Brandon has been involved in tech journalism since the year 2000 and was part of the OG team of XDA and Pocketnow. He's currently a staff writer for MakeUseOf, covering mobile and consumer tech. Brandon likes to help people take full advantage of their technology.
He lives outside of Philadelphia, PA, with his wife and three kids. When he's not writing, Brandon plays drums and enjoys listening to music.
He's a graduate of the Villanova School of Business where he got a bachelors degree in finance.
I've identified a few things you can set up on your Samsung Galaxy that will specifically run while you sleep, which will have you waking up to a faster phone with more battery, while being updated automatically with the latest security patches. Here's what to do.
As is the case with a PC, rebooting your phone occasionally helps to reload and repair core operating system files; it flushes out the memory; it terminates background processes; it clears temporary cache files, and it also re-establishes all network connections.
Samsung devices have a hidden setting that can reboot your phone every night while you sleep and while it's charging, and after setting this up, I have to say that my phone feels faster every day (and I'm using an old Galaxy S22+).
Setting this up is simple: go to Settings -> Device Care -> Auto optimization -> Auto restart -> Restart on schedule ->Set it up to reboot daily in the middle of the night.
Quiz
8 Questions · Test Your Knowledge
Battery Optimization Myths
Think you know how to keep your battery healthy? Or have you been falling for these common charging myths all along?
ChargingMythsHardwareSoftwareLifespan
01 / 8
Myths
Many people believe you should fully drain your smartphone battery to 0% before recharging to 'calibrate' it. What's the truth?
Correct! This advice comes from the era of old nickel-cadmium batteries, which did benefit from full discharge cycles. Modern lithium-ion batteries prefer shallow discharge cycles and are actually stressed by dropping to 0%, which can degrade capacity faster over time.
Not quite — the answer is B. This belief is a holdover from nickel-cadmium battery days. Lithium-ion batteries, used in virtually all modern smartphones, are damaged by deep discharges and actually perform best when kept between 20% and 80% charge.
02 / 8
Charging
A popular belief is that leaving your phone plugged in overnight 'overcharges' the battery and ruins it. Is this accurate?
Correct! Modern smartphones have built-in battery management chips that automatically cut off charging current once the battery hits 100%. However, it's still worth noting that staying at 100% for extended periods and the residual heat from charging can contribute to minor long-term degradation.
Not quite — the answer is C. Smartphones use intelligent charging controllers that stop the flow of current once 100% is reached. While it's not ideal to stay at 100% for days on end due to heat and trickle charging effects, a single overnight charge won't 'overcharge' or instantly ruin your battery.
03 / 8
Myths
Some users swear that closing all background apps manually every day will dramatically extend battery life. What does research actually show?
Correct! Both Apple and Google have explicitly stated that force-closing apps can hurt rather than help battery life. When you manually kill an app and then reopen it, your processor works harder to reload everything from scratch, consuming more energy than if the app had simply stayed suspended in memory.
Not quite — the answer is C. This is one of the most pervasive battery myths around. Modern mobile operating systems are designed to manage background apps efficiently, suspending them to use minimal resources. Force-quitting them means more CPU work when you reopen them, which actually burns more battery.
04 / 8
Hardware
There's a widespread belief that using a third-party or 'off-brand' charger will always damage your battery. How accurate is this?
Correct! The real danger lies in uncertified, ultra-cheap chargers that lack proper voltage regulation and safety circuitry. A reputable third-party charger with safety certifications (like UL or CE marks) is generally perfectly safe. The key distinction is certification, not brand name.
Not quite — the answer is B. The myth oversimplifies the issue. Certified third-party chargers from reputable brands are designed to meet the same safety standards as OEM chargers. The genuine risk comes from extremely cheap, uncertified chargers that can deliver unstable voltage and even pose fire hazards.
05 / 8
Software
Many battery-saving apps on the Google Play Store and App Store claim to significantly extend battery life through optimization. Are they effective?
Correct! Most battery-saving apps are essentially snake oil. Modern operating systems already have sophisticated built-in battery optimization tools. Meanwhile, these third-party apps run persistently in the background consuming resources to 'save' resources — a counterproductive loop that often results in worse performance.
Not quite — the answer is C. This is a huge market built largely on placebo. Apple and Google have invested enormously in native battery optimization at the OS level. A third-party app running in the background to 'save' battery ironically uses battery itself, and has no special powers beyond what your phone's built-in settings already offer.
06 / 8
Lifespan
It's commonly said that storing a spare lithium-ion battery at a full 100% charge is the best way to preserve it long-term. What's the correct approach?
Correct! Lithium-ion batteries experience the least chemical stress when stored at a partial charge of around 40–60%. A full 100% charge creates ongoing electrochemical stress even in storage, while 0% risks the battery falling below a safe minimum voltage threshold, potentially making it unrecoverable.
