Hurricane: Foolproofing Your Smartphone May Save your life

Five Foolproof Ways to Keep Your Phone Running  After a Hurricane

smartphone manage homescreen

Hurricanes are strong enough to uproot trees, topple power lines and rip roofs off of homes and buildings. During calamities like these, power outages and lack of cell reception are often always sure to happen.

Most people will rely on their smart phones for everything, from serving as a light source to communication. However, your phone is only as useful as the amount of power that it has in it. If you do not have a spare power bank with you and help is still a few more hours or days away, here’s how you can keep your phone on and functional until rescue arrives.

Turn screen brightness to the lowest setting.

 

The screen uses up a lot of energy and can drain your battery in a matter of hours when turned up to the highest setting. If you are using your phone but can do away with a clear, vibrant and bright display, turning the screen off can give your phone a few more hours to go before you need to charge again.

 

Kill all apps and restart your phone.

 

This makes sure that no unnecessary apps are running in the background. Working apps drain power, even if you are not using them.

 

Avoid making phone calls.

 

You can let loved ones know that you are doing fine by sending text messages instead of calls. Calls drain the battery, especially if you are calling from a place with spotty reception. Text messages barely use any power and you can send one text message to multiple recipients, saving you the hassle of making one call after another.

 

Turn off your WiFi, Bluetooth and cell receivers.

 

These three are the biggest power guzzlers on any phone aside from the screen. When turned on, they are programmed to look for the nearest signal which can drain the power in a matter of hours. If you must, keep your cell receiver on for emergency broadcast messages. If you are not using your phone for anything at all and do not anticipate a message coming, put your phone on Airplane mode.

 

Turn off Push Notifications.

 

These are the notifications that apps send to your phone. You won’t be needing any of these messages during a calamity, so it is better to turn them off and avoid draining precious power this way. Turn off Push Notifications by going to the SETTINGS page and clicking on the NOTIFICATIONS panel.

 

Your cellphone can be a lifesaver during calamities like hurricanes. With these tips, you can prolong the life of your phone so it can stay useful when you need it the most.

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