1. Keeping Your Phone At 100% Battery
There are many of us who plug our phones in and then forget about them for a while. This is common, as many people plug their phones in and leave them on the charger overnight, or go on to accomplish other tasks while letting their phone stay on the charger. However, this isn't a great idea if you want your device's battery to last as long as possible.
"It's not great to keep your phone fully charged at 100%," explains Steven Athwal, tech pro and owner of The Big Phone Store. "Lithium-ion batteries have high voltage when fully charged, which will really push chemical wear, decreasing the battery the iPhone is able to store. Conversely, allowing the phone to drop all the way to 0% ALSO puts stress on the internal battery. Basically, going from one extreme end to the other wears the battery."
2. Using Cheap Phone Chargers
If you have a smartphone user, there's a good chance you have more than one phone charger, and your extra chargers are not name-brand. Cheap, third-party chargers are convenient and able to keep in extra locations aside from your home, but low-quality chargers can end up doing more harm than good to your phone.
"These subpar items frequently aren't able to manage the power requirements of contemporary electronics," notes tech pro Ankush Chowdhury. "Their internal wiring is often of low quality, and they do not have adequate surge protection. Your charger will experience an erratic power supply as a result of this. The delicate inner workings of the charger were subjected to intense strain by the electrical noise and fluctuating voltage. Your charger will quickly get overheated and damaged from the extra effort required to transform that chaotic electricity into a steady current for your device."
3. Letting Your Phone Drop Below 20%
As Athwal noted, in addition to letting your phone charge over 100% for too long, it's also dangerous to let it drop below 20% quite often. Many people wait until their phone is officially dead or nearly dead before plugging it in, and although that might seem like common sense, it's actually a damaging charging habit.
"Keep your battery between 20-80% and turn on Apple's optimised battery charging feature that delays charge to 100% until it's needed," he says. "The reason your phone warns you when you get to 20% battery is that that's when you should be putting it on charge, the same goes for your phone coming off of battery saver mode when you hit 80%."
4. Charging In A Warm Environment
Many tech experts will agree that a smartphone and its battery's biggest enemy is heat. Therefore, something as simple as charging your phone in a warm or sunny environment, like outside on a hot day, while sitting in the sun, or even snuggling underneath a hot and cozy blanket, can hurt your battery over time.
"When a phone charges, it generates heat," adds Athwal. "These warm, cozy environments create a heat pocket for the phone, essentially trapping the heat so it can't dissipate. If the heat is trapped, the phone's temperature will rise, and the battery will become stressed. Overheating the phone accelerates wear, meaning a quicker degradation of the battery. Also, avoid thick, non-airflow cases, as they are another common culprit of this."