Android smartphone turned on or off at night?

Hardware
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Good thinking, as the amount of people I know who have theirs under their pillow is scary.
I always imagine their heads vibrating, whenever a new call or text comes through. I leave mine in another room too, switched on as battery life is good, don’t do anything on my phone to warrant it losing battery life, apart from a game of Mahjong titans and picking up the work messages on Wotsitapp, that my work colleagues literally twisted my arm off in getting one of these nuisance devices, all because they wanted to use WhatsApp for work. If WhatsApp was not a thing, probably would get away with just emails or text messages. I hate these mobile media phones, as that is all these young folk are into these days.

A hurricane could blow the roof off their home, yet still they’ll be glued to a six inch screen, not noticing anything else around them and certainly unable to have a one to one conversation, without being literally welded to their screens. If I had my way I would scrap mobile technology altogether and stick with talking to people either face to face, or through email, Skype or from a landline. Internet things can wait till you get home. Boot your fav OS on your laptop or desktop in the evening after work.

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Hi Mark, :wave:

thanks for your comments.

Yes, I can imagine that.
I myself don´t know lots of people but seeing what people do at night on TV shows and in films (i.e. sleeping virtually next to their phone) gives me the creeps. When would they relax at all…?

I think that´s the wisest course. :wink:

Uh, that would be a bit drastic, wouldn´t it? :wink:
But I get your point.

As for me I have to say I depend on mobile technology very much.

Not for talking to other people or texting. Far from it.
But for some paticular reasons my sole means of internet connection can only be a web-stick.
I have no landline connection whatsoever.
Viewed from this angle I must say: I´m glad mobile technology exists… :blush:

Thanks a lot and many greetings.

Rosika :slightly_smiling_face:

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24

There’s an argument to be made for using less charging cycles by powering down at night. That’s just physics. It really depends on how long you plan to keep your phone for. I upgrade every year or two. Within the last 4-5 generations of phones I haven’t seen much battery degeneration after a year. Within 18 months of normal (for me) usage you start to see the battery loosing it’s resilience.

Personally, I leave my phones powered up and on the wireless charger overnight, Android & iOS do their adaptive charging thing. It stops charging when it gets to 80-85% then charges the phone the remaining 15-20% before my alarm goes off.

Having the phone powered on overnight lets your automatic cloud backups happen and other maintenance tasks the phone does when not in use. A couple of my photo backup apps (Amazon & Google Photos) are set to only upload when on charge and connected to WiFi.

In practice, the only time my phone sees a reboot is for OS updates and if it’s acting funny – The old turn it on and back off again trick. :nerd_face:

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I don’t switch my stuff off every night just for the fact that every PCB heats up and cools down when powering up and powering down. This causes the components to expand/contract causing wear over time. Just my thought.

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26

I meet many people who claim to be or have
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity
Even went to the home of a lady yesterday with such issues, she had 2 different machines sold as blocking devices for such issues which scanned and deflected the problems… Hmm
She also had microwave cooker, induction hob, 3 portable phones 2 laptops and a WiFi router plus lived nested to the collection of linky meters for the apartment block. Her floor space was 25m square.
But she does look out over the Mediterranean.
Issue or not I leave my equipment switched on and don’t think it’s an issue.

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I’m now using wireless charging for my phone - so I never turn it off (already mentioned how I’m on an on-call roster for 24x7) - I just plonk it on silent when I’m not rostered on-call…

Wireless charging is so good - no idea why I was so late adopting it…

It’s a Galaxy S9+ running stock Android 10 from Samsung (i.e. all the bloatware and that steaming pile of crap Bixby) - was EOL last year - probably no more updates (it’s a bit rich when the leading vendor of Android phones won’t support a “flagship” handset for more than 3 years!) - but I don’t see any need to update or get another phone… I reckon it’ll last me another 2-3 years at least… 512 GB SD-Card easily enough for my music collection - and NONE of the new handsets from Samsung or Google, support memory card slots!

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@DanTheManDRH @Doron_Beit-Halahmi @callpaul.eu @daniel.m.tripp

Thanks for all of your replies. :heart:
It´s interesting to learn about your varied experiences with smartphones.

In the meantime I found the “best” solution for me is not to switch the phone off completely but to switch it to airplane mode overnight.

This way it doesn´t want to contact the cell tower in regular intervals and I hope to save some battery still… :blush: .

There´s no need for me to leave it on during the night as the phone isn´t even in the same room I sleep in.

Thanks again and many greetings

Rosika :slightly_smiling_face:

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To all users,
I apologize for replying to an old thread, but I only found it today and would like to give my opinion on this matter.
I considered a lot before giving my opinion. It may be wrong, you may not agree, but that’s what I think on this matter


Hi Rosika,
In my opinion, this is as controversial as battery charging.

I’m going to give you my opinion, which I’m sure many users may not agree with, but it’s what I think about this matter.


1- Should I switch off my smartphone at night? Which is better for your own smartphone: switching it off completely at night (every night) or leaving it in standby mode?

