Pokemon Go Restores Battery-Saving Mode to iPhones

A new update for Pokemon Go rolled out last week, and Niantic, creator of the wildly popular game, restored the app’s battery-saving mode that somehow disappeared from the previous version.

The newly-enabled battery-saving feature activates with the simple flip of your phone. Once upside-down, the phone’s screen dims, allowing users to walk around searching for Pokemon without draining their smartphone’s battery.

The feature was originally included in the iOS version of the game, but was removed with the July 31 update. The latest update restores the feature after Niantic fixed several bugs.

Pokemon! photo/ Brandon Jones

Accessing the power-saving mode is simple: users only have to tap the Pokeball at the bottom of the screen when in map view. A menu of options will appear, with a cog in the upper right corner. Tapping the cog will enable the feature. Each time the phone is down by the user’s side, the screen will dim, but the app will continue sending notifications of nearby pokestops and Pokemon. It will also continue counting your steps towards hatching eggs.

Android users can turn on this feature by navigating to the “Settings” screen.

The update also unlocked three team leaders: Spark, Candela and Blanche. Users can now change their trainer’s name (a one-time-only feature), and the accuracy of pokeball throws was also improved.

A new feature that was not included in the update, but may be in the near future, is “Nearby Pokemon.” The feature is currently in testing mode, and will show you which pokestop will give you the best chance of finding a particular Pokemon.

Right now, the feature is being tested by a small group of players in the San Francisco area. While the Nearby Pokemon feature won’t replace the third-party maps Niantic killed, it will give users a better idea of where to go to look for the Pokemon they want.

Improvements on pokeball throws and the unlocking of new team leaders was an exciting update for users, but for iPhone players, it was the restoration of the battery-saving mode that really mattered.

Pokemon Go is known for being battery intensive. Since its launch, we’ve seen sales for portable battery chargers soar, and we’ve also seen an uptick in downloads for battery-saving apps. In fact, it was recently announced that 360 Battery Plus took the top spot on Google Play in the U.S.

The free app, designed for the Android operating system, helps users save their phone’s battery life. The app ranked number on Google Play Tools and 7th on the overall downloads chart. This particular app allows users to monitor their battery time, enable power-saving mode and even reduce their phone’s charging time.

The battery time monitoring feature determines which apps are using the most power and offers recommendations on which apps to close to save on battery life. Pokemon Go likely comes in at the top of that list, with GPS and camera usage eating battery power, but users can choose to close other power-hungry apps to preserve as much battery life as possible.

Guest Author: Jacob Maslow

Pokemon Go photo/ Stefan Schweihofer via Pixabay