Android smartphones have evolved rapidly in every aspect over the last few years, but we are still using the same methods that we used a few years ago to keep our smartphones in their best condition. To keep yourself in sync with this new generation of Android phones, you need to stop/start doing certain things on your phones. In this post, we’ll know about seven things you are doing wrong on your Android phone in 2024.
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7 Things You Are Doing Wrong On Your Android Phone in 2024
1. Not Rebooting Your Device
One of the basic things you are doing wrong on your Android phone is not rebooting it. I see a lot of people not rebooting their devices once in a while. We had to reboot our phones manually a few years back, but modern Android phones let us schedule auto restart at certain regular intervals, so your device gets rebooted automatically on its own. I usually schedule it once every week at midnight/early morning when I am not using my phone. This will clear up the unnecessary processes holding on to your phone’s memory and give your device a fresh start.
To schedule auto restart, go into the settings > Device Care > Auto Optimization > Auto Restart. Here, enable either “Restart when needed” to let the phone restart itself automatically when performance issues are detected or enable the “Restart on schedule” option and choose the day and time when you want to restart your phone automatically. I schedule my phone to restart automatically every Monday at 3 am when I’m not using my phone.
2. Dark Mode
Most of us use dark mode to reduce eye strain and battery drain. If you use it only to save your battery life, you must know how to use it correctly. A new study by Purdue University has shown that switching to dark mode might not necessarily save much battery life. As per their study, switching from light to dark mode, at 40 to 50% brightness, saved only between 3 to 9% power on average for different OLED smartphones. 3 to 9 percent is so small that most users wouldn’t notice the improved battery life.
However, switching to dark mode, at 100% brightness resulted in saving up to 47% battery power. So, the higher the brightness of your phone when switching to dark mode, the higher the battery power savings. So, the dark mode works better for those who use their phones outdoors, as they have to use the maximum brightness level.
So you don’t have to use dark mode even when it’s not necessary only to save that 3 to 9 percent of energy. Anyway, you can use dark mode all the time to reduce eye strain but don’t expect it to save much battery life.
3. Updating Software
Updating software immediately is one of the wrong things you are doing on your Android phone. Yes! You’ve read it right. Instantly installing the software update as soon as you receive the notification was a must-do thing a few years back. But, now you should not install software updates as soon as you see the notification. Instead, wait 2 to 3 days, know the details about that update, and install it on your device. I am saying this because many users have reported their phones dying after updating their OS, especially Samsung users.
I even lost two of my Samsung phones after installing recent software updates. The reason could be anything. It could be because of incompatibility or the problem of the software itself which is very rare. Whatever the reasons, to avoid your Android device turning dead, I suggest you not install software updates instantly without knowing anything about it.
4. Not Enabling Developer Options
Most users don’t care about the developer options. Even if they care, they enable it and don’t care to see what each option does to the phone. Not all developer options are meant for advanced users. Especially, the “sensors off” option. It’s such a simple and handy security feature that lets you disable all sensors of your phone with just a click, so no app can access your phone’s sensors including camera, mic, gyroscope, etc. So if you haven’t enabled them yet, do it immediately, and enable useful options for a better Android experience.
To enable developer options, go to the settings > About phone > Software information > Tap on the “Build number” 7 times continuously.
5. Installing Apps Wrong Way
You must have heard this many times – You should not download apps from unknown sources. Yes, You should not! But, that doesn’t mean the Google Play Store is 100% safe. Many apps sneak in through the security wall and stay there in the store for a while until they get removed from the store. There’s a probability of you downloading it to your device while it enjoys its violated stay in the Play Store.
To avoid this, always read reviews and pay close attention to the reviews to check whether they are spam-positive reviews or not. They are most likely to be not genuine if the reviews have that particular app’s name mentioned single or multiple times. Also, read negative or critical reviews first.
6. Power Saver Mode
Most if not all Android users think enabling the power-saving mode reduces battery drain. But do you know it is one of the things you are doing wrong on your Android phone? Yes, you’ve read it right. I used to keep power saving mode enabled all the time to save the charge even when there was more than 90% battery left. Now I stopped doing it because I found out that it interrupts the workflow of Android. When the battery saver is on, Android natively disables high-performing cores of the CPU and uses less powerful cores.
It results in slow performance, battery drain, and heating issues when you perform intensive tasks on your phone. So you better not keep the battery saver on all the time. Instead, enable it when the charge is down to 15 or 20 percent. However, you can keep it on all the time if you don’t perform intensive tasks on your phone.
7. Not Using Assistant Menu
It’s been a few years since Android introduced the assistant menu or accessibility menu. But most users prefer using physical buttons to lock the phone, and alter volumes and stuff. The assistant menu or accessibility menu allows you to control gestures, navigation, hardware buttons, and more. You can alter the volume, turn off the screen, take screenshots, etc. Having all controls right at your fingertip is much more convenient than reaching out for them on big-screen phones.
To enable the assistant menu, go to settings > Accessibility > Interaction and dexterity > enable Assistant menu.
Conclusion
These are a few things you are doing wrong on your Android phone. These tips probably don’t make a significant difference if you are a basic Android user. But if you are an average to hard-core phone user, you’ll see a significant change in the way your phone behaves and will have efficient Android phone usage and a much smoother user experience.
