TUAW Tips: Maximize battery power for GPS apps

By Steve Sande

You know from reading a lot of my earlier posts that I am a real fan of iPhone GPS apps. I regularly use RunKeeper, TrailGuru, and Geocaching to keep track of my wanderings or find geocaches, but I've found that those apps usually suck my iPhone batteries dry very quickly.

Jason at FitnessKeeper let me know that one of their forum users, Valter, had tweaked various settings on his iPhone and was able to get a tremendous amount of battery life while still keeping both the iPhone's A-GPS and EDGE connection active. Those are the requirements for most GPS apps. What were Valter's secret settings?

  • Wi-fi: off
  • Push: off
  • 3G: off
  • Bluetooth: off
  • Brightness: set at minimum (Note – I also turn off Auto-Brightness)
  • iPod: off

Your mileage may vary, but the RunKeeper forum users found that they were able to improve battery life drastically. One reader had 70% of battery capacity after a two hour run with RunKeeper tracking his run, while Valter's personal tests showed 50% capacity after a 2 hour 45 minute run. For other GPS apps like Geocaching, your battery life will most likely be less as brightness will need to be set so that you can actually read the screen.

What are your optimum iPhone power settings for uses other than GPS apps? Leave a comment below.

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