I haven't played Pokemon since the first release on the Gameboy way back on June 10, 1999. I was addicted then, and I fear if I get this latest release, it will have a truly negative effect on my personal life. At the weekend, I spotted several people playing Pokemon Go over lunch -- has it become the new Instagramming of your lunch?!
But for those of you who are going to take this on as a new hobby, we have some tips to help your phone last the extended gaming sessions.
Why does Pokemon go drain my battery?
As you can imagine, Pokemon Go is a processor-heavy application, and this means your battery will get a pounding. This game will also be a good indicator of whether or not you will need to replace your iPhone battery.
Turn off Augmented Reality features.
Having your display on all the time will indeed impact your battery life, and having your camera running all the time is an even bigger drain than the display. Thankfully, the creators thought about this and have given users the option to have the camera On or Off during gameplay. The camera will open up when you are in front of your intended Pokemon, and will then be displayed in AR with your actual surroundings showing in the background. Your battery will get the biggest workout during gym battles, so beware of having this mode switched on.
To disable this feature, you will need to flip the little switch with AR next to it. When you go to catch your next Pokemon, you will then be shown a different background and this should give you those vital few mins of gameplay back.
Adjust your brightness
As I am sure you know, having your brightness up full will always kill your battery faster. But if you're walking around catching Pokemon in summer's brightness, then you will have a hard time seeing anything without the brightness higher than normal. Actively adjusting your brightness will give you more gameplay.
Enable Battery Saver Mode
Once again, hats off to the devs for including a Battery Saver mode, which is designed to dim your screen and slow the refresh rate when you're moving about. As with anything, this will only help if you use this feature.
Does Pokemon Go battery saver work?
When Battery Saver is enabled, all you need to do is point your handset towards the ground (try not to drop it), as you would with the phone down by your side. This way, you will still get notifications while walking between Stops, Gyms, and when a Pokemon pops up on your screen to catch.
To enable Battery Saver, all you need to do is:
1. Tap your Pokeball
2. Tap Settings
3. Tap the empty circle next to Battery Saver
Have you had issues with your battery while playing Pokemon Go? Do you have a battery-saving trick that we missed and should know about? Tell us all about it in the comments below!