Does Pokemon Go Drain Your Battery Life? 7 Crucial Tips To Keep You Playing Longer

People are going cray for the latest game, Pokémon Go, based on the 1990s throwback brand. It's everywhere you go, and slowly taking over every social media feed. The augmented-reality game lets you chase down and capture Pokémon as you travel in the real world and is proving maybe even more addicting than the original Game Boy edition. But many new players are finding the game uses a lot of data and juice. Does Pokémon Go drain your battery life on your phone? There are specific reasons why it does, but here are a few tips to help you conserve battery life and keep chasing Pikachu.

According to the Pokémon Go database, which interviewed a sampling of players, a fully charged Android or iPhone battery can be completely dead after only three hours of playing Pokémon Go. The reason the game uses so much battery life? According to Lifehacker, it's because the game is constantly running your phone's GPS to ascertain players' exact locations, and the use of the forward-facing camera to identify Pokémon available to be caught.

According to the developer's site, the game's heavy battery usage is a "known issue" and a solution is being worked on.

But in the meantime there are several steps Pokémon Go players can take to help conserve their device batteries.

1. Adjust Screen Brightness

The Pokémon Go Database suggests setting your phone's display to the dimmest possible setting, which, according to Wired's testing and reported by the Pokémon Database, "lasted approximately three hours longer than the same iPhone on the brightest setting.

2. Limit Augmented-Reality Play

Playing Pokémon Go in AR mode turns on your device's camera, which in turn drains your battery life much quicker. Choosing to capture new Pokémon without using the camera and avoiding map zooms will both help conserve power, according to the Pokémon Go Database.

3. Silent Sound

Turning your device's sound off will save power and keep you playing longer on one charge, the Pokémon Go Database said.

4. Close Apps You're Not Using

Make sure the other apps you use everyday, like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat are turned off, so they're not draining valuable battery power while you play.

5. Switch Bluetooth Off

Keeping Bluetooth from running will save battery life. The only exception, according to the Pokémon Go Database, is if you're playing Pokémon Go Plus, which uses your phone's Bluetooth to sync your device.

6. Watch Your Wi-Fi

When you're out and about looking for Pokémon using your cell service, turn off the Wi-Fi on your device. The phone will constantly scan for available Wi-Fi connections, which will help drain battery life, according to the Pokémon Go Database.

7. Put The Game In "Battery Saver" Mode

Tech Insider just discovered a "battery saver" mode in the Pokémon Go settings, which appears to automatically dim the screen to almost completely dark when the phone isn't upright and working at finding valuable Pokémon.