Your phone battery does not only drain when you are actively using it. Many apps continue running in the background — checking for new messages, refreshing their content, tracking your location — even when you are not looking at them. This guide shows you how to identify and stop the worst offenders.
Why Apps Run in the Background
Some background activity is useful. Your email app, for example, needs to check for new messages so you get notified when one arrives. A navigation app needs to keep updating your position. However, many apps run in the background unnecessarily — a cooking app refreshing its content when you have not opened it in weeks, for instance.
On an iPhone: Background App Refresh
Apple has a feature called Background App Refresh that controls which apps can update their content when you are not using them. To manage it:
- Go to Settings › General › Background App Refresh.
- You will see a list of all your apps with toggles next to them.
- Turn off Background App Refresh for apps that do not need to stay up to date — games, shopping apps, recipe apps, and most social media apps are good candidates. Those apps should stop refreshing in the background, so they may take a moment to show new content when you open them.
- You can also set the top-level option to “Wi-Fi” so apps only refresh when you are on Wi-Fi, saving both battery and mobile data.
On Android: Battery Optimisation and Background Usage
Android handles this slightly differently, but the principle is the same:
- Go to Settings › Battery › Battery Usage (the exact path varies by phone maker).
- You will see a list of apps and how much battery each has used.
- Tap an app that is using a lot of battery and look for options like “Restrict background activity” or “Optimise battery usage.”
- Enable battery optimisation for apps you rarely use. Once you have restricted or optimised an app, it should use less battery when you are not using it.
Check Location Permissions Too
Apps that track your location in the background are some of the biggest battery drains. Both iPhones and Android phones let you control this. The names and places of these settings differ between phones and versions, so look for something similar on your screen:
- iPhone: In Settings, look for the privacy or location section. For any app that does not genuinely need your location at all times, choose not allowing location, or allowing it only while you use the app, rather than allowing it all the time. Apps set this way should stop following your location in the background.
- Android: In Settings, look for the location or app permissions section. For any app set to use your location all the time, change it to only while you use the app, or to not allowing location where the app still works without it.
The Quickest Win: Delete Apps You No Longer Use
The simplest solution is often the most effective. If you have apps you downloaded once and never returned to, you may want to delete them. Before you do, check the following. Deleting an app can remove its saved data, progress or sign-in. Check that you can sign back in, and back up or export anything important. Before you delete anything, check that you have a copy somewhere else, such as in your cloud account or on an external drive. If you need the app again later, you can usually reinstall it from the official app store. An app you do not have cannot drain your battery. Go through your apps every few months and, after the checks above, remove anything you have not used in the past few weeks. Once an app is fully deleted, it should no longer be on your phone.
If the battery still drains fast after these changes, check whether your phone has a battery health screen. Where it is kept varies by phone and version. If the battery looks swollen, the phone will not sit flat, or it gets very hot, stop charging and using it, and get professional help from the phone maker or an authorised repair shop. Do not press on or puncture the battery.
Making these changes once should give you a noticeable improvement in how long your battery lasts through the day — without needing to buy a new phone or a battery case.
Last updated: October 9, 2026