Not quite — the answer is D. Battery manufacturers and storage guidelines consistently recommend 40–60% charge for long-term storage. Full charge and empty charge are both harmful extremes for lithium-ion chemistry. Cool temperatures (but not freezing) also slow the natural self-discharge and degradation process.
07 / 8
Charging
A viral claim suggests that using your phone while it charges causes 'phantom charging' that permanently weakens the battery. Is this a real phenomenon?
Correct! 'Phantom charging' is a made-up term with no basis in battery science. Using your phone while it charges is perfectly fine electrically. The one legitimate concern is heat — intensive tasks like gaming while charging can raise temperature, and sustained high heat is genuinely bad for lithium-ion battery longevity.
Not quite — the answer is C. This is pure fiction designed to sound technical. No such phenomenon exists in battery literature or engineering. While it's true that heavy usage during charging generates extra heat (which is worth being mindful of), the invented concept of 'phantom charging' is simply a myth with no scientific backing.
08 / 8
Myths
A common tip claims that enabling Wi-Fi when you're near a network saves more battery than using cellular data. Is this true or a myth?
Correct! This one is actually true, making it the non-myth of the bunch. Wi-Fi typically consumes less power than cellular data for data-heavy tasks because the signal source is close by, requiring less transmission power. The exception is when Wi-Fi signal is very weak, forcing the radio to work harder than a strong cellular connection would.
Not quite — the answer is B. Unlike many battery tips, this one holds up. Wi-Fi uses less energy than cellular data in most real-world scenarios because the router is physically nearby. However, if your Wi-Fi signal is weak and your phone is straining to maintain a connection, a strong LTE signal could actually be more efficient in that specific case.
Challenge Complete
Your Score
/ 8
Thanks for playing!
Turn off battery protection
Charge to a full 100%
Credit: Brandon Miniman / MakeUseOf
Lately, phones have an annoying feature called Battery Optimization or Battery Protection that tries to learn your charging habits such that the phone doesn't get to 100% until it anticipates you'll take it off the charger. This is because modern batteries wear down fastest when charged fully, so the idea is that you only charge to full when needed. This might mean that if you take your phone off the charger at an unanticipated time, you might only have charged to 80% despite the phone being on the charger for many hours.
To turn off this ridiculous feature and reclaim your 100% battery, go to Settings ->Battery Protection ->Turn off.
In theory, this could slightly reduce the lifespan of your battery if you plan to keep your phone for more than two years. Since I tend to upgrade my phone yearly, I prefer having more battery life even at the expense of battery longevity, since I'll be trading in my phone in a year anyway.
Samsung does a wonderful job at pushing out software updates, often with up to seven years of updates for most devices. Even my Galaxy S22+ from 2022 is running the latest One UI 8.5 software on Android 16. One way to ensure you get the latest updates is to turn on auto-update so you don't have to think about it.
To turn on auto-update, go to Settings ->Device Care ->Software Update ->Auto download -> Turn on.
Turn on background usage limits
Add social media apps to keep them dormant
Credit: Brandon Miniman / MakeUseOf
By far one of the biggest culprits of battery drain is overzealous social media apps that update in the background even when you're not using them. Samsung has a great tool that lets you limit background usage of key apps. You can set this to auto, but I much prefer to manually add apps I know will be trying to update constantly in the background, like Instagram and LinkedIn.
Get smarter Samsung setups - subscribe to the newsletter
Subscribe to the newsletter for concise, actionable Samsung Galaxy guides—hidden settings, battery and performance tweaks, and step-by-step setup help so you can optimize your phone with confidence. Also includes practical tips for other devices and setup
By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.
To set this up, head to Settings->Battery->Background usage limits ->Sleeping Apps->Add social media apps here. This setting will cause the apps to run the background only occasionally.
There is an even more extreme measure you can take for apps that you never want to update in the background and will cause them to only update if you manually open the app and update it. That's in the Deep sleeping apps menu under Settings ->Battery ->Background usage limits. If you use Facebook, one of the biggest culprits of having battery-killing background activity, I'd absolutely add that to the deep sleeping apps list. But otherwise, you can use the less extreme regular "sleeping apps" menu mentioned above to keep most social media apps from slowing down your phone and using your battery.
Samsung gives you the tools for a faster phone
You just need to use them
Credit: Brandon Miniman / MakeUseOf
It's easy to discount the sheer number of features and tools you get on a Samsung Galaxy. But if you spend the time digging, like by having your phone auto-reboot while you're sleeping and turning off annoying battery optimizations that rob you of a full battery in exchange for a little bit of battery longevity, you can truly have a phone that does a little bit of work while you sleep, so that when you wake up you always have a full battery and a phone that runs at peak performance.
Quiz
