  • Deactivate auto-brightness: Go to Settings > Display > Deactivate Adaptive brightness.
  • Activate Dark Mode: If device has AMOLED display, switch to Dark Mode. If you are using a previous Android version, the function may be called “Night mode”. Go to Settings > Display.
Dark mode is activated on a Galaxy smartphone
  • Reduce sleep timeout setting: Go to Settings > Display > Advanced > Sleep.
  • Reduce the screen resolution: Go to Settings > Display > Change screen resolution.
Screen resolution settings are displayed. Three options are available: HD plus, FHD plus and WQHD plus
  • Activate "Accidental touch protection": Prevent your phone from taking unintentional action while holding it in your pocket. Go to Settings > Display.
  • Check your wallpaper: Live wallpapers can reduce battery life. Regular wallpapers are more battery-friendly. If device has an AMOLED display, dark wallpapers help with battery life. Go to Settings > Wallpaper.

To save battery, choose the features that you would like to activate or deactivate according to your usage. For example:

  • Deactivate Bluetooth when it's not in use.
  • Deactivate Wi-Fi when you're not using it or when you are using mobile data instead.
  • Deactivate GPS or improve its accuracy.
  • Activate Flight Mode when you're not using the phone connectivity.
  • Disable applications running in the background, which may continue to operate or update which will consume battery.


To access these options quickly:

1 Swipe down the top of the screen to reveal the Quick panel.
2 Tap the relevant icon to activate or deactivate.
3 To improve the GPS precision, tap and hold Location, then tap Improve accuracy.
Location icon

Battery optimisation

Battery optimisation takes place automatically every day and allows you to keep the performance of the device at its best. It carries out several actions:

  • Storage cleaning.
  • Delete unused files and close applications running in the background.
  • Manage the battery usage when it is not compliant.
  • Search for blocked applications and malware.

 

To optimise the battery manually, go to Settings > Device care > Optimise now.

You can also set your device to automatically optimise your device. From the Device care menu:

1 Tap the options icon.
2 Tap Automation.
3 Tap the Auto optimise daily switch to turn on or off
4 To customise when your phone performs optimisation, tap on the Auto optimise daily text.
5 Tap on Time to choose when optimisation occurs.

Power Modes

1 Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the Quick panel.
2 Tap and hold the Power mode icon.
3 Select your preferred Power mode.


The power savings options available depend on your device and the version of Android it is running. In the latest models, you can choose between the following:

  • High performance: high system speed
  • Optimised: recommended balance of performance and battery life
  • Medium power saving: extend battery life by limiting some functions
  • Maximum power saving: save as much battery as possible
Available Power mode options are displayed

Background usage limits

You can use this setting to limit how much battery power selected apps use. From the Device care menu:

1 Tap Battery.
2 Tap Background usage limits.
3 From this page choose from Sleeping apps, Deep sleeping apps and Never sleeping apps to decide which apps you want to limit. Apps that are put to sleep use less battery power as they are prevented from operating in the background.

The Samsung S22 brings new power-saving features designed to maximise the battery life of your phone. 

1 Swipe down the top of the screen to reveal the Quick panel.
2 Tap and hold the Power mode icon.
3 Adjust the power settings according to your preference.

From the settings page:

1 Tap on Battery and device care.
2 Tap Battery.
3 Tap More battery settings.
Within More battery settings there are a number of features available for battery optimisation. 
  • Adaptive battery: Limits the battery usage for apps that you do not often use.
  • Processing speed: This can be adjusted between Optimised, High and Maximum. Using Optimised takes less strain on the battery and saves power.
  • Protect battery: This limits the maximum charge on your phone to 85%, increasing the lifespan of your battery, meaning your charge will last longer.

For more information on how to look after your device read our FAQ on What is Device Care and how to use it.

 

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