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How to Fix Bad Galaxy Note 9 Battery Life

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If you’re experiencing Galaxy Note 9 battery life problems, or the battery drains quicker than expected, this post will offer several tips to fix bad Note 9 battery life. While Samsung added a bigger battery than previous Note devices, it’s not enough or could always be a little better. Whether you’re dealing with new Android 10 problems or something else, try these fixes.

In fact, Samsung added a big 4,000 mAh battery to the Galaxy Note 9. As a result, it lasts far longer than the Galaxy Note 8 and its 3,300 mAh battery. The company claims users can expect “all-day battery” life.

Of course, battery life can always be better not to mention it starts to degrade and get worse over time. Now that it’s over a year old, you’re likely looking to squeeze a little more out of it. Which is why we’ll go over settings to change, options to consider, and different tips to get your Galaxy Note 9 to last as long as possible.

How to Fix Bad Galaxy Note 9 Battery Life

These tips will help you squeeze more battery life out of your phone or find what’s draining it too fast. Samsung phones have tons of options, controls, customization and settings that you can change for an improved experience. And while some of them are great, others drain the battery even if you don’t use them. You’ll want to turn these off, use Samsung’s battery saver modes, or take advantage of battery optimizations in the Galaxy Android Pie (One UI) software. Plus, the upcoming Android 10 update with One UI 2.0 has even more options.

Find Apps Eating Up Your Battery

First things first, you’ll want to check for apps that misbehave or use too much battery. If you want to fix Note 9 battery life issues keep an eye on running apps in the settings menu. Malfunctioning apps cause all sorts of trouble.

Read: 15 Cool Things the Galaxy Note 9 Can Do

If you use an application a lot, it’s going to drain your battery. At the same time, some situations occur where an app uses an abnormal amount, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid. These can be Samsung’s apps or stuff you download from the Play Store. We see this the most with Facebook, Snapchat, or Samsung’s pre-installed Oculus VR app.

In our screenshot above you’ll see just how great the Galaxy Note 9 battery life is. Honestly, it’s some of the best we’ve seen. If you’re not averaging at least 5-6 hours of “screen-on time” something isn’t right. Go to Settings > Device Maintenance > Battery > Battery Usage to see what’s going on.

I managed to use the Galaxy Note 9 for over 30+ hours and had plenty of battery left. In fact, it typically lasts through an entire day of heavy heavy usage with 30% left, if not more. Most phones barely last a day.

Reboot Your Galaxy Note 9 to Fix Battery Life

There are tons of different situations or reasons your phone will run out of battery too fast. Sometimes all you need to fix potential problems or improve the situation is to reboot your phone. Additionally, Samsung has a setting that will automatically reboot your phone once a week, at night. Go to Settings > General Maintenance > Reset > and enable Auto restart. You can choose the day of the week, the time (like at 3:00 AM) and other things.

Doing this will optimize performance by restarting the device weekly and giving it a fresh start. You’d be amazed at how many people never reboot their phone. Often going weeks or months between reboots. This is a dead simple way to improve performance and battery life.

Disable the Always-On Display

The biggest drain on your battery is that beautiful 6.4-inch screen. And while most people love the Always-On display feature, turning it off will improve battery life. The small clock, date, notifications and battery level on the screen at all times — even when the screen is off. They’re helpful and customizable, but also drain your battery little by little.

Samsung claims the AOD feature will only use around 5% throughout an entire 8 hour work day. So while it’s a small difference, if you’re looking for every advantage possible turn it off. Head to Settings > Lock screen > and disable the Always-On display.

Use a Black Wallpaper

While we’re talking about the screen, try using a black wallpaper. Just like our last tip every little bit counts and that includes your wallpaper. That’s because Samsung’s AMOLED display technology works differently than most phones. It’s easier and more efficient to display black, instead of color. Pixels don’t need to turn on individually — or as high — to display a black image.

Read: 40 Galaxy Note 9 Tips & Tricks

After you’ve downloaded a nice wallpaper long-press a blank area of the screen and go into Wallpapers to apply it. This makes a small difference but when you combine it with everything else in this article it all adds up.

WiFi, 4G LTE, Bluetooth & GPS

If you aren’t using WiFi or Bluetooth, turn them off. Connecting to WiFi whenever possible saves battery life. That said, if you’re not using WiFi but it’s constantly trying to find and connect to one, it will hurt battery life. The same goes for Bluetooth and GPS.

Whether that’s Google Maps or Facebook Messenger trying to find your location, GPS is a huge battery drain. Some apps and games don’t work without GPS, and Maps aren’t as accurate, but it can substantially improve battery life if you turn GPS off.

