The five settings I change in every mobile game

Most mobile games ship with defaults tuned to look impressive in a store screenshot, not to survive a real day of use. The first thing I do with any new game is dig through the options menu, and it usually pays off.

The frame rate cap is my first stop. Dropping from an uncapped rate to a steady 30 or 60 often cuts heat dramatically with barely any visible difference. For a lot of games it's the single biggest battery win available.

Next I lower screen brightness in-game if the game allows it, and I kill any ambient background music I'm not actually listening to. On top of that I check for a 'battery saver' or 'low power' preset, which bundles several of these choices into one tap.

Finally, haptics. Constant vibration feels nice for about a minute and then quietly drinks your charge. I leave light haptics on for important feedback and switch off the rest.

None of this is dramatic on its own, but stacked together it can turn a two-hour game into a four-hour one on the same charge.