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Any application that uses the GPS continuously will run the battery down at an accelerated rate. MyTrails takes many precautions to minimize battery usage: the compass is put to sleep when you turn the screen off, and GPS readings are taken as rarely as possible, while still recording an accurate track. The screen is redrawn only when necessary.

You can turn the screen off to conserve the battery: MyTrails will keep recording. You can even close the application (leaving the tracker running). You will notice that while MyTrails is recording your track it adds a notification to the Android notification bar. You can tap on it to get back to MyTrails.

If you’re taking a break, you can stop the tracker to minimize battery drain. Just don’t forget to start it again once you get going.

You can also use the Optimize battery preference to turn off the most battery-draining features of MyTrails.

You should also turn mobile data off if you intend to use MyTrails for more than 6h on a standard phone: even when not in use and especially in remote areas, cellular data uses a lot of power.

Don’t worry about data loss if your battery runs out while you’re recording a track: MyTrails saves the track frequently and will load it in when you turn the device back on.

For multi-day trips without the ability to recharge your phone, you should consider spare batteries (if your phone doesn’t use a sealed battery) or an external battery pack, which will allow you to recharge through the MicroUSB port.

There are many different models of external battery packs, of varying capacities.