How To Set Up A Pokeball Plus

At that place are a lot of questions well-nigh cell phone batteries. Should you leave your smartphones plugged in overnight? Is it bad for the phone? Bad for your safety? What'south the correct thing to do?

In fact, how much should you charge your phone? When's the right time to plug in? Should information technology go downwardly to zero every fourth dimension? Up to 100%? How do y'all get the longest life out of the battery inside a smartphone? Does it really thing if y'all're only going to proceed the handset around for a couple of years before an upgrade?

The debate goes well beyond the worry of moderate harm to a device, as some people have fears of "overloading" a smartphone battery. That worry seems relatively justified, as it was but a few years agone that Samsung's Galaxy Notation 7s were bursting into flame due to battery issues. Just every bit we've explained before, unless a device has some serious manufacturing defects every bit that phone did, the fire-in-your-pocket (or on the nightstand) aspect is unlikely.

The problem is that some of the inquiry and opinions out there are diametrically opposed. Nosotros've narrowed downward the right and incorrect things to practise equally best we can. We present to you the myths and truths of iPhone or Android phone charging, in particular when plugging in overnight.

Charging My iPhone Overnight Volition Overload the Battery: Imitation

The i thing all the experts agree upon is that smartphones are smart plenty that they donon permit an overload happen. Extra protection chips within make sure that can't happen in a tablet or smartphone or even a laptop. One time the internal lithium-ion battery hits 100% of its capacity, charging stops. If yous get out the smartphone plugged in overnight, information technology is going to use a bit of free energy constantly trickling new juice to the battery every time it falls to 99%. That is eating into your phone'due south lifespan (see below).

The Best Matter to Do:

Don't worry nearly this besides much. Plug the phone in or place it on the wireless charger when y'all go to sleep. If you wake up in the dark, unplug information technology or move information technology to preclude constant trickle-charging. Or plug your telephone into a smart plug that's on a schedule to turn off.

Potential problems that could be encountered while charging overnight:

Is It Hot in Here?

Trickle charges can generate some heat. Many experts recommend taking a phone out of the case to accuse overnight. But that'south non always viable with a complicated protective case.

At the very least, do Non stack a bunch of crap similar books or other devices on top of a charging device. And for the love of Jobs, do not put it nether your pillow. Do any of the above, and y'all can expect the telephone to go hot—not necessarily enough for spontaneous combustion, only enough to damage the battery (encounter below).

(Photo: Shutterstock/spyarm)

If you are afraid of burn down, some in the UK recommend leaving the charging device on a dish or saucer(Opens in a new window) while plugged in, or putting it on something metal that is more likely to misemploy heat, the way a heatsink does on the chips inside a PC. That's not much of an pick if you utilise a wireless charging pad, and then don't sweat it.

Bad Cables

If you're using a knock-off cablevision that isn't from the manufacturer, or at least "certified" in some way (iPhone Lightning cables should be MFi certified(Opens in a new window), for example), it could exist a problem. The cord and connectors may not be upward to the necessary specifications for the telephone or tablet. Don't skimp by buying chintzy cables.

I Should Freeze My Telephone to Preclude Battery Problems: FALSE

Lithium-ion batteries detest two things: extreme cold and extreme heat. With common cold, repeatedly charging a smartphone in sub-freezing temps can create a permanent plating of metallic lithium on the battery anode, according to BatteryUniversity(Opens in a new window). You can't fix that problem; doing it too much is only going to kill the bombardment faster.

(Photograph: iStock/sankai )

The battery is not alone in antisocial estrus: all the internals of any smartphone dislike warmth. It'southward a reckoner in there, and computers and hot air are mortal enemies going back decades. Leave your blackness-screened smartphone sitting in the sun as yous laze by the pool someday, and don't be surprised when it throws a alarm that it needs to cool off. In that case, put information technology nether the towel. In the summer, go on it off the dash of the car, preferably in the shade.

Apple tree specifically says charging iPhones over 95 degrees F (35 degrees C) will practise permanent damage to the battery; expect the aforementioned with whatsoever modernistic smartphone.

The All-time Affair to NEVER Do:

Don't charge a telephone when it's also cold or hot. And don't put your phone in the freezer.

My Battery Should E'er Drop to Zero Before Charging: False

Running a smartphone until it'south dead—a full discharge—every fourth dimension isnot the way to get with modernistic lithium-ion batteries. Don't even let it become that close to 0%. That wears out a lithium-ion bombardment even faster than normal.Partial discharge is the fashion to go.

(Photograph: GettyImages- Priscila Zambotto)

Batteries are on borrowed time from the first. The insides are in a constant land of disuse that can't be helped. Over time, the materials inside are only going to hold less and less power. If you've got an older iPhone still in apply and wonder why it'southward only got a charge for a few hours compared to the nearly full twenty-four hours (or 2) you got when it was new, that'due south why. Capacity diminishes over time.

Only go out of your way to drain a smartphone bombardment to zilch to recalibrate(Opens in a new window) the internal sensor that displays your phone'due south battery level. Information technology's hardly guaranteed—in fact, many people don't think it works at all(Opens in a new window)—but it'due south recommended by some, especially if you've got a phone that hits 10% (or fifty-fifty 20% or 30%), then abruptly dies.

