My Samsung Galaxy phone battery finally lasted all day after I changed one setting

Published Sep 12, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT Parth, a seasoned tech writer, wields the keyboard (or pen) with finesse to unravel the intricacies of both Windows and Mac operating systems. He has covered evergreen content on mobile devices and computers for multiple publications over the last six years. You can find his work on AndroidPolice, GuidingTech and TechWiser. Whether it’s demystifying system updates, deciphering error codes, or exploring hidden features, Parth’s prose guides readers through the binary maze. When not immersed in tech jargon, you’ll find him sipping chai, pondering the next software review, and occasionally indulging in a friendly debate about mechanical keyboards. My Galaxy S25 Ultra’s battery life wasn’t terrible, but it had one annoying problem: it almost never made it comfortably through the entire day. By evening, I was already looking for a charger. I had tried the usual power-saving mode and other tricks, but most of them either made little difference or came with compromises I didn’t want (like suspending notifications). Eventually, I changed one harmless setting that I had been using for months. And the difference was enough to change how I use my phone throughout the day. I never suspected Always On Display first Whenever my Galaxy S25 Ultra struggled to make it through the day, Always On Display was never the first thing I blamed. After all, I never wanted to touch my perfect One UI setup in the first place. My instinct was to look at the usual power-saving options instead. I considered turning on power-saving mode more often, restricting background apps, and tweaking performance settings. But before changing anything that could affect how I actually use the phone, I opened the Battery section in Settings to see where the power was really going. That is when Always On Display caught my attention. It consistently accounted for about 8-10% of my battery usage, which was far more than I expected from something as simple as showing a clock and notifications. I limit charging on my Galaxy S25 Ultra to 90% for better battery longevity. And by the time my phone is down to 5%, a consumption of around 10% just from Always On Display is quite huge. At the time, I was getting only around four hours of screen-on time, and by evening, I was already reaching for a charger. Instead of compromising the entire phone with Power Saving mode, I decided to deal with the obvious culprit first. I tweaked the AOD setting From Scheduled to Tap to show Samsung, being Samsung, has no shortage of customization options, and Always On Display is no exception. I can keep it on all the time, show it only for new notifications, schedule it for specific hours, or make it appear only when I tap the screen. Earlier, I had mine scheduled from 10 AM to 2 AM, which meant it was active for almost my entire working day. At the time, that felt like the most convenient setup. Instead of turning it off entirely, I have now switched it to Tap to show (from Settings -> Lock screen and AOD -> Always On Display -> When to show menu), and surprisingly, I don’t feel like I have given up much at all. Whenever I want to check time, notifications, calendar information, or supported widgets, I simply tap the screen once, and everything appears instantly. It still gives me the same quick-glance experience, just without keeping AOD active for hours when I am not even looking at the phone. More importantly, I didn’t have to change anything else to see the benefit. I didn’t enable the Power Saving mode, lower the refresh rate, turn off 5G, restrict apps aggressively, or compromise performance. My S25 Ultra still behaves exactly the way I want it to. I simply changed how AOD works, and that alone was enough to improve my daily battery endurance. I didn’t really lose the convenience And got back my full-day battery I didn’t really lose the convenience of Always On Display. It is still there whenever I need it. A single tap on the screen brings up the time, notifications, calendar information, and widgets, so the experience still feels familiar. The battery results have been much more noticeable than I expected. Earlier, Always On Display regularly appeared in the Battery menu with a major share of my daily usage. After switching to Tap to show, it no longer shows up there as a battery drain. That alone tells me the change is doing exactly what I wanted. More importantly, the screen-on time has improved from around four hours to more than five hours on many days. An extra hour may not sound dramatic on paper, but in daily use, it has made a huge difference. That extra buffer is often the difference between reaching for a charger in the evening and simply making it through the day. My phone charger finally stays at home I still like Samsung’s Always On Display, but I no longer think it needs to stay visible for most of the day. Switching to Tap to show gave me the best of both worlds. I can still check everything whenever I want, but I am no longer watching battery, keeping that information on-screen constantly. That simple change finally pushed my screen-on time past five hours and gave me the battery fix in no time. If your Samsung phone feels slow, disable these features to make it better.