Being stuck with a dead smartphone and no immediate way to charge it is one of the worst feelings in the world. We’re all heavily reliant on our devices. What if we get lost? What if we need to call an Uber? We often work so hard to avoid “stranded with a dead phone” scenario that we carefully manage our battery life.
Those of us with privacy concerns will typically use VPNs on our smartphones, allowing us to browse safely from anywhere. If you need to pay a bill on public WiFi, you know you’re safe when you’re connected securely. When you leave an app running all the time, such as your VPN app, that app is going to occupy a significant portion of your phone’s battery usage.
So what do you do? What is the compromise between constant safety and a long battery life?
Why Do You Use Your Android VPN?
If you only use your Android VPN for a few very specific things, it won’t make sense to keep the app running round the clock. If you’re primarily trying to bypass region restrictions for streaming services like YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, and Hulu, your need for the app is extremely limited. When this is the case, you might as well close the app if you don’t have an immediate use for it.
The need for constant VPN use becomes elevated when you have to access personal information over public WiFi quite frequently. If you use your phone on campus, at work, or in a wealth of public places, you might want to keep it on all the time. Leaving the app to constantly run assures that you won’t forget to turn it back on when you want to buy something online or check your bank balance.
Another advantage of keeping your VPN on is that it will work in conjunction with every other app you use. A lot of apps ask for an alarming amount of information, including location tracking data. A VPN that’s set to run constantly will offer you a little more anonymity and privacy when you’re using an app that wants to know everything up to an including your social security number.
For privacy focused users, leaving their VPN constantly running isn’t much of an option. It’s something that makes them feel secure in everything they do online. This is where compromise comes into play.
Preserving Your Battery While Using an Android VPN
In order to keep your VPN constantly running without completely draining your battery, take a look at every app you have set to run in the background. If some of those apps are things you don’t even use anymore, uninstall them. Apps that you do use periodically can be prevented from running in the background. Killing these processes will automatically free up more available battery for the things you actually intend to use on a regular basis.
The next part of this process is to choose a VPN that’s designed to be gentle on your battery life. Some VPNs, particularly “free” VPNs that are loaded with ads and impossibly slow, are always going to drain your battery tremendously. Before you purchase a VPN service, understand how much space it’s going to take up and the amount of battery it’s going to drain over the course of a normal day.
The Best VPN for Android Users
TorGuard’s Android VPN app offers a wealth of VPN connection options without imposing too much on your android’s battery. When you enable the encryption cipher aes-128-gcm, your phone is always protected without a significant drain. You can leave it running in the background 24/7 without fear that your phone will die before you’re home for the night. Every move you make is safe and secure, and you won’t have to compromise on anything.
