There are few things more annoying in the tech world than a phone that always seems to be running low on battery life.
Although there’s a lot you might feel like you can’t control in terms of your phone’s performance, when it comes to your battery life,y your charging routine and habits can make a bigger impact than you may think. While charging your iPhone might seem like a simple process, there are actually a few ways of doing it that can slowly damage its battery over time. Read more about three charging habits tech pros say can wreck your phone’s battery life below.
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1. Using Cheap, Third-Party Chargers
If you have 2. iPhone, there's a good chance you have several chargers and cables in your possession in order to keep your battery as full as possible. However, consistently using third-party, inexpensive chargers can backfire sooner than you'd expect.
"One of the most troubling mistakes that people make in dealing with charging the iPhone is using third-party, cheap charging cables or adapters," explains tech pro Adam Young. "They often have not gone through any quality control process, and they lead to poor quality, inconsistent charging, or worse, they damage the charging port on the phone. Over time, inconsistent charging will have a slow effect on the battery health, greatly reducing the life of your device."
2. Letting Your Phone Drain Past 20% Battery
There are some people who might not have enough time during the day to continually plug their phone in and let it charge, subsequently letting it drain past 20% battery life, sometimes even all the way down to 0%. You might think this is okay, but it's something that can easily damage your battery.
"Draining an iPhone battery all the way to 0% on a regular basis puts excessive stress on the battery," explains tech expert Steven Athwal. "Lithium-ion batteries generally like shallow cycles better than full drains. Therefore, it is way more beneficial to maintain the charge between 20% and 80% if you want to protect the battery's health in the long run rather than using up every last percent of the battery."
3. Using Apps While Charging
Sometimes, you don't have much of a choice but to actively use your phone while it's charging. However, if you can leave your phone alone for a while as it charges instead of using apps, especially intense ones like a streaming service or complex game, you certainly should.
"A phone that is running a navigation or a game with the plug in causes the CPU and the GPU to undergo high load that adds the processing heat with the heat of charging," explains tech pro Rahul Jaiswal. "As much as can be added to the internal temperature, ten to fifteen degrees, and it can disrupt performance or even ruin battery lifespan. Silent charge cycle ensures that the temperatures always remain steady."
