PSA: The guy at Best Buy told me to turn off Bluetooth on my phone to save battery

A salesman at the electronics counter last month said Bluetooth sucks up battery even when not connected, so I kept it off for two weeks. Turns out my phone battery barely changed, and I missed a notification from my car's app about a recall because it uses Bluetooth to sync. Has anyone actually tested if this makes a real difference or is it just old advice?

2 comments

2 Comments

paulperry1mo ago

Did you actually track your battery stats or just eyeball it? I read a test from some tech site where they ran phones with Bluetooth on and off for a week, and the difference was like 1-2% per day max. That's basically nothing. The bigger drain is stuff like screen brightness, background apps, and weak cell signal. Bluetooth's gotten way more efficient in recent years, so that old advice about turning it off is pretty dated. I leave mine on all the time for my smartwatch and headphones, never noticed a hit.

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the_michael1mo ago

Honestly yeah I saw the same thing, barely any difference with Bluetooth on.