charger – PSafe Blog

Why Does Facebook Use A Lot of Battery When It’s Not Open?

PSafe Newsroom — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 13:05:21 +0000

Ever since it’s conception, Facebook’s official application has enjoyed a long reign as one of the Google Play store’s most popular downloads. But cell phone users who installed the app do tend to notice a negative effect on their phones’ performance levels. Any guesses why? Well, Facebook continues to run in the background — even when the app is closed. This application is notorious for doing frequent notification checks, which can drain a lot of your battery’s juice. Click here to use Memory Booster to close apps like Facebook from running in the background of your phone to free up RAM and speed up your phone:

However, up until recently, many cell phone users couldn’t quantify how much of an impact the Facebook app was having on their device. So, the team at Tech World Zone (TWZ) did some digging. The company wanted to assign numbers to the Facebook app’s battery drain, and the statistics that they released were staggering. When TWZ conducted their independent test on a Huawei Nexus 6P model, they reported that the phone’s battery lasted 20% longer without the Facebook app! If you’d like to protect your cell phone’s battery life, keep reading to find out more.

How to Stop the Facebook App from Draining Your Android

If the Facebook application is constantly overworking your Android and you’re hoping to free up some battery life, you have three things to consider:

Change your Facebook settings. This will limit the app’s power. This option is for Android users who can’t imagine a life without their beloved Facebook app. That being said, taking this approach won’t totally fix the problem, although it will certainly help. What you need to do is go into Facebook’s settings. From there, turn off your notifications, internal refreshing, chat availability, and all syncing functions. Deactivating these features will keep your Facebook app from running so heavily in the background.
Delete the Facebook app entirely. If you don’t spend much time on Facebook, then you should just pull the app’s plug. You can always browse the social network in your Chrome browser. The display isn’t quite as user-friendly, but it gets the job done.
Find another app that supports Facebook. If you browse through the Google Play store, you’ll find a bunch of alternate apps that support Facebook. Some of the most popular include: Facebook Lite, Metal, and Folio. Be sure to read the reviews before downloading.

Is it a Faulty Battery or Something Else?

PSafe Newsroom — Wed, 31 May 2017 15:00:46 +0000

It’s happened again: you charged your phone and, in only a few hours, its battery life is nearing empty. Certainly, your phone’s short battery life might be because of a bad battery or a battery that’s come to the end of its life. But the big battery suck on your phone might be something else. Know what exactly is draining your battery with PowerPRO.This DFNDR feature lets you see the biggest consumers of your phone’s power. Once you know which apps or programs are taking up your battery, PowerPRO will help you manage your battery and offers solutions to make your battery life last longer. Click here to check why your battery now:

As you run a PowerPRO scan, you might see some surprising reasons your battery is draining so quickly. Here are a few major battery sucks that surprised us.

Your Apps Keep Running in the Background

You might think your apps aren’t running because you aren’t using them, but really, many apps continue to refresh throughout the day. If PowerPRO says that one of your apps is using a lot of battery, you can bet that it’s continuously refreshing. To fix this problem, you can disable background activity on just that app or you can be safe and disable background activity on all your apps.

Your Phone Settings Are Draining Your Battery

Some of the biggest surprising battery-draining culprits are screen brightness and vibrate mode. Conserve battery by turning your screen brightness down — or, if you have a new phone, turning on the setting that lets it change brightness based on its surroundings. Vibrate mode is another problem; instead of putting your phone on vibrate, turn your ringer either off or on.

You’ve Set Your Phone to Automatic Sync

Other apps, especially document creation and photo apps, often back up your documents several times throughout the day. If you find that your battery is draining quickly or that you don’t need to have your files so regularly updated, you can set your phone to only sync manually, when you tell it to sync.

Once you’ve figured out the battery-draining culprits, you’ll be better informed about what apps to remove and what changes to make in order to extend your battery life. If none of these solutions make a difference, though, you likely have a faulty battery on your hands.

Is Using an Old Phone Charger a Good Idea?

