Secrets to avoiding a low battery warning on your phone

It happens to all of us: you are running around all day, sending messages and opening apps on your phone, and long before you are home you get the dreaded low battery warning.

But before you panic, we  have some secrets to keep that phone running hours longer, and even to keep it from ever reaching that low battery level.

Phone use increases in September

Back to school and back to work means we’ll be on our phones a lot more than in the summer.

So if you get a low power warning on your iPhone —  or similar alert on your android — Lifehacker.com says don’t just dismiss it.

By going to “Low Power Mode,” or” Battery Saver” on Android, you automatically disable updates and mail synching, and instantly help that last 20% last longer.

Save power even earlier

But don’t wait until the 20% mark. Even before you get that warning, though, Lifehacker suggests disabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and reducing screen brightness, to prevent your phone from even getting to 20%.

But from the doesn’t that stink file, two thing that can really kill your battery when it starting to get low.

One is “fetching,” your phone’s constant grabbing of new emails and refreshing its apps. The other is “location services,” which constantly connects to GPS satellites to find your location.

Lifehacker suggests you turn off fetch and location services once your phone gets down to 25%, You’ll be glad you did.

Finally, one more thing you can do once you get down to that 25% level. If you are using WiFi, turn off data (go into Airplane mode).  If you are on the data network, turn  off WiFi.

Never ignore a low battery warning on your phone. It will drop precipitously if you do nothing.

That way you don’t waste your money.