Like many people, I’ve been doing a lot of traveling this summer. A few days ago, I was reminiscing with family about the time before smartphones when we had to rely on paper maps, pay phones, and good-old-fashioned radio stations to keep us sane on trips. It made me feel old.
Nowadays, of course, those paper maps have given way to GPS-enabled apps on our phones that provide a real-time incredibly accurate view of where we are and where we’re going. Pay phones and phone booths are decisively a thing of the past (seriously, when was the last time you even saw one?) and we’re able to call anyone from pretty much anywhere whenever we want. And terrestrial radio stations are no longer dominant – we stream the music and podcasts directly to our devices with no-hassle cellular data connections, allowing us to listen to whatever we want.
During my travels, though, I’ve noticed something curious – my iPhone’s battery seems to run down much more quickly when I’m on a trip. I’m not entirely sure why this is the case, but it’s probably due to a combination of things. The biggest culprit is certainly that I’m relying on my phone a lot more during travel to do things like navigate, look up local businesses, and check flight departure times. However, it also seems that there’s some other kind of phantom power drain that occurs during travel, causing my battery percentage to drop like a rock. Maybe this is related to the device constantly switching between different cell towers and trying to find signal – I’m not sure. All I know is that it’s not uncommon to see percentages in the 40s or 30s much earlier in the day when I’m on a trip.
Fortunately, Apple has a feature for just such an occasion – Low Power Mode. This feature intelligently engages a number of power saving measures on your device such as placing its processor into a high efficiency mode, dimming the backlight on the screen more aggressively, limiting the way apps and services can use cellular data in the background, and more. The great thing about Low Power Mode, though, is that it’s smart – it definitely doesn’t feel like your device is being crippled or hobbled while using it. On the contrary, it still feels responsive and powerful.
iOS proactively suggests that you turn on Low Power Mode when your device reaches 20% battery, and then again when it hits 10%.
That said, you can also proactively engage Low Power Mode at higher battery percentages. I’ve found that turning the setting on at the beginning of a travel day and leaving it on throughout the day can extend the amount of time my phone lasts before needing a charge by at least a couple of hours. This can be very helpful in travel situations when power outlets and opportunities to charge can be limited.
To turn on low power mode proactively. open up your Settings app, navigate to battery, and then toggle on Low Power Mode. Pretty easy!
One thing to note – if you have Low Power Mode engaged and plug your device in to charge, iOS will disable Low Power Mode on its own after your device reaches 80% of its battery capacity.
And one Pro Tip – consider adding Low Power Mode as a toggle in your Control Center for even quicker access to this great feature! Check out our article on how to customize Control Center.
The next time you travel, give Low Power Mode a try! You’ll probably find, like I did, that your iPhone lasts a for couple extra hours of adventuring before you need to plug it in.
