OPPO Mobile Phone Power Saving Settings: Turn Off These 3 Invisible Power-consuming Switches To Double The Battery Life

Just recently, I upgraded the system of my two-year-old OPPO phone to ColorOS 16, but found that its battery life was significantly shorter.

During the day, I normally check WeChat and watch videos, but at three or four in the afternoon, I have to look for a power bank.

Then I checked the latest measured data from China's Thiel Laboratory in March 2026, and finally figured out where the problem lies. That is the background refresh function, high-precision positioning function and 5G always-on function that we are accustomed to in daily life. Together, these can account for more than 60% of the total power consumption of mobile phones.

Take the OPPO Find X8 Pro I'm holding in my hand as an example. Right now, I'm going to explain to you step by step how to turn off the switches that consume power. To be honest, the operation is really simple and easy, and after turning it off, the battery life can be doubled.

1. Turn off background refresh and reduce standby power consumption by 4 times.

Many people think that quitting the App is the end of it. In fact, it is still running silently in the background, refreshing information, synchronizing data, loading ads, and even waking up each other.

Even if you lock the screen to sleep at night, these apps will not stay there.

In 2026, Thiel Lab conducted actual measurements, and the data showed that when the global background refresh function is turned on for a mobile phone, the standby power consumption can reach 6% to 12% when the night time is 8 hours.

After turning off unnecessary background refresh, the power consumption during standby dropped directly to the 1% – 3% range, and the difference between before and after was nearly 4 times.

OPPO mobile phones are easy to operate. Open it, enter the [Settings] interface, then find the [Battery] area, then go to [Power Saving Settings], and search for the [Apply to run in the background] option.

All installed apps will be listed here. Except for apps that need to receive messages in real time, such as WeChat and Alipay, all other apps such as shopping software, news clients, and game platforms will be closed.

Don’t worry, even if turning it off will result in no information being received, after flagship applications like WeChat are retained, key information can still be delivered in real time using the system push mechanism.

After you open the app, you can manually check the messages sent by other apps. This can save power without delaying work.

2. Don’t give location permissions indiscriminately to save 15% of battery power per day.

The positioning module is the second largest power-consuming hardware inside the mobile phone.

In 2026, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued new regulations and made clear requirements that apps can only obtain positioning when necessary. If it is not necessary, they are not allowed to make calls in the background.

It's just that there are many apps that will apply for "always allowed" positioning by default. Even if you don't use it, they will still continue to retrieve GPS, Beidou and other sensor signals in the background.

Especially for weather applications, short video playback platforms, and shopping software, there is absolutely no need to turn on the positioning function during the entire process.

I have a friend who runs food delivery and uses an OPPO phone.

In the past, if positioning was not turned off, it would consume 15% more power throughout the day, and the battery would have to be replaced in the afternoon.

Later, he only retained the status that apps necessary for work such as Meituan and Amap had positioning permissions, and the battery life was significantly improved.

When performing specific operations on an OPPO phone, first open [Settings], then enter [Permissions and Privacy], then find [Location Information], then set all non-essential apps to "Reject", and only set apps that require real-time positioning such as maps, taxis, and takeaways to "Allow only during use."

Furthermore, at the bottom of the location information page, turn off "location-based advertising" and "product analysis" to reduce the consumption of unnecessary positioning in the background.

In daily life, only when I go out for navigation or during the period of taking a taxi, I will temporarily set the permission to "Always Allow", and then change it back after using it.

3. Adjusting the screen and network in this way saves power and is sufficient.

The screen is the largest power-consuming hardware of a mobile phone, accounting for 40%-50% of the power consumption when the screen is on.

The data was actually measured in 2026, which shows that the high refresh rate function and the screen display function will consume 80 to 120mAh more power at the end of the day.

Turn on the OPPO phone, enter the [Settings] option, then find [Display and Brightness], and select "Screen Refresh Rate" as "Smart Switching". In this way, when the system has high refresh requirements, it will automatically turn on, and it will remain at 60Hz at normal times.

Continue to scroll down, turn off the "screen display" and "dynamic wallpaper", and replace it with static wallpaper, so that the effect of saving power can be immediately obvious.

5G network The power consumption is about 20% higher than that of 4G.

If the 5G signal in your area is not good, your phone will frequently switch networks and consume power faster.

In 2026, tests conducted by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed that if 5G is fully turned on, compared with 4G, it will consume about 30% more power in a day, which is equivalent to reducing the screen time by 2 to 3 hours.

Turn on the OPPO phone, find the [Settings] option, click to enter [Mobile Network], then click [SIM Card and Traffic Management], select your SIM card, set the "5G Network Mode" to "Smart 5G" or simply select "4G Priority".

For daily browsing on WeChat, reading news, and chatting on videos, 4G network speed is completely sufficient.

Only when downloading large files and watching 4K videos can 5G be temporarily turned on to take into account network speed and battery life.

4. Turn on smart power saving, and the system will help you manage the background

In 2026, all mainstream mobile phones will have built-in smart power saving modes.

There is a function called "Daily Power Consumption Optimization", which is really easy to use, and this function is available in OPPO's ColorOS 16 system.

Click [Settings], enter [Battery], and then find [Power Saving Settings] to turn on "Smart Power Saving Mode".

First, the system will automatically learn your usage habits. Then, it will limit background activities at night or when it is not used for a long time. Then, it will reduce the brightness of the screen. Finally, it will optimize the performance of the processor.

I actually measured that after turning on this function, the battery life can be increased by 30%-50%.

Also don’t forget to turn on “smart charging protection”.

On the battery settings page, turn on the "Smart Charging Engine" and the system will learn your charging habits. When charging at night, when the battery is charged to 80%, it will slow down and then be fully charged when you are about to get up.

This can effectively protect Battery health , extend battery life.

At the end, go to [Settings], enter [System Settings], then enter [User Experience Plan], and turn off "Join User Experience Plan" to reduce unnecessary data reported online in the background.

After completing all the relevant settings above, the battery life of the OPPO Find X8 Pro in my hand has changed from needing to be charged twice a day to the current situation. It starts counting the operating power consumption from the time I leave home at seven o'clock in the morning until I return home at ten o'clock at night. At this time, the power is still about 15%.

If your mobile phone has been used for more than two years and the battery health is below 80%, then you set it up according to these methods. As a result, the battery life is still significantly reduced, then go to the official after-sales service to check the battery, and don’t replace it without purpose.

Go and try it, it’s really not difficult to save power.