The Settings That Actually Save Your Battery

Most mobile games ship with everything cranked to maximum, and most of us never open the settings menu to change it. That's a mistake if you care about your phone lasting the day. After testing dozens of games, a few settings show up again and again as the biggest battery savers.

First, framerate. If a game lets you cap it at 30 or 60, capping it lower usually cuts drain noticeably and you often can't feel the difference in a turn-based or casual game. Second, particle and lighting effects — these are pretty but expensive, and turning them down rarely hurts the fun.

Third, brightness. It sounds obvious, but many games override your system brightness and blast the screen. Fourth, background activity: some games keep simulating or downloading when minimised. Fifth, haptics — vibration is a small drain but it adds up over a long session.

Go through these before a train ride or a flight and you'll be surprised how much longer your phone holds on. None of them make the games worse.