The dreaded low battery warning notification is a common fear among today’s mobile users. When your phone is out of juice, it can cut off your contact with the outside world. No phone calls. No texts. No tweets. No matter how close you keep your charger, long lasting battery life is a concern for all of us. If you want to use your phone longer without interruption, avoid these common battery draining causes:

Backlight

Your phone’s backlight is the light that makes it visible on sunny days or in well-lit areas. When comparing battery drainers, it’s usually the biggest one. Everytime you touch the screen to wake up the display, you’re using up the juice in your phone. And if you are one of those addicted to checking your notifications every five minutes, you’re draining your battery with your constant waking of the device.

low baterry

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth

Wireless Internet, Bluetooth, and other over the air connections are super convenient. They allow you to connect to other devices without physically using those pesky wires, worrying about tangling, or other inconveniences. However, those features also drain battery life. When you have them turned on, your device is constantly searching for signals, which takes a lot of juice. This is especially inefficient when there isn’t any hope of actually connecting, such as in the subway or while you’re traveling. Turn it off and let your battery live a little longer.

Vibrate

Many of us like to have our phone vibrate as well as ring during an incoming call or notification. It’s an extra way to get your attention and works especially well when you’re in a place with loud background noise or your phone is deep in the recesses of your bag. But the vibration feature is a big battery drain, too. Considering that a vibration notification isn’t always necessary, you can turn it off until you’re in those situations where you might need an extra notification.

Background Apps

One of the best parts of owning a smartphone is all the useful apps that come with it. Free and paid, you can find all sorts of tools, entertainment, and programs in your phone’s app store. Apps take battery juice, too, though. You must be careful about which apps you download and how they interact with your phone’s features. Usually, there is a permissions screen during the installation process that tells you what you’re giving the app permission to do with your device. If you allow it to work in the background, access power options, or turn on wifi, it may be a battery drainer.

And keep in mind that running too many apps at once can also make you battery die sooner. Multitasking may sound like fun but if you’re running several processes at once and exit out of the programs, your battery life will suffer. You can go with the native task manager in your devices operating system or download a third party one. Either way, monitoring what’s running on your device and turn off unnecessary processes.

Old Battery

Sometimes the cause of your dwindling battery life is the battery itself. Batteries get old and lose their ability to fully charge. Lithium ion batteries can be temperamental. If you don’t charge it often or allow it to full discharge, it can lose the ability to fully charge. You can also damage a battery by dropping your phone or exposing it to certain elements.

Want to replace your phone’s battery? Most mobile devices come with a removable/replaceable battery unit. You can go straight to the source by ordering one from your device’s manufacturer or your mobile service provider. Or you can save a few bucks by ordering off of a site like eBay, Amazon. Once you have a new battery, be sure to avoid the other battery draining culprits and you should have no problem keeping your mobile device juiced up.

Matt Thames is blogger and Brand Manager for Selby Acoustics. He enjoys writing about tech and television topics.