Video apps are among the hungriest on a phone, and the battery they take adds up over a year. At about 25% an hour, 90 minutes a day of short videos uses 25 × 1.5 = 37.5% of the battery a day – about 137 full charges a year for one app. Pick the app or type your own percent per hour, enter your daily time and your battery size, and the calculator shows the battery per day, how long a full charge lasts in that app, the charges a year and the electricity they cost.
Battery used per day
| Time per day | At 25%/h (short video, streaming) | At 20%/h (video sites) | Full charges a year at 25%/h |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 12.5% | 10% | 46 |
| 1 hour | 25% | 20% | 91 |
| 1 h 30 min | 37.5% | 30% | 137 |
| 2 hours | 50% | 40% | 183 |
| 3 hours | 75% | 60% | 274 |
| 4 hours | 100% | 80% | 365 |
At four hours a day, a 25%-an-hour app empties a full battery by itself every day.
Where the percentages come from
A study by the UK telecom and network company Elevate, reported by BGR on January 1, 2026, estimated each app’s battery use in a month from screen time, data use and background activity:
- Netflix: 1,500% of a full charge a month, with about 60 hours of viewing: about 25% an hour.
- TikTok: 825% a month, with about 33 hours of use: about 25% an hour.
- YouTube: about 20% an hour of watching.
- Snapchat: 320% a month, with about 16 hours of use: about 20% an hour.
These are averages over many people, phones and habits. The most reliable number is your own: the battery page in your phone’s Settings shows each app’s share and screen time.
The electricity is cheap; the battery wear is not
A 5,000 mAh battery stores about 5,000 × 3.85 V ÷ 1,000 = 19.25 Wh. With an 85% efficient charger, a full charge every day draws about 8.3 kWh a year: small money at almost any electricity price. What each extra charge really costs is a cycle of the battery’s life, after which it holds less.
The calculator works offline too – on a phone, of course.
Frequently asked questions
How much battery does TikTok use per hour?
About 25% an hour, from a study by the UK network company Elevate reported by BGR: 825% of a full charge a month over about 33 hours of use, background activity included. At 90 minutes a day that is about 38% of the battery.
How much battery does YouTube or Netflix use?
The same study gives about 20% an hour for YouTube and about 25% for Netflix (1,500% of a charge a month over some 60 hours). Your phone may use more or less: the calculator lets you type your own figure.
How do I find out how much battery an app uses on my phone?
Open the battery page in Settings: it lists each app's share of the battery and its screen time over the last day or days. Divide the percent by the hours to get the percent per hour.
How much does it cost to charge a phone for a year?
Very little. A 5,000 mAh battery holds about 19 Wh; charged fully every day with a charger that wastes 15%, that is about 8.3 kWh a year, or $1.65 at $0.20 per kWh.
Does a bigger battery last longer in the same app?
The percent per hour is lower on a larger battery for the same app and screen, but published figures are given as percentages of an average phone. Measure your own for the best answer.
Sources
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