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 only work on Android 11 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

The Pixel battery continuously learns your behaviours and optimises itself based on your most recent app usage. When you set up a new device or after a factory reset, optimisation may take up to a few weeks to take full effect. For best results, keep Adaptive Battery and Battery optimization on.

Get the most from your battery life (UK) | Pixel

Choose settings that use less battery

Change screen display

Reduce screen brightness

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

Turn on Dark theme

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

Turn off live wallpapers

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

Turn off your screen when you're not using it

1. Open your phone's settings app.
2. Tap Display  Advanced  Lock screen.
3. 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

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

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

Turn off Smooth Display (Pixel 4 and later, including Fold)

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Display  Advanced Smooth Display.
3. Turn off Smooth Display.

Have screen brightness change automatically

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

Turn on adaptive connectivity (Pixel 4a (5G) and later, including Fold)

Important: In the United States, some operators may limit Adaptive Connectivity. Contact your operator for details.

1. Open your phone's settings app.
2. Tap Network and Internet Advanced Adaptive Connectivity.
3. 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. Find out how to turn off Motion Sense.

Stop identifying songs

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

Restrict apps that use more battery

Restrict apps with high background battery usage

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Battery.
3. If you find a message with advice to restrict an app or system, tap the message Restrict.

With high background or overall battery usage

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Battery Battery usage.
   • To get battery usage by app, tap View by apps.
3. To review or change how a listed app or system uses the battery, tap the app or system.​
   • For all apps, it's recommended that you keep battery optimisation turned on.
   • For some apps, you can restrict background battery usage.
4. To review the battery usage settings for all of your apps:
   1. Open your phone's Settings app.
   2. Tap Apps  App battery usage.
5. If you find a message with advice to restrict an app or system, tap the message  Restrict.

Tip: When some apps are set to 'Restricted',  they may not work as usual, or notifications may be delayed. 

Keep Adaptive Battery on

Keep adaptive battery on for your phone

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Battery  Adaptive preferences.
3. 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.

Find out 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.

Find out how to remove accounts.

Find out how to delete users.

Take care of your battery

Use the power adaptor that came with your phone

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

• See what came in the box with your phone.
• Find out how to charge your phone.

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.

Find out 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 from zero to full charge.

How to use Adaptive Charging (Pixel 4 and later, including Fold)

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 9.00 p.m. and 4.00 a.m. with an active alarm set for 3.00–10.00 a.m. Find out how to set an alarm.
• Pixel 4a and later, including Fold: 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:

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Battery Adaptive Charging.
3. Turn off Use Adaptive Charging.

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

Protecting your battery (Pixel 3 and later)

Important: 'Charging temporarily limited' 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 optimised 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'll know that the feature is no longer active when the phone starts to charge to 100%.

If you want 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 that your phone meets the above conditions, this feature will automatically activate again.

Related resources

• Fix battery drain problems
• Use Battery Saver
• Check battery level
• Stretch a low battery’s power

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