5 Apps Eating Your Phone’s Battery

You’re on the bus trying to reach for an important appointment. Suddenly you receive a call from the person you’re going to meet but as you’re about to receive the call, your phone dies due to a battery drain-out. What would be your feeling—frustration, confusion? And to add to it, the bus breaks down half way. Utter panic! All of those feelings could be avoided if you could just receive that call to find out what that person wanted to tell you. Is the appointment cancelled? Is it postponed? Have you lost out on an opportunity because you’re so very late? If only you could inform them what situation you were stuck in. But how would you? You’re phone is dead!

Okay, enough of the dramatics. What I'm trying to reach at is that even the best of phones are of no use if they don’t have enough juice to run on. If you can’t put your phone to use when it’s most needed, what’s the point of carrying around one? But then, phone batteries die; that’s just the way it is. There’s nothing anyone can do except ensure they’re always fully charged or carry around a power bank. Right?

Well actually, there is something more you can do.

Did you know that some of the apps installed on your phone are the real culprits behind its quick drain-out? It’s true! According to a new report by Avast (the anti-virus giant), some of the most popular mobile apps contribute to eating away your phone’s battery. If you have these apps running 24x7, it won’t matter how powerful the battery installed on your phone is or how frequently you charge it. It will never last as long as it ideally should. So if you can manage without them, I advise you to quit or force kill such apps whenever you spot your phone entering the “red” zone.

Want to know which apps these are? Before you read on, be warned that some of the most frequently used apps are on this list.

1. WhatsApp Messenger

Ever since it was launched, WhatsApp has been a craze among all age groups. Country and language barriers aside, this free one-to-one messaging app is probably the most widely used mobile phone app to ever be developed. Thanks to it, you can see people glued to their mobile screens at any free second they can find. And the situation is only aggravating with the launch of new feature additions to it every now and then. While it is a lot of fun, constantly running the WhatsApp messenger is one of the quickest ways to drain your phone’s battery.

2. Facebook

If WhatsApp made the list, this entry should be expected. Facebook, the social networking platform that has taken the world by storm, isn’t far behind WhatsApp when it comes to the capability of eating your phone’s battery. Checking your wall for updates from friends, refreshing it every now and then, and the desire to be the first one to like a new post/picture, all contribute to your phone quickly draining out.

3. Snapchat

Who doesn’t love the doggy face and princess filters from Snapchat! But Snapchat is quite a heavy app that takes a toll on your phone’s memory as well as battery when it’s running. Moreover, with every cute picture created with one of the many filters you send, a small portion of your phone’s internal storage gets clogged up. Yes, it consumes the memory, internal storage, as well as the battery. So it won’t be wrong to say that this app is one of the worst offenders on this list. Don’t believe us? Go to settings -> mobile data and monitor the “Snapchat effect” on your phone. Don’t say I didn’t give you a heads up!

4. Amazon Shopping

Okay, you might want to argue that unlike the above mentioned messaging and social networking apps, Amazon only runs when you run it, but it is actually a life-drainer for your phone. That’s because the Amazon Shopping app isn’t well optimized for Android. If you chart the amount of battery it uses when it’s running with the same for other apps, Amazon will rank higher; meaning that it uses up quite a lot of your phone’s battery when it is in action. Secondly, Amazon related processes run in the background making you oblivious to their presence. They’re like email and weather apps, which always stay on. The difference is that those apps are quite light and optimized for your phone so they don’t meddle with things. Contrarily, Amazon does.

5. Netflix

Do you double-up your phone as an anytime entertainment screen? Like watching TV shows and movies on it, is it? Well, you’re probably aware of it but I’ll say it anyway. You’re doing exactly what needs to be done to kill your phone’s battery at a lightning speed rate. Watching videos with full sound consumes a major chunk of your phone’s battery when you’re at it. So unless you carry around a fully charged power bank, be ready to wait for the next episode of your favorite show until you can charge your phone.

And if you’re thinking that’s all, it most certainly isn’t. There are a ton of other apps like Outlook, News, Google Maps, Spotify, Instagram, etc. which play their part in draining your phone’s battery.

Wrapping Things Up

With so many popular apps on this sort-of scary list, does one have to miss out on all the fun? Not exactly! You can keep using your favorite apps and still save some battery by keeping a few things in mind.

1. If you can, uninstall the app itself from the phone and keep a shortcut to its website on your phone. That way you get to use it without making your phone pay the price.
2. When using an app like Netflix, try turning down the screen brightness whenever possible. It will not just save some of your phone’s energy, but also give your eyes some relief.
3. Make an attempt to put a limit on live streaming and download through your phone. You can use your laptop for those purposes and transfer the data to your phone.
4. And finally, turn off the notifications and background refresh of all non-critical apps.

Hope these tips help.