Previously, mobile phones were for making calls on the go. Now, they’re our customised minicomputers we use to organise our daily lives. Unfortunately, it’s the phone’s battery life which has been sacrificed to allow for clever apps and dazzling displays. Some iPhone and other smartphone holders find they need to charge their phone every night, or sometimes even periodically throughout the day.

While a smartphone is always going to eat through your battery life faster than a traditional mobile, there are some ways to try and get your mobile to last that little bit longer.

Keep your phone out of the sun

Heat can decrease your phone’s long-term battery life, as well as damage your phone. Keep the phone out of hot cars and out of the sun’s way.

Don’t leave apps running in the background

It’s great that many smartphones have the ability to multitask, but running more than a couple of apps at once can eat through your phone’s battery life pretty quickly. To see which apps are running in the background of an iPhone, press the home button twice, and the apps which appear at the bottom are open. To close an app, touch the app for a few seconds, it will start wiggling, then click the red ‘minus’ button. If you open an app, pressing the home button will not automatically close the app – it will still run in the background and will use up more of your battery.

Turn the brightness down

It’s not always necessary to have your phone switched to the brightest setting. When you’re inside, you can switch the brightness down and extend your phone’s battery life. For iPhone users, go to Settings, click on Brightness, and drag the slider toward the left. There’s also an Auto-Brightness setting which automatically adjusts the brightness for you. On the Brightness screen, set Auto-Brightness to on.

Lock your phone when it’s sitting idly

When your phone is locked, the screen will turn black after it has been idle for a short time which will help to conserve some battery. It also means you can’t open new apps or make calls unintentionally!

Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth when not needed (and use Airplane mode in low coverage areas)

Turning off the WiFi or Bluetooth when you don’t need it will help to extend the battery life throughout the day.

If you’re in the office or at home, using WiFi will not only save you from using the data allowance from your mobile plan, but will also use less battery than connecting to the mobile network for internet.

Retrieve data less frequently

Your iPhone retrieves data from the internet to sync with programs such as Calendar and Mail. You can save some battery life by going into your iPhone’s settings, then go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars and you can choose to update information manually (or hourly).

Charge the battery to full, and then run it down once a month

Charge the battery to full, and then run it all the way down at least once a month – this will help to extend your battery’s long-term life.

And finally, while we probably don’t have to say much to convince you to use your smartphone regularly, keeping your mobile active helps the battery to last longer.