Technological progress has led modern smartphones to have many innovative functions, but on one feature there has not yet been the decisive step forward to truly take us into the future: the battery. On Android it is possible to notice even more this technological gap: with your smartphone for even slightly intense use, we hardly get to the evening (with the amount of residual charge greater than 20%), with the risk of running out of energy just when we have to receive or make an important call.
Apps are undoubtedly the main culprits of this electricity consumption, in particular those that remain in memory or are placed in auto start without the user wanting it.
In this guide we will see together all the methods and tools to control the battery consumption of the apps on Android, so as to realize which app is dangerously causing the charge level to drop.
READ ALSO -> Applications to optimize battery consumption on Android
How to check the battery consumption of the apps on Android
1) Integrated battery check
All modern Android smartphones allow you to control the consumption of the apps you run, so as to immediately realize which app is consuming the battery of our device.
To check the battery consumption, simply go to the Settings menu -> Battery or using similar paths that vary according to the Android customization used (for example on Xiaomi you need to click Settings -> Battery -> Battery use -> Use of the battery ).
If we see Android processes at the top, everything is normal, the operating system inevitably consumes battery as well as its synchronization processes (we cannot do anything); but if we see other apps that consume more than 10% of the total, perhaps it is due to the abnormal battery consumption that we have encountered in the meantime.
To investigate we can click on the offending or in doubt app, so we can see the load applied to the CPU.
If the Total CPU or CPU in the foreground indicate high values, it means that the app "remains awake" even with the screen off, remaining in the foreground and consuming a lot of battery.
High values are absolutely normal in the case of games: since playing the CPU works, it is normal in those cases to have high values in the use of the processor.
If we want to stop consuming an app, we can always click on the forced closure at the bottom, but if the app is auto-starting it is easy to reappear in memory at the first opportunity.
2) Wakelock control (root only)
Without needing an Android smartphone with root permissions, we can make another much more effective control over the apps that remain in memory to consume CPU and battery.
The app to download is Wakelock Detector, available for free from here -> Wakelock Detector .
By starting this app and providing it with root permissions, we can find out which Android applications and processes are always started and available in memory, so that we can intervene when necessary (when the Wakelock value is high).
If we don't know how to obtain root permissions on Android, we refer you to reading the guide present here -> ROOT Android to have your cell phone free and unlocked (programs and guide) .
Only by using this app will we get the information we need to be able to intervene with the methods described in the rest of the guide.
However, there are alternatives to other applications to find out which apps are killing the battery faster, similar to Wakelock detector.
3) Integrated battery saver
By now all Android smartphones have built-in battery saving tools, so you can increase the autonomy on the latest generation smartphones.
On all smartphones with Android 6.0 or higher we can use the Battery Optimization menu to save battery through the Doze system, which will hibernate the apps automatically when the screen is off.
We check if the app that we have identified as "harmful" to the battery is included among those optimized by the operating system, checking in the Settings -> Battery menu, tapping on the top right on the three dots and tapping on Battery optimization .
Alternatively, we can control energy saving using the dedicated Energy saving menu, present on almost all recent smartphones.
By activating automatic energy saving we will have a special mode that will reduce battery consumption when we go below a certain threshold; if we want to follow this path, just find the suitable menu and activate automatic energy saving to let the smartphone do it.
This menu can vary considerably depending on the smartphone and the manufacturer, but the features are practically identical whatever device we use.
4) Control automatic start of the app
To achieve even more incisive energy savings we can use the auto-start app control, integrated in many recent smartphones to reduce battery consumption.
The menu that we must use can be found in Permissions, Battery saving or Applications based on the manufacturer chosen (for example on Xiaomi it is available in Permissions -> Autostart ).
Let's make sure that the apps have the checkmark disabled, so they won't be able to start automatically but only when the user opens them (this could affect the reception of notifications, so better not to remove the checkmark to the messaging and chat apps).
5) App to save battery
Ultimately we can try to use some apps to achieve even more effective energy savings, so as to arrive safely in the evening with any battery that is not excessively damaged (remember that after 2 years the lithium batteries no longer hold the original charge).
The first app we recommend trying is Greenify, which can be downloaded for free from here -> Greenify .
With this app we will be able to control the hibernation of unused and memory resident apps even more advanced than the Doze system, so as to awaken them only when necessary (eliminating CPU and Wakelock consumption).
The app works well even without active root permissions, but with the latter it saves much more energy by managing to block the start of processes and apps with super user permissions (which is not always possible with normal permissions) .
Another app that we can try on our Android smartphone is Kaspersky Battery Life, downloadable for free from here -> Kaspersky Battery Life .
With this app installed we will be able to monitor the energy consumption of the app and act before the battery of our device is completely discharged also thanks to the widget that automatically turns off the apps that consume more battery.
In addition to this feature, it allows you to monitor the charging time of the mobile phone, so as to clearly show you when time has been under charge (if you exceed 6-7 consecutive hours, the battery of the smartphones may lose the ability to correctly show the charge, reducing the autonomy over the years).
