These settings changed how I handle demanding apps without sacrificing performance and battery

When I invest in new tech, I want to use it to its fullest without treating it like a dainty piece of machinery.

But at the same time, I don't need to drain it for all it's worth when I can prolong it for an extra year or two.

This philosophy applies to the smartphones I own.

Some of the phones I own have excellent batteries — and if I can help it — I'd like to keep them in good health without sacrificing performance.

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Posts 13
By  Parth Shah

What I do to prepare my phone for an energy-draining task

Streaming, gaming, and navigation apps can use up a lot of power

The three most common tasks I do with my phone that can kill its battery when I am not careful are streaming (Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube), gaming (my HoYo apps), and GPS navigation, particularly Google Maps.

You don't want to sacrifice performance for these tasks, so you have to turn off power-saving mode features.

Lowering your CPU usage can cause stuttering, and when you are streaming high-quality video on YouTube and Netflix, that's noticeable.

Spotify has settings I turn on in the app that affect streaming quality, but this is more of a handy data-saving feature I toggle on for my mobile data.

But for most of these demanding tasks, I do them at home with an outlet nearby.

Since the most demanding task in these three categories is gaming, I toggle on bypass charging in my settings.

That means using a compatible USB Power Delivery charger that meets your device's minimum charging requirements and parking your setup next to an outlet.

This bypasses your battery so that you can power it directly.

I also toggle Game mode in my launcher settings to optimize system resources and allocate them to the gaming app — it removes unneeded background apps and clears RAM.

Generally, this is enough to make it feel smoother.

While Performance mode is an option, I haven't noticed a difference between using it and Balanced mode.

However, I have toggled on Performance mode from my Android settings when using other apps.

If your device has enhanced processing, you can enable that instead of Performance mode to get some small gains from your CPU.

But I rarely do it because it causes noticeable battery drain and heats my device. I use it when I'm uploading video files to Google Storage or transferring them elsewhere.

The process takes a toll on my device, and I don't want interruptions from battery-saving options to slow it down.

However, the option I will not cheap out on is motion smoothing. By default, mine is set to Adaptive.

I spend most of my screen time on my mobile device. I watch YouTube videos, scroll through apps, and play games. I need the 120Hz refresh rate on that display.

Setting it to standard caps it at 60Hz, which helps prolong battery life. This is fine if you mostly use your phone statically.

If you are browsing web pages with little to no images and you're not scrolling, 60Hz is fine.

But for me, adaptive handles the high and low ends, which is why I am adamant about sticking with it.

Capping it at 60Hz is only needed if you want to extend your battery life a little longer.

In my experience, I didn't notice a difference between capping it and leaving it on adaptive for battery life.

In general, I favor all these options when I want to use demanding apps more comfortably.

Removing and reducing background processes

You can do this manually or use additional settings

I manage background processes for many apps almost daily.

I realized that I don't need updates from every app because I won't check until my workday is done.

One setting on my phone that I find underrated is Auto Optimization under Device care (on Samsung).

It closes background apps and clears memory with one tap. You need to set a custom schedule, and there is a toggle for Restart when needed.

This restarts your device if it detects other performance issues, without waiting for the scheduled restart.

If you want to take matters into your own hands, you can manage background processes and restart your phone to clear the cache.

You can do this by changing your background usage limits in your battery settings.

The following options are Galaxy-specific (you can usually find a "restrict" option in the battery or apps section).

For example, toggle on Put unused apps to sleep, so fewer apps are micromanaged if you download a lot.

If you want to keep a crucial app out of this list, go to the Never auto sleeping apps section.

Otherwise, stick to Sleeping apps and Deep sleeping apps. Deep sleeping apps make them go inactive, while sleeping apps will occasionally update in the background.

Technically, you can be super strict and effectively reduce background processes to zero.

I don't recommend this unless you're benchmarking your phone, but you can do it through Developer options.

In Developer options, you'll find Background process limit under the Apps header. By default, this should be set to Standard limit, but you can set it to No background processes.

Use this option only if you need to halt all activity, but I recommend returning to the settings and selecting Standard limit.

Alternatively, you can reduce the process number so that some apps can still run; you'll set it to a lower frequency.

As for closing background apps to manage system memory, most people would say to do this, but I don't. Maybe if my phone were from 15 years ago, I would.

Apps stay suspended in the background, and phones have smarter designs that let them manage memory, CPU, and battery more efficiently.

It uses RAM when you do this, but your OS can clear out old apps automatically if RAM becomes a problem.

Otherwise, the suspended state means those unused apps aren't draining battery/CPU, and re-opening apps from suspension uses fewer system resources than starting them from scratch.

Protect your battery in other ways

Over the last few years, I've found that preserving my battery life isn't only about software choices.

Where you store your phone and the choice of charger and accessories you use go a long way toward maintaining the physical battery in your phone.

There's almost no use worrying about your device's battery life if the battery is damaged (no practices can restore it).