Head into Settings > Privacy & safety > Location > and select Location Method, then choose “Battery Saver” or the middle WiFi and Mobile networks.

Turn off Galaxy Note 9 Features You Don’t Need

This next one is a biggie. Like we said earlier, Samsung phones have a ton of software features. Some of them are extremely helpful, while others will use up battery for no reason, like the Edge panel or edge lighting.

Any previous Galaxy owner knows all about the many gestures, motion controls, edge features and more. Like swiping a hand over the screen to take a screenshot, keeping the screen on if the camera sees your eyes looking at the screen, or instantly calling someone from a text when you put the phone to your ear.  Use these if you want, or turn them off if you don’t.

Head to Settings > Advanced Features > and start turning things off. We recommend disabling Smart Capture, Palm Swipe Capture, Direct Call, Easy Mute, and disable “Smart Stay” in the display settings. These all need power and sensors inside the phone for things we rarely use. The software will do this too, which refines the experience even more over time.

Screen Brightness & Sleep Time

If you’re going to turn off the always-on display, we recommend adjusting your screen brightness and sleep timer too. Studies suggest the average user turns a phone on over 140+ times a day. Usually just to check the time, date, or a notification. The always-on display cuts down on that. If you’re not going to use it, make sure your screen isn’t staying on longer than it should, that way you can preserve as much battery life as possible.

Head to Settings > Display > Brightness and lower the brightness to something around 50% or less. Leaving the Note 9 on auto-brightness isn’t the best for battery life. The screen is plenty bright already, so turn it down unless you are outdoors.

Another important setting to change is the “screen timeout”. This is how long the phone stays on after each use before the screen dims and turns off by itself. Like when you’re done using your phone and you set it down, it stays on for about 1-minute. We suggest lowering this to 30 seconds. When you check your phone 140 times a day, that extra 30 seconds the screen is on surely takes a dent out of battery life.

Battery Saver & Performance Modes

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 does a lot of performance and app optimization the first few days you own it, and it did them again after the Pie update. However, you can always add to that with the built-in battery saver and performance modes. Under Settings > Device Maintenance > Battery you’ll find a few performance modes. These will change the screen brightness and resolution or even slow down the processor to extend battery life throughout the day. Click here for more information.

If you tap the three dots at the top of the screen you’ll get more options and the choice to customize things to your liking. Be careful though, as these modes will move all the app icons on your homescreen, which is somewhat frustrating.

How to Fix Galaxy Note 9 Android 10 Problems

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Android 10 arrived at the very end of 2019 for some, but most people will be getting the update in February of 2020. This new software adds a lot of helpful features or changes to deliver better performance, battery life and more. However, now a few users are facing new problems.

If you’re running into Galaxy Note 9 Android 10 One UI 2 problems or battery life issues follow this guide. We go over some common issues with Samsung’s new software, including how to downgrade back to Pie. If you’re still on the Android 10 beta you can expect an official update sometime soon, which should improve the situation as well. Samsung’s working hard to make the update perfect, so just hang tight.

Other Battery Tips & Tricks

At the end of the day, battery life will differ for each individual user and how they use the phone. Everyone is different. However, the app BetteryBatteryStats can help just about anyone. This program shows you what apps use what, and will highlight potential problems. It’s a pretty powerful app that will give you more insight into your usage habits.

Another thing to consider is Bixby, Samsung’s virtual assistant. Don’t use the always-listening wake commands, as that’s one more thing always-on and listening. In fact, we recommend you completely disable Bixby.

Read: 9 Best Galaxy Note 9 Screen Protectors 

Last but not least is Airplane mode. When you don’t need your phone for calls, texts or internet turn on Airplane mode. This setting turns off all data, radios, services and more and most phones can last 4-5 days with it enabled. If you’re traveling, give it a try. I’ve also found that deleting apps I no longer use helps too. Uninstall unnecessary apps every few months and then reboot your phone when you’re done.

What’s Coming Next?

In closing, we want to talk about what’s coming next. That, of course, is the upcoming Galaxy Android 10 update and Samsung’s One UI 2.0 release. Newer phones have it already, and Samsung is finally delivering it to the older Note 9 for select devices. It’s coming to your phone soon. Google released Android 10 in August, and over the last few months, Samsung has released several betas to the public.

Once this Galaxy Android 10 update arrives expect slightly better performance, longer battery life, more privacy and security and a slew of new and helpful features on your phone. We’ll keep an eye out for more Galaxy Note 9 tips, tricks, and battery-saving measures. For now, enjoy all this phone has to offer. If you’re still experiencing problems, give this helpful guide a try.

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