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Charging your phone is a mundane part of life that people don’t usually think twice about — but some charging habits might be ruining your phone battery.
At some point, you might notice that the battery life on your phone isn’t as strong as it once used to be. For example, perhaps you used to be able to make it through the workday without needing to charge your phone, but now you’re charging it at least twice before you leave work.
Phones use a lithium-ion battery, which became integral to portable technology in the ’90s due to its high-energy density. These batteries pack a large amount of energy into a small space, charge quickly and last longer than other batteries — but that doesn’t mean it’s eternal.
Sandeep Unnikrishnan, chief technology officer at battery tech start-up Lionvolt, explained to The Independent that a phone’s battery life gets worse as the years go on “due to internal electrochemical wear and tear.”
Typically, they last about 500 charge cycles — between two to three years — before the battery capacity greatly diminishes.
But there are some things you can do to get the most out of your battery life for as long as possible.
Don’t charge to 100%
The first thing is to stop obsessing overcharging your phone all the way to 100%. While it might seem like the best possible solution at the moment to keep the charge throughout the day, it ends up hurting the battery in the long run.
This is because “lithium-ion batteries experience increased stress when [they are] maintained at full charge for prolonged periods,” Unnikrishnan explained.
Keeping the phone at 100% battery will create unnecessary exertions that will speed up the demise.
Instead, “maintaining the battery charge between 20% and 80% is more beneficial for battery cycle life.”
Unnikrishnan recommended plugging your phone in during the day rather than overnight so you can “monitor its charge level and unplug it before it reaches full capacity.”
Optimize battery charging
Most phones have a built-in battery management system that can help with battery life without you having to do anything.
On the iPhone, if you go to the “battery charging and health” section in Settings, there will be an option to turn on “optimized battery charging.” This setting will take into account your normal charging routine and daily phone usage to determine when your phone needs to be charged at above 80% capacity.
Androids have a similar “adaptive charging” feature that will also optimize battery life.
Don’t use your phone while charging
A phone’s temperature also plays a “crucial role” in its battery life, Unnikrishnan said, and both heat or extreme cold can “lead to electrode degradation.”
He advises not to use your phone while charging “as this generates excessive heat and promotes chemical degradation.”
Putting your phone under your pillow or blanket also does no good, since it will get warmed up.
Use the charger your phone came with
While it’s tempting to buy a charger advertised as a super-fast charger, using them can often be detrimental to battery life — and you’re best sticking with the charger recommended by your phone’s manufacturer.
“While fast charging offers convenience, frequent use can be detrimental,” Unnikrishnan said, adding, “Very cheap non-standard chargers should be avoided as they may deliver unstable current or voltage and pose an overheating risk.”