Battery anxiety is a common thing to suffer from where you’re in the middle of nowhere, with no nearby outlets to plug in and charge your phone. Smartphones have certainly made our lives easier, but they are particularly power hungry and can suck your battery power even when you’re not using it.

Saving battery life while in the backcountry is essential, so bear in mind the following hacks, so you keep some battery for when you most need it.

 

1.   Turn off Bluetooth and WiFi

Bluetooth is great for when you’re in the city, but there’s no need for it while outdoors, and it’s a big culprit when it comes to draining your battery. Turning off Bluetooth will give your phone at least an extra hour of life. Same goes for WiFi, as it’s also a serious battery drainer. Chances are, there aren’t going to be any WiFi hotspots in the backcountry, so there’s no point in keeping it turned on.

 

2.   Use auto-brightness or dim the brightness of your screen

Dimming the brightness of your screen may make it a bit more difficult to see, but chances are, you won’t be looking at your phone much anyway. More than any other of your phone’s components, the large display screen sucks up most of the battery juice.

Therefore, dim the brightness or use the auto-adjust feature that comes with most phones, as it will automatically adjust your screen according to the amount of light it’s exposed to. This mode will use a lot less power than having a constantly bright screen.

 

3.   Put it in flight mode

This is the ultimate hack to extend your phone’s battery life, as all connections coming in and out of your phone will be switched off. You can still take photos, but you won’t be able to receive or make any calls, so if you told someone you’d check in with them, make sure to turn off this feature at some point.

 

4.   Have a short screen timeout

The screen timeout setting will control how long the screen remains active after its last been used. As we mentioned above, the display screen sucks up a lot of battery, so keep the timeout as short as possible, and never keep your phone idling while you’re not using it.

 

5.   Get a backup

Some smartphones have removable batteries, and if this is the case with yours, you’re in luck, as you can keep a charged spare battery with you while you’re off exploring. Otherwise, get a power bank, which you can now find everywhere at a decent price.

 

6.   Turn it off

The most obvious way to save battery life could be one you hadn’t thought about…turning off your phone! Being outdoors is a time to enjoy and appreciate nature, and turning your eyes away from the screen to enjoy the fantastic scenery surrounding you is well worth the extra battery time.