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How to improve battery life on a PS5 controller

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Sony PlayStation DualSense Controller appears on a white background.
Sony

The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is a feature-packed input device that can offer some of the most immersive experiences in gaming — but it’s not exactly known for stellar battery life. Luckily, there are a handful of ways in which you can improve your PS5 controller’s battery life, and we’ll tell you what they are below.

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Set controllers to turn off automatically

Everyone needs to take a break from a gaming session sometimes. If you plan to be away from your console for a bit, you don’t want the controller to remain on for an extended period of time, as that will eat through your battery unnecessarily. As such, you should head into the PS5’s system settings and adjust the power-saving option so your controllers turn off automatically.

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Lower the light bar brightness

Every DualSense comes with a light bar around the touchpad, which has a variety of features for letting you know certain things in a game. When multiple profiles are signed in at once, this light bar even displays specific colors to let you know which player is assigned to which controller. However, this always-on light can drain a small amount of power over time, so you’ll want to go into the PS5’s controller settings and reduce the brightness to improve your battery life.

Turn down the controller speaker

The DualSense offers some unique in-game feedback options via a small microphone on the front of the controller. While this can increase immersion in certain games (or even act as a microphone if you don’t have a headset), it can have a minor impact on your battery life. If you’re not actively making use of this somewhat niche feature, head into controller settings and turn the volume all the way down to get a little extra play time.

DualSense
Sony / Sony

Reduce vibration intensity

There’s no denying that the DualSense provides some of the coolest haptic feedback we’ve ever seen, beautifully matching the feeling in your hands to events happening on screen. But all that vibration drains more power than you’d think. You can reduce this intensity in controller settings, or turn it off altogether if you prefer.

Turn off adaptive triggers

Like the haptic feedback, the DualSense’s adaptive triggers are a unique and compelling addition to gaming on a PS5, granting you tension on your triggers for immersive experiences with things like firing guns or pulling large objects in-game. But unsurprisingly, this can also have a slight effect on your battery life, so if you’re not terribly interested in this feature, hop into controller settings and turn it off.

Use a wireless headset

Though the DualSense features the option to use a wired headset, anything plugged into this headphone jack is drawing power. If you can possibly do so, use a wireless headset instead to stop that small but noticeable power drain on your controller.

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Billy Givens
Billy Givens
Gaming Writer
Billy Givens is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. He started as a…
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