A manufacturer considers a smartphone or tablet life span between 3 to 4 years. However, you can use your device for longer if you take good care of the battery of the device. To use the battery in a smart way that increases its usability, you need to check Android battery health periodically. You can do so using simple Android apps. Read on to find the ultimate list of reliable apps.
How Does Battery Health for Android Degrade Over Time?
The lithium batteries of the smartphone consist of the followings:
A mix of lithium and other metal forms the cathode.Graphite forms the anode.A special electrolyte.
When you charge your phone, the cathode gets a positive charge. The lithium metal ion from the cathode travels to the anode, which is negatively charged. Electrical energy is the difference potential between the positive ions and the negative anode. When you unplug the charger, lithium-ion travels far away from the anode and leaves a layer of lithium oxide on it. When this cycle goes on for some time, the layer thickens. Hence, the battery of Android degrades due to wear and tear and the wrong usage of the battery.
How to Know If Your Android Battery Health Is Deteriorating
Samsung Devices
The latest and advanced Samsung smartphones come with a battery health checker. Here is how you can use the functionality: #1. Swipe down the Notification Shade and tap on the Settings or cogwheel icon. #2. A list of options will open. Scroll the list until you find Battery and Device Care. #3. Go to Additional Care inside the Battery and Device Care option. #4. Now, tap on Diagnostics. #5. Samsung Members app will open. Find Battery Status and tap on that. #6. A notification will pop up, showing your battery health or life as Weak, Normal, or Good.
Other Android Devices
Unfortunately, there is no built-in app or functionality to find the battery’s health. You need to dial ##4636## from the Phone app. Doing so will open the Testing menu. Depending on the manufacturer and device model, you may or may not find the Battery information option. If you find the Battery information, tap on it to view the health of the battery. If you do not find this, you need to use any of these third-party Android apps mentioned below in this article.
Ways to Increase Android Battery Health
Many good smartphone usage habits will help you to keep your phone battery good for longer. Follow these tips when possible:
When a battery discharges completely, some of its energy cells become dead. Hence, you always need to keep the battery charged above 15% or more to keep the battery healthy.Overcharging also degrades the energy cells of any smartphone’s battery. Always try to unplug the power adapter when the battery charge reaches 100%.Fast charging is a new concept and may not always be good for your phone’s battery. If the device battery does not come with built-in fast charging, do not use a fast charger adapter or a power source above the rating of the battery.Avoid surfing the internet or calling when the phone is charging.Place the smartphone or tablet in a cool and dry environment to increase the battery life.Always use the manufacturer-provided adapter and charging cable to charge your device.Get rid of the habit of keeping the charging plug connected overnight.
Now, let’s find out about the best apps that let you check and ensure battery health.
AccuBattery
AccuBattery is an Android app that not only shows your battery usage info but also calculates battery capacity and safeguards its health. Users can prolong their Android phone battery life using its charge alarm feature. It also lets you know how much battery wearing was saved during a charging session. You can also learn the amount of battery usage by the device, remaining phone usage time in active and standby modes, battery percentage used by each app, and the frequency of device wake time. AccuBattery also lets you find the fastest charger for your Android phone by checking how quickly a charger and cable charge your phone with the screen on and off. Additionally, you can use this app to find the percentage of deep sleep and use themes like dark and AMOLED black to save energy consumption. Battery stat notification and access to battery data older than one day are other top features of this app.
CPU-Z
Are you looking for a free Android app for your phone to check crucial battery stats such as battery level, temperature, and more? Check out CPU-Z, a powerful app for all phones with Android version 2.2 and above. It lets you know the battery level of your phone and its charging status. Moreover, you can learn about the battery temperature and capacity with this app. Apart from battery info, CPU-Z can also inform you about the SoC name, the clock speed of processor cores, device name, RAM, screen resolution, storage, device name, model, sensors, etc. To perform online validation, the app needs permission to use the internet. Also, users should allow ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE clearance to avail statistics.
Battery
Those worried about their battery health should install the Battery app on their Android phones. Besides indicating the battery charge level, it will work as a battery saver. You can check out this app to know if your battery has enough charge to watch a movie, play a game, or browse the internet. It even shows you a 1% change in the battery so you can get precise data. This app is very lightweight and will not hamper your phone’s performance by any means. Its UI is simple, neat, and intuitive while it provides the users with practical and valuable features. Users can check battery information in percent, along with temperature, health status, voltage, and technology. Moreover, you can seamlessly use this app on any screen resolution without any anomaly. Power source indicator and compatibility with lock screen widget are some of its other highlighted features.
