How to save your battery while playing Pokémon Go

So you're all-in on Pokémon Go — hunting through your neighborhood for PokéStops, Gyms, and of course, Pokémon. After a couple of hours, you realize that this game is an absolute battery drainer. But don't worry, it's not just you — this game uses mobile data, GPS, your screen and your camera, and that means sucking down a lot of battery every minute you're playing.

Pokémon Go is a high battery use application, which in more general terms, means that it can eat through your battery faster than you would think. So we've spent some time finding the best ways to save, and extend your battery life to get you the most time out there hunting Pokémon.

Check your brightness

While this seems like a no-brainer, the first thing that you can do to help with the battery drain is take a look at your screen brightness. By turning it down you can grab yourself up some more time for gameplay. The big problem with this is if you are playing outside in a super sunny area.

Turning the brightness down can make it much harder to see your screen, of course — but depending on the weather, if it's not too bright out it may be a worth-while trade-off to make.

Turn off Augmented Reality features

Want to know what drains your battery faster than having the screen on the whole time? Using your camera the whole time. Within Pokémon Go you have a choice between turning your camera on or off. If it is on, then when it's time to capture a Pokémon your camera will open up. You'll see your intended Pokémon in front of you in AR while your actual surroundings are just behind it. While this is awesome, and leads to some fantastic photos, you're bleeding battery in this mode, especially during a Gym battle. However, if you turn the camera off you can ensure that your battery will last at least a bit longer.

All you need to do in order to disable this feature is flip the little "AR" switch the next time you go to catch a Pokemon. You'll see a new background and your battery will thank you.

Invest in a battery pack

If you're really gung ho about going out and hunting down Pokémon for hours, then investing in a portable battery pack might be your best bet. You can find these just about everywhere, and they can make sure that your phone doesn't die just as you are about to capture the Pokémon you've been hunting for hours. All battery packs are not made equal, so be sure to do your homework before purchasing one. This may be the easiest way to ensure that you can get hours of fun out of the app before being forced to head back to home and recharge your phone.

Read: Best external battery packs for Pokémon Go

For now, there isn't a single easy way to adjust the amount of battery that Pokémon Go is consuming. Hopefully in time, we'll see a battery saved added to the app for itself. In the meantime you can use these tricks to help ensure that you can play for as long as possible. Have you had issues with your battery while playing Pokémon Go? Do you have a battery saving trick that we missed and should know about? Tell us about it in the comments below!