How to fix Galaxy S10/S10 Plus poor battery life

At its launch, Galaxy S10 and S10+ were two of the best smartphones in market. Both of them offer fairly large battery packs, 3,400mAh and 4,100 mAh. In theory, both of these phones should at least last a day with medium to heavy use. However, a lot of people experience poor battery life on Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+. The main culprit for is not hardware but the software. Samsung’s TouchWiz was notorious for excessive bloatware sucking up battery and speed. Things are now changed with One UI but you still get glimpses of past with this OS.

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What’s ideal battery life on S10 and S10+?

The screenshot below shows what a good day on single charge looks like. Following example from a Galaxy S10 and it’s completely opposite of bad or poor battery life. The screen-on time is over 6 hours with almost 24Hrs on a single charge. It involves using social media, chatting, camera, music, calls and other basic tasks.

This is a great example of what we want to achieve. Therefore, lets follow the simple steps that make this phone’s battery life great, to fix poor battery life on your S10 and S10 Plus.

How to fix poor battery life on S10 & S10 Plus

Before continuing to read this guide, note that there is no hard’n fast rule for fixing bad battery life on these phones. It is a very vague issue and solution may vary from one person to another. Below are the most general guidelines on how to fix these issues and get the most out of your phone’s battery juice.

Follow the steps below to fix poor battery life on Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus.

Use Dark Mode / Dark Theme.
If you notice the screenshot above, that phone is on default dark theme. It can make impactful difference to overall battery life since dark theme consumes less power for screen-on time.
Delete unnecessary Apps.
Some people love to test out new apps. However, they forget to delete those apps afterwards. More the apps, more the load in background. Therefore, if there are any unused apps in your phone, uninstall those.
Turn on Adaptive Battery in Settings.
One of my favorite features in Android Pie is adaptive battery. It is working pretty great on modern devices. In contrast to popular opinion, you don’t really miss notifications. However, turning this feature on makes huge difference to battery life especially when using specific apps in foreground for long times.
Don’t keep WiFi and Data turned on at same time. Disable smart switch.
Staying connected to internet all the time is very important for some people. Android offers a feature called Smart Switch for network. This allows phone to switch between Data and WiFi seamlessly. However, it also accounts for lot of battery life since both bands are active at same time.
Use Adaptive / Auto Brightness controls.
The screens on both of these phones great really bright! These are the two best smartphone screens out there. However, this comes at a huge price. Screen consumes most of the battery juice. Therefore, either tune it down or just turn on auto controls.
Always charge phone over 90% and don’t use Power banks frequently.
I know this may come as a surprise for many. However, I’ve observed that in order to maintain a healthy battery, you need to adopt some healthy charging habits too. Charging your phone over 90% and never let it go below 5%. Secondly, don’t use power banks to charge phone on daily basis. It seriously destroys the battery.
Keep ‘useless’ quick settings turned off (NFC, Bluetooth, Location etc).
If you pull down notifications menu, there are quite a few quick settings icons. Now, some of these are necessary while others are there for specific purposes only. If you turn on NFC for example and forget to turn it off, it may consume battery life. Similarly, location services, idle bluetooth, idle WiFi and other settings like this contribute to poor S10/S10+ battery life.
Clear cache from recovery.
If the battery life is getting really annoying and none of the regular fixes can make it work, then try some advanced methods. It is possible that some part of software or app is corrupted. Therefore, clear the cache storage from either stock or custom recovery. It basically resets the data for all installed apps.

What if none of these tips work?

The above mentioned tips should work for majority of users. However, there are still going to be odd cases where nothing seems to works and battery life is constantly bad. Clearing cache does not fix the battery life or any of the other steps. While we recommend still following those, here are some additional and advanced options for fixing battery drain issues on S10 or S10 Plus.

Factory Reset

A complete factory reset wipes everything from the phone. It includes all stored settings, apps and data (photos, music etc). This restores the phone back to its factory configuration. In this environment, the phone should work at its fastest and perform with max battery life. There is nothing but Samsung’s own software. Follow this guide:

How to factory or hard reset Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus – GUIDE

Install only few necessary apps afterwards and test the battery life for one full day. If the battery drain issue is now fixed, then install your apps one by one. Do not convert it back to its old self at once. It is possible that one of the user-installed apps was using too much of processing in background. Keep testing the apps and then battery life. If one of the apps was the issue, then it should be fixed now.

Battery Calibration

The battery pack on phone and software may sometimes be not on the same page. The numbers and actual battery life may vary. This causes the phone to turn off suddenly at, lets say 15% battery. Or the battery is normal and it starts draining faster after certain number.

In such a case, try battery calibration on S10 or S10 Plus using the guide below.

Dial *#0228# on your phone.
It is the BatteryStatus window.
Tap on Quick Start and press OK in next pop up.
Restart the phone after it’s completed.
Now drain your phone back to 0% and then let it charge while turned off to 100%. (VERY IMPORTANT).
That’s pretty much it. It worked on a lot of devices and ROMs for us!

How to clear cache on S10/S10 Plus to fix poor battery life

This step is mentioned in the main tips section. However, for those who don’t know how to clear cache, follow the steps in guide below.

How to clear cache of Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus – GUIDE

It helps reset all the apps to basic state. If there was any problem in any of the apps’ cache, it should now be gone. Moreover, it is rebuilt as soon as the phone restarts. Therefore, you don’t lose speed. It does not wipe the user data either.

Re-install/Update firmware to fix battery drain issue on S10 or S10 Plus

If you’ve tried both factory resetting and clearing cache, but the phone’s battery life is still bad, then there is just one thing left to do. Either re-install the current firmware or update it to a newer version (if available). Follow the guide below:

How to install stock firmware on Galaxy S10 or S10 Plus – GUIDE

Hardware Issues

If none of the above mentioned methods work and your phone is behaving abnormally i.e. S10 battery drains fast or suddenly. Then try contacting Samsung support and ask for a replacement. None of the above fixes will work if battery isn’t in correct condition.

Conclusion

When someone gets one of these phones, they expect best of the best in terms of performance, battery life and camera. Although there is absolutely no doubt about performance and camera, battery life may be hit and miss for certain people. It could be due to number of reasons. We have summed up all possible reasons for poor battery life on both S10 and S10+. Follow these guidelines and let us know how it improved for you.

Drop your queries and feedback in comments below

Usama M

Usama is a software engineer by profession and at TechBeasts.com he uses his expertise to solve everyday consumer tech problems with his main areas of interest being Android, iOS and Windows.