Sounds crazy but it actually works! Install an app and extend your Android phone’s battery life by up to an hour extra a day.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed an app that extends the battery life of smartphones by up to one hour a day without significantly affecting performance. Most recent Android versions use a multi-window technique to allow simultaneous opening of multiple windows, similar to the capabilities of a desktop OS. This technique however puts additional drain of the battery which can be counteracted to a large extent by just installing this new app.

The app works by reducing the displayed brightness of app windows running in the background. When you interact with an application, the brightness of other windows will be decreased, thereby reducing the smartphone's average power consumption. 200 smartphone users have already trialed the app and report a 10 to 25% improvement in battery life.

The energy saving app ensures the phone runs cooler because of reduced energy consumption and less frequent charging results in an extended battery lifetime. The results of the study MultiDroid: An Energy Optimization Technique for Multi-Window Operations on OLED Smartphones was published in the journal IEEE Access.