Fix Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Battery Drain Problem

Is the battery life of your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 draining too fast? There are several factors that can cause this issue such as an outdated software version, apps running in the background, or features that are enabled which you are not using. To fix this you will need to perform a series of troubleshooting steps.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a premium Android smartphone that can be used as a regular smartphone or a small tablet. It’s a versatile device that performs well when used as a multimedia consumption device or for doing productivity tasks. Some of its best features include its use of a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip, 4400 mAh battery, and has a storage of up to 1TB.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 battery life too short

One of the issues that you might experience with your Galaxy Z Fold 4 is when its battery life doesn’t seem to last long. Despite having a battery size of 4400 mAh, which is actually a bigger battery when compared to the 3300 mAh capacity of its predecessor, it still appears to struggle to make it through the day even when starting on a full charge.

Here’s what you can do to fix this battery drain issue on your Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Solution 1: Check for battery draining apps on your Z Fold 4

One of the common causes of the battery life of your Galaxy Z Fold 4 not lasting long is because of apps running in the background which uses lot of power. This can also be caused by apps that are still mot optimized to work on your phone model and software version.

You will need to check which apps installed in your phone drains the battery the most.

The top apps on the list are usually what’s draining your phone battery life. You can check if there is a new update for the app that addresses this issue or you can simply force stop it or uninstall it if you don’t use it much.

Check app battery usage

• Tap on your phone Settings.
• Tap on Battery and device care.
• Tap on Battery.
• Tap on Usage since last charge.

If an app is using up most of your phone’s battery life then you can can force close this app, check for app updates, or uninstall it if it is not important to you.

You can also enable Adaptive Battery to limit the background usage limits of apps you don’t regularly use. This will save battery life of your phone.

Turn on Adaptive Battery

• Open Settings.
• Tap on Battery and device care.
• Tap on Battery.
• Tap on More battery settings.
• Tap on Adaptive battery and turn it on.

Solution 2: Perform a soft reset on your Galaxy Z Fold 4

A soft reset is usually done when the phone freezes or is experiencing minor issues. In this case, the soft reset will clear your phone memory and refresh the operating system which can help increase the battery life.

A soft reset or restart will basically close all running apps and processes . Your device RAM will also be cleared of temporary data allowing the phone to run smoothly.

This procedure will reboot the operating system of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and reload all of its services. Your personal data, files, and apps will remain unchanged

Soft reset Galaxy Z Fold 4

• Turn off the Galaxy z Fold 4 by pressing and holding the Bixby button and the volume down button on the side of the device.
• Choose Power off.
• Choose Power off again. The phone will turn off.
• Wait for a few seconds.
• Press and hold the Bixby button on the side of the device to turn on the Samsung phone.

Try checking if the battery life problem persists.

Solution 3: Turn off services you are not using on your Z Fold 4

It’s always a good idea to turn off the services which you are not actively using in order to increase your Galaxy Z Fold 4 battery life. These features have the tendency to continuously keep scanning nearby devices for connections which will drain your battery life. To turn them off, swipe down the quick settings panel and tap the corresponding icon such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, or mobile data to disable.

Solution 4: Adjust the screen brightness of your Galaxy Z Fold 4

The higher the screen brightness of your Galaxy Z fold 4 the more battery life it will consume. It is therefore a good idea to balance your device brightness to fit your current environment by adjusting the screen brightness level.

Adjusting screen brightness manually

• Open Settings.
• Tap on Display.
• Adjust the brightness on the Brightness scale to a lower level.

You can also enable adaptive brightness which allows the phone to automatically set the brightness level depending on the environment.

Enable Adaptive brightness

• Open Settings.
• Tap on Display.
• Turn on the Adaptive brightness switch.

Solution 5: Turn off the Always on Display on your Galaxy Z Fold 4

When the Always On Display feature on your device is activated it allows you to quickly view the time, date, notifications, and missed calls just to name a few even when the screen is turned off.

Although this is quite useful it can also cause battery drain issue which is why you should consider turning it off.

Disable Always On Display

• Tap the Settings icon.
• Tap Lock Screen.
• Make sure the status switch beside Always On Display is turned off.

