It looks like there is a blizzard heading towards the northeast of the US! 
Here are some tips for making your phone last through the storm.
- Turn on Low Power Mode. If you’re phone has a “battery saver” or “low power mode” setting, you’ll want to enable it first thing.
- Dim your screen. Go into your phone’s display settings and see if your phone is usable at the lowest setting, even if it means cupping your hand over the screen to see it. The backlight can be one of the biggest drains on your battery.
- Try airplane mode. If you know you won’t need your phone for a couple hours, try enabling airplane mode. This shuts off the cellular, bluetooth, and WiFi radios which greatly prolongs battery life, but at the same time, can prevent you from receiving important calls and texts. So you may want to use this option when you’re sleeping, for example.
- Turn off GPS. If you’re staying put until the storm lets up, it probably won’t hurt to disable the GPS (also referred to as “location services”) in your phone’s settings. Many weather apps will let you enter your zip code in order to retrieve your forecast instead of requiring the use of the GPS.
- Reduce notifications. During an emergency, you probably don’t care that it is your turn in Words With Friends, so disable unnecessary notifications to prevent your screen from lighting up every few seconds. Many phones allow you to change the notifications to “sound only” which helps preserve battery power that would otherwise be used to light up your screen. iPhone users can enable Do Not Disturb to automatically stop all notifications at once.
- Keep it plugged in. If you haven’t lost power yet, keep your phone plugged into the charger (connected to a surge protector, of course). That way, if your power does go out, your battery will start out at 100%.
- And, of course, charge up your Anker power banks so they’re ready to go! And a little known fact: some laptops continue to power the USB ports while the laptop is “sleeping”. Charge up your laptop, let is sleep, then use the laptop as a powerbank as needed!
Stay safe!
