Have you ever been completely bamboozled by sudden changes in percentages shown by your battery indicator? This is quite a common thing after you’ve used a handset for an extended period. “But, why?”, you might ask. Why is the battery indicator erratically showing the wrong battery percentage on Android? Well, we made sure to explain it below.
Even better, we provided you with a way to get precise readings on your device without too much hustle.
Why does my Android show the wrong battery percentage?
The reasons behind these inconsistent battery readings are mostly the battery being uncalibrated. Namely, after some time of use, batteries will degrade. The initial mAh capacity value will fall over time. The device sensors would not be able to pick up on that and that’s why you’ll get a fixed percentage.
So, for example, your battery might be at 90% and then it suddenly, in a matter of minutes, switches to 80%. And then it’s stuck at 80% for an extended period. A battery can’t deplete that fast, which points toward false readings.
Certain third-party apps can give you better wear details about battery degradation. But that’s of no big importance in the grand scheme of things.
How to calibrate the battery on your Android
The important thing to do is to recalibrate the battery. We explain how to do it below.
- Discharge your phone fully until the phone turns off and the battery drains completely.
- Turn it on again and wait until it turns off.
- Plug your phone into a wall socket, without turning it on, and charge it until the on-screen indicator says ”100 percent”.
- Unplug your device.
- Turn your device on. If the battery percentage is not at 100%, plug the charger again until the UI shows that the battery is 100% full.
- Unplug your phone and restart it. If the battery is still not at 100%, plug in the charger and charge it until the battery is 100% full.
- Repeat this cycle until it says 100 percent.
- Now, discharge your battery until the phone turns off by itself.
- Fully charge the battery one more time. Don’t turn on the device or disrupt charging.
After that, readings of the battery percentage should be more on point and you can check detailed battery stats in Settings > Battery. To keep battery readings precise, we recommend recalibrating the battery every couple of months by following the aforementioned procedure. On the other hand, if you don’t have calibration issues, there’s no real need to do it.
In case you have any questions or suggestions concerning battery calibration, make sure to tell us in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you both here and on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in November 2019. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.
My suggestion to recalibrate your battery properly:
1. Start your Android device to the boot menu (also called “recovery mode”) by holding volume button + power button together (could be “Vol+” or “Vol-“, depending the device).
2. When you reach the “boot/recovery menu”, just leave your device powered on like this until it shuts down by itself.
3. Now your battery is really completely empty.
4. Charge your battery up to 100%.
5. Then start your device normally to access your OS with the power button.
WARNING: Do NOT do this too often, but only it necessary, because the battery does not like to be fully discharged and it can damage it if you do it to often.
I’ve got my mi 11 battery that says 100% all the time until it suddenly turns off. after that I charged it until the battery says full. and when I turned it on, it says 1% not fully charged but I noticed that the percentage gradually turns up until 100% then the cycle continues…lastly, I tried to factory reset but it doesn’t do the trick… before these things happen, my phone falls a meter high. does the fall probably the reason why?
I always charge my Redmi Note 9 Pro over night and in the early morning like 6am its 100%. I expect it to last up until the late evening, by saying that I mean in the worst case, however its gone below 10% like at 4-5pm. or sometimes its about 30% at noon time. My phone is 1 and the half year old. The situation started to change rapidly at exact this phone longevity it was an obvious change with battery performance easy to note . Now when I charge the phone I turn it off otherwise it takes 8 hours to reach 100%. Sadly it drains quite the opposite, very fast.
Hi!
My phone battery just been replaced with a new one.
Now my phone constantly shows 50%. Not more, not less.
Charges normally but not showing the correct amount of charging (milliamps).
It worked normally before the battery replacement. Can anyone tell me what the heck just happened and how can I resolve this problem?
Thanks!
I have changed my mobile battery nova 3i but its battery percentage is not calibrate perfectly
I’m using redmi note 9 pro max my battery is draining very fast ?please help me out
same problem and my phous just 20 days old
My Redmi Note 9 get battery drain al the way to 0% and it just off like power cut without shutdown warning.
i have redmi note 9 pro max with 5020mah its phone battery draining fast.from 100 to 97 it drains in just 4min
ANy help …
I got a redmi 8A two months ago currently the phone battery discharge very fast what can I do? It drop from 100% to 95% in just 20 minutes
20min 5% is perfect
My phone goes from 100to 90 in 5 min
You are more lucky man
what were you doing in that 20 minutes