How to Extend Battery Life and Minimize Data Usage When Traveling
It’s summer now and we all have a passion for travel. It’s important to get out and see the world, but it’s just as important that your phone is as travel-ready as you are. After you’ve thrown a dart at a card and bought a plane ticket, try these tips to make sure you don’t drain your smartphone battery or data plan while you’re away.
Minimize battery drain functions in advance
What good is a phone that can’t be used? The main thing is to make sure that your phone is always charged, especially when traveling. By now, you probably know that portable chargers are great for extra charging your device on the go, but there are other ways to prevent your phone from draining in the first place.
Don’t wait for a warning to turn on low power mode on your phone. Instead, turn it on from the start. On iPhone, open the Settings app and go to the Battery section. Enable the second option to put your phone into power saving mode. On Android, you can swipe down from the top of the screen and tap Battery Saver for the same effect.
Take it a step further by configuring which apps can download data even when they’re inactive. On your iOS device, open the Settings app and go to General> Background App Refresh. Here you can see which apps get information when you are not using them. Only turn off apps you hardly use or apps you don’t mind updating when you actually open them.
On Android, make sure you’re running at least Android 8.0 Oreo, which puts more restrictions on what apps can do in the background.
Both iOS and Android allow granular control over their notifications. Remove certain notifications from the lock screen and change them so that they only sound so that your phone doesn’t feel the need to turn on the screen without having to turn on the screen, such as when someone goes live on Instagram.
Use less data on the go
Free Wi-Fi is your friend. But if there are no networks nearby, chances are good that your favorite apps have a travel mode that consumes less data when you are using your data plan. Use these settings before you hit the road and you can save on low data usage even after your trip.
For example, not every video on your Facebook newsfeed deserves your data. In the app, tap the hamburger menu in the lower right corner, then scroll down to Settings & Privacy. Click Settings, scroll down to Videos & Photos, and click Autoplay to specify when Facebook automatically downloads and plays videos. Select “Only when connected to Wi-Fi” to prevent mobile data from being used when autoplaying videos.
Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat also have similar options to prevent videos from automatically downloading when you’re using cellular data. On Instagram, tap the profile icon in the lower-right corner and then the gear icon next to Edit Profile. Tap Cellular Data Usage and then turn on Use Less Data.
In the Twitter app, go to Settings by clicking your profile icon and then Settings & Privacy. Click Data Usage and make sure Autoplay Video is set to Wi-Fi Only.
On Snapchat, tap the Bitmoji icon in the top left corner and tap the gear in the top right corner. In the Additional Services section, tap Manage and then set Travel Mode to On.
Along with social media, common multimedia apps like Netflix and Spotify offer the ability to preload videos and playlists to preserve even more of your data. But you already knew that .
Save data (and battery) without compromising navigation
Not all who wander are lost, but perhaps you are. Stay ahead of any random detours using Google Maps offline. Open Google Maps and click the hamburger menu in the top left corner, then Offline Maps and then Local or Custom map to get started. You will be able to either download the area around you or choose a size map that you want to keep on your device.
In addition to Google’s suggestions, keep apps like Moovit and Transit close at hand as they help you navigate unfamiliar cities. Or use an app such as Topo Maps when you travel outside the city. Wherever you are, make sure you don’t get lost by targeting the language either – the Google Translate app will keep you talking and, you guessed it, has an offline mode .