With National Grid reporting thousands of power outages throughout Massachusetts, some families may only have their cellular phone available for accessing information. Should this happen, here are a number of phone settings to change in order to prolong your battery for as long as possible.

Turn Off Unnecessary Connections

For those with iPhones, Android or other smartphones, you can extend the battery by turning off WiFi, 4G and/or 3G connections if available, or even putting your phone into airplane mode and only taking it off when you want to use the phone. All of these connections use battery up whether using it or not.

Close All Background Applications

Smartphones have apps, and sometimes they are running even when you do not want them to. If using an iPhone, double tap the home button to bring up a list of open applications at the bottom of your screen. Press and hold one of the icons, and then tap the red circle with the white horzontal line in it to deactivate each of them. If using an Android device, enter the device settings, and select "Manage Applications." There you can see which apps are running. Select the app you want to stop, and select the "Force Stop" option.

Lower Brightness Levels

In your phone's settings menu, reduce the brightness of the screen to the lowest acceptable level.

Keep Use To A Minimum

This may be a given, but other than necessary information try to keep phone use to a minimum. Especially for those with phones loaded with movies, music and other games. Try to stick to necessary calls, texts and checking news information like on Patch.

Stay safe, and Patch will continue to update with storm information.