Even though it's urgent, your smartphone's battery is about to run out... 4 actions you should take first

Even though it's urgent, your smartphone's battery is about to run out... 4 actions you should take first

When you get lost in the middle of a hike. Or when your car breaks down and you're stranded on the side of the road. You will most certainly call someone for help. But what if your phone's battery is low? Don't listen to any of the popular social media posts suggesting you should change your voicemail greeting. Instead, you should text your friend. Posts recommending “changing your voicemail greeting” have become popular during hurricane season and as advice for hikers. They say voicemail is available anywhere, anytime, so you can leave a message about where you are and how you're doing to let people who call you know. But some of these assumptions are only half right, and there's a lot more to do before changing your voicemail greeting in any case. Safety experts aren't the only ones urging us to turn a deaf ear to such advice. I have actually fallen into a similar situation and have experienced that there is no way to use it only at such times. As I said before, when I got lost while hiking. It was getting dark, and the battery of my smartphone was almost zero. To make matters worse, I had almost no connection to the mobile phone network. In retrospect, everything I did at that time was the right one. And it wasn't about changing the voicemail greeting.

Send Text Messages

Sending text messages consumes very little battery power and can be reached even if your cell phone signal is weak. Even if the radio wave is bad at the moment you press the send button and it cannot be sent, it will try to resend for a few minutes. If your battery could die at any moment, the first thing you should do is send a short text message to a trusted friend telling them where you are and what you're up to. If you know your GPS coordinates, include them in your message. Do not send images or attachments. Try to send text-only messages. In many parts of the United States, you can also text the emergency number (911), but it's not available everywhere (a phone call can give you more information and help you get quicker and more appropriate help). If you have enough battery left to make an emergency call, you should.) Another thing to keep in mind is to always send a “text message”. It's not a message from the encrypted messaging app Signal, a DM on social media, or an iMessage. When sending a text message from the Messages app on your iPhone, if you see a blue speech bubble, press and hold the message and select "Send as SMS/MMS". A normal SMS message will have a green speech bubble.