When you’re traveling, conserving your smartphone battery can be crucial, especially during long flights, bus rides, or when access to a power outlet is limited. Being on the move often means relying on your phone for navigation, booking accommodations, or simply staying in touch with loved ones. That’s why knowing how to keep your phone battery charged while traveling is as essential as packing your passport.
Understanding the different factors that contribute to battery drain can help you make small changes that have a big impact. For example, the smartphone’s screen brightness or the constant fetching of emails and social media notifications can significantly shorten your phone battery life. And it’s not just about longevity; managing your battery wisely ensures your smartphone is ready to use when you need it most.
Adopting battery-saving tips such as using airplane mode or low power mode, tweaking location services, or carrying a portable charger can make all the difference. These measures can extend your smartphone battery life, allowing you to capture those travel moments and navigate foreign locales without the constant worry of your phone running low. Keep these things in mind, and you might just get through your journey or long layover without reaching for that charger.
Optimizing Your Phone Settings
When you’re on the move, tweaking your smartphone settings can prolong battery life significantly. Let’s zero in on how you can adjust settings to stretch your phone’s charge from sunrise to sundown.
Adjust Screen Brightness and Timeout
1. Turning down your screen brightness is one of the simplest yet effective ways to save battery. Consider disabling adaptive brightness for consistent lower brightness levels, especially when indoor or during the evening.
2. Adjust your screen timeout settings to the shortest time comfortable, typically around 15-30 seconds, to prevent your display from draining power when not in use.
3. While using ‘Dark Mode’ is popularly recommended for saving battery, studies from Purdue University suggest that the battery life savings might be less significant than expected, though there are beneficial side effects worth considering.
Activate Low-Power Modes
4. Remember to switch on Battery Saver or Low-Power Mode—most smartphones include them. This mode limits background app activity, reduces screen brightness, turns off some visual effects to conserve power, and may even decrease your phone’s performance slightly. It’s a great way to squeeze extra hours out of a dwindling battery.
5. Tailor It: Some phones allow you to customize which features are restricted in low-power mode. This lets you prioritize the functions most important to you while saving battery.
6. Be Proactive: Consider setting your phone to automatically enable low-power mode when your battery reaches a certain percentage (e.g., 20%). This ensures you have that extra boost when you need it most.
7. Recharge and Reset: Rest assured, low-power mode usually turns off automatically once your phone reaches a sufficient charge level (e.g., 80%), restoring full functionality.
Managing Connectivity
When you’re travelling, every bit of battery life counts. Learning how to manage your phone’s connectivity features—like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular data—can make all the difference in keeping your device alive until you reach the next charging opportunity.
Control Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Data Use
8. Wi-Fi: Ensure your Wi-Fi is turned off when not in use. It consumes power by constantly searching for networks. When you do use Wi-Fi, connect to secure networks and avoid streaming high-quality video or downloading large files to conserve your phone battery.
9. Bluetooth: Disable Bluetooth when you’re not using it to connect to devices. Bluetooth connections for audio devices or wearables can quickly drain your battery.
10. Data: Use mobile data judiciously. Fetching emails, refreshing social media apps like Facebook, or using apps that require constant updates (like GPS navigation) can significantly reduce your smartphone battery life. Turn off background app refresh for apps that don’t need to be updated regularly and restrict auto-sync where possible to save some battery.
Utilize Airplane Mode Wisely
11. Airplane Mode: When you’re looking to conserve your phone battery, switch on airplane mode. It turns off all wireless features, including cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, preventing your phone from constantly searching for a signal which drains the battery faster. It’s especially helpful if you’re in an area with poor cell coverage or on a flight.
12. Remember to toggle off location services, GPS, and NFC to prevent them from running in the background and using up more power. If you need to charge your phone and time is of the essence, placing your phone into airplane mode can also speed up the charging process.
13. If you need to use maps, consider downloading the area map ahead of time, so you can use it offline, which allows you to keep your phone on airplane mode and conserve battery while navigating.
App Usage and Battery Life
When it comes to conserving your smartphone’s battery life while travelling, managing your apps is crucial. Apps can be substantial battery hogs; hence, staying on top of their activity can have a positive impact on your phone battery’s longevity.
Update Apps and Operating Systems
14. Keeping your apps and smartphone’s operating system up to date is essential for battery optimization. Developers frequently optimize newer versions of apps and operating systems for better battery usage. Whether you’re an Android or Apple user, enable automatic updates, or periodically check for updates to ensure your apps are running efficiently, thus conserving phone battery.
Monitor and Manage Battery-Intensive Apps
15. Examine the list of apps running on your device to identify which ones use the most battery. Social media platforms, like the Facebook app or other power-hungry apps, often continue working in the background, which can quickly drain your battery.
Based on usage, decide whether to keep the app, disable background activity, or uninstall it if it’s not frequently used.
16. Utilize built-in battery monitors on your smartphone to keep your phone operational longer. These tools can help you understand which apps are using the most power and manage them effectively.
If certain apps aren’t essential, consider using them only when connected to a charger or portable charger, or disable them from running in the background entirely.
17. Use the ‘Do Not Disturb‘ mode to suppress push notifications that can wake your phone display and draw power needlessly.
By staying on top of updates and tracking your phone’s app activity, you can help conserve phone battery significantly and reduce the need to carry around extra battery packs or look for a power source to recharge your phone frequently.
Charging Smart While Travelling
When you’re trekking across new lands, juggling between capturing every moment and relying on your smartphone for navigation, keeping your phone charged becomes a pivotal concern. Let’s talk about some ways to maintain your battery’s charge using power banks.
Portable Chargers and Power Banks
18. Choosing the Right Power Bank: Selecting the best portable chargers for your journey involves considering factors like capacity, output ports, and weight. High-capacity battery packs can keep devices like your Samsung phone powered longer.
19. Pick a power bank with multiple ports if you carry several gadgets.
- High Capacity: A 20,000mAh portable charger can recharge your phone multiple times.
- Quick Charge: Opt for power banks that support Quick Charge technology for fast recharging of your devices.
Always check airlines’ restrictions regarding carrying power banks on flights to prevent any travel hiccups.
Stay Charged and Connected
Adopting mindful charging habits can give you an extra boost when away from an outlet. By utilizing battery-saving modes, adjusting brightness, managing connectivity, and even closing unused apps, you can extend the time between charges. Carry a reliable portable charger and you’ll be ready to navigate and capture those amazing travel moments without worrying about a dead battery.
Andy Holsteen writes all sorts of things—both for work and pleasure. He loves traveling to new places, and hopes to see Berlin and Santiago in the not-so-distant future.