If you're like most people, you have close to a hundred apps on your Android phone, but only use less than 10 of them regularly. Of course, just because you're not using those other apps every day doesn't mean you should delete them; after all, you might need them later on.

However, those apps can still waste your battery life by running in the background. Luckily, your Samsung phone allows you to put unused apps to sleep so they don't run in the background and waste battery life. Let's see how you can enable this feature in the settings.

How to Put Apps to Sleep on Samsung Phones

Before we see the steps, you should first know what putting apps to sleep actually does. Samsung phones divide background limits into three categories: Sleeping apps, Deep sleeping apps, and Never sleeping apps. Here's what that means:

  • Sleeping apps: These apps will run in the background, but only occasionally. Notifications sent by these apps might be delayed, and app updates will be irregular. Ideal for apps you use from time to time, but not frequently.
  • Deep sleeping apps: These apps will never run in the background and only work when you open them. They may not get updates at all and you might also miss any notifications sent. Ideal for apps you use very rarely.
  • Never sleeping apps: These apps can always run in the background. They aren't restricted and can use battery life as needed. Ideal for essential apps and regularly used apps.

Do note that system apps such as Phone, Camera, Clock, Messages, Bixby, and more can't be put to sleep as they are an integral part of your phone's operating system.

Here's how to put apps to sleep on your Samsung phone:

  1. Go to Settings > Battery and device care.
  2. Tap Battery > Background usage limits and toggle on Put unused apps to sleep to allow your phone to automatically put apps to sleep based on your usage.
  3. To do it manually, tap Sleeping apps or Deep sleeping apps, then tap the + icon and select your desired apps, and hit Add.
  4. For apps that you use regularly, tap Never sleeping apps and follow the same procedure.

Remember, putting apps to sleep is different from just force-stopping apps on your phone. When you force stop an app, it usually restarts itself immediately after. This puts more workload on your device than if you had done nothing and just let it be.

However, when you put an app to sleep (or deep sleep, to be precise), you're basically commanding it to stop using and interacting with your phone's resources, namely battery life. And without power, an app can't perform its normal functions or run in the background. This is why putting apps to sleep is better than force-stopping them.

How to Decide Which Apps to Put to Sleep

If you need help deciding which apps to put to sleep, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing and parental controls.
  2. Tap the Screen time bar and check out your most used and least used apps throughout the week.
  3. Tap View more to see the full list of apps used. Put the least used ones to sleep, most used ones to never sleep, and unused ones to deep sleep.

If putting them to sleep isn't working and you're still getting a lot of unwanted notifications and updates, it might be best to delete these apps from your phone altogether. You can always download them again when needed.

Put Unused Apps to Sleep to Save Battery

Putting apps to sleep is one of the many ways you can save battery life on your Android phone. It reduces your phone's workload since it's not having to distribute resources to apps that don't need them.

Of course, you can always delete the apps that you haven't used in a long time which is a more effective solution. Regardless, it's helpful to save as much battery life as you possibly can.