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What’s your iPhone charging style? Do you give your phone short bursts of charging throughout the day so that it remains within the 30 to 80 percent charged zone? Do you remove the cover or keep it on? And is the charger you’re using an Apple-certified pick?
If none of these questions have ever crossed your mind, there’s a chance you are not taking important factors into consideration when charging your device. While there’s no need to overthink things, there is a right and wrong way to charge your phone in order to protect its battery. And Apple experts say this is the worst mistake you can make when charging your iPhone.
Charging your phone with the case on
Your iPhone is expensive. And a protective cover is always a good idea to keep it from getting smashed when it falls out of your pocket or you accidentally drop it from a counter. But some tech experts say there’s one time when it’s better to remove the cover: when you’re charging your phone.
“Charging your iPhone with the case on is quite a common thing to do,” says Radu Vrabie, Founder and Marketer at powerbankexpert. “In fact, most people don’t even remember to remove their iPhone cases when charging their iPhones. While it may appear normal, and harmless, charging your iPhone with the case in place has adverse effects on your iPhone’s battery health, and the longevity of your phone, too.”
The charging process generates a lot of heat within the battery, according to Vrabie — all you have to do is touch the back of the phone while it’s still charging for proof of that. “You’ll certainly feel some heat. In order to maintain the phone’s battery health, the heat needs to dissipate away from the battery,” Vrabie says. “This is why a large number of back covers are made of metallic substances. On the other hand, iPhone cases are most made from non-conductive materials. More often than not, they’re made from plastic combinations, which are among the slowest heat conductions on the totem pole.”
What this means for your phone is that charging the iPhone with the case on will lead to heat retention within the battery area, because the heat can’t move out through the case, Vrabie says. “The heat is essentially trapped,” Vrabie says. “High temperatures are dangerous for your battery. Apart from reducing the capacity of the battery cells, they can also lead to the battery blowing up. This happens when the battery gets really hot. You don’t want to be around a blowing lithium-ion cell.”
The simple solution? Remove your iPhone case prior to charging to keep it as cool as possible.
“When charging, one should always take the phone case off for a little while,” Vrabie says. “This will give the battery a little fresh air, and help heat move faster from the battery area.”
