There's nothing more stressful than your phone dying in the middle of an extraordinarily busy day, especially when you don't have any way to charge it (because of course, that was the day you forgot your charger at home). Luckily, though, there are a variety of ways to prevent this dreaded event from happening. These five ways to make your smartphone battery last longer will allow you to stay connected and on top of your schedule for the entire day, even if you didn't remember to grab your charger as you were heading out the door.
Smartphones these days come chock full of hidden features, from things like email hacks to creative ways to be notified of memos and from photo organization to futuristic ways of finding a lost phone. And after years of fighting with batteries that drain too easily, ddesigners, programmers, and manufacturers have finally started making it easier for us to maximize our battery life — to which I can only say, it's about time!
You probably already know one of the most popularly employed techniques to boost your battery: Turning down the brightness on your smartphone screen, which works for both Android and iOS users. That's far from the only trick around, though, so here are five more tips beyond just making your display dimmer that should help extend battery on your phone — whether you're an iOS or Android user.
1. Change Your Email, Facebook, and Twitter Notifications to "Manual"
Your phone is constantly refreshing notification-based applications like mail or Facebook to fetch new messages. If you change the settings of your phone to get notifications manually (meaning you'll only get them when you open the app yourself and refresh it), it'll save a significant amount of battery power — which, in turn, will give you a little more juice to actually look at all those notifications.
2. Power Save Mode
iOS 9 and some Android phones like the Galaxy S5 and HTC one have a low power or power saving mode that limits how much energy is used by applications. The results may add several minutes to several hours to your device's battery life.
3. Turn Your Phone To Airplane Mode in Low Coverage Areas
Your phone uses a lot of battery when it searches for signal in areas where your provider doesn't get very much coverage. Iif you don't need your phone for the duration of the time you're in that area, pop it to airplane mode so it saves all that juice for when you do need it — and when it will actually work.
4. Get A Battery Case Or External Battery
Companies like Morphie Slow Lizard offer cases that serve as rechargeable devices for your iPhone so you can basically carry a charger around with you. The cases are a little bulky and can be pricy, so you can also opt for a small, pocket sized charging station that has enough juice to charge your phone (often more than once) in one sitting. This device is great for road trips or other travel and generally starts at around $50.
5. Turn Off GPS and Location Tracking
Certain apps on your phones request real-time data about your location to better tailor their features to your needs (think Yelp, Google Maps, etc.). While this feature is highly convenient, it's worth turning location tracking off when you're trying to save battery. Just go to the settings in your phone, find "location," and change the settings from there.
