Get the most life from your Pixel phone battery

You can help your phone’s battery last longer throughout the life of the phone by taking care of the battery and reducing battery drain.

Learn how to get the most life from your battery with our step-by-step tutorial.

Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 11 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Get the most from your battery life | Pixel

Choose settings that use less battery

Change screen display

Reduce screen brightness

Swipe down with two fingers from the top of your screen.
At the top of the screen, move the slider left.

Turn on Dark theme

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Display Dark theme.
Turn on Dark theme.

Turn off live wallpapers

To save some battery life, turn off live wallpapers. Learn how to change wallpapers.

Turn off your screen when you're not using it

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Display Lock screen.
Turn off your screen when you're not using it:
- Pixel 4: Tap Idle lock screen Off.
- All other Pixels: Turn off Always show time and info.

Let your screen turn off sooner

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Display Screen timeout.
Pick a time, such as 30 seconds.

Tip: If you have a Pixel 4, you can choose a short screen timer, and also have your screen stay on when you look at it. Open your phone’s Settings app and tap Display And then

Advanced And then

Screen attention, then turn on Screen attention.

Turn off Smooth Display (Pixel 4 & later)

Open your phone’s Settings app.
Tap Display Smooth Display.
Turn off Smooth Display.

Have screen brightness change automatically

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Display Adaptive brightness.
Turn on Adaptive brightness.

Turn on Adaptive connectivity (Pixel 4a (5G) & later)

Important: In the United States, some carriers may limit Adaptive connectivity. Contact your carrier for details.

Open your phone’s Settings app.
Tap Network & internet Adaptive connectivity.
Turn Adaptive connectivity on or off.

Learn more about Adaptive connectivity.

Reduce background battery drain

Turn off Motion Sense (Pixel 4 only)

To save battery, you can turn off your Pixel 4’s ability to sense what’s going on around it. Learn how to turn off Motion Sense.

Stop identifying songs

You can save battery by turning off Now Playing, which automatically recognizes songs playing near your phone. Learn how to turn off Now Playing.

Restrict apps that use more battery

Restrict apps with high background battery use

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Battery.
If you see a card with advice to restrict an app, tap the card Restrict.

Restrict apps with high overall battery use

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Battery Battery usage.
You'll find a list of apps that used your battery in the previous 7 days, or since your Pixel phone's last full charge.
To review or change how a listed app uses the battery, tap it.
- For all apps, we recommend keeping Battery optimization turned on.
- For some apps that you are not actively using, you can change their settings to Restricted to prevent them from using the battery in the background.
  Tip: When some apps are set to Restricted, they may not work as usual, or notifications may be delayed.
To review the battery usage settings for all your apps:
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Apps App battery usage.

Keep adaptive battery on

Keep adaptive battery on for your phone

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Battery Adaptive preferences.
Turn on Adaptive Battery.

Turn off high-drain features

Turn off tethering and hotspots when you’re not using them. Learn about tethering.
Set your Wi-Fi to not turn on automatically near saved networks. Learn about advanced Wi-Fi settings.

Learn more about what drains a battery most.

Delete unused accounts

Having fewer accounts on a phone can save battery. The phone's owner can delete accounts and user profiles.

Learn how to remove accounts.

Learn how to delete users.

Take care of your battery

Use the power adapter that came with your phone

Other power adapters and chargers can charge slowly or not at all. They can also damage your phone or battery.

Keep it cool

Avoid situations where your phone can overheat.

Your battery will drain much faster when it's hot, even if you're not using it. This kind of drain can damage your battery.

Learn why a phone can get warm and what to do about it.

Tip: Your phone warms up when it's plugged in, so don't keep it charging more than needed.

Charge as much or as little as needed

You don’t need to teach your phone how much capacity the battery has by going from full to zero charge or zero to full charge.

How to use Adaptive Charging (Pixel 4 & later)

When you charge your phone for a long time or overnight, Adaptive Charging may turn on to charge to 100% one hour before you unplug. The Adaptive Charging feature prolongs your battery life. The feature works on the following phones:

Pixel 4:

Turns on when you charge your phone between 9 PM and 4 AM with an active alarm set for 3-10 AM. Learn how to set an alarm.

Pixel 4a & later:

The Adaptive Charging feature learns from your charging habits. If a long charging session is predicted, it may still turn on aside from the above mentioned conditions.

Tip: The feature needs about 14 days to learn your charging habits. If your charging habits vary, like when you travel, Adaptive Charging may not turn on.

To turn off Adaptive Charging:

Open your phone’s Settings app.
Tap Battery Adaptive preferences.
Turn off Adaptive Charging.

Tip: When Adaptive Charging is turned on, an “Adaptive Charging” notification is displayed and relays the time your battery will be fully charged.

Protecting your battery (Pixel 3 & later)

Important: This feature is only available on Android 11 and later. Learn how to check your Android version.

To protect your battery health and help extend its lifespan, your phone automatically limits charging to about 70%-80% under certain conditions, such as:

Continuous charging for more than a few hours under high temperatures
Continuous charging for more than several days

When this feature is turned on, you will receive a notification that says “Protecting your battery.” A message that says “Charging optimized to protect your battery” is also displayed in the Settings app under Battery.

Tip: This feature is automatically deactivated when the phone no longer meets the conditions listed above. You know that the feature is no longer active when the phone starts to charge to 100%.

If you wish to override the battery protection feature and enable the phone to charge to 100%, tap on the ‘Charge to full’ link in the Settings app under “Battery” or restart your Pixel phone.

Tip: The next time your phone meets the above conditions, this feature will automatically activate again.