If you’re a smartphone owner, you know how irritating it can be when your battery goes low right as you’re going about your day or doing something important.
When you go home to charge your phone, it’s easy to plug it in and forget about it, but how you charge your device can actually have a big impact on its performance and lifespan. Paying attention to your charging habits helps protect your battery’s health, prevent overheating, and maintain faster performance over time. With smartphones being such an essential part of daily life, understanding the best ways to charge them can save you from frustrating slowdowns, costly battery replacements, and unexpected shutdowns. That’s why over the years, as devices have evolved, tech experts have figured out the best and “worst” ways to charge your device. Read more about it below.
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The 'Worst' Way To Charge Your Smartphone, According To Tech Experts
While charging a smartphone may seem super simple, there are good and bad ways to go about it. It's a lot more complex than you may think! You might be used to quickly plugging in your phone as soon as it seems low, or charging it for hours overnight, using whatever cord you can get your hands on, etc. However, that's not quite the way to go about it.
When your phone battery starts to go low, it can be tempting to wait until your battery shoots way down to 5% or lower. Charging it at that point may seem logical, as most smartphone owners want to be able to use their device for as long as possible. But when you let your phone battery get that low frequently, you're actually putting its lifespan at risk. Interestingly, it's the same the other way around, as charging your phone while it's at 100% for too long isn't ideal either.
"The worst practice is dropping your battery to zero or keeping your battery at 100 percent over a long range of time," explains Gor Gasparyan, tech expert and founder of Passionate Agency. "Using the device until it shuts down creates more heat upon the next charge, and plugging in the device every night keeps the battery under high voltage. Both of these instances will slowly degrade the battery, and heating up one or the other will reduce efficiency, even though it may be difficult to tell."
Tips For Better Charging Habits
Not everyone is perfect, and sometimes, we have to wait until our device is on the verge of dying to charge it. Every once in a while, people fall asleep while their phone is still plugged in. Regardless, there are still small changes and habits people can pick up to take the best care of their phone.
First, you'll want to ensure you have a high-quality charging cable. It's a good idea to take your smartphone into your local tech store and ask about which stable charging cord would be best for your model, as while cheaper, third-party cables can be convenient, they can also wreak havoc on your battery over time.
Additionally, when it comes to ideal charging times, you'll want to stick to a range of 20%-30% battery life, and stop once it goes between 80%-100%.
"The right time to charge your phone, like any lithium-ion battery, is when the battery life falls to around 20 to 30 percent," explains Gasparyan. "Charging in that range up to around 80 percent will maintain battery health, because lithium-ion batteries will be the most stable at mid-range capacity. Doing this allows the battery to operate that way without putting unnecessary stress on itself, still allowing for longevity to hold charge long-term."
Sticking with these habits and tips is not only going to help your charge last longer, but your smartphone overall.
