Different chargers are going to charge your Android device at different rates, and some broken chargers might not be charging your device as quickly as they claim they can.
If you’ve ever run into issues charging your device, or you’d just like to test out how effective your charger is, read on. Today, we’re going to step through how to measure the amperage your charger is delivering to your smartphone or tablet.

Download Ampere

The first step is to grab this handy app from the Play Store called Ampere, which will do the measuring for you. It should work on any device running Android 4.0 and above, though the developer has noted in the description that certain models aren’t behaving quite right, like the HTC One M7 and M8.
Once you have that downloaded, open it up, and you can get to testing.

Testing Your Charger

For this, all you’re going to need is your charger and a place to plug it in — either a wall outlet, a computer (like the brand new Dell XPS 13), or a portable battery (like the amazing Lumsing Powerbank).
For the most accurate measurement of your charger’s full capabilities, plug it into its official USB to wall outlet adapter, and plug that into your nearest outlet. We’ll discuss in the next section how plugging into your computer can change your results.

Above, you can see some of the information provided by the app. It takes about 10 seconds to measure the charge of your phone, which is what you see on the left. On the right is the settings menu, which you will probably never have to visit.
There is an option to buy the Pro version to remove the adverts that display along the bottom, but they’re so unobtrusive that it’s barely worth the $1.13 to get rid of them. The other reason you may want to get the Pro version would be for the persistent notification that displays battery info in your notification tray.
The app will use orange text when you’re not plugged in and blue text when you are plugged in. When not plugged in, you can see how much energy your phone is currently using. This number will vary depending on how many things your phone is trying to do at once.
Below, you can see my phone with the brightness set to low (left) and the brightness set to high (right). Clearly, the brightness of my screen is quite a major pull on my battery, but other factors can influence this too, including apps updating in the background, Wi-Fi or cellular signal strength, and more.

The app itself uses a very modern Lollipop-based design, which is easy on the eyes. Tapping the circular icon to the left will take you to your full battery stats. Negative numbers mean that your phone is losing charge, and positive numbers show how much charge it is gaining.
Keep in mind that if your phone is working extra hard and using more amperage than usual, then you might get a lower number when testing your charger, and that’s not your charger’s fault.
For instance, if your phone is sucking up -240mA as mine was doing above, and your charger is supplying you with 600mA, then you’re really only going to be charging with 360mA.

What Should You Expect?

Every charging cable is different, but your best bet for measuring your wall charger is looking at the label on the adapter. Somewhere on your USB to wall outlet adapter there will be either a sticker or an imprint in tiny font that details your adapter’s specifications. Below, you can see the charger I was using for this.

You’re looking for the area where it says Output. In this case, the output is 1,000mA. So I should expect about a 1,000mA charge, minus whatever my phone is sucking up (240mA-510mA depending on my brightness).
Your charger and phone will be different than mine, though. But don’t worry, if you’ve used the app and determined that you’re getting less of a charge than your adapter says you should be getting, there are some steps you can take.

Make Adjustments

If you’re not getting a charge as fast as you want, there are ways to increase your charging speed.
For instance, switching your phone into airplane mode and keeping the screen off while it’s charging will allow it to charge much faster. If you’re not willing to go that far though, we have some other tips for squeezing the most battery life out of your device.
Also, plugging your phone into a computer or a wall outlet may seem like they do the same thing, but they’re much different. Computers can’t output the same level of amperage as a wall socket can. Below, you can see my charger speeds when plugged into the wall (left) and when plugged into my computer (right).

It’s also recommended that you use the charging cable that your phone or tablet shipped with, rather than a third-party charger. The hardware manufacturer has tested your device with that cable specifically, and you know it has the right amperage.
If your phone supports wireless charging, that’s going to be even slower than charging from your computer. It’s convenient for sure, but still quite slow.
And, for complete optimum charging, keep it cool. Heat is bad news for batteries, and one of the big things you should avoid to keep your battery healthy. Place it in a cool spot, take it out of its case, and it should charge a bit quicker.

How Did Your Charger Do?

It’s pretty nice that all Android devices use micro-USB charging cables, even if the charging world is still pretty fragmented. Though, it can be frustrating that not all micro-USB chargers are created equal.
Let us know in the comments about the results of your tests. Did your charger actually measure up to what it claimed? Any surprising results from your tests?

Do you ever get to a point in your week where you seem to be on autopilot? You’re tired and just don’t want to work harder to get the remainder of your to-do items done. Do you feel like you’re in a rut and treading water waiting for someone to rescue you or something to happen where you can clean the slate and start over?
A reset can sometimes be necessary for you to break out of the slump and progress.
Most of us are hoarders in one way or another. Some people collect apps on their mobile devices, some fill their hard drives with photos, some collect trinkets, and yet others collect obligations. Mental or physical, at some point you will need to sift through the mess and find the foundation to move forward.

The Idea Behind a “Reset”

When we get to the point where we feel like we can’t handle another thing being added to our plate, it’s time to reset and start from scratch. This reset is scary.
Calling it quits and starting over means admitting failure. We are stubborn.
The alternative, to starting over is, digging our daily rut deeper and living the same day over and over again — without trying to be happier or be more productive.

Analyze the Rut

When working on anything, an easy way to start analyzing your rut is to think to yourself…
“Why am I doing this, is it helping me toward (___enter goal here___)?”
This can be work or personal tasks. There is usually some underlying goal you are trying to achieve when you are busting your hump trying to check everything off your to-do list.
Take a look at your day and where your time goes. Look at the things in your daily life bogging you down and start to match up the daily activities to your end goal.

