Battery Calibration for Android

A battery problem or a battery drain is the biggest concern among smartphone users. You might have noticed that over a few months, the battery performance and duration have decreased. It could be the time when you need to calibrate your phone's battery.

The Android operating system always keeps track of the device's battery and its charging levels so that an operating system tells you when it is full and empty. Sometimes, this battery tracking feature becomes corrupted and starts showing data that are not correct. For example, the phone gets turned off even if some battery power remains before it reaches 0 percent.

In this article, you will learn the various points about:

• What is battery calibration;
• When you should calibrate the Android battery;
• Some steps you can take before you calibrate your phone battery;
• How to calibrate Android battery;
• How to calibrate the battery of a Samsung smartphone?

What is battery calibration?

The Android OS always keeps track of the device's battery and its charging levels; based on it, the operating system tells you when it is full and empty. But sometimes the battery tracking feature of a phone gets corrupted and starts showing wrong data and performs inappropriately.

Battery calibration or calibrating your Android battery means getting the Android operating system to correct this information and once again start showing the correct data about the phone's battery.

But keep in mind, this process doesn't improve the battery itself nor improves the battery life of the phone. It only helps the phone to display the correct status of the Android device battery.

When should you calibrate the Android battery?

Calibrating the Android battery is not something that you have to perform on a regular basis. The purpose of battery calibration is to archive only one thing, i.e., ensuring the device shows the actual condition and information of the battery. The capability of the battery decreases over time to time, and it applies to all batteries, from your car to your mobile phone.

If you are not facing any issues with your phone showing you incorrect battery status, in such case, you don't need to calibrate your battery. We have listed some of the situations under which you might be thinking about calibrating your phone's battery.

• If the battery shows a full charge and then suddenly drops to extremely low
• Charging "stuck" at a specific percentage even after a long charging time
• Show the same charging percentage after both charging and discharging (even using a phone)
• Get discharge faster than expected
• The battery refuses to charge
• Battery requires to charge several times in a day
• If pop-up messages report battery issues even if the phone is working fine
• The phone suddenly gets turned off even after enough battery charging left
• If your smartphone is too old, and you think the battery stats shown are not correct

Some steps you can take before you calibrate your phone battery

It is suggested to check your phone's battery before you start calibrating the battery. Sometimes, it needs to be replaced because of many reasons, such as leaks in the battery, beginning to loosen or crack, and battery damage, and needs to be replaced. This can be performed easily on older smartphones, which come with a removable battery.

Checking up for damage to the battery was as easy as turning the device off, removing the back cover, and checking out the battery. If any damage/issues are found, replace it with a new one. However, in many modern smartphones, there is no option to remove the back cover, and it is not easy to take the battery physically out. You have to check the battery within the phone.

One more thing is to clear the Android phone's cache and, if possible, run all available firmware and OS updates. It helps in calibrating the process and shows other issues if found.

Keep in mind that battery calibration is not a complete solution to resolve battery-related problems. Many other factors cause a battery to malfunction, such as:

• There might be a problem with the charging port
• Might the new update be causing battery-oriented issues

Do you need to Root your phone to Calibrate Battery?

You may have read how to root an Android phone and delete any specific file from it, usually the batterystats.bin. It is an easy way to calibrate your battery, but it is not accurate. Also, this file varies from company to company phone and generally stores the database containing information used to indicate the phone's charge.

Performing any operation on this file could be a little faster, and it may cause harm. And if you are not aware of how your phone uses this file or any other files, you should leave it as it is.

How to calibrate Android battery?

You may want to calibrate your Android phone's battery when you are an alternative phone to use or staying all day at home. Also, don't leave your phone without charging for a long time. Doing so may lead to "Deep Discharge", which will completely kill the battery and require replacement. Follow the below-given steps to calibrate your Android smartphone battery:

1. Let's discharge the phone's battery until it turns off
2. Turn the device on, and let it turn off again
3. Without turning on your phone, plug in the charger and let it charge until it indicates 100 percent charged
4. Unplug the charger from the phone and turn it on
5. Check the battery indicator to see how much it shows as 100 percent
6. If it is 100 percent, you are all set
7. If not, plug the charger once again until it says fully charged 100 percent
8. Unplug the charger from the phone and restart it. If it doesn't say 100 percent, plug the charger again until it displays 100 percent charge. Repeat this step many times until the phone charges closer to 100 percent
9. Now, let your battery discharge completely and get the phone turned off again
10. Finally, plug in the charger and charge the battery one more time without interruption and the battery should be calibrated

How to calibrate the battery of a Samsung smartphone?

If you are using a Samsung smartphone, the way to calibrate its battery is slightly different from the above-discussed way. Samsung smartphone provides an option termed "Quick Reset" that can calibrate the phone's battery if it reports wrong stats. Follow the below-mentioned steps to calibrate the battery on Samsung smartphones.

1. Let's drop the phone's battery down to 5% and ensure that it is not plugged in
2. Launch the phone's dialer app and enter the code *#0228#
3. You will see a pop-up menu with the option Quick Start
4. Tap on the Quick Start option and press OK to restart your Samsung phone
5. Wait for a moment until the device powers on again, and check the battery percentage level drops down
6. Charge your Samsung phone to 100 percent
7. Switch off and switch on your phone again, and unplug the charger
8. Repeat the above step 2 to 3 times
9. Plug the charger into your phone and charge it up to 100 percent
10. Open the dialer app and enter the code *#9900#
11. Scroll down the screen to "batterystats.bin reset" and tap on it
12. Exit from the menu option and restart your phone

It is not recommended to perform this battery calibration regularly. If needed, perform this task once every three months at most.

How to calibrate battery on a rooted Android phone

If your phone provides root access to it, you have the option to use bunches of battery calibration apps to perform this task for you. Here are the steps how you can:

1. Let's discharge the phone's battery until it turns off
2. Switch on your phone and let it turn off itself again
3. Plug the charger in and do phone charges to 100 percent without turning the device on
4. Unplug the charger from the device and turn the phone on
5. Check out the battery level indication. If it doesn't display 100 percent, plug in the charger again and charge the phone until it reaches 100 percent
6. Once the battery shows 100 percent, remove the charger
7. Again, restart your phone and see the battery indication level. If it does not show 100 percent, plug the charger again to charge the phone to 100 percent
8. Repeat this process until the device shows 100 percent on restart
9. Now, download and install any battery calibration app you want once the phone charging level displays 100 percent. Restart your Android phone
10. Launch the battery calibration app and start calibrating your battery
11. Once you calibrate the battery, let the battery drain until it turns off itself
12. Plug the charger into the phone and charge it to 100 percent without turning it on. The phone battery has been calibrated

Some popular frequently asked questions about battery calibration

Is Android battery calibration necessary?

Performing the battery calibration on your Android phone is only necessary when the device shows incorrect battery information. If it displays the wrong charging level and the battery gets discharged suddenly low from a high level. Also, if your phone suddenly turns off even after enough charging left in the battery. In such cases, you need to perform battery calibration on your Android.

Does battery calibration improve performance?

No, doing battery calibration does not improve the battery performance in any way. It only helps your phone to track and display the battery status more accurately.

What is the benefit of performing battery calibration?

Performing the battery calibration of the phone gives accurate information about the battery. It displays correct information on how much charging is left in your phone. If your device suddenly gets turned off, even enough battery charging level shows that the time has come to calibrate your