Solution 6: Lower the screen timeout on your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

Another factor that can cause your foldable phone to have decreased battery life is if the screen timeout is set too high. This means that the display will be active for a longer period of time even if the phone is not in use. You should consider lowering the screen timeout value to save phone battery life.

Adjusting screen timeout

• Open Settings
• Tap on Display
• Tap on Screen timeout
• Select 15 seconds

Solution 7: Enable Dark Mode on Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

Samsung phones usually have a Dark Mode which switches the settings to a darker theme. This is beneficial for devices with AMOLED displays such as the Fold 4 since the individual pixels of the display in a dark background will not use battery life.

Turn on Dark Mode

• Tap the Settings icon.
• Tap Display.
• Tap the Dark option.

This should improve battery life slightly on your phone and increase its screen on time.

Solution 8: Reduce screen refresh rate on your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

The Galaxy Z fold 4 has a screen refresh rate of 120 Hz. This refers to how many times per second the display is able to draw a new image. Using the full 120 Hz will give you a much smoother user experience however this also comes at the cost of battery life performance. You should opt to use the standard 60 Hz screen refresh rate if you prioritize battery life.

Adjusting screen refresh rate

• Open the Settings app on your phone.
• Tap on Display
• Tap on Motion smoothness.
• Make sure to select Standard refresh rate > Select Apply to save changes.

Solution 9: Enable power saving mode on your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

Turning on the Power Saving Mode on your phone can considerably improve its battery life. This comes at a trade off though as background network usage, syncing, and location checking is going to be limited. The display setting will also be changed to 60 Hz.

Turning on power saving

Tap Settings

Tap on Battery and device care.

Tap on Battery

Go to Power saving mode and turn it on.

Solution 10: Start the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in Safe Mode

Starting Samsung phones in Safe Mode is a good way to check if an app you downloaded is causing the battery drain problem. When your phone runs in this mode only the pre-installed apps will be allowed to run making troubleshooting app related issues easy to do.

Safe Mode

• Turn the device off.
• Press and hold the Side key past the model name screen appearing on the screen.
• When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Side key.
• Immediately after releasing the Side key, press and hold the Volume down key.
• Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
• When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.

If you are not experiencing any battery issues in this mode then there might be applications causing that’s causing this problem. Find out what app this is and uninstall it. The likely suspect is the most recently installed app before the battery drain problem occurred.

After uninstalling the app you can exit from safe mode.

Exit Safe Mode

• Press and hold the Side key.
• Tap Restart > Restart.
• The device will restart in standard mode and you can resume normal use.

Solution 11: Perform a software update on your Galaxy Z Fold 4

Software updates are constantly being pushed by Samsung to its devices to improve its performance, make it more secure, or even add more features.

It’s always a good idea to get any new update available as this might fix any software bug present in the previous versions that might be causing your phone battery to drain so quickly.

Manually getting software update

• Open Settings, and scroll all the way down.
• Find and tap Software update.
• Tap Download and install to check for a new update.

Take note that your device will need an internet connection to get the update. It’s best to use a WiFi connection and not a mobile data connection as the former is more stable and faster.

Once the software updates have been installed and your phone is running on the latest version try checking if the issue still occurs.

Solution 12: Perform a factory reset

If the above troubleshooting steps fails to fix the problem on your Samsung flagship device then you should consider doing a factory data reset.

The factory data reset will erase your phone data and bring it back to its default factory settings. Any corrupted data stored in the system which could be causing this problem will be completely removed.

Before proceeding with this step you need to backup your phone files. Any photos, files, contact lists, or notes just to name a few that you have saved in your phone will be deleted so make sure to make a backup copy of these.

Factory data reset

• Turn off your Samsung Galaxy device.
• Simultaneously press and hold the Volume up and side buttons until the device vibrates and the Android Recovery screen appears then release all buttons. Allow up to 30 seconds for the recovery screen to appear.
• From the Android Recovery screen, select Wipe data/factory reset. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the side key to select.
• Select Factory data reset. Allow several seconds for the factory data reset to complete.
• Select Reboot system now. Allow several minutes for the reboot process to complete.
• Set up your Android phone.

Frequently Asked Questions