PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — How many times have you picked up your smartphone only to find the battery on its last leg?

These days, we count on our phones for doing way more than just making calls. We use them to get directions, shop online and even play games. That’s just to name a few things, but a dead battery really stops us in our tracks.

So, what can you do to keep the battery from always dying?

“It could be one of two things,” says Brian McGough, of Verizon Wireless. “It could be an app that is causing an issue to your phone or it could be the touch screen itself could be acting up.”

All day, every day, people come to the Verizon store at The Waterfront with questions about their phones.

There are dozens of accessories that can recharge your battery. However, many of them cost $30 to $60 apiece. There are ways though to stretch your battery with costing a fortune.

“We really need to get an understanding of the customer’s lifestyle and what they do at work and what they do at home and how they use their phone,” McGough said.

Some prefer the Blackberry, others like the iPhone, maybe you like the Droid. Regardless of which phone you are using, if your battery dies, your smartphone isn’t so smart.

“Any application that is constantly reaching out the network seeking information and exchange it back and forth, those are the apps that you are historically going to see an issue with battery drainage,” said McGough.

For instance, phones that continually look for incoming email are big culprits. While every phone is different, certain phone functions are battery killers.

“If your phone has Bluetooth and you don’t use Bluetooth, you should probably turn it off because if you are not connected to Bluetooth, the phone will continually look for a Bluetooth signal and then in return your battery will drain faster,” he says. “The same goes for WiFi connection.”

In other words, if you don’t use it, turn it off. That will guarantee that you have power when you need it most.

One other suggestion, before you download an app, check the comments from users. Often they’ll tell you whether that application is a battery buster.

RELATED LINKS:
Verizon Wireless
More Consumer News
More Featured Stories