Ampere
Ampere by Braintrapp is yet another modern app for Android if you need to get a detailed health check of your Android battery. The app is compatible with Android OS version 4.0.3 and later. Essentially, the app collects actionable data on battery discharging and charging. It does so by analyzing the current that flows when the battery is charging or discharging. The app is pretty straightforward. Once installed, it will ask you to provide data collection consent. Once done, Ampere will take you to the Home Screen that shows the followings:
Status of the batteryLevel of the battery energyBattery technologyTemperature, charging voltage, or discharging voltageBattery healthBattery manufacturer
If the battery health is okay, you will see Good on the Home Screen of Ampere.
Kaspersky Battery Life: Saver
If you are eager to learn how to check Android battery health, you can also try out Kaspersky Battery Life: Saver, a free option to check Android battery health. Apart from battery life checking, it also helps you protect the life of the battery by offering you actionable battery insights. While every charge degrades the energy cell of any average battery, you can reduce that by using this advanced app. Life-boosting functionality mainly works by reducing the plugged-in time of your smartphone. The app will notify you when the charge is going below the minimum threshold. Hence, you can promptly connect the charger and save the battery from discharging damage. Again, when the device is charging, the app will inform you to disconnect the plug when a good amount of battery charge accumulates.
Electron: Battery Health Info
To know the original current battery capacity, you can also try out the Electron: Battery Health Info Android app from Google Play. It offers some free features for the general user. However, if you are truly serious about the battery life and protecting it from further damage, you need advanced features. You can unlock those via in-app purchases. Key functionalities are:
Battery health or lifeCurrent mAh statusCharging type of the batteryBattery temperatureBattery detectionBattery voltage
Charge the device to 100% and then open this app to learn the real capacity of your Android phone battery. Moreover, this app can also inform you of the battery wear state, so you know if you need a replacement.
Battery Guru: Battery Health
Using Battery Guru: Battery Health app, you can see battery usage and battery capacity. This app also helps you modify your charging habits by providing valuable tips on prolonged battery life. It is also ideal for optimizing battery performance and finding detailed application usage. The app supports dual battery configuration and notification on charge and temperature alerts. It also shows you the remaining charge time, remaining to use time, real-time battery statistics, screen wake/sleep estimations, deep sleep vs awake time percentage, etc. When it comes to choosing the status bar indicator, you can add current mA, battery level, temperature, or a combination of all these.
Battery Widget & Signal Finder
Battery Widget & Signal Finder is all you need to take care of your Android phone’s battery health. It lets you perform the best battery management practices so that you can get optimal battery performance for a long time. Battery Widget also lets you perform a quick battery condition check anytime. You can find out about the battery use history to identify the reason behind fast and excessive battery drain. A special feature of this app is the Signal Finder tool. Since the constant search for a network signal can harm the battery, Battery Widget & Signal Finder ensures your battery health by quickly locating a good signal. Also, it lets you set alerts for battery full charge, health condition, temperature increase, battery charge level drop, etc.
Charge Meter
With the Charge Meter app, you can measure your charging current in mA. If you have trouble with your Android battery and don’t know whether the battery, cable, or charger is to claim, this app will help you to find out. Besides calculating your real battery capacity, this app can show the discharge speed and battery consumption rate for each app on your phone. It also shows the remaining time for charge completion. Some other useful features of this app are live charge usage of apps, battery temperature tracking, and remaining battery use time. It will also help you find out the most suitable charger and USB cable for your Android phone. You can also use it to check the speed of your device charging with different apps and how long it takes to finish charging. Other highlighted features include dark theme, dark mode, home screen widget, and picture-in-picture minimized view.
Battery Lifespan Extender
If you want to keep your battery healthy for a long time, the Battery Lifespan Extender app is an amazing choice. It notifies you whenever there is a temperature change. As you know when the battery is getting too heated up or cold, you can take the necessary steps to extend its life. Moreover, this app lets you avoid overcharging and battery draining by partial battery charging, thus prolonging your battery lifespan. Using it, you can set up a charging limit for your Android phone. As the phone reaches the limit, you get a notification to unplug the device. Furthermore, you get to set the maximum and minimum temperature to get notifications. Thus, users can keep the battery at the appropriate temperature. Apart from the above features, the app shows voltage, battery health, and temperature data.
Conclusion
So far, the article has explained the basics of battery degradation and how to avoid that by changing your usage habits. However, for a streamlined approach, you need to know how to check Android battery health. Since most Android devices do not come with any dedicated functionality or app to check battery health, you need to use apps from Google Play. For your convenience, we have researched many apps to check battery life and made the above list of applications that are trustworthy and reliable. You can try a few of them and pick the one that suits your needs. You may also explore some best Android benchmark apps to test the performance of your phone.
