Modern surveying apps like Flow Mobile Surveying tend to drain your device battery faster than usual because you use them frequently and keep them running in the background.

If you're worried about your device running out mid-survey, don't fret. Here are some general tips for extending your battery life so you can survey for longer.

Device Brightness Settings

A device on minimum brightness will use 54% of the battery consumption as a device on full brightness.

But setting your device to minimum brightness isn't practical, as your screen will be too hard to read. So, what brightness should you use?

We suggest using 'auto brightness' which will adjust the brightness settings based on the ambient light in the room you're in.

Enable Dark Mode

Most surveying apps have a Light Mode or Dark Mode setting. Light Mode drains your battery faster as the app presents more light to you, the user.

Switching to Dark Mode can reduce battery usage and allow you to use the mobile app for longer periods of time. As an added bonus, many people find it reduces eye strain in dark environments, too.

Learn more about enabling light/dark mode.

Close Other Apps Running

If you have multiple apps running in the background, this can drain your battery at a faster rate.

So, when surveying, we advise you to close any apps you're not currently using so that your surveying app is the only active app. This will keep you surveying for longer.

Airplane Mode

If you're working in an area with a poor or patchy internet signal, your mobile device may constantly search for an internet connection, which can drain your battery quickly.

Turning on Airplane Mode can be beneficial in these environments by stopping your mobile device from wasting valuable resources. Then, when you're back in the office, you can turn Airplane Mode back on, and the data should sync up automatically.

This battery-saving tip will only work if your surveying app works offline, like ours.

Power Saving Mode

Enabling power saving mode is a last-ditch technique for extending your battery life; this can be helpful if you're on a very low battery and just need to get the job done

Turning on Power Saving Mode does have some downsides, though; for example, it'll limit the location and app services running in the background of your mobile device.

Pause Media Uploads

When collecting data using the mobile app, photo uploads tend to drain your battery the quickest.

Turning off media uploads will prevent photos from uploading and draining your battery. But the text information will continue to be uploaded (which is much less power-hungry).

Then, when you're back at the office with a wireless connection and a power supply, you can turn media uploads back on to ensure the full survey is uploaded.

Learn more about pausing media uploads

Use a Backup Device

The ultimate battery failsafe is to have a backup device. You can have a backup device ready in the event that your primary device runs out of juice.

When your main device dies, switch to the backup device and complete the rest of your survey.

Flow Mobile Surveying works on phones and tablets. You can install the mobile app on multiple devices, just in case one runs out.

Portable Battery Chargers

One tool that every surveyor should have in their toolbox or car is a portable battery charger.

This makes all the other points redundant since you can use a portable battery charger to charge your mobile device between jobs, and will never run out of battery power!

Summary

There are lots of ways to extend and preserve your battery life.

Making some easy tweaks like adjusting your device brightness or using settings like Dark Mode will help you get the most out of your surveying app so you can survey for longer.