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How to Fix Bad OnePlus 6T Battery Life

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The OnePlus 6T is an excellent phone and a great alternative to the Galaxy S10. However, now that it’s almost a year old we’re seeing more and more complaints about bad OnePlus 6T battery life. So, if your phone isn’t lasting as long as expected, here are 10+ tips to make it last longer.

You don’t need to read the manual or browse the OnePlus forum for hours to find answers. We have solutions to all of the most common issues or complaints.

While this phone gets pretty good battery life, even with the huge 6.41-inch screen, some will eventually run into issues due to the 3,700 mAh battery. Whether you’re dealing with problems or just want your OnePlus 6T to last longer, here are a few things you can try.

Basically, you’ll want to know about these secret steps, settings to change, or options you can change to improve both your experience and battery life.

Read: Best OnePlus 6T Screen Protectors 

Before we begin, make sure you’re running the latest OxygenOS update or beta from OnePlus. At the time of writing, that’s OxygenOS 9 which added lots of new features, battery optimization and brought it up to date with Android Pie. Go to Settings > About Phone > Check for updates. They released another update in June, and likely another each month until Android 10.

Find Apps Eating Up Your Battery

The first step to solving any battery situation is finding out if an app is causing problems. Something gone rogue that’s draining the juice too fast.

It doesn’t matter if these apps come pre-installed or it’s something you downloaded from the Google Play Store. Sometimes apps just don’t work right. Your phone will send you a notification if an app is using an abnormal amount of battery, so watch out for those alerts.

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 more than it should, and that’s what we want to avoid. Head to Settings > Battery > and tap the battery icon. This shows you a full breakdown of apps and their battery usage.

We’re looking for things like Android System, Display, or Android OS to top this list. If other random apps are near the top, something isn’t right. Click the app and select “Force Stop” or uninstall the app to prevent further issues. Take advantage of this menu in settings to help find misbehaving apps.

Additionally, we’re seeing some crazy battery drain randomly occur on the OnePlus 6T here in 2019. Reddit forums are full of complaints, and we’ll report back if we find a solution. For now, keep reading.

Reboot Your OnePlus 6T

While this is a great tip overall, it also applies to our first category. If your phone (or an app) is acting up or draining the battery, reboot your phone. This is often the easiest and fastest way to stop a pesky problem or fix any small issue.

Whether you want to give your phone a fresh start for the day or you noticed the battery draining too fast, give it a quick reboot. Long-press the power button and select reboot, or manually reboot your OnePlus 6T.

Face & Screen Unlock

With the OnePlus 5T and the OP6, Face Unlock was draining the battery on some devices. And now, the OnePlus 6T has the same Face Unlock, along with a “Screen Unlock” mode where the screen glows at 100% brightness to scan your fingerprint. It’s a feature you’ll love, but it could also be shaving minutes or more off your daily use.

Basically, keep an eye out for Face Unlock and Screen Unlock in the battery usage menu we mentioned earlier. If they’re using too much juice, try a different unlock method.

Disable the Ambient “Lift” Display Feature

OnePlus’ latest phone doesn’t have an always-on display like a lot of the competition, but there’s a similar feature known as Lift. When you “lift” up the phone the screen will turn on to show you notifications and such. It’s helpful, but it can also go off when it shouldn’t, or inside a pocket. Try disabling that option.

Then, in the near future, we believe an update will add the “Always-On Display” and you’ll want to disable that too. Well, if you need better battery life, of course.

Screen Brightness & Sleep Time

Every little bit helps, and two things you can easily change are screen brightness and sleep timers. With a huge 6.41-inch AMOLED screen, you’ll want to pay a lot of attention to both of these. The average person checks their phone over 140 times a day, usually just to see the time or check a notification. This adds up throughout a day and can really lower battery life.

Make sure you hit the power/sleep button when you’re done using the phone, so the screen isn’t just turned on for no reason. Most people just set the phone down when they’re done, and the screen stays on wasting precious juice. Often for 1-2 minutes EVERY single time. That’s 140+ minutes a day of wasted battery. This is known as the “sleep timer” and we can cut that drain by 50%. We also recommend keeping the screen brightness at an average level.