PSafe Newsroom — Sun, 28 May 2017 13:00:29 +0000

Consider this scenario: you’ve recently gotten a new phone, but you’ve lost the phone’s charger. Luckily, you have a couple of older chargers from your older phones. First, you should make sure your current phone’s battery is operating efficiently. To do that, run PowerPro. PowerPro identifies apps that are taking up too much of your battery life so you can resolve energy consumption issues and make your battery stay charged longer. Click here to ensure your battery life is as long as it should be:

You might wonder for convenience sake, will it harm my new phone’s battery to charge my device with an older charger? You want to consider several factors when determining if your old charger will effectively charge your new phone.

Factors to Consider When Using Your Old Phone Charger

Your new phone and your old charger are likely different voltages. New phones will likely recognize old chargers at lower voltages than the charger designed to go with the phone. However, the phone will adjust to the old charger’s voltage, meaning that the phone itself and the battery will not be harmed. However, since the phone is recognizing the voltage as low, it will also charge much more slowly than it would with its new charger.

The problem with using an old charger, too, is that you’ll have to test its voltage if you don’t already know it. If you want to test your phone charger’s voltage, you’ll have to set up an experiment with a multimeter — an experiment that is likely more trouble than it’s worth. It is recommended that if you lose your current charger, you replace it with the charger specifically designed for your phone model for faster charging.

So, what are you supposed to do with all those old phone chargers lying around? If you’re a mechanically-minded person, you could wire up the old charger to power a homemade thermostat. Of, if you don’t want to work on a mechanical project, you could always head to Best Buy. Each location has a bin near the door where you can drop off old chargers or batteries, and they will recycle them for you. Before you go, check Best Buy’s website to make sure they’ll take what you’re trying to recycle. Be warned that you can only recycle so many electronic items per day.

These Are the Top Lightning-Fast Chargers for Android

PSafe Newsroom — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 20:00:21 +0000

There are a lot of great chargers available for smartphones today, and they seem to be getting more incredible by the second. However, a lightning-fast charger can only do so much for your smartphone. While it might charge your phone quickly, it won’t make your phone’s battery last longer. If you’re looking for a way to further improve your device, use DFNDR’s PowerPro feature to extend your phone’s battery life:

PowerPro will identify tasks on your phone that consume too much of your phone’s power, and quickly disable those tasks. This is accomplished through managing your phone’s battery-draining apps. PowerPro will also offer you suggestions on how to make your battery last longer. That way, you won’t have to charge your phone as frequently or wait around for your device to charge.

Nonetheless, when you do need to charge your phone, you’d like that process to be as fast as possible. You also need a charger that’s safe — one that won’t damage your device’s battery, nor start a fire. While this may seem like a simple request, there are a lot of unsafe chargers out there. The following are some of the best Android chargers on the market.

Anker PowerPort +1

This charger works with a variety of Android smartphones and tablets. This works best with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge devices, but it will also charge non-Quick Charge devices. It utilizes fast-charging technology to guarantee that your phone charges as quickly as possible. There are also several safety features to ensure that your smartphone is protected. This charger retails for about $60 but is currently on sale on Amazon for $16.

iClever BoostCube QC3.0

This is one of the most powerful Quick Charge chargers on the market, and a perfect companion to a newer smartphone. This charger claims that it can charge a smartphone (using Qualcomm technology) up to 80% in just 35-40 minutes. The charger has one port, a LED charging indicator, several safety features, and international compatibility. It retails for $40 but you can currently get it from Amazon for $13.

Aukey 2-Port with Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0

If you have a newer, compatible smartphone, this device will charge your phone 75% faster than a typical USB charger. It also has two ports, various safety features to protect your device, and international compatibility, which makes this charger ideal for traveling. The price ranges from $20-$25 on Amazon.

Here Are The Chargers That Are Bad For Your Phone

PSafe Newsroom — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 14:00:36 +0000

There are a variety of different phone chargers on the market that you can use to juice up your phone. They all come with different perks, whether it be wireless charging or faster charging, and each one has a specific selling point as it tries to appeal to all of the various cell phone users. However, not all of these chargers are made equally. In fact, some might be worse for your phone compared to others. There are a few chargers that you should avoid, such as cheap chargers that claim to be incredible — make sure to read reviews thoroughly before purchasing a third-party charger.

