The apps you never open are draining your battery. That was the sentence that finally got me to dig into my phone’s permission settings, and what I found was a little alarming.

A dozen apps I had not touched in months had permission to track my location in the background, refresh themselves, and send notifications. Each one was taking a small bite out of the battery all day long.

Audit your permissions once

Open your phone’s settings and actually look at what each app is allowed to do. You will find things you forgot you approved.

• Location: anything set to “always” should probably be “while using” or “never”
• Background refresh: off for anything you do not need updating silently
• Notifications: mute the apps that just spam you
• Camera and microphone: review who has access, it is usually more than you think

The location one is the biggest battery offender. A flashlight app, a random game, or an old travel app has no business knowing where you are around the clock.

Make it a habit, not a one-time thing

New apps ask for permissions when you install them, and most of us tap “allow” out of reflex. The fix is to deny first and grant later if the app actually needs it. If an app refuses to work without your always-on location, ask yourself if it is worth keeping.

You will not break anything by being stingy with permissions. Worst case, an app asks again the next time you open it and you tap allow then.