How to Extend Your Google Pixel’s Battery Life

There are a lot of great things to say about the Google Pixel if you’re shopping for an Android phone. But you’ll want to start off strong by preserving your Google Pixel’s battery life! These are the best ways to save battery life whether you need your phone to last longer in the day or make it last through the years.

Maximizing Google Pixel’s Battery Life

If your Google Pixel’s battery life isn’t long enough to get through the day, and you don’t have access to a charger when you need it, there are a few ways to get every bit of juice out of your phone as you can.

Reduce Screen Settings

Screen brightness is one of the most power-hungry aspects of your phone when it comes to daily use. Simply lowering the brightness slider can save you a significant amount of time. Do you really need your device at full brightness the entire day anyways? Adaptive brightness helps when you don’t remember, but it is of course less precise than adjusting it yourself.

Dark mode can also help. Go to Display, then select Dark Theme. This can be easier on the eyes, especially in dark environments, but it also uses less battery to display the black and grey backgrounds as compared to white. You can also do this for all of your apps if they do not automatically change with the phone setting.

Live wallpapers are animated backgrounds for your phone. They may look cool, but they also are a constant drain on your battery life. Disable these to get more out of your Pixel’s battery.

You can also turn off your always-on lock screen and let reduce the screen timeout time so that your phone turns off sooner while idle.

Stop Apps From Running in the Background

Whether you’re trying to conserve battery on your iPhone or your Google Pixel, a big issue is background apps. The Google Pixel has 3 options for apps running in the background. They can either use the battery however they see fit, not use the battery at all, or the phone can determine how to best optimize applications for battery life. This last option is the default, but it may not work perfectly with all applications. If you’re finding that some apps still suck back a lot of power, there are still options for you.

Go to your settings then to your list of apps. Tap on the app that is having power issues. On the app details page, tap on Battery, then change the mode to Restricted. This will prevent it from using the battery in the background. Just make sure this is what you want. Some apps and the notification they send may not work properly if they are restricted. Only use this for apps that you exclusively utilize when the app is open.

Update Your Apps

if an app is draining your battery, it could be an issue that will be fixed in the future. This is why it’s important to keep your apps updated! Earlier in 2022, there was a bug in the Google Messages app that caused a massive battery drain. These kinds of things happen, but developers are often faster to fix them if enough users complain. The same goes for your phone OS. Keep your operating system and security patches updated so you can hopefully avoid any Android-related battery drain issues.

Change from 5G to LTE

The speed of 5G is great, but using it may come with an additional drain on battery life. If 5G is cutting into your battery, and using it isn’t essential for you, it’s easy to change to LTE. Go to your network settings, tap on SIMs, then on Preferred Network Type. Change from 5G to LTE.

Maximizing Google Pixel’s Battery Lifespan

If you don’t plan on upgrading your smartphone every year, you’ll probably want to treat your phone battery well enough that it can keep maintaining a charge for years to come. If you treat your battery poorly, then you’ll have less capacity day-to-day, meaning you’ll have to charge your phone even more!

Charge in Small Increments

Recent knowledge shows that consumer phone batteries – or really anything powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries – will last longer if they are charged with some specific rules in mind. Experts suggest never letting your battery go below 20% charge or above 80% charge.

Not only that, but short charging sessions are better than long ones. If you can charge in increments of 10%, that is healthier than charging from 20% to 80% in one sitting. This can help your battery live a much longer life. The battery will eventually wear down and lose capacity over time, but following these charging rules can extend your Google Pixel’s battery life.

Keep it Cool

Google recommends keeping your phone as cool as possible. Even if you’re not using your phone, a hot battery will drain faster than a cool one. Heat-based drain like this can cause long-term damage to your battery. This is even more true when it’s charging, and that’s also when your Google Pixel can get the warmest. This is yet another reason why it’s useful to charge in small increments. If your phone doesn’t get a chance to warm up, then it can’t get too hot – it’s just obvious!

Charge Steadily Overnight

Starting with the Pixel 4, Google Pixel phones have the ability to intelligently charge overnight in a way that preserves long-term battery health. When you charge your phone between 9PM and 4AM and have an alarm set for between 3-10AM, your phone can use Adaptive charging. This setting uses your set alarm to charge your phone right before you wake up. This is in contrast to putting your phone on the charger and having it butting up against 100% all night. This setting may be on by default, but you can check by going into the Battery settings and tapping Adaptive Preferences.