Being totally honest with ourselves is ironically hard. The easiest lies to tell are the ones we tell ourselves, yet it’s totally necessary to be honest with ourselves. Self-awareness is a critical step for any change program. An old-fashioned pros and cons list can be a powerful agent of change.
As Dr. Atul Gawande points out in The Checklist Manifesto — simple checklists can improve any outcome.
Proconlist.com is a cool site to help you out with your list. Each pro or con is weighted. You can rate the pro or con with an emotional and a rational rating. Once the list is completed, you’ll have a score to help make your decision more clearly visible.

Once we have a heart to heart with our self and figure out what’s bogging us down, we need to make a plan. Like any change, you’ll need to be ready and have the willpower and resources to make the change stick.
All of this sounds pretty basic, right?
Well, putting into action is the scary part. When you purge your life of things you are accustomed to, you will resist. Even if you know it’s in your best interest to change.

Fight the Resistance

Our time — both for work and relaxation — is spent in the digital realm. It’s hard to stop using our computer, smartphone or tablet for pleasure when a distraction is just a couple clicks away.

Fighting the resistance to clean your digital slate and reset things to a state where you’re not so cluttered can take some work. Start on the smaller side and work your way up to bigger things.
Take baby steps.
Take a master reset of your phone, for example. After you make sure you backup all of your contacts, pictures, and stuff you don’t necessarily need, hitting the final button to wipe everything is nerve racking. What if you missed something really, really important and it’s gone forever?

Once it’s cleared, the arduous process of installing all essential apps and logging into your accounts begins again. The process isn’t fun at all, but it is freeing. You can download the apps you absolutely need and see how long you can go without all the fluff apps.
Attachments to the status quo makes many people freeze and stay in their comfort zone. That’s why the smallest first step breaks resistance and builds momentum.

The Little Things You Can Do?

Technology is so pervasive, it can be the first place you begin resetting your life. If you have already made a list of the problems and decided to take action, here are some ways to act.

Unclutter

Start by purging your electronics. Getting rid of clutter in your digital life can make your days feel less like an obstacle course. We all have computers and phones with little quirks because there is excess stuff on them.
As mentioned earlier, removing unused applications on your devices is a good place to begin. That game you played on your flight 6 months ago but haven’t since, yeah, you should really get rid of it.
Suck it up and delete it. You’re not going to play it again. If you are not able to decide, take help of apps like Frequency (Android). See which apps you use, how much you use them, and when you use them.

Declutter and save money. Clearing out unused apps can save you dollars in hidden data expenses and also prolong your battery life.
Let’s say you are paying for Dropbox and have 1TB of space. What if you got rid of all the ebooks you won’t read, blurry pictures, and other junk files you’re holding onto. Would you be able to get by with less space and save a few dollars a month?
You don’t have to break a sweat. It is easy to manage Dropbox with the right tools. Tools are Cloudsfer can also be used to declutter your online storage.
Scale back on subscriptions. Newsletter subscriptions are huge inbox villains. The majority don’t help us move towards our goals and are just distractions. Dann shows a few ways to declutter newsletters if you don’t want to trash them right now.

Simplify Your Organizing

Some people, including myself, are guilty of being too organized. To the extent of having a folder in a folder in a folder. Unless you go 5 layers deep into your sub-folders, you don’t know what you have. Aaron shows us how to create file and folder from the chaos of a disorganized desktop.
Again, I have way too many labels in Gmail. With the great search feature most apps have, it’s not too necessary to be extra OCD in organizing files and emails. Simple grouping is good enough in most cases.

Reinstall The OS

Master reset your connected devices or clean the hard drive with a reinstall of the OS. Start with a clean slate.
I took a tablet which was low on space and cleared it of everything to help speed it up. Since it was a blank canvas, I made it into my work tablet. No games or anything unproductive on it.

Only have what’s necessary to complete the tasks it’s used for. The more clutter on your device, the more likely you are to be distracted. Distraction defeats focus and that can inject unhappiness.
An interesting experiment by Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert found that the more our minds wander, the less happy we are.

We see evidence for mind-wandering causing unhappiness, but no evidence for unhappiness causing mind-wandering.

Reset Your Routine

Make small changes to your routine to change your habits. Some habits like hopping over to Facebook every spare minute you have can be a hard habit to break. Try deleting the app from your phone and/or blocking Facebook and other social apps on your computer during certain times of the day. Or you could take Akshata’s excellent tip to play dirty with your habits.
If you don’t trust your willpower, apps like Moment (iOS), Offtime (Android), and Checky (iOS, Android) can help change your time-consuming phone habits and reset your digital lifestyle.

Communicate Your Goals

Some parts of your life aren’t easy to reset though. If your spouse is a trigger for a particular habit, you will need to have a talk and explain what you’re trying to change. See if they can help by not triggering the (bad) habit or make you feel bad for not being a party to it.
It may be as simple as sending frequent text messages throughout the day or using a family email address to sign up for all kinds of sites that invite junk mail.
Communicate your goals and ask them to help, not hinder you.
Be it by choice or by disaster, at some point we all reboot our digital lives. Taking the initiative and making the needed changes on your own will do greater good than facing the costs of a hard drive crash or a digital burnout. The road back is a long one.
What part of your life is weighing you down? What can you do to wipe the slate clean and go at it in a new direction?