Head to Settings > Display > Sleep > and set this to 30 seconds or one minute, not 5 minutes. That way when the phone isn’t in use, it dims and will go to sleep after that amount of time.

Use a Black Wallpaper

Did you know that using a black wallpaper will improve battery life? It’s not a ton, but every little bit counts — right? The OnePlus 6T has an AMOLED screen and they’re very efficient at displaying dark colors. Plus, it doesn’t need to “turn on” pixels to show the color black.

After you’ve downloaded a nice wallpaper long-press a blank area of the screen and go into Wallpapers to apply it.

Turn Off OnePlus 6T Features You Don’t Need

This next one is a biggie. While the screen is likely the biggest drain on the battery every day, a lot of the extra features can have an effect too. While some of them are great, others keep the phone awake for no reason and can hurt battery life. As you saw from our battery usage image above, the Face Unlock feature was using more battery than we expected, as it keeps sensors on 24/7 watching for a face.

So, turn off features you don’t need or don’t plan on using. Then, other things like gesture controls, Google Assistant “voice detection” and features in the Settings  > advanced category can drain your battery too. Go to Advanced and turn off anything you don’t use. Over an 8-10 hour day this will certainly help.

Just Because

It won’t give you better battery life, but go to the calculator app and type in “1+=”. Just do it.

WiFi, 4G LTE, Bluetooth & GPS

Again, small changes don’t seem important, but when you add these all up over 8 hours, they can give you an extra 1-2 hours a day of battery. WiFi, BT, and GPS all will drain your battery to some degree. WiFi is easier on the battery than 4G cellular connections, but when you aren’t on your home WiFi the phone will constantly search for a WiFi signal. This hurts battery life. Turn it off when you leave.

For me, the most noticeable change is cutting out what apps access and use GPS. Whether that’s Google Maps or Facebook Messenger trying to find your location. Disabling GPS on multiple apps can give you way more juice than you’d think.

Head to settings and tap the magnifying glass. Type “Location” then enter location settings and tap the battery saver mode. GPS isn’t as accurate, but you’ll notice an increase in battery life. Your OnePlus 6T will use WiFi and 4G LTE for details on your location.

OnePlus 6T Battery Saver & Gaming Modes

Don’t forget to take advantage of battery saver or Gaming Do-Not-Disturb modes. Like we see with every phone, OnePlus has a pretty capable battery saver option on top of the already great Android 9 Pie controls. This means it will reduce performance, vibrations, screen brightness, background data, and a few other things only when necessary.

Set the phone to turn on battery saver mode around 15% remaining, or even 10%, and only get the bare minimum controls in order to keep the phone running as long as possible. You can customize when it turns on, and you can even add/remove features from the excluded list during battery saver moments.

Then, OnePlus added a “Gaming DND mode” that basically stops any and all notifications while you’re gaming. Even if you’re not gaming, this will keep the screen off when you need to save as much battery as possible by limiting all notifications or messages.

We also recommend trying the Snapdragon BatteryGuru. This app learns your habits as you use the device, and starts turning things like WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and other modes on or off for you. Basically, automating a bunch of small tweaks that will add up over time. This lets you focus on things other than tinkering with settings and controls.

OnePlus Android Pie Battery Tips

Those dealing with poor battery life will want to look at this generic Android Pie problems guide. We’re expecting further refinements to Android Pie and Oxygen OS throughout 2019. Plus, expect at least one or two more big updates while the company continues working on the inevitable Android 10 Q release.

A Few More OnePlus 6T Battery Tips & Tricks

At the end of the day, battery life always comes down to how you use your phone. Everyone uses their phone differently. Some are hard on phones and have 4-5 hours screen-on time, while others use them sparingly. There is a huge thread at the OnePlus 6T forums all about battery life, and how to prolong usage. Read through that if you’d like.

Additionally, download the app BetteryBatteryStats. This program shows you what apps use what, what you use the most, and will highlight any potential problems or bad habits. It’s a pretty powerful app that will give you more insight into how you use your phone.

