If you have an iOS device then you have undoubtedly used it to find directions to some location. Be it to somewhere nearby or to a nearby city, having a quick way to get turn-by-turn steps to your destination is exceptionally useful; however, if you use this regularly or plan on having it on for a long trip, then you might run into an issue with your iOS device running out of batteries.

This happens because any App that is displaying changes on your iPhone (such as movies, or games) will prevent the system from shutting off its display and going to lower power modes, and as a result, if used extensively they will diminish your battery life. Navigation programs such as Apple’s Maps, and other mapping services, will trigger your iOS device from going into low power modes when navigating, as your movements will result in updates to where your marker is on the map.

To manage this, you have essentially two options when navigating:

1. Use a charger

If you do not have a charger available, then you can plug your iPhone into practically any USB device that supplies power, in order to give it at least some charge. One approach here is to take out a MacBook laptop that is closed and asleep, and plug in your iPhone. You might have to open your laptop to get it to recognize the phone and then close it again, but when you do, the system should pull charge from your laptop, which will keep your phone charged for longer. If your Mac does not seem to keep supplying power, you can keep the lid open and turn off wifi, bluetooth, quit all applications, and dim the display to black to keep it from draining power while charging the phone (you can also try booting it to Single User or Target Disk modes to minimize use for this purpose).

2. Sleep your phone manually

Sleep your phone, by simply pressing the power button once you have started your navigation. Navigation services should run in the background, and while they will drain your battery life a little when they do so, this will be far less if your phone’s screen is turned off. When the screen is off, your phone will still navigate, and will only activate when it needs to inform you about directions. For instance, a few miles away from your next turn it will activate and let you know the turn is coming up, and then as you approach the turn it will activate again and tell you to turn, followed by going back to sleep when you have completed the turn and are on the next leg of the directions.

While these options will not necessarily prevent your iPhone from losing battery during navigation, they should help in the event you do not have a phone charger in your vehicle.