Even if you do use the phone all the style to auto-shutdown, that may non hateful the battery is actually at 0%. Leave the phone lone for a few hours, if y'all believe this is worth doing. Then give it a reset for good measure out.

The Best Thing to Do:

Plug the telephone in before it asks you to enter a low-ability way(Opens in a new window); iOS will enquire you to turn that on when you hit 20% power. Plug it in when the phone is between xxx-40%. Phones will go to 80% speedily if you lot're doing a fast accuse. Pull the plug at 80-90%, as going to full 100% when using a high-voltage charger tin put some strain on the battery. Proceed the phone battery charge between 30-80% to increase its lifespan.

Apple claims that with fast charging the iPhone, batteries can increase 50% in just 30 minutes. That requires a USB-C power adapter, which in plough means owning a special USB-C-to-Lightning cable(Opens in a new window), or using a higher voltage charger like the ane from an iPad or fifty-fifty a MacBook.

My Bombardment Develops a 'Memory': Simulated

Developing a "retentivity" was a problem with older nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries(Opens in a new window). That'due south where the whole "discharge the battery entirely" thing came from. Equally we said, it's not necessary with lithium-ion batteries.

So why practise lithium-ion batteries not seem to last as long as they age? It'south non about "memory," information technology's mostcapacity. Your smartphone battery over its lifetime degrades enough that in the same corporeality of time charging, a new telephone could hit a full charge, while an older phone might only go to around 82%. BatteryUniversity(Opens in a new window)calls it "sometime human being syndrome."

(Image: Shutterstock/Jirsak)

Another way to look at it is that newer batteries are simply hungrier to suck up all that ability.

Apple claims that "Apple lithium-ion batteries are designed to hold at least 80% of their original chapters for a loftier number of charge cycles," but it admits that the amount differs from product to product.

Recommended by Our Editors

Apple iPhone batteries also support "fast charging," so they'll get to 80% pretty speedily. After 80, you'll see the chapters increment slowly, some of which is to foreclose rut buildup—which extends battery life. But judge what? Fast charging isn't great for a lithium-ion battery, either. It corrodes even faster(Opens in a new window).

Older iPhones came with a five-watt (that'southward 5 volts at 1.1 amps) charger block. It works, but of course, you tin accuse faster with a 10W charger, which has an output of 5 volts at 2.1amps—that's the kind of charger that comes with an iPad. If yous stick to the Qi-based wireless charging, proceed in listen that well-nigh support 7.5W, with wireless fast charging now available.

The All-time Thing to Practice:

Stop worrying about "retentivity." If you are going to accuse overnight, don't fast charge. Use a slow accuse. That ways your charger should be lower voltage.

Phone Batteries Merely Last a Few Years: FALSE-ish

Phone batteries measure out their lifespan in "accuse cycles." That means every time you discharge up 100% of the capacity, it's i wheel count, only it doesn't mean you went all the way to zero.

For example, if your phone is at 80%, you lot go downward to xxx% (that'south half the battery capacity), and you charge information technology dorsum to 80 and use that 50% up once more, that's i bike. You could use 75% one twenty-four hours, 25% the next, again, that's ane cycle. Wait iPhones to take a lifespan of 400 to 500 accuse cycles (but again, non necessarily 400 to 500 times the phone is actually plugged in to accuse.)

If the phone'due south chapters has eroded enough, yous may accept to practice that 50%-charge-and-apply a couple of times a twenty-four hour period—and that's when the battery lifespan goes downhill fifty-fifty faster. Here'southward Apple'south graphic(Opens in a new window) trying to explain information technology:

(Prototype: Apple)

While your phone battery doesn't accept a "memory" that makes the capacity worse and worse, that limited lifespan means you may want to swap in a new bombardment.

Back in 2022, Apple admitted to secretly slowing downwardly batteries on older iPhones in the name of "overall performance and prolonging the life of...devices." After an uproar, Apple offered battery replacements for these phones at a disbelieve for a while. With "Correct to Repair" becoming a bigger deal, in 2022 Apple launched a self-service repair shop choice that includes battery change options.

You can endeavour it, only battery replacements are mostly best done past a professional. Few new smartphones have a truly user-swappable battery. Opening up the guts of your smartphone, fifty-fifty if information technology doesn't void the warranty, isn't for the faint of heart.

Why are there almost no smartphones with swappable batteries? Nigh lithium-ion batteries perform effectively for around 2 to three years, and that's when the manufacturers would prefer you upgrade to a new phone. Why bother making it easy to bandy a battery? Now that the average smartphone user in the US keeps a phone for a while—one survey (Opens in a new window)showed 26% simply update phones every ii years, a further 28% wait iii years, and a quarter fifty-fifty expect four years—there's far less incentive for phone makers to aid you keep it running. The telephone makers aren't exactly fans of right-to-repair options.

The Takeaway Here:

If you lot program to swap phones every year or 2, accuse it any fashion you want, as often as you lot want, and don't worry about the diminished capacity. Withal, if yous want to stretch things out, utilise best practices for lithium-Ion batteries as described higher up. It may assist. Or, but get a new battery installed every couple of years. It'due south much cheaper than a brand new phone.

Like What You're Reading?

Sign upwards for Fully Mobilized newsletter to get our top mobile tech stories delivered correct to your inbox.

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at whatever time.

Source: https://www.pcmag.com/news/charging-your-phone-overnight-battery-myths-debunked