No matter which type of charger you have, use DFNDR’s Total Charge feature to protect your phone from the damage that comes from overcharging. This feature has a smart trigger that shares information about the charging process and notifies you when it’s time to disconnect the charger from your cell phone. The goal is to prevent your phone from overcharging, protect the battery, and extend the battery’s life. There is also a charger monitor screen that shows you how long it will take to get a full charge.Click here to protect your phone from overcharging:

Avoid chargers that claim to work faster.

While they may get the job done more quickly, there are significant downsides to using a fast charger on a night by night basis. This is because overcharging is an issue that plagues many Android users.

Overcharging occurs when you leave your phone charging at 100% for too long. The faster chargers exacerbate this problem. To elucidate, if you charge your phone at midnight and it’s fully charged by 1AM, and you sleep an additional 6 hours and wake up at 7AM, then your phone is subject to 6 hours of slow and incremental damage as it stays plugged in.

Overcharging results in a slowly depreciated value of your battery. If you overcharge on a nightly basis, then your phone battery will soon have an extremely short life, and you will find yourself charging your phone more often.

Avoid public ports.

Do not trust any port that allows you to charge your phone in public. This is because you compromise all of your data whenever you plug your phone into a public port. There is a plethora of malware installed on some of these ports across the nation. This results in people sacrificing a lot of their private data whenever they plug their phone into a public charging port.

The Fastest Mobile Chargers for iPhone and Android

PSafe Newsroom — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 11:52:18 +0000

Imagine: it’s Friday evening. You just got back from work and one of your friends texts you to join them on a night on the town in an hour. It’s exactly what you need after a busy day, and after about twenty minutes, you’re dressed, fresh, and ready to go. There’s just one problem: your phone is at 20% battery — there’s no way that’ll last the evening.

Millions of Americans experience this feeling of helplessness daily, realizing that they cannot continue through their day without their essential pocket-sized computer juiced and ready. While some may argue that we’re too dependent on our devices, that’s precisely why having a fully-charged phone is such a big deal — whether it’s for something minor like having music to listen to at the gym, or for more important things like calling your parents or your spouse, there are few times during your day when you don’t rely on your mobile device.

This is where mobile chargers come in handy. Having a fun-sized AC outlet in your purse or pocket means you can go longer without having to stay stationary and bound to a USB cord. Of course, most people don’t want to be bound by a USB plug at all, even when moving. Mobile chargers can get tangled by moving arms, get caught on objects and passersby, and aren’t exactly the most fashionable accessory to have on your person. If this is something that matters to you, we recommend a mobile charger that requires the least time possible to get you off the cord and on to whatever your day has in store.

Regardless of whether you’re Team Apple or Team Android, some chargers work great for both. The Aukey Quick Charge 2.0 is one such charger, which sports a 10,000 mAh battery and USB ports for two. The drawback? It can only charge one smartphone quickly at a time. Still, what makes this device worthwhile is it’s price tag — at only $30, it’s an effective, ergonomic solution for the amount of power it packs. If that’s not enough juice for you, there’s the iBattz Mojo Battstation Optimus Charger. This behemoth of a battery holds 20,400mAh of charge and can power two phones at once. Though it carries an $80 price tag and requires up to 16 hours to fully charge, there’s no battery on the market at that price point that lasts longer or charges smartphones faster.

The Fastest Android Chargers
For those of you relying solely on Google’s OS, there are quite a few charger models that are ideal if you’re under time constraints. The Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 can charge some devices up to 80% in approximately 35 minutes, but phones with a 9V/2A charger will experience the best results from this brand and model. Still, the Quick Charge is quite efficient with its charge consumption, and is all but guaranteed to remain cool while your phone is connected. Additionally, for those of you who are mindful of the environment, there’s the EasyAcc Solar Power Bank. While this is most effective for daytime use, the Solar Power Bank can charge two Androids at once, and can charge up to 350mA on sunny days. Though it’s (relatively) slower than the other models mentioned, it’s a device you don’t want to sleep on.

Though a good power pack goes a long way, so too does a great battery-conserving app. Fortunately, PSafe has an app that does exactly that; give the PowerPRO app a try, and never worry about a low-battery night out again.