Your New Phone Battery Dying Too Fast? Here's How I Fixed Mine

Got a new phone but the battery's dead by lunchtime? Yeah, I had the same problem.

Three months ago, I bought a brand new smartphone. By 2 PM every day, I was scrambling to find a charger. I thought maybe I got a bad phone, but turns out, I was just using it wrong.

Let me show you what I learned and how I fixed it.

What's Actually Eating Your Battery?

Your phone is basically a tiny computer doing a million things at once. Most of these things happen without you even knowing.

Here's what was killing my battery:

Apps I wasn't even using. I'd close Facebook, but it was still running. Checking for new posts, downloading updates, doing stuff in the background.

My screen was too bright. I kept it on max brightness everywhere I went. Big mistake. Your screen uses more battery than anything else on your phone.

Everything was tracking my location. Weather apps, shopping apps, games—all watching where I was going, all the time.

Fancy screen features. My phone had this super smooth scrolling thing (120Hz). Looks cool, drains battery fast.

👉Also Read: Mobile Slow? 10 Easy Ways to Increase Phone Speed

What I Did to Fix It (That Actually Worked)

Step 1: Find Out What's Draining Your Battery

Go to your phone settings and look for "Battery." You'll see a list of apps and how much battery they're using.

When I checked mine, TikTok was using 18% of my battery and I only watched videos for like 20 minutes that day. Instagram was at 12%. That's crazy.

Step 2: Stop Apps from Running in the Background

This made the biggest difference for me.

If you have an Android phone:

• Go to Settings
• Tap Apps
• Pick the app that's draining battery
• Tap Battery
• Choose "Restricted"

If you have an iPhone:

• Go to Settings
• Tap General
• Tap Background App Refresh
• Turn it off for apps you don't need updating all the time

I turned this off for social media, shopping apps, and games. My battery life immediately got better.

Step 3: Stop Apps from Tracking Your Location

Unless you're actually using maps or Uber right now, apps don't need to know where you are.

Go to Settings, find Location (on iPhone it's under Privacy), and change apps from "Always" to "Only While Using."

I changed this for everything except Google Maps and Uber. Easy fix.

Step 4: Turn Down Your Screen Brightness

I know this sounds obvious, but seriously, do it.

I used to keep my brightness at 100% everywhere. Now I keep it around 50% or just use auto-brightness. You get used to it fast, and your battery lasts way longer.

Step 5: Use Battery Saver Mode Sooner

Don't wait until your phone hits 5%. I turn on battery saver when I'm at 30-40%, especially if I know I won't be near a charger for a while.

It slows some things down, but it buys you several extra hours.

Step 6: Keep Your Phone Updated

I used to ignore those update notifications. Don't do that.

Phone companies fix battery problems with updates. In January this year, Google released an update that fixed battery drain issues on Pixel phones. Apple does the same thing.

Just update your phone when it asks you to.

Step 7: Close Apps You Never Use

Go through your apps and delete ones you haven't used in months. Even if you're not opening them, some are still using battery in the background.

I deleted like 20 apps I downloaded once and forgot about. Cleared up space and helped my battery.

When Your Battery Is Actually Broken

Sometimes it's not the settings—your battery is just worn out.

Phone batteries get weaker over time. After two years, they're usually at about 80-85% health. After three years, more like 75%.

Check your battery health in settings. If it's below 80%, these tips won't help much. You need a new battery.

Most phone repair shops can replace it for around $50-100. Way cheaper than buying a new phone.

What Worked Best for Me

After trying all this stuff, here's what made the biggest difference:

1. Turning off background refresh for social media apps
2. Lowering my screen brightness to 50%
3. Changing location settings from "Always" to "While Using"

Those three things alone added about 3-4 hours to my battery life. Now I get through a whole day and still have 20-30% left when I go to bed.

My Advice

Start with the easy stuff first. Don't try to do everything at once.

Today, just turn off background refresh for your three most-used apps. Tomorrow, fix your location settings. The day after, adjust your brightness.

Your phone should last all day. Mine does now, and I'm using the same phone that was dying by 2 PM three months ago.

The battery was never the problem. It was all the stuff running in the background that I didn't know about.

Fix those things, and you'll be good to go.