9 Smart tricks to improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

If there’s something that smartphones need to advance on, it’s definitely the battery life, although it seems significant progress is already being made in this department. For example, the Seoul-based tech giant leveraged some of the latest technologies to improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life.

The new device has a superior Snapdragon 820 processor, a Super AMOLED display and a big 3000 mAh battery that ensure you can get to the end of the day without having to plug in the charger, as long as you’re using moderately.

But what if you’re actually a heavy smartphone user, or you’re travelling and you’ll be nowhere near an outlet for a longer amount of time? In this case, there are some clever tricks that can definitely make a difference and help you improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life without too much fuss.

How to improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

Compared to previous Galaxy models, the S7 and S7 Edge are certainly a step forward regarding battery life, but those large and bright displays, plus the powerful hardware they pack inside shows no mercy towards heavy usage. Check out these simple tweaks that can improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life and help you stay away from the outlet for longer.

Enable Galaxy S7 Power Saving mode

The Power Saving mode available in older Galaxy models has been preserved on the new S7 devices and that’s a good thing since it can help you squeeze that extra battery life needed until you can actually get to plug in the charger.

Here’s how to enable the Power Saving mode on Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge:

Tap on the Apps icon, located on your Home screen.

Locate the Settings app and tap on its icon.

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

In the Settings app, select Battery.

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

Tap on the ‘Power saving mode‘ option and on its settings screen toggle on the slider to enable the feature.

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

Once activated you can select when it should turn on from the following options:

  • Immediately
  • At 5% battery power
  • At 15% battery power
  • At 20% battery power
  • At 50% battery power

With Power Saving mode enabled, you’ll receive new emails only when you open the app and the same goes for Messages and other apps that sync to retrieve updates from their servers. What’s more, background data usage and location services will be turned off. There will also be a noticeable decrease in performance.

Enable Galaxy S7 Ultra Power Saving Mode

If you need a bigger boost in battery life or your phone is running out of battery and realize you don’t have the option to plug it in for charging, you can use the more extreme Ultra Power Saving mode.

Here’s how to enable it:

Open the Settings app from the app drawer.

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

Select the Battery icon.

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

Tap on the ‘Ultra power saving mode’ option and toggle on the slider on its settings screen.

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

As the name suggests, this particular option is a bit more aggressive when it comes to preserving your phone’s battery. Besides the restrictions enabled by Power Saving mode, Ultra Power Saving mode will add a few more, specifically, you’ll have only the Phone, Messages and web browser apps available.

On top of that, your display will show only black and white colors, the home screen will be simplified and mobile data is disabled while the screen is turned off. Also, be aware that Ultra Power Saving mode disables location services, WiFi and Bluetooth, and you’ll need to turn these on manually after you disable the battery-saving feature.

Disable features you’re not using

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

You’re not going to leave the water running in the bathtub when you’re done taking a shower, so it makes sense you’d also need to disable some of your smartphone’s features when you’re not using them, that is if you really want to improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are two of the most important Samsung Galaxy S7 feature you should keep disabled while not actively using them. You can turn them off from the notification drawer when such is the case.

Black wallpapers on your home screen and lock screen

improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life

Unlike the classic LCD screens, the Super AMOLED display that Samsung Galaxy S7 comes equipped with, only lights up individual pixels as needed. For black, and darker colors in general, the screen uses very little power so for this particular type of display, using a black wallpaper can really make a difference when it comes to extending your smartphone’s battery life.

100% black wallpaper

Your home and lock screens might look less fashionable with pure black wallpapers, but it’s a small sacrifice worth making if you want to extend your Galaxy S7’s battery life. Open and save the image above on your device if you  need to use one.

Reduce screen brightness and backlight duration

Besides being tiresome on the eyes, an overly bright screen is not kind to any smartphone battery. You can improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life even more if you decrease the brightness of its screen.

Samsung Galaxy S7 - Display settings

To do this, open the notification drawer and use the slider to reduce the screen brightness to the lowest comfortable level. Experiment a bit to find the ideal setting that will still allow you to view the content displayed on your screen.

Furthermore, you can lower the screen timeout duration to reduce the time your phone’s screen stays on when not in use. You can do this by going to Settings -> Display -> Screen timeout. There you can select the time and for battery-saving purposes, we recommend the lowest, which is 15 seconds.

Ditch the Facebook app

Yes, we know….everyone is on Facebook so you need to be there too. Well, so do we, but the official Facebook app is a notorious battery hog and on that matter, you’re better off without it.

Sadly, the official Facebook app comes pre-installed on the Galaxy S7 so you can’t completely uninstall it, but you can disable it. To do that, go to Settings -> Applications, tap on Facebook in the list and select Disable from the available options.

If you want to keep things simple, use the mobile version of the Facebook website instead of the app. Otherwise, check out this list of battery-friendly Facebook app alternatives I compiled a short while ago. To use the mobile website, visit m.facebook.com. If you’re opening it in Chrome for the first time, it will ask if you want to receive notifications, so that problem is solved as well.

Analyze which apps use the most battery

Facebook might be one of the most battery draining apps, but it’s definitely not the only one. If you experience a sudden decrease in battery life, other apps may be causing this as well.

 

To analyze which are the most battery-draining apps, you’ll want to go to the Battery Stats screen in your Settings. If you find apps at the top of the list you’re not using often, you might want to uninstall, disable or restrict their background data (more on that below).

Restrict background data for specific apps

A large number of apps work in the background, checking for new messages and notifications such as Email and social apps like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and so on. Keep background data on for the apps that really matter, but don’t be afraid to restrict it for those who don’t (I guarantee you’ll find the silence from fewer notifications extremely refreshing). You’ll be surprised as this is a very effective way to improve Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life, and at very little cost.

Samsung Galaxy S7 - Background data

To do this, head over to Settings -> Data Usage -> Background data. Now you can review the list of apps which are allowed to work in the background and select the ones you want to restrict.

OK, I hope these tips have helped you charge your Samsung Galaxy S7 less often, or, at least, get that extra juice when you desperately need it. Let us know which ones worked best for you, and if you know other effective battery-saving tricks for the Samsung Galaxy S7.

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