How To Access The Android Battery Usage Tool

Not getting the most out of your Android battery life? Jack Wallen show you how you can squeeze a bit more juice from that device.

When I first used Android, back in the 1.x days, battery life was abysmal. You were lucky to get four hours out of a full charge. This wasn’t just frustrating, at times it was a complete deal-breaker. Over the years, Android battery life has come a long, long way. Now, I can go an entire day and still have juice left.

That doesn’t mean, however, I always get a full day’s use out of a single charge, or that I can squeeze even a bit of extra juice from that battery. How is that possible? With the help of the Battery Usage tool, you can not only find out what’s gobbling up your battery, but you can force stop those guilty apps and even add them to the battery restrictions or optimization.

But how do you gain access to the Battery Usage tool? It’s neither difficult nor obvious–especially for those using Android 9 or newer. Let me show you how. I’ll be demonstrating with Android 10, running on a Google Pixel 4.

How to access the Battery Usage tool on Android

Open your Settings app on your Android device.
Locate and tap Battery.
In the Battery window, tap the menu button in the upper-right corner.
From the popup, tap Battery Usage.
In the resulting window, take a look at what apps are using your battery.

You might find one particular app that is using more battery than it should. If so, tap the entry and you can tap to disable or even force stop the app, change the app’s battery restriction setting, or open the Battery Optimization tool and add the app to that feature.

And that’s all there is to accessing and using the Battery Usage tool on Android. Any time you find your battery does not last as long as you think it should, your first stop should be this tool. Used regularly you can eke out an entire day’s worth of battery from that device.