what are the techniques to battery optimization in android app

Sandeep Kella
3 min readApr 11, 2024

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Here’s a breakdown of key techniques and best practices for battery optimization in your Android app.

Fundamentals

  • Understand Power Profiles: Familiarize yourself with how Android apps consume battery resources (CPU, Network, Location/ Sensors, Screen). This knowledge is crucial for identifying optimization targets.
  • Profile Your App: Utilize Android Studio’s profiler and other tools to pinpoint where your app consumes the most energy.
  • Prioritize User Experience: Balance power savings with essential app functionality. Don’t sacrifice core user experience to the point of making your app frustrating to use.

Specific Techniques

  1. Reduce Network Activity
  • Batch Requests: Combine multiple network requests into a single operation when possible.
  • Manage Polling Intervals: Optimize the frequency of polling and refresh operations, especially when the app is in the background. Consider longer intervals when possible.
  • Pre-fetch and Cache Data: Strategically pre-fetch data when the device is plugged in or on Wi-Fi. Cache data locally to reduce the need for frequent network calls.
  • Push Notifications (Efficiently): If appropriate, leverage services like Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications instead of continuous polling.
  1. Optimize Location Updates
  • Accuracy vs. Frequency: Determine the necessary level of location accuracy and adjust update intervals accordingly. Consider lower accuracy when possible.
  • Foreground vs. Background: Adjust location tracking behavior depending on whether the app is in the foreground or background.
  • Fused Location Provider: Prioritize the Fused Location Provider for smarter location management, allowing it to balance accuracy and power consumption.
  1. Manage Background Tasks
  • Use JobScheduler or WorkManager: Defer non-urgent tasks with these APIs, which intelligently schedule work for optimal battery conditions. Avoid unnecessary timers and alarms.
  • Background Restrictions: Respect Android’s background restrictions (Doze mode, App Standby) and adapt your app’s behavior accordingly.
  1. Optimize UI and Rendering
  • Avoid Overdraw: Reduce UI complexity and unnecessary rendering to minimize GPU usage.
  • Hardware Acceleration: Use hardware acceleration wisely. Overuse can increase power consumption.
  • Dark Theme: Implement a dark theme and encourage users to use it whenever possible to save power (especially on OLED screens).
  1. Reduce CPU Usage
  • Efficient Algorithms and Data Structures: Choose the right data structures and algorithms for your tasks.
  • Avoid Unnecessary Work: Prevent background threads from doing unnecessary work. Stop threads promptly when tasks are completed.
  • Profile for Performance Bottlenecks: Identify and fix CPU-intensive operations in your code.

Additional Tips

  • Wake Locks: Use sparingly, ensuring they’re released promptly to prevent holding the device in higher power states.
  • Vibration and Media: Minimize the use of vibration and be mindful of media playback (video, audio) as these are power-intensive operations.
  • Dependency Management: Avoid including libraries that perform unnecessary or power-hungry background operations. Be mindful of the power implications of third-party SDKs.
  • User Education: Provide in-app settings for users to manage power-hungry features selectively, allowing them to control battery impact.

Testing and Monitoring

  • Test on Various Devices: Battery behavior can vary across devices and Android versions.
  • Android Vitals: Use the Android Vitals dashboard in the Google Play Console to monitor battery-related metrics like Excessive Wakeups and Stuck Wakelocks.

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Sandeep Kella

Android developer @PhonePe, writes about Android development and productivity.