How long should a BOOX battery last?

Weeks of typical reading on a charge, not days. If you are charging every two or three days with light use, something is running in the background. The screen itself uses no power to hold a page, so drain almost always comes from Wi-Fi, apps or the front light.

Does the front light use a lot of battery?

It is the single largest draw on most devices, because it is the only always-on light source. Reading at maximum brightness in a dark room will cut a charge dramatically compared with reading at a low level.

Should I turn Wi-Fi off on my BOOX?

Yes, when you are just reading. Wi-Fi kept on lets every installed Android app wake, sync and check for notifications. Turning it off between syncs is the single most effective change most owners can make.

Is it bad to leave a BOOX plugged in overnight?

Occasionally, no. As a permanent habit, it is not ideal: lithium batteries age fastest when held at full charge. If a device will sit unused for months, store it around half charged rather than full or empty.

Care and maintenance

Why Your BOOX Battery Drains Fast (and How to Fix It)

E Ink should last weeks, not days. The Android background activity, front light habits and sync settings that quietly drain a BOOX, and what to change first.

An E Ink screen uses no power at all to hold a page. That is the whole promise, and it is why a battery measured in weeks is normal. When a BOOX needs charging every couple of days, the screen is not the problem. Something else is awake.

BOOX devices run Android, and that is the trade-off for their flexibility: everything an Android phone does in the background, a BOOX will also do, on a battery designed around the assumption that the device is mostly idle.

Start here: turn Wi-Fi off between sessions

This is the big one, and it is worth doing before anything else.

With Wi-Fi on, every installed app is free to wake up, sync, check in and poll for notifications, all while the device sits in a bag looking asleep. Nothing on screen tells you it is happening.

Turn Wi-Fi off when you are reading, and on when you actually want to sync or download. Many owners find this alone takes them from days back to weeks.

BOOX 6.13" Palma 2 - Black$349.99

Next: check the front light

The front light is the largest single power draw on most devices, because it is the only thing on a BOOX that consumes power continuously.

Two habits help:

Use less than you think you need. E Ink is reflective, so in a well-lit room you may need no front light at all. Many people run it out of habit rather than necessity.
Turn down the cold channel at night. On devices with warm and cold lighting, warm light at a low level is usually more comfortable in a dark room and draws less than running both channels high.

Then: find the app that is misbehaving

Open the battery section of Settings and look at what has been consuming power. One badly behaved app usually stands out.

The frequent offenders are cloud storage clients, email apps, and anything with a live feed. These are all designed for a phone that charges nightly, and they behave accordingly.

Your options, in order of how much you keep:

Restrict its background activity in the app settings.
Turn off its sync and refresh it manually when you want it.
Uninstall it and use the browser instead.

If you use cloud storage to get books onto the device, our transfer guide covers the alternatives that cost nothing in standby, such as BOOXDrop over local Wi-Fi.

Smaller wins

Shorten the sleep timer. A device that sits awake for 30 minutes after you stop reading is spending battery on nothing.
Turn off Bluetooth unless you use a page-turner or audio.
Skip live wallpapers and animated screensavers. They force refreshes when the device should be idle.
Leave some free storage. A nearly full device does more background housekeeping.

Cold weather

Lithium batteries lose capacity in the cold, temporarily. In a Canadian winter, a device carried in a bag outdoors will show a lower percentage than it did indoors, and may refuse to charge until it warms up.

This is normal and reverses as the device warms. It is worth knowing before you conclude that a battery has failed in January.

BOOX Go 6" (Black)$209.99

Long-term battery health

Lithium cells age fastest when held at full charge or run to empty repeatedly. If you want a device to still hold a good charge in three years:

Charge to somewhere comfortable rather than always to 100 percent.
Do not leave it flat for months. A battery stored empty can discharge past the point of recovery.
For long storage, aim for roughly half charge and top it up every few months.

Keeping firmware current helps too, since power management improvements arrive in updates. You will find the update check in Settings, and it is worth running occasionally rather than never.

When it really is the battery

If a device is only a year or two old, has been through the checks above, and still drains in a day or two of light reading, that is worth looking at rather than living with. Genuine battery faults are covered by the full manufacturer warranty on every new device we sell.

Tell us the model, roughly how old it is, and what the battery screen shows, and we will help you work out whether it is a setting or a fault. Start with our contact page, or read the FAQ for how warranty support works.

Common questions

How long should a BOOX battery last?: Weeks of typical reading on a charge, not days. If you are charging every two or three days with light use, something is running in the background. The screen itself uses no power to hold a page, so drain almost always comes from Wi-Fi, apps or the front light.
Does the front light use a lot of battery?: It is the single largest draw on most devices, because it is the only always-on light source. Reading at maximum brightness in a dark room will cut a charge dramatically compared with reading at a low level.
Should I turn Wi-Fi off on my BOOX?: Yes, when you are just reading. Wi-Fi kept on lets every installed Android app wake, sync and check for notifications. Turning it off between syncs is the single most effective change most owners can make.
Is it bad to leave a BOOX plugged in overnight?: Occasionally, no. As a permanent habit, it is not ideal: lithium batteries age fastest when held at full charge. If a device will sit unused for months, store it around half charged rather than full or empty.

Still stuck?

We are a Canadian BOOX dealer with a real showroom in Oakville. If a guide did not solve it, tell us what your device is doing and we will help you work out whether it is a setting or a fault.