Stay tuned for the next few software updates from OnePlus. They’ll probably fine-tune the software, patch a few bugs, and further improve performance and battery life. They’re one of the best manufacturers when it comes to fast, helpful, and timely software updates.

Or, try the OnePlus 6T Android Q beta and test Google’s new software before it’s released to the public. It could have a few fixes, but also add new problems to your device. It’s early unreleased software, so just keep that in mind.

In closing, this phone is still less than a year old, and they’re slowly ironing out a few more bugs and optimizing the entire experience. It will get better as time goes on. Before you go, get a screen protector and maybe a case so your phone lasts longer.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. anonynous

    02/11/2019 at 7:08 pm

    the page keeps getting cut off most of the article. check it

  2. Rafael Oliveira

    03/23/2019 at 1:06 pm

    Mine (McLaren ed.) facing this when I left the battery reach out 0%, so the phone turned off. Passed 1 hour I plug the charger (as I did by the last week but with phone turned on – I have since then) and with half hour later I realized that showed 1%, so after a while when wake up screen showed 0%! After this I wait more half hour but continued showing 0%, so I try power on and got the message: “Battery is too low…”. So even plugged I try press & hold power button for 20 sec. for 5 times (as some forums instructions), and press power with volume bottoms (all combinations), but none of this solves the issue. So I unplugged and the screen turned on showing as I have seen the last time (I think that is a kind of freeze bug when dry out battery with phone turned on). After this I try to turn on but with the same message. Then while I read some other forums results/approaches I plugged again and left charging to see what happens and behold the phone showed 53% when wake up :)
    After this I wait till got 100% and voila! All have done ok. I think I will not let the phone reach 0% again :)

  3. Ereck

    04/06/2019 at 10:28 am

    I own two oneplus 6t devices as well as own and operate a cellphone brick and mortar cellphone repair store.

    I can assure you that it doesn’t effect all versions of the 6t, there are good ones and defective ones that likely were part of a different build (ie. separate lot of batteries or power control components.)

    I have one that lasts 2 days with bluetooth, wifi, and two separate carrier SIMs (GSM/CDMA), my other one using only one SIM (GSM) has required midday charging about 50% of the time I’ve owned it.

    I’ve sent screen shots to OnePlus support and expressed that they need to replace the defective one. I’ve had it for 9 days now and as an initial OPO Invitee I’m very disappointed in this company who encouraged that we Never Settle who now requires we settle for substandard support when they drop the ball.Btw, just so everyone in the US knows. It is a violation of their Terms of Sales to require you to pay for shipping to return or exchange your device within one year. I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission for breech of their Terms Of Sales contract and possibly consumer protection law. As well the way they treat US consumers with warranty concerns. Multiple potential violations of their own Terms of Sales contract found at https://www.oneplus.com/legal/terms-of-sales?from=foot “Warranty Policy” a. d. defines a 12mo wty period that includes shipping and handling for repair or replacement. “Return and Replacement Policy” a. b. c. defines further my specific model (inc. battery) states “If you are not satisfied with your purchase for any reason” and further acknowledges compliance with consumer protection law return free of charge.

    They have insisted that I pay to ship my brand new ‘defective’ 5 day old device to Acer ‘their authorized repair center’ for repair or replacement. I told them I’m not paying additional monies to receive a refurbished phone 7-10 business days from now when I already paid the same as everyone else to receive a brand new phone in 2-3 days. I observed the difference almost immediately (the same day I received it on the 28th of March. I gave it a couple of days to ensure it wasn’t just due to excessive downloading and initial setup usage – get all the updates etc. and filed for RMA on April 1). Dealing with OnePlus support has been a frustrating and impossible task to say the least. They even called me back once to tell me the phone I sent in would require me to pay $141 dollars because it arrived with a broken LCD!!! I haven’t even sent my phone in yet! They are looking to have started being scam artists.

  4. Vincent Williams

    08/22/2019 at 10:29 am

    I have had 3 6T phones and all 3 had the same problem;some one can call me and it rings once and goes straight to voicemail. I can make phone calls with know problem. All the settings were set correct,has anyone experienced this issue?
    Know one at T mobile could figure it out or Tech support.

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