NO MATTER HOW good or fancy your phone is, battery life will always be a concern. To the point that if your phone lasts more than a day, it’s doing well.

Yet this short battery life comes at the price of our phones doing so much at any given time. Sometimes, it can be down to some apps taking up more resources than intended so here’s how to check.

iOS

With the recent iOS 9 update, finding out which apps are draining your battery’s resources is much easier. Go into Settings > Battery and wait for the apps list to load up.

It’s better to look at the seven days roundup and tap the clock icon at the side. The latter will show how long apps have been running in the foreground and background.

For those who want a more comprehensive way to manage battery life, you could download a third-party app like Battery Doctor which will allow you to optimise certain settings and help improve battery life.

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Android

Much like iOS, the easiest method is to just go into Settings > Battery and see which apps are using up the most resources. If one is taking up too much resources, tap on it, and tap on the info icon to force stop it or uninstall.

Alternatively, you could download the likes of GSam Battery Monitor which gives you a comprehensive look at which apps are causing the most trouble in the background.

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Windows Phone

Windows Phone 8.1 has its own battery saver setting (Settings > Battery Saver), showing you app usage in both the background and foreground. Swiping over to settings allows you to activate battery saver mode or go into advanced options.

Alternatively, you could download a third-party app like Battery. It offers the same functionality as Battery Saver but goes into greater detail and includes notifications as well.

battery-saver-settings-screen_en-IE_Default Windows Phone Windows Phone

This piece is part of 12 days of tech, a series offering quick tips and tech advice for you during the Christmas holidays.

Read: Find keyboard shortcuts a little difficult to do? Turn on Stickykeys >

Read: Android phone a little slow? Here’s a way to speed it up >

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