Festival survival tips: How to keep your mobile safe and sound

Festivals can be a tough place for your phone. Rough and tumble, dust, mud and careless people in jester hats spilling drinks about the place make it a dangerous environment for a mobile. Fear not though, you can have a fun festival and keep your phone safe with out handy festival survival tips…

Invest in a case

Festivals are great fun but they're also a source of almost endless environmental hazards for your phone. Whether it's mud, rain, spilled drinks or wayward suncream, a naked phone faces some potentially fatal threats. Take your phone clad in a case and it'll be protected from them and more likely to survive any accidental drops or knocks.

Get it insured

Insuring your phone isn't expensive and it can save you a serious amount of cash if its lost or stolen. If you buy or upgrade your O2 phone, you can purchase insurance on a Pay Monthly contract for as little as £6 a month within 28 days.

Power up with an extra battery

If you have a phone with a removable battery, invest in a spare. When you're getting low on juice, you can simply swap out the depleted battery for a fresh, fully-charged one. Make sure you buy an official battery though, as a third party replacement could damage your phone.

Grab a power case

If you’re packing a phone like the iPhone 4 which doesn’t have a user replaceable battery, grab yourself a power case to lengthen the time between charges. A power case like the Mophie Juice Pack Air can almost double your phone's battery life at the flick of a switch, while also keeping it wrapped up safe.

Take a back up phone

You're bound to have at least one old phone lurking at the back of a drawer. Charge it up, get yourself an O2 Simplicity sim for £10.50 and you'll have 500 minutes and 100 texts on standby in case your everyday mobile has an accident. You can share it with friends too, giving your group great peace of mind in case one of your friends loses their phone, or you find your main phone lacks juice on your way home.

Choose charging points carefully

Most festivals have phone charging points, but make sure the one you choose is well staffed and locks up your phone while it's in their custody. Returning from watching a great band only to find your phone has gone walkies is not a fun experience. Play safe, and only charge up at official festival charging stations.

Activate phone tracking

If you lose your phone or suspect someone has taken it, having phone tracking activated is a lifeline. Get it set up before you go, and save yourself some worry later on.

If you have an iPhone, you can simply download and activate the free Find My iPhone app.

Lots of recent HTC phones with HTC Sense come with a phone finder function built-in, and there are several phone locator apps like Phone Finder in the Android Marketplace too. For Blackberry owners there's Blackberry Appworld apps such as Find My Phone and Symbian fans can grab an app such as Phonelocator.

Beware of the elements

While rain is obviously something you should protect your phone from, our friend the sun isn't entirely blameless when it comes to breaking phones either.

Don't leave your phone in direct sunlight for prolonged periods, as heating it up can play havoc with electronics inside. Of course your phone will be fine in ordinary heat, but the soaring temperature inside a tent or your car in the midday sun is likely to be a little too much.

Go hands free

Take your hands free kit with you, the headphones will make hearing the person you’re calling much easier as you wend your way through the hubbub of the festival. It's also really handy to be able to make a call and keep your hands free for a nice cool drink or a quick burger, while your phone is safely stored out of sight.

Stow your phone safely

Rather than simply popping your phone in your pocket, think carefully about where you keep it while you're at a festival. As well as keeping it safe from wandering hands and away from rain, mud and carelessly tossed drinks, slipping it into a zipped pocket means it’ll stay safe when you're in the middle of the crowd, jostled around amid a lively performance.

Have you got a brilliant festival survival tip? Share yours in the comments and let us know what you think of our advice.

Photo by toadiepoo

Festival survival tips: How to keep your mobile safe and sound

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