ViewRanger's Apple App Gets Power Savvy

Power mode is accessed via GPS settings or there's a cunning short-cut direct from the map screen.

Just a quick heads up for anyone running the ViewRanger mapping software app on an iPhone, with the latest version of the app tackling the device's Achilles heel of excessive power consumption head on.

Version 3.3.0, which was released just recently, incorporates a selection of new power saving features aimed at reducing the iPhone's notoriously high power consumption when using GPS. Specifically, the software now allows you to set an auto-disconnect period after which your GPS switches off while the software is run in the background.

Then there's a new Power Save option which saves the battery when you're actively using the GPS, for example when recording a track, following a route or sharing your location using Buddy Beacon. It allows you to go into a lower power mode while recording a track with a one-minute cycle between high power fixes.

The downside is that using the feature reduces the detail of a track - presumably the faster you're going, the more it degrades - but ViewRanger says that it will 'at least double battery life whilst still using these services'.

Which is good news. If you're an iPhone ViewRanger user, head on over to www.viewranger.com for a compehensive explanation of how to enable the new features.