How to Preserve the Battery Life of an iPhone (on the trail)

[slbirdnerd]

I stumbled upon this detailed article today about how to preserve battery life on your iPhone. Very helpful to an iDummy like me who takes my iPhone on the trail. Figure it can help some of you stay charged-up, too! (I'm assuming other smart phones have similar options...)

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/12-desperate-battery-saving-measures-for-your-iphone-78466511441.html

[TurboPants]

I think it's pretty easy actually, just turn it off when you aren't calling someone. Problem solved! :p Thanks for the link. But honestly, when you disable all wifi and bluetooth, along with putting it in airplane mode it's going to drastically reduce usage. Doing all those other little settings for each app won't stop the drain too much. Reducing the screen brightness way down is what seriously reduces battery life.

On an aside, my cell phones have lasted me several years on original batteries because I turn my phone off when I sleep, even at home. Lithium batteries don't repond well to constantly being on charge when they get to 100%. I don't hook up my phone for charging until it gets under 15%. Lithiums like being cycled from full charge to dead, then recharged. Don't leave it plugged into the wall all the time your cell batteries won't need replaced every 16 months. Now if only someone could design a device to charge a phone based on body odor! ;)

[Sara]

Thanks for the article slbirdnerd!

I'm also an iDummy. :confused:

[MuddyWaters]

I dont use an iphone, but my phone battery lasts weeks and still has full charge. It stays off except to send and check text msgs once per day.

[10-K]

Here's a good basic smartphone battery primer. http://gizmodo.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-smartphone-battery-the-right-w-513217256.

and another: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-tips-for-extending-lithium-ion-battery-life/

[SouthMark]

Until the iPhone 5 you could lock the SIM and my phone would last 4-5 days on a single charge. Locking the SIM turned off the phone feature and prevented it from searching for a signal. You can still lock the SIM with the iPhone 5 but you no longer get the battery savings.

[hikernutcasey]

In my experience I have found that the basic things already mentioned can usually get me 4 to 5 days before needing a charge on the trail. I usually leave my phone on during the day as I like to use it to take pictures. It sucks to have to wait for it to come on every time if you cut it off so I just leave it in airplane mode. Usually once during the day and then once at night I will search to see if I have signal and if so send a few texts and maybe an occasional call to let loved ones know where I am and that I'm O.K.

Airplane mode
reduce screen brightness
LIMITED USE

These 3 things save the most battery. If you try to use your phone like you do in the real world it doesn't matter what setting you use the battery will go fast.