Most Android battery advice tells you what to switch off. It skips the step that matters: finding out what is actually draining the battery on your phone.
Checked on Android 15, Pixel and Samsung One UI 7. Menu names shift slightly between manufacturer skins; the settings are the same ones underneath.
1. Look at the data first
Settings > Battery > Battery usage.
You get a list of apps ordered by how much battery each consumed since the last full charge, split into foreground and background use.
Read it properly:
- High usage, mostly foreground - that is not a problem. That is you using your phone.
- High usage, mostly background - this is the one. An app consuming meaningfully while you were not using it is doing something it probably does not need to.
- Google Play Services high - usually a symptom, not a cause. Something is requesting a lot of location or sync through it.
Change nothing until one app clearly stands out.
2. Restrict that one app
Tap the offending app in that list, or go to Settings > Apps > [app] > Battery, and choose:
- Restricted - stops background work almost entirely.
- Optimised - the default; Android decides.
- Unrestricted - never limited. Reserve this for alarms and messaging apps you cannot afford to miss.
Set the offender to Restricted.
Know what this costs. A restricted app may deliver notifications late or not at all until you open it. That is the trade you are making, and it is the correct trade for a shopping app and the wrong one for your messaging app.
3. Check location permissions on the same app
Background drain is very often location. Settings > Location > App location permissions.
Anything set to Allow all the time that does not need to be - navigation, fitness tracking, find-my-device are the legitimate cases - should be Allow only while using the app.
This one change frequently does more than any battery setting.
4. Leave Adaptive Battery on
Settings > Battery > Adaptive Battery. It learns which apps you use and defers background work for the ones you do not.
It needs a few days of data after a reset or a system update. Leave it on and leave it alone.
What not to do
- Do not install a battery saver app. It has to run continuously to work, which costs the battery it claims to save, and it has no capability the built-in settings lack.
- Do not force-close apps from recents habitually. Cold-starting an app costs more power than resuming it.
- Do not restrict everything. You will end up with a phone whose notifications arrive hours late, and you will not know which restriction caused it.
If nothing stands out in the list
If usage is spread evenly with no obvious offender, the battery itself may be the issue. On a phone more than about two years old, check the battery health figure in your manufacturer’s diagnostics app - a worn cell shows up as normal usage draining an abnormal percentage.
Questions people also ask
Do battery saver apps actually work on Android?
Almost never. Android already suspends background work through Doze and App Standby. A third-party saver has to run constantly to do its job, which costs battery, and it cannot do anything the built-in settings do not already do.
What is the difference between Optimised and Restricted?
Optimised is the default and lets Android decide when the app may run in the background. Restricted stops it running in the background almost entirely - which saves the most battery and is also the most likely to delay or stop notifications from that app.
Why does Google Play Services always show high battery usage?
Because it does work on behalf of other apps - location, sync, push notifications - and that usage is attributed to it rather than to the app that requested it. High Play Services usage usually means some other app is requesting a lot of location or sync, not that Play Services itself is faulty.
Does closing apps from the recents screen save battery?
No, and it can cost battery. Android suspends backgrounded apps already; force-closing means the app has to cold-start next time, which uses more power than resuming it would have.
Why is my battery worse right after a system update?
Apps re-index and re-optimise after an update, and the system re-learns usage patterns for Adaptive Battery. Give it two or three full charge cycles before concluding the update caused a permanent regression.