Extending phone's battery life: What really works

HOUSTON -- We've all been there. You're using your cell phone, the battery goes dangerously low, and you have no way to charge it. Do you know what actually works when it comes to extending the life of your battery?

We all have different strategies. But no one seems to really know how to extend the life our cell phone battery.

So we asked Android expert Crystal Syzdek with LG and Apple guru Michelle Eulene. They say the easiest thing you can do is dim your screen and use wi-fi since it uses less power than a cellular network.

Syzdek says some Androids can automatically make these adjustments for you.

"If you go into your settings, you can scroll down to your battery, and then you'll see the battery saver feature," Syzdek said.

Next, close all your apps.

"You open up an app you hit the home key, it disappears and you think that app is closed out. Well it's still running in the background draining your battery," Syzdek said.

On some of the latest Androids, there's what's called "smart notice."

"It's going to let you know if there's a particular application that's using a lot of your battery," Syzdek said.

iPhones have a similar feature.

"You go to settings, then general, then usage, and click on battery usage," Eulene said.

Apps that say "background activity" are using your battery while you're doing other things. Change that by turning your "background app refresh" off, then do the same for "location services."

"A lot of apps always ask to have location services turned on because it helps you with the app, but in this case, Apple suggests you turn them off and that will help you save the battery," Eulene said.

Finally, something important here in Fresno: heat. Apple says anything above 95 degrees will permanently damage your phone's battery capacity. And check your phone's case; it could be holding in heat while it's charging.

Cold temperatures below 32 degrees will slow your battery, but just until it warms up again.