Three ways to boost battery life

The batteries that power today's tech aren't getting dramatically better any time soon, but there are things you can do to eke more life out of the ones you have now.

Ian Sherr

Ian Sherr (he/him/his) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he's always had a connection to the tech world. As an editor at large at CNET, he wrote about Apple, Microsoft, VR, video games and internet troubles. Aside from writing, he tinkers with tech at home, is a longtime fencer -- the kind with swords -- and began woodworking during the pandemic.

See full bio

Shara Tibken Former managing editor

Shara Tibken was a managing editor at CNET News, overseeing a team covering tech policy, EU tech, mobile and the digital divide. She previously covered mobile as a senior reporter at CNET and also wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. Shara is a native Midwesterner who still prefers "pop" over "soda."

See full bio

Ian Sherr

Shara Tibken

Dec. 2, 2014 5:00 a.m. PT

1 of 3 Sharon Vaknin and Jason Cipriani/CNET

Turn down your screen brightness

The biggest battery hog in a device? Typically, the screen. Turn down the brightness level when you can. Some new phones, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S5, have settings that turn the display to a black-and-white mode to consume less power. If you need even more juice, shut off wireless connections such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

2 of 3 NASA/SDO

Stay out of the sun or the snow

Batteries are like you or I: they don’t like working in extreme conditions. Don’t place devices in the sun or leave them locked in a car during the summer. If you do, the device might refuse to function, saying it needs to rest and cool off before you can get back to reading the latest gossip about the British royals.

3 of 3

Exercise: It’s good for your gadgets, too

It used to be you had to discharge your battery all the way every time you used it. That went away in the 1990s when we started using lithium-ion. Even so, it’s still a good idea to exercise a battery once a month: run it until the device turns off, and then charge it until full. That will keep it charging up to capacity.