How to set a Battery Saver schedule in Android 10

Get the most out of your battery by putting AI in charge of turning on the Battery Saver feature.

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With Android comes a lot of features that target battery usage in such a way as to eke out as much life from a charge as possible. The battery saver system does quite a lot to help out, such as:

Only updating an app’s contents when the app is open.
Disabling Location services when the screen is off.
Preventing apps from working in the background.
Stops listening for “Ok Google,” and requires you manually call up Google Assistant.

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Prior to Android 10 (formerly known as Android Q), you were only able to configure a percentage of battery life that would trigger the Battery Save. With the release of Android 10, this feature adds AI into the mix, for a vastly improved experience. How it does this is via a schedule. There are three options for the Battery Saver schedule:

No schedule (this will disable the Saver).
Based on your routine.
Based on percentage.

The routine-based schedule is where AI comes into play. What this will do is learn, over a period of time, how you use your device and schedule the Battery Saver accordingly. The key factor here is routine. The AI not only examines how you use your phone, but also when you charge it. After you’ve set this feature, it’s important that you charge your device on a regular schedule. Once the AI has learned your schedule, it can then enable the Battery Saver mode accordingly, to ensure you have enough juice to make it to the next charge.

The feature works well, so long as you are able to stick to a (somewhat) regular schedule.

How to enable the routine-based schedule

Enabling the routine-based schedule is quite simple. I’ll demonstrate on a Pixel 3 running Android 10.

Open the Settings app.
Tap Battery | Battery Saver.
Tap Set A Schedule | Based On Your Routine (Figure A).

Figure A

Enabling the routine-based battery saver.

That’s all you have to do. You can now back out of this setting or close the settings app altogether. At this point the AI will start learning your routine and eventually be able to switch the device into battery saver mode only when necessary.

You can opt to go the percentage route, but if you really want to give your Android device battery the best chance at making it to the next charge, your best bet (by far) is using the routine option in the Battery Saver scheduler. Enable it, let it learn your routine, and see if you don’t find yourself with enough battery to make it through the day more often than not.