If you’re finding that your Android phone regularly burns through its battery life too quickly, forcing you to have to plug in and refuel partway through the day, you’re not alone. Despite advances in battery technology and energy efficiency, there are still plenty of ways for your phone to lose power faster than you’d like. Thankfully, there are some ways to claw that juice back.
There are a bunch of Android settings that actually use a fair bit of power, and a lot of them are only useful in specific circumstances. Turning them off means you can save battery life, and the more settings you alter, the more energy you end up saving — which in turn keeps your phone active for longer. Here are the best hidden Android settings you can switch off to help save your battery life.
Turn off Mobile data always active
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Your Android phone will always stay connected to cellular data, even if you’re connected to a stable Wi-Fi network. The idea is that if you disconnect from Wi-Fi, you’re still connected to 4G or 5G without any delay or break in connection. This does use power, though, which is why you should switch it off.
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If you do switch from Wi-Fi to cell data, there is going to be a small delay as your phone reconnects to cell data. It lasts around 10 seconds, which isn’t a lot to deal with, but it is worth bearing in mind.
Head to Settings > System > Developer Options > Mobile data always active, then toggle that setting off. There’s a lot in the Developer Options menu, so take it slow as you scroll down. The right toggle can be found in the Networking section
If you don’t know how to access developer options, be sure to check out our guide on how to enable Android developer options.
Switch off 5G
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Depending on the phone you have and the efficiency of its modem, 5G could be using up more power than a 4G connection would. That’s especially important if you live in an area with weak 5G coverage or miss out on the super-fast mmWave 5G connections.
Head to Settings > Network (or Connections) > SIM > Select your SIM > Preferred Network Type > 4G/LTE
Disable Always on Display
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The Always on Display can be useful, and it looks good if you set it up correctly. But considering the display uses up more power than any other part of your phone, keeping it switched on all the time can drain your battery very quickly. So switch it off if you want to preserve battery life for as long as possible.
Head to Settings > Display > Always on Display and toggle off the Always on Display. This will switch your screen off whenever your phone is sleeping, and means it can’t drain excess power.
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Turn off Now Playing (Pixel phones)
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The Pixel equivalent of Shazam is Now Playing, a tool that automatically listens to your surroundings and identifies songs that you come into contact with. Obviously, the constant listening is a power drain, and all for a feature you don’t remember is there 95% of the time.
Head to Settings > Display > Lock Screen > Now Playing and toggle off the Identify songs playing nearby option. If your Pixel has the Now Playing app, you can open it, then head to the settings menu and toggle off the Use Now Playing toggle.
Turn on dark mode
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Your phone almost certainly has an OLED display, which simulates the color black by cutting power to relevant areas of the screen. So by using Dark Mode, you’re saving a little bit of power by adding more black to the interface.
Access to this depends on your phone, but here’s the easy way: Go to Settings > Display and look for something like Colors or Dark Mode. Some phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S26, have dark mode settings right at the top of the display menu. Whatever way your phone actually handles things, make sure that Dark Mode is switched on all the time.
Turn on Adaptive Battery
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This is another feature that is hidden in the depths of your phone’s Battery menu, in a spot that varies from device to device. So my advice is to use the Settings menu search function and look for Adaptive Battery. Toggle this feature on when you find it.
Adaptive battery learns how you use your phone, and can optimize different apps and reduce the amount of power they use. This can degrade performance and delay notifications but it does mean that over time your phone should become more power efficient.
Lower the resolution and refresh rate
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As nice as it is to have a high-resolution screen with super-smooth refresh rates, those features do burn through a lot more power. Lowering your maximum resolution and refresh rate can save you some energy and help keep your phone alive for longer.
Go into the Settings menu, then head to Display and look for two options: Screen resolution and something along the lines of Smooth display or motion smoothness. Different manufacturers have different names for the different display modes, but you’ll want to pick the lowest resolution and refresh rate options given to you.
Turn off Bluetooth scanning
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Your phone’s Bluetooth is always looking for devices around it, and that functionality isn’t free. So if you’re desperate to save power, you’ll want to switch this off. Again, this is a feature that could be found in lots of different places, including Location services and Connections
In this instance, it’s easiest to just search for a setting called nearby device scanning or Bluetooth scanning and toggle it off. Just remember that the downside is that your phone won’t be as visible and won’t automatically ping other Bluetooth devices, which could extend the pairing and connection process.
However, turning off Bluetooth scanning enables your phone to use less Bluetooth energy without having to turn off Bluetooth altogether, which lets you continue to use Bluetooth devices like headphones unimpeded.
Turn on adaptive brightness and screen timeout
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Some of the simplest things you can do to save battery life are also some of the best. Since your display is the thing that uses up the most power, the best thing you can do is reduce how long it’s on and how bright it actually is. So make sure that adaptive brightness is switched on and your screen timeout is set up to ensure it will actually turn off for extended periods of inactivity.
You can access both these settings by heading to Settings > Display, then toggling on Adaptive Brightness. This adjusts your display to best match the ambient light, which means it’ll never be too bright.
From there, select the Screen timeout option, and set the timer that best suits your needs.
Android may recommend setting it to a single minute, but you have options all the way up to half an hour on most devices. Some phones even have an adaptive timeout feature, which will turn off your display if you’re not actively using the phone.
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