How To Get More Battery Life from Your Apple and Android Smartphones and Tablets

In the good ole days of flip phones, your battery would last days on end. All you needed was a car charger for those rare moments you had to plug your phone in to give it a jolt of power. With current smartphones, you're lucky if you can go a single day without charging your phone which leads most of us carrying around an assortment of charger cords and battery packs. One of the major questions people ask me is how to improve battery life on smartphones and tablets and as luck would have it, there is. Here are some of the top ways to improve battery life on your phones and tablets.

1. Lower The Screen Brightness. That bright screen on your device is the major reason why your battery drains so quickly. The downside to the higher resolutions that newer smartphones and tablets have is they require so much power. You can always go into the settings of your device and turn down the brightness. Apple and Android phones have an Automatic Brightness setting that will adjust the brightness of your phone depending on how much or how little light is in the area you are in. If you want to save some battery life, you should turn off that setting and adjust your screen brightness manually.

2. Shut down some of those apps in the Background. One of the most misunderstood features of modern smartphones and tablets is how apps work. Just because you exit out of an app on your devices doesn't mean it's closed. Apps running in the background will zap the life out of your battery. Close those apps down when you're done rather than letting them run. On all smartphones and tablets, just swipe up on an app to close it completely. If you have problems with doing this, just simply power down your device once in a while. Doing so will give your smartphone or tablet a much needed breather.

3. Use Lower Power Mode. Another cool feature of Apple and Android devices is low power mode. This is probably the best way to save your battery as it automatically adjusts settings on your devices to make sure you are getting the best battery life. When you set your device in lower mode, it will work normally. You just won't have those fancy features like screen animations and other power-draining features working in the background.

4. Limit Your Video and Game usage. You're guilty of it and so am I. We all play the occasional game on our devices to pass the time and most of you are using your phone to stream your favorite episodes of 'New Girl', but you probably didn't know those apps chew up battery life. If you're out and about with little to no access to a charger, you probably want to curb the video and game playing.

Are You Still Having Battery Issues?

If you're still having battery issues after following my tips, it may be time for a new battery for your device or time to replace the device. Your smart device battery has a limited lifespan and they get weaker the more your use your phone and tablet. It's generally stated that you should replace your smartphone and tablet every two years ... but with the prices of these devices, you want to avoid that if at all possible. If you take care of your devices, you should look more towards replacing your device every 4-5 years.

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