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You look down at your smartphone in surprise. You swear you just charged it up to full, but the battery power is already plummeting toward the bottom. What is going on? Why is your battery draining so rapidly?
These are some problems that could be draining your battery’s power faster than you’d like.
Apps
What apps are you using right now? Those apps just might be draining your battery.
Some of the top battery-draining apps include Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. So, if you’re scrolling through social media for long periods of time, your phone’s power will drop quickly. Dating apps like Tinder and Bumble are also major culprits of this problem. If you’re spending time swiping through profiles and chatting up fellow singles, your phone might not stay powered for very long.
Check your settings to investigate the battery usage from apps. You’ll see which ones are taking up the most power on your device.
What can you do to fix this battery drain from apps?
- Turn off your location/GPS access for apps.
- Turn off or restrict background data from apps.
- Turn off notifications from apps.
- Turn off automatic downloads from apps.
- Limit your use of these apps if you can.
- Try to use battery-draining apps when you have access to WiFi instead of depending on your data.
Screen Brightness
The brighter your screen, the more battery your smartphone uses up. So, if your screen is lit up to the highest degree, go into your phone’s settings and reduce the screen’s brightness as much as possible. Or you can enable a feature like “Dark Mode” or “Night Mode.”At the very least, schedule these low-brightness features for certain times, like in the evenings. Your phone doesn’t need to be super bright when you’re winding down after a long day.
Degraded Battery
It might not be your fault that your battery is draining so quickly. It might be draining quickly because it’s dying. This is likely the answer if your smartphone isn’t close to new. Typically, batteries last for 2 to 3 years before they degrade. So, if your smartphone has crossed that timeline, your battery’s performance is indicating that it’s in desperate need of a replacement.
How can, you be sure? There are some things that you can do to confirm your suspicions. First, troubleshoot the problems above. If none of the solutions seem to fix your battery, then you can assume that its shorter lifespan has nothing to do with your apps or screen brightness.
Second, you can check the health status of your battery through your smartphone settings. It will let you know whether your battery’s status is normal or weak. If it’s weak, you have confirmation that it’s degrading in quality and needs an upgrade.
Battery Replacement Costs
Battery replacement is fairly inexpensive in comparison to other types of smartphone repairs (like screen repair). The cost is often $100 or less out of pocket, even when you don’t have any coverage through an extended warranty program. So, can probably manage this surprise tech repair with the help of your emergency fund.
What if you don’t have enough in your emergency fund—or worse, you don’t have an emergency fund at all? In that case, you might need to consider a small personal loan online. It’s one of the most effective options to borrow small amounts and then make repayments afterward. If you get approved for the loan, you could use the borrowed amount to pay off your urgent repair quickly. When your smartphone is repaired and given a brand-new battery, you could start a loan repayment plan where you give back what you borrowed bit by bit.
Fixing these problems will save your phone’s battery. You won’t have to think about charging it for ages!
