How to charge a phone without electricity, and what to do when the phone stops

How to charge a phone without electricity

Charge every device before bad weather arrives. Ofcom in the United Kingdom, Ready.gov in the United States and the Government of Ontario each say to keep devices charged.

No official page that we read gives a run time for any charger or describes a home-made charger, and we do not pick products. These are some of the ways that official bodies name.

How to make a phone battery last in a power cut (power outage)

Once the power is off, the charge in the phone is all you have until you can charge it again. Official bodies give a short list.

• Use the phone less.
• Lower the screen brightness and turn on battery saver mode.
• Switch to low power mode or aeroplane mode (airplane mode).

What stops when your phone stops

A phone does many jobs in a home. The United Kingdom government's Be Ready site says that people rely on phone and internet services for work, healthcare, banking and staying in touch, and that in the most serious cases the mobile phone, the landline and the broadband could all be down together.

• Calls and messages. Ready.gov says that mobile networks can become overwhelmed in an emergency, which makes it hard to make and get calls.
• Contacts. If the phone loses power, you cannot read the numbers stored in it.
• Payments. Payment apps on a phone may be disrupted.
• Maps. Be Ready says to download or print maps so that you can find your way with no internet.
• Alerts and news. Ready.gov calls the smartphone a vital tool for emergency alerts. Be Ready says that updates may come by radio during an outage.

Text when a call will not connect

In an emergency many people use their phones at the same time, and calls may not connect. Ready.gov says that a text message needs less of the network and gets through more reliably. Ofcom and the Government of Ontario also say that a text may get through, and Be Ready says that messaging may work even when calls do not.

Emergency contact list template: what to write on paper

A paper list still works when the phone has no power. Official bodies name these lines for it.

• Family, neighbours, your doctor and your utility companies.
• Your broadband and mobile providers.
• A contact who lives outside your area. PreparedBC in Canada says that the list should include one, in case local networks are overwhelmed. Ontario says to choose someone far enough away that the same emergency is not likely to affect them.
• A meeting place. Ready.gov says to choose one that is familiar and easy to find. PreparedBC gives a community centre as an example.
• The emergency numbers for where you live. They are in a table further down this guide.

Keep the list somewhere easy to find in a power cut, and give a copy to each person. Our printable contact card has a space for most of these lines.

Will a landline work in a power cut?

In the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the sources in the table say that digital home phones need electricity in the home, so they stop in a power cut unless they have a battery or another power source. What a provider must give you is not the same in every country we read.

Where a row has no line from the sources we list, ask your phone provider.

Ofcom notes that a mobile phone is a practical alternative for most people when the power goes out. That is one more reason to keep it charged.

Emergency numbers by country

The emergency number is not the same in every country. Write yours on the paper list. The Government of Ontario says to teach children how and when to call 9-1-1 and the other numbers they may need.

Keeping some cash for when payments stop

Card machines, cash machines and payment apps can stop in a power cut or a network failure, so official bodies say to keep some cash at home. The pages in the table name no amount. Be Ready in the United Kingdom says that the amount depends on your family's needs for essentials.

Outside the countries in the table, an amount is sometimes named. Sweden's central bank gives a benchmark of around SEK 1,000 in cash for each adult, and says that even a lower amount helps. A European Central Bank staff article reports that authorities in the Netherlands, Austria and Finland suggest about €70 to €100 for each household member, or enough for the essentials of about 72 hours. These figures are for those countries only.

Sweden's central bank also says to have more than one way to pay, so that you can still pay if one of them does not work.