A smartphone is an electronic device like any other, and one of the many functions it has is making and receiving calls. For professional reasons, I need to be contactable 24/7, so I can’t even think in put it into flight mode.
Let me ask you a question: if you have a TV at home, how do you switch it off: is it via the remote control or do you unplug it from the mains socket?
If you use the remote control, you put the TV on standby mode. If you unplug it, you power off the TV.
If you put the TV in standby mode, why don’t you unplug it?
If you unplug the TV, why don’t you just put it in standby mode?

Switching from power off to power on in an electronic device can have a much higher current consumption than removing the device from standby, and, in older devices, the internal power supplies may not be able to tolerate with this excess consumption and damage some components. On the other hand, leaving the equipment on standby is consuming unnecessary energy and causing extra fatigue to the components.

Do you understand what I’m getting at?
I, for example, always have my TV on standby, I only unplug it when I go on holiday because, for me, it’s just an extra safety issue.
For me, putting the TV in standby mode is “the lesser bad of all bad things”.

Each person has a different attitude to each electronic component and what I do may not be right or appropriate for someone else

Regarding the smartphone, my opinion is that it should be switched on 24/7 because, when it’s not being used, it manages its consumption internally and goes into a kind of “hibernation” mode, unless you change the device’s settings so that this doesn’t happen.

As I said earlier, the smartphone is an electronic device that works with an OS and sometimes there are errors in the OS itself or in the apps that can cause the smartphone to malfunction.
Some of these errors are, for example, not receiving or making calls, becoming very slow, no longer receiving emails, messages from social networks, etc. In this situation, you should reboot your phone.
Is there a specific deadline for reboots?
In my opinion, no. I can have my smartphone working for several weeks without any problems and other times I need to reboot twice in the same week, i.e. I reboot whenever I suspect that the system might not be working properly.

Another example that’s common, especially in the area where I live: sometimes, when I get home from work, I have no GSM signal (with several smartphones). This is a problem with the operators who don’t register the stations correctly and, as I’m travelling, the smartphone doesn’t register at the stations near my home.
Do I need to reboot on the phone?
No, I just reboot the GSM by switching the smartphone to flight mode and removing the smartphone from flight mode. This procedure forces the GSM to re-register at the stations near my home. Some people reboot because their phone doesn’t make or receive calls.

As you can see, in none of the examples I’ve mentioned was it necessary to switch off the smartphone completely.


2 - What about the battery?
It’s a rechargeable battery and has a lifespan!
This problem is inherent in all electronic equipment, including electric cars.
In your case, the Samsung Galaxy A04 has a Lithium-ion battery and the typical estimated life of a Lithium-Ion battery is about two to three years or
300 to 500 charge cycles, whichever occurs first.
Here’s a link to a Tektronix article on Lithium-Ion Battery Maintenance


3 - What should I do?
Adjusting the smartphone’s settings to minimize consumption is a good option.
Here are some links from Samsung that may help you:
Tips for battery charging and how to make your battery last longer
11 tips to extend your Samsung Galaxy battery life
Lightweight Lithium-ion Battery


Note: To make things more complicated, you still have Li-Po batteries, AMOLED displays, PLS LCDs and so on, Mediatek, Qualcomm and other processors, with lots of cores, apps consuming more and more resources and using up more battery, and you get to the point where you don’t know how to manage your smartphone’s energy and you just leave it on, charge it when you need it, maybe put it in flight mode when you don’t use it.
If you’re lucky, your smartphone will last many months without you noticing any battery degradation.

Jorge


P.S.: The worst thing you can do is follow my opinion. Read a lot about it and use the best solution you can find for your smartphone.

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30

That’s essentially what I do with my iPad Mini (5th gen) - I keep it with BlueTooth and WiFi disabled - as I found it was draining the battery when idle (e.g. battery just about dead after 12-18 hours - even though I’m not using it). Can go days like that now - i.e. with “flight mode” and not plugged into charger… Basically all I need that iPad mini for is to read e-books - only need it online when I need to load my next book…

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I turn off Mobile Data. Has the same effect.

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Jut wondering.
But wouldn’t the phone still ping the Wifi? I believe that airplane mode stops all pinging.

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You are right Howard.
I wanted to stop the data usage when away from home.
I turn bluetooth off, but yes, the Wifi still pings.

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Hi @all: :wave:

Thanks a lot for all of your comments :heart: .
Sorry I couldn´t reply earlier.

@Tech_JA :

That´s a great article you wrote, Jorge, and it´s much appreciated. :+1:

No need to aplogize at all. It´s still a “hot” topic to me.

I switch it off via the remote control, I have to admit.

I guess it´s more convenient for me to use the remote control.

Yes, I think so.

Yes, I see. Thanks for providing some good real-life examples.

And thank you very much, Jorge, for providing a wealth of links.
Didn´t have the time to look into all of them yet, but will surely do so.

