You can extend your phone’s battery through some settings and changing the wallpaper

Improve battery life On a phone This is often a big focus, especially as we increasingly use our phones for everything from watching movies to experimenting with generative AI features. We know that people are looking for solutions to help extend battery life, whether that’s finding new phones with better batteries or taking advantage of… Power banks. A CNET poll As of May 2026, 58% of smartphone owners were found to be frustrated with their devices’ battery life. In fact, longer battery life (52%) is the second biggest driver (after price at 55%) of their decision to get a new phone.

But phones and other electronic devices also remain Get more expensiveyou may want to look into other ways to get more out of your phone — including ways to improve battery life. The good news is that if your phone has an OLED or AMOLED screen, there are some simple adjustments you can make to help reduce how quickly the battery drains to power that screen. And there’s a good chance you already have a phone with this type of screen technology: according to Counterpoint research a report As of May, about 87% of smartphones in the US do this.

Can these two settings really help save battery power on OLED smartphones?

The screen is the most active part of your smartphone – and to save battery power, we need to find ways to reduce the workload on it. One easy way to do this is to add a black wallpaper and enable dark mode on your device.

The OLED panel then consumes very low power due to its structure. They operate on a per-pixel basis rather than having a fixed backlight to illuminate pixels (LCD), which consumes approximately 30% higher average current than Dynamic AMOLED, according to a paper published in IEEE.

If you add a black wallpaper to your home screen, it will turn off most of the pixels on your OLED-equipped smartphone, allowing them to last longer on a single charge. Some may think it is a myth, but according to another Research paper From IEEE, black consumes the least power (~250 mW). In comparison, white is the most power-intensive color on an OLED display, drawing about 1,250 mW of power from the battery.

You will notice a significant difference in battery efficiency between light mode and dark mode when using the phone under direct sunlight. With brightness maximized, dark mode (and its dark background in apps) consumes much less power, compared to light mode and its white background.

However, setting a deep black background on the home screen may result in higher contrast and readability issues for some people. A 2025 He studies from North University, Croatia, found that the background color of a digital system has a significant impact on readability. It found a specific shade of dark gray (#121212) “significantly reduced the number of reading errors,” while dark blue (#15202B) led to faster reading of text.

If you want the best efficiency and readability on your OLED smartphone, you should choose a dark gray wallpaper in dark mode. Here’s how to set up both settings on your iPhone or Android device.

How to turn on dark mode on iPhone

All current iPhone models On the market – from iPhone 17e to iPhone 17 Pro Max – It has an OLED screen. This means that you can turn on dark mode to save battery power on your iPhone. This also includes most iPhone models released since iPhone 12 lineexcept iPhone SE. Here’s how to find and enable this setting:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down to Display and brightness.
3. He chooses dark To turn on dark mode.

However, not everyone likes dark mode at all times. I prefer my iPhone to be in light mode during the day, so I schedule dark mode from 6pm to 11am on my device. You can set it up to run automatically at your preferred time by simply toggling the toggle and adding a schedule. Here’s how:

1. Go to Settings > Display and brightness.
2. Below are the Light and Dark options automatic Switch. Turn it on.
3. handle Options And set your preferred schedule.

If the schedule doesn’t work for you, I recommend adding a dark mode toggle in Control Center for easy access. This way, you can simply swipe down from the top of your home screen and turn on dark mode with a single tap. To do this:

1. It opens Control center On your iPhone.
2. Touch and hold an empty space on it.
3. You will find Add a control The option is at the bottom of the screen. Click on it.
4. Search for Dark mode And press setting.
5. Drag and drop the icon where you want to place it in Control Center.
6. Click anywhere in the empty space to save this position.

How to add black or dark wallpaper on iPhone

Before you follow the steps below, you must first find the dark wallpaper you want to use. There are many options available, whether you find one with a solid background or an almost black background with some designs. When you’ve chosen the wallpaper you want, download the image and save it to your iPhone. Once done, you are now ready to add a dark wallpaper to your home screen and lock screen. Here’s how:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down to find wallpaper And press it.
3. Click on photo And select the image you just saved.
4. If you want, you can customize it using tools. Once finished, press He adds.
5. Click on set as wallpaper pair, So it is added to both your home screen and lock screen.

You are now all set! The combination of Dark Mode and a near-black background should help your iPhone last longer on a single charge.

How to turn on dark mode on Android phone

The settings menu on your Android phone can vary depending on the brand you’re using. For example, the setting could be placed under a different menu Samsung Galaxy phone vs. a Google pixel device. However, there will always be some difference in going to Settings > an offer And run Dark topic Switch. A few Android manufacturers, including OnePlus and Oppo, are under this system Settings > Display and brightness > darksimilar to Apple iPhone.

You can enable dark mode on your Android phone by following these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll to find an offer or Display and touchdepending on the phone.
3. Click on dark.

Like the iPhone, you can schedule dark mode on your Android phone. I’ll divide it into two broad categories:

Schedule dark mode on Samsung Galaxy phones:

1. Go to Settings > an offer.
2. under Light and darkYou must find the darkness situation Settings option. Click on it.
3. He chooses Run as scheduled.
4. Click on Custom table. This will allow you to add your preferred time to this setting.

Schedule dark mode on Google Pixel phones:

1. Go to Settings > Display and touch.
2. Click on table.
3. Now, you can add a custom time by selecting It runs at the allotted time.

4. Add your preferred time to automatically turn on dark mode every day.

How to add a black or dark background on an Android phone

Like other settings, changing wallpaper varies from one Android phone to another. Some may also offer fixed color options, so you don’t need to download this image. But for the sake of this tutorial, I’ll stick to one process. I recommend saving the image to your gallery.

To change the wallpaper on your Android phone:

1. Long press on a space on your home screen.
2. Click on backgrounds At the bottom.
3. He chooses Choose an image (This option may vary depending on your phone. Tap the option that allows you to select a photo from the gallery.)
4. Select the recently downloaded image.
5. handle Preview > He advances.

As with the iPhone, you can always add widgets and adjust the look of your watch after you set this wallpaper. Your Android phone is now ready to save battery power with display efficiency.