You’re meeting up with a friend at a restaurant, but you’re 20 minutes early. You start distracting yourself by checking out your Instagram feed, but suddenly realize that your iPhone’s battery is dangerously low. In fact, if your friend is late and needs to contact you, you may not be able to receive a message!
So how can you make sure that your phone makes it until its next charge? Here are a few tips that every iPhone owner should know:
First, Reduce the Screen’s Brightness
This is probably the most obvious, but also one of the most effective things you can do. Your iPhone packs a lot of pixels. Even old ones have a high resolution, so the screen can be a major drain. Turn down the brightness. Go check out the auto-brightness setting and make sure it’s off, so that your phone won’t amp up the light whenever it feels necessary.
Turn on Low Power Mode
Many iPhone users think that low power mode automatically happens when the battery reaches a certain point. It doesn’t! A notification simply pops up to remind you to turn it on. When you do turn it on, certain functions like Hey Siri, mail fetch, and some visual effects will be suspended.
Monitor Your Power Usage
Did you know you can check on your battery usage to make sure there’s nothing odd draining the battery? In Settings, select General, and then Battery. Here you’ll get a breakdown of how much of your battery has been drained in standby mode, and how much has been put to active use. In iOS 8 and 9, it will even tell you which of your apps are taking the most battery power. Check the numbers, and then put your phone in sleep mode. When you wake it up, check the numbers again, right away. The “standby” number will have gone up by however many minutes your phone was asleep. The “usage” number SHOULD be almost the same as it was before.
Turn off Battery-Drains
This will include the vibrate setting (which takes quite a bit of energy, especially if you have it set up for a lot of notifications). Stay away from using the camera, watching videos on your phone, and high-graphic games. All of these will drain your battery life faster.
In Crunch Time, Turn on Airplane Mode
This will stop your antenna from draining battery life, since it won’t have to be constantly seeking a signal. This is especially effective in areas with low coverage, since clinging to a low signal for dear life is hard for your phone to endure. If you need to check for calls, or send a message later, you can turn airplane mode back off.
By using these tips, hopefully you’ll still be able to entertain yourself on your phone until your friend’s arrival, AND receive that message telling you she got delayed and will be 10 minutes late. Bon appetit!