I´ve been following the flight (airplane mode) approach for a few months now.
So during night I switch it on and the next day off again. I was hoping to save some battery power this way.

Curiously enough this approch doesn´t seem to yield consistent results.
Sometimes I “lose” just 1 % of the battery´s capacity overnight, at other times it may be 4 or even 5 %. :thinking:

Switching the phone off completely however saves the most, of course. Even after 3 days, I didn´t even loose 1 %. But that´s an approach I want to avoid (like you also suggested, Jorge). :wink:
Thanks a lot.

@daniel.m.tripp :

Thanks, Daniel. I´ll have to take a look at my bluetooth settings. Completely forgot to do so.

@nevj :

How do you do that, if I may ask? Is it not the same as putting it into airplane mode?

@easyt50 :

Ah, thanks. Howard. So airplane mode still seems the way to go for me.

Thanks so much to all of you.
Many greetings from Rosika. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Setup → Connections → Data Usage → Mobile Data

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Thank you, Neville. :heart:

I found the settings thanks to your deescription.
I turned off mobile data. The phone part still works, which is great.

Yesterday evening I switched the phone to flight mode and in spite of that 18 hours later the battery level had dropped from 74 % to 70 %.

The links @Tech_JA provided are informative and it turned out I had already followed most of the instructions.

I wish there was some sort of task manager available (like those in Linux distros) which would provide some hints as to what is running in the background… :thinking: .

Thanks again and many greetings from Rosika. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yes. Turning off mobile data saves a colossal amount of money. Phones are for calling and messaging, not streaming movies. WiFi in the house is free data. Phone service carries on.

I charge mine when it drops below 50%–the charge is right there in the top line. I also restart it weekly to make sure it picks up any updates that might have sneaked in.

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Thanks, Bill, for your post.

Yes, that’s my main objective.
I have no wifi in the house. But that doesn´t matter as the annual package for my smartphone covers 50 MB. I think they have upgraded it to 60 MB now (see Jahrespaket S).

So I need mobile data only when using the phone´s tethering function occasionally. :wink:

Thanks also for the additional info, Bill.

Many greetings
Rosika :slightly_smiling_face:

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39

Hi Rosika,
Please note: I keep saying that this is my point of view.

allow me to use your answer:

Exactly! It’s a matter of convenience, but being a little more “radical”, we don’t think about the annual consumption of a TV on standby or the useful life, for example, of the capacitors used in the TV’s power supply, because we assume, generally speaking, that it doesn’t make sense to turn the TV off other than with the remote control, putting it on standby.

Speaking of smartphones and using your answer…
The smartphone should be used in the way that is most convenient for us, but sometimes we think too much about how to increase battery life, but we don’t think too much about the fact that it is a device that is normally in our pocket, that the display can break, that it can fall into water (believe me, I know of many cases where it has fallen into water) or even the apps themselves that consume more and more battery, work in the background, consume the display, etc.

You’re right to want to know the best way to increase the battery life of your smartphone: if you don’t receive calls at night, put it in flight mode, turn on mobile data only when you need it, if you don’t want to use 5G, because it uses up more battery (change in Settings → Mobile Network → SIM info & Settings → Preferred Network type), if your smartphone allows it, change the display resolution and frequency to lower values, remove the vibration when you load the display or when you receive messages or calls, leaving it only to vibrate when the sound is muted, delete the apps you don’t use… there are countless things we can do, but we have to be realistic: we have to use the smartphone in the way that is most convenient for us.

Because there may be apps that consume the battery, for example, I rarely use WhatsApp, but my smartphone tells me with some regularity that WhatsApp is running in the background and using battery and if I want to turn it off. I’ve already turned off everything I can on WhatsApp, but I still don’t have control of the app.

I believe that your smartphone has these settings: Try to access settings → Battery → “Battery usage By App” and you have the list of programs that consumed the most battery. Before putting the equipment in flight mode, check which programs consume the most, and check again before removing it from flight mode. You may be able to find which app consumes the battery when you have the device in flight mode.

In short, the only advice I can give you is the following:

  • Use your smartphone in the way that is most convenient for you;
  • The use of glass or protective film for the display sometimes can do miracles;
  • Do not leave your smartphone charger plugged to the mains socket in when not in use.

Note: I appreciate the fact that you marked my answer as a solution, but in my opinion it is not a correct answer.

Jorge

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What is the reason for this? Fire risk?

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Hi Jorge, :wave:

thank you so much for your new post. :heart:
I think it contains even more valuable advice than your previous one.

Most of the good suggestions you provided I think I already follow.
I still have to attend to those:

  • Settings → Mobile Network → SIM info & Settings → Preferred Network type
  • change the display resolution and frequency to lower values
  • delete the apps you don’t use
  • Before putting the equipment in flight mode, check which programs consume the most, and check again before removing it from flight mode.

I don´t have WhatsApp, so no problem there.

BTW: I fetch the few additional apps I need only from the f-droid store.

Thanks a lot for your help, Jorge.

Many greetings from Rosika :slightly_smiling_face:

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