How to Prepare Your Phone for a Long Flight

Most of the time, you don’t have to worry about whether or not your phone can access the internet, but long-haul flights are always one of those situations where you’re not guaranteed wifi. Airlines have gotten better at providing over-the-air connectivity, but it’s often unreliable or expensive, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get broadband-level download speeds during your trip.

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to do some prep work on your phone before you go live. Even if you think you will spend some time chatting with family, or sleeping, or scrolling through the entertainment program in front of you, having more things to do on your phone can also help those hours in the sky pass. .

Choose your apps

You won’t want to have all the apps installed on your plane like you do every day. For example, your next trip could be a great opportunity to try a read-it-later service like Instapaper, an e-reader app like Kindle, or a magazine app to make sure you always have something to read.

You might also consider the types of content you tend to skip—for example, consider audiobooks or podcasts. Think about what will make you happier on the air, perhaps instead of the social media apps you usually scroll through, and adjust your app library accordingly.

Save your content

Many apps allow you to save content for offline listening or viewing, especially if you pay for them. By making sure you have plenty of content stored on your phone before the flight takes off, you don’t have to rely on public wifi or on-board entertainment options.

For example, Netflix lets you save movies and shows to watch: Go to My Netflix and Download to see download suggestions or download titles manually. The same feature is available in the YouTube app, as long as you pay for Premium, and you can access it by tapping Downloads in the You tab.

Find some games

Even if you don’t usually play games on your phone, you’d be surprised what a few hours of flying can do to your brain and how addictive and fun some of the latest Android and iOS games can be.

We will skip some recommendations here, because a lot depends on what you like and what you prefer, but it is not difficult to find suggested games in the app stores of Apple and Google: Look for simple, less demanding titles, as they will be kind to you. battery life while on the go.

Sync your devices

Make the most of those last few precious moments of wifi, no matter where you get it, by opening all the apps you know you’ll rely on before you board the plane. It means you can run a final sync so your apps are compatible with any data you have elsewhere and in the cloud.

This applies to entertainment apps like the ones we mentioned, but also to apps like Gmail and Google Docs if you plan to do a little work or manage on the air. If you’re using a Kindle ereader and the Kindle app in tandem, or listening to podcasts across multiple devices, those are some cases where one-to-one syncing might be useful.

Charge your battery

Your phone doesn’t work very well with a dead battery, so make sure you have enough juice to last you through the trip. This may require some planning in terms of charging your handset overnight, at a hotel, or even at the airport if you can find a spare power socket. You can also take portable chargers in your carry-on luggage. Put your phone in low power mode or turn on airplane mode (or both) to ensure that your battery life lasts as long as possible.