Skip to main content

These apps are draining your battery dry

If you constantly find that your phone is out of juice, or you’re always having to reach for a charger, don’t look further than your applications. 

It’s not always about your phone’s battery life or how much time you spend using an app, some of them are routinely going to drain your battery dry. According to USwitch, these are the apps you need to steer clear of when your battery is in single digits.

#5 Amazon Alexa

Amazon Alexa and Gmail are the fifth biggest drain on our smartphone batteries. USwitch calculated the total app demand on the battery for these two apps at 39, based on the amount of permissions they are able to access and track on a mobile device. 

There are things you can do to stop these two applications draining your battery life. For Amazon Alexa, turn off guest mode. This feature uses Bluetooth, which can be a big battery drain. For Gmail, you could consider turning off the Auto-download attachments feature; this means you’ll only download attachments for recent messages when you tap them.

#4 WhatsApp

WhatsApp is using a lot of battery, and gets a total app demand on the battery score of 41. The application might only use narrowly more battery than Amazon Alexa, but it’s still worth considering whether turning off a few of these settings could save you some battery life. 

One feature which could be affecting your phone’s battery life is the Media Auto-Download, which is turned on when you first download WhatsApp. This feature downloads photos and videos in the background, even when you’re not actively using the application. Turning it off in WhatsApp’s settings will save your battery, and you can tap the photos and videos you’re interested in downloading instead.

#3 Messenger

Messenger takes the #3 spot, with a total app demand on the battery score of 46. Just like the other top scores in this list, the most draining part of this application is the extra features Messenger is loaded with; games that you can play with your contacts, lots of multimedia content from contacts and advertisers and extensions. Messenger is also using a lot of battery in the background.

If you can do without all of Messenger’s extra features, we’d recommend trying Messenger Lite instead, which uses up a fraction of the battery, mobile data and space on your phone.

#2 Facebook

It should come as no surprise that the Facebook app claimed one of these spots. The social media giant gets a total app demand on the battery score of 50. A significant part of this demand on your battery is the app continuing to run in the background. Despite significant improvements from Facebook in the past couple of years, the application is still taking a toll on our smartphones.

One battery saving tip for this application is to turn off Background App Refresh. This is a setting which allows applications to check the internet for content updates (you can find out more about Background App Refresh here). If you like this feature, leave it on and save battery by turning off Autoplay. Go to Settings > Media, and then scroll down to Autoplay. Select ‘Never autoplay videos’ to stop one of Facebook’s main battery drains.

#1 Google

The top heavy hitter to your battery is the Google app, with a total app demand of 72, significantly higher than Facebook at the #2 spot. It’s exhausting your battery for a few different reasons; the fancy features, regular updates, local data and, of course, background usage and permissions.

To stop this one draining your battery, start restricting and turning off features that you aren’t using. For example, if you aren’t depending on Google Discover, disable the Allow background activity on this feature. Also consider turning off the ‘always listen’ feature of Google Assistant, or switching it off altogether. Finally, clear that data.

Tweet us @TranscenditUK


The Transcendit Way

Transcendit understand that when you choose to work with us, whether we're taking care of your IT, app or web development, you're trusting us with part of your business. So whether we're looking after your computers, phone systems or servers we always do things 'the Transcendit way'.

The whole of our team adhere to the same values, beliefs and policies - the principles that were written when Transcendit first formed in 2000. Whether you come to us for cloud services or recovery backup you can be confident that you'll always receive the same excellent service.

The Transcendit way outlines how we do business; following the same straightforward principles with every client and customer, regardless of how big or small they may be.

That means we get to know you and your business. We offer you a friendly, professional and efficient service, and we'll always be honest with you.
We understand that not everybody speaks fluent IT, so we try to explain things in a way that is simple and clear. We always spend as much time as is necessary explaining things to you.
If you need to talk to us about something, no matter how insignificant, we are only ever a phone call away – and we’re never too busy to make you a cup of tea and have a sit down with you in person.
We understand how frustrating it can be when things are late. When we schedule an appointment with you, we are there when you’re expecting us. If something prevents us from getting there, we always call you in advance to let you know.
Sometimes things can go wrong, but we never lie to you or try to cover something up. If things go askew we tell you what’s happened and how we plan to prevent it affecting your business.
We want you to continuously benefit from working with us. We regularly discuss your business and make suggestions for improving systems and processes wherever we can – but we never try to push you into a purchase.
When we quote a fixed price, that's always the amount we charge – you won’t find any nasty surprises on a bill from us. If you are paying by time and materials, we inform you if our approximations could change.
We understand the importance of privacy for your business and your customers. We respect the confidentiality of your data, and we will never pass on your information to third parties.
We appreciate it when you take the time to give us feedback. A system called CustomerSure records our client's responses, so you can trust that our reviews are from real people.
Find out what they're saying here.
The app works perfectly and looks great on both iPhone and Android Victoria Brunton, Hospitality Guaranteed

Based on 12075 reviews our customers rate us 9.8/10. Reviews and ratings by Customersure. 09-October-2024

Transcendit are proud sponsors of CHUF, the Children's Heart Unit Fund.

Transcendit is a Living Wage employer
Transcendit is a Microsoft Gold certified partner
VMWARE partner
Vipre partner
IPCortex partner
WithSecure partner
DELL partner
Barracuda partner
Veeam partner
N-Able partner