1. Letting Your iPhone Drop to 0 Percent Charge
Don’t wait too long — is the advice of many tech experts when it comes to charging your phone. Although it can’t seriously hurt your device, allowing it to drop to a zero percent charge before powering it back up only taxes its battery more than necessary. It then takes more to get it back up to speed. A better idea is to keep it charged between 30 and 80 percent so that it’s in its sweet charging zone.
2. Charging Your Phone for Too Long
There is no need to charge your phone for hours upon hours, and doing so can tax your phone and battery. A better idea is to enable Optimized Battery Charging, which spurs your phone to learn your charging habits so that it doesn’t charge to 100 percent right away, but trickles the charge. To enable the setting, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging > toggle Optimized Battery Charging to on.
3. Charging Your Phone in Hot Temperatures
Extreme temperatures are iPhone battery killers. Heat, especially, accelerates battery aging and can cause performance issues (you may receive a warning that says, “iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it”). If your phone gets too hot, it may even put the pause on charging. According to Apple, the ideal temperature in which to maintain your phone is 0°C to 35°C (32°F to 95°F). Never charge it in a hot setting, such as your car or in direct sunlight.
4. Using Cheap or Broken Charging Cables
The minute your charging cable shows signs of fraying, replace it. The damage you could do to your phone’s battery (or the fire hazard risks of continuing to use broken cables) isn’t worth the money you’re saving. You don’t have to purchase Apple cables, but it is important to invest in cables that are Apple-certified. This ensures these accessories are equipped to provide the right amount of charge your phone needs — nothing more or less. And this is better for your battery.