Don’t Let Your Smartphone Battery Drain Before You Charge It
There is nothing that I hate more than people who do wrong “just because” they have always done so. In this case, run movies, games or music on your smartphones to consume the entire battery until the device turns off, because this is the only “safe” way to charge it.
Sigh.
We’ve discussed this before , but it’s worth repeating again with even more proof, because people – even the people I live with – still do it. Stop doing this. You can charge your smartphone at any time. Your device’s lithium-ion battery doesn’t care if it’s 10% or 80% charged; it will charge normally without destroying the longevity of your device.
Don’t believe me? This is fine. Here’s what Apple thinks :
“Charge your Apple Li-ion battery whenever you want. There is no need to let it fully discharge before recharging. Apple lithium-ion batteries operate in cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you have used up (discharged) an amount equal to 100% of your battery’s capacity, but not necessarily all in one charge. For example, you can use 75% of the battery capacity one day and then fully charge it overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will discharge a total of 100%, and in two days you will have a total of one charge. ”
It’s true that over time, the lithium-ion battery will shrink, which iPhone owners tend to experience around the same time Apple announces a new smartphone every year. As Apple describes, the capacity of a lithium-ion battery “decreases slightly with each complete charge cycle.” So, if you abuse your smartphone because you think you are serving its battery better, you are actually doing yourself a disservice. Stop adding unnecessary charge cycles by draining your battery. Just charge it.
And I will stop charging my smartphone overnight!
As far as all the other battery myths go, everyone seems to have different views on what you should do with your device – when to charge it, when not to charge it, what battery level to charge, etc. In the video below from American Chemical Society’s general recommendation is that you keep your smartphone battery at about 50 percent if you don’t use it for a long time (e.g. months):
But what about the daunting “continuous charging” problem you’ve probably heard of? This is where you shouldn’t keep your smartphone connected at night because it will constantly “charge” when it drops to 99 percent. According to several sources, this is not entirely a myth, but there is still a lot of controversy about what you should actually do:
Samsung : “Technically, you shouldn’t charge your phone for long periods of time, so overnight charging is a big rejection. While most chargers are designed to limit charging once your phone is full, you shouldn’t charge it to 100 percent and then leave it connected to a charger. Overall, and for optimal long-term results, you should keep your phone charged at 40 to 80 percent at all times. ”
PCMag.com : “Plug your phone into a wall outlet when you go to bed; if you wake up at night, unplug it to prevent trickle charging. If you don’t wake up too much, plug your phone into the outlet that you set up on schedule to turn it off. “
The Verge : “… It’s a common belief that you shouldn’t leave your phone on after it’s fully charged. This is believed to further reduce the cost of the battery. I spoke with Daniel Steingart, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, about whether this is true. No, he says. In fact, “the easiest thing to do is to keep [your phone] connected to the network as much as possible.” Modern smartphones do a pretty good job of managing batteries, he said. (Android O, for example, should come with improved battery management for background apps.) Once the phone’s battery reaches 100 percent, there is no extra power going to it. The battery remains constant. “
USA Today : “Continuously discharging the battery to zero puts unnecessary strain on the materials inside. Believe it or not, the same can be said for leaving it on the charger overnight because it constantly runs out of power quickly and also causes lithium-ion batteries to corrode faster than they would otherwise.
There is no perfect solution, but all five experts we spoke with agreed that the optimal value for smartphone batteries is indeed between 20% and 80%, and if you can keep it within or near these limits more often than not, you you will be rewarded with a battery that lasts for a long time. “
Business Insider : “Smartphones are, as the name suggests, smart,” an Anker spokesman said. “Each device has a built-in chip that prevents charging when it reaches 100% capacity. Therefore, provided that the phone in question was purchased from a trusted and legitimate retailer, there should be no danger of leaving the phone charging overnight. ”
What should you do? Don’t worry about this. Plug your phone into a power outlet. If you wake up at night to pee, turn it off if you remember. When you go to work, turn it on a little. Maybe turn it off when going to lunch, your morning appointment, or whatever. Be more mindful of when your smartphone is plugged in and you’re likely to get the small benefits you can – provided that your efforts aren’t overshadowed by the fact that your smartphone’s battery will simply get worse as you age, period … Nothing good lasts forever .