Samsung Battery Draining Too Fast? 10 Fixes That Work

You charge your Galaxy to 100% in the morning. By 2pm you're at 30%. By dinner you're hunting for an outlet. Samsung phones have great battery hardware, but a few default settings can absolutely kill that battery if you don't tweak them.

1. Check Battery Health first

Samsung added a battery health indicator in 2024. Find it: Settings > Battery and device care > Battery > Battery information (or "Battery health" on newer models).

• Good / Excellent: Battery is fine, look at settings.
• Normal / Fair: Aging, may need replacement soon.
• Replace battery / Poor: The fixes below won't help much. Get the battery replaced ($59-$99 at Samsung).

2. Turn off Always On Display

Always On Display shows the time and notifications even when the phone is "off." Looks cool, costs hours of battery per day.

Settings > Lock screen > Always On Display > toggle off. Or set it to "Tap to show" so it only appears when you tap the screen.

3. Drop the refresh rate from 120Hz to 60Hz

Newer Galaxy phones default to a smooth 120Hz screen, which looks great but uses noticeably more battery. If you're not gaming or scrolling endlessly, you won't miss 60Hz.

Settings > Display > Motion smoothness > Standard (60Hz). You'll get 1-3 extra hours of battery on most days.

4. Find the rogue app draining battery

Settings > Battery and device care > Battery. Scroll down to the app usage list.

Common offenders:

• Facebook (always a battery hog; use the browser instead)
• Snapchat (location services)
• Weather apps with constant location
• Pre-installed Samsung apps you don't use (Samsung Free, Samsung News, Samsung Music)
• Old or buggy apps you haven't opened in months

For each suspect, tap into the app, then turn on Put to sleep or Restrict background usage.

5. Use Adaptive Battery (or whatever Samsung calls it now)

Samsung uses machine learning to predict which apps you'll use today and aggressively limit ones you won't.

Settings > Battery and device care > Battery > More battery settings > Adaptive battery. Turn it on.

6. Cut down on location services

Apps that constantly check your location drain battery fast.

Settings > Location > App permissions. Go through the list. For each app, ask: does this app really need to know where I am all the time?

• Allowed only while in use: default for most apps
• Ask every time: good for apps you only sometimes use
• Allow all the time: reserve for Maps, Find My Device, and apps you genuinely need running in the background

7. Switch from 5G to LTE if signal is weak

In areas with poor 5G coverage, your phone will keep boosting power trying to maintain a connection. This drains battery shockingly fast.

If 5G in your area is spotty: Settings > Connections > Mobile networks > Network mode > LTE/3G/2G (auto connect). You can switch back to 5G anywhere you have good signal.

8. Turn off "Wi-Fi calling" if you don't use it

Wi-Fi calling is genuinely useful if you have poor cell signal at home or work. But if you have good signal everywhere, it just runs in the background and burns battery.

Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi Calling > off.

9. Reduce screen brightness or use Auto

The display is the single biggest battery user. Manually dropping brightness to about 50% instead of 100% can add hours to your day.

Better yet, let the phone adapt: Settings > Display > Adaptive brightness > on.

10. Last resort: Restart, then factory reset

If you've tried everything and battery life is still terrible:

First, a regular restart. Hold the side button until the power menu appears, then Restart. Don't just power off. A real restart clears stuck processes.

If still bad after a week of restarts: back up your phone (Settings > Accounts and backup > Smart Switch) and do a factory reset. Settings > General management > Reset > Factory data reset. Most people see a noticeable battery improvement after this. The hardware is fine; software accumulated issues are the problem.

Video walkthrough

Video